Life Is Good

Training Summary: 1/30 - 2/5

2012-02-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

Mon: 7 miles
Tue: 8.5 miles including turnover work
Wed: 10 miles hilly
Thu: 7 miles
Fri: 11 miles including tempo intervals
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 19.5 miles
Total: 69.5 miles

This is what I would call a perfect week of training, as I hit a good mix of both quality and quantity and for the most part felt good doing so. There were days where I was tired and didn’t quite have my legs fully under me, but overall I handled it well. My various aches and pains all seem to be headed in the right direction. I’ve got several little things that aren’t quite 100%, but I’m better off than I was a week ago, so hopefully my body is making the adjustments it needs to.

Moving on to specifics, Tuesday consisted of a few 400’s on the track. Andrew and I did two sets of three, with a goal of hitting the first set at 5k race pace and the second set a little faster, just to turn the legs over a little. I’m not sure we nailed it exactly as we should have in terms of the splits, but the end result was good, so I won’t complain. I’ve still got a lot of work to do when it comes to speed, but I’m continuing to make progress ever so slowly.

Wednesday was a nice hilly run over the old Star City Half Marathon course, and Friday was the big workout of the week. David Angell joined Andrew and me for that one, which definitely meant the pace was going to pick up (he had just run a 15:40 5k on the track at ETSU the weekend before). I had planned on keeping these nice and controlled, probably in the 5:45-6:00 range, but with Dave leading the way, I stepped it up some and wound up with a very good workout. We did tempo intervals of 10/5/5/10 min on with 3 min recovery between, and I averaged 5:42, 5:29, 5:28, and 5:37 pace respectively. Those times aren’t anything to get excited about by any means, but it was still a bit of a breakthrough workout for me, one, because that’s faster than I’ve been averaging for intervals of that length, and two, because it sort of took the gloves off. I’ve probably been a little overly conservative in my workouts, but this showed me I might be in better shape than I thought I was and also told me that I can start being a little more aggressive, both very positive things!

The week concluded with a long one in the hills of Fincastle. I was definitely feeling the effects of the all the work I’d done throughout the week for this one and I’m glad I had some company in the form of Matthew for the first half and Dave for 17+ of it. Whereas my long runs have been just flowing, this one felt like a bit of a struggle as my legs were heavy and I never felt like I got in a good rhythm (the 2,250+’ of elevation change might have had something to do with that). Regardless, the overall average was 6:39/mile, and when you can do that for well over two hours on a day when you don’t feel quite up to par, that’s a good sign that fitness is building.

I just got my next month of workouts from Howard, and I’m excited about what’s coming up. I’ll be doing a good variety of stuff, including some track work (albeit not too intense yet), and I think it will be perfect to keep the progress going. I’m having fun and starting to look forward to racing in a few more weeks. Just gotta stay smart, stick to the plan, and let it happen rather than trying to make it happen! Have a good week, all!

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

2012-02-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Just finished reading a blog post by 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials runner-up, Desi Davila, and I can't help but post part of it here because I think it really sums up how a lot of us competitive distance runners feel. In fact, I could have written that very same thing myself and certainly couldn't have said it any better.

The whole post can be found on the Running Times web site here, but the best part is at the bottom in the form of an old journal entry she wrote in March of 2006 when she was a 16:17 5k runner, and the Olympics, much less an Olympic medal, seemed a LONG way off.

March 2006 *“You give me miles and miles of mountains and I’ll ask for the sea.” **Rarely are we ever satisfied with our performances. Even after our best races we might be content for a moment, but it is in our nature to constantly over-analyze and re-evaluate, finding seconds on the course, flaws in our race plans, what ifs… should haves… and could haves. Are we ever satisfied? There is a competitive mentality that keeps us coming back for more, day after day, race after race, and year after year… so at the end of the day only a small select few might actually walk away content. If we will all eventually walk away disappointed, then what is the point? Why do we step out the door each day? If only one person can be the best, are the rest of us essentially failing? I certainly don’t have the answers, but today I’ll walk out the door with my Burns tied tight and hopes of setting the world on fire firmly engrained in my mind. Odds are I’ll never wear an Olympic medal around my neck, but maybe…just maybe, I will. With that in mind I’ll take off down the road and put in the days work. If we don’t try we’ll never know. At least I can find out how good I can be. I can have an answer at the end of the days, and have a hell of a good time with the process.

Taking Care of Business

2012-02-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

I closed out January’s training last night with a few 400’s on the Roanoke College track. They weren’t fast, and I’m sure they weren’t pretty either, but I hit was I was supposed to (or faster) and got them done, which in retrospect was my theme for the whole month and what I’d like to be a trend for this entire year.

January was definitely a good month of training. In fact, I ran the most miles I have in a month since June of 2009, and I got in some good, quality workouts on top of that. I think what I’m most pleased with is the fact that I remained focus and took care of business on a daily basis rather than making excuses as to why I should “modify” a particular day on the schedule. I’ve been really bad about that for quite a while now, but I finally broke the trend this past month and hope I can start a new “norm” going forward.

In terms of how I’m feeling, I would say decent. Anytime you make a jump in training, you generally experience a period of extra fatigue and a few more aches and pains than usual, and that’s been the case over the last ten days or so. I’ve found what tends to happen with me, and the past few weeks have followed this perfectly, is that I feel good for a couple weeks, start to feel a little more tired and beat-up the third week, then have two to three weeks where I feel like I’m struggling before I catch up and start to feel good again. If that remains true, by mid-February, I’ll be handling my current volume and intensity well. Where I’ve made my mistake in the past is as soon as I’ve caught up, sometimes even before, I’ve stepped it up another notch, and that’s led to problems time and time again. I have no intention of bumping things up any more this time, and I think Coach Howard will keep me in check nicely. If I can hold where I’m at and just work on getting everything gradually faster, that will be more than sufficient to help me have a good spring.

Anyway, it’s hard to believe that one month of 2012 is already in the books. In six more weeks or so, spring will be firmly in sight (not that the weather we’ve been having of late hasn’t already been spring-like), and the racing season that comes with it will be here as well. I’ve started building a pretty wide base to my pyramid that should pay big dividends as I attempt to peak somewhere down the road. Not worried about that just yet though. For now I just want to continue taking care of business on a daily basis and keep on rollin’!

Training Summary: 1/23 - 1/29

2012-01-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

Mon: 7 miles
Tue: 7.5
Wed: 9 miles including light fartlek (1/2/3/2/1 min on w/ 90 sec between)
Thu: 7 miles
Fri: 10.5 miles including 25 min tempo plus strides after
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 18 miles
Total: 65.5 miles

This week was a tale of two halves. The first half of the week just wasn’t much fun. I struggled with being tired, my legs were dead in general, and I had some aches and pains I was dealing with that seemed to be headed in the wrong direction. Towards the end of the week, however, things turned around, the aches and pains began to head in the right direction, and I salvaged a decent week of training with a pretty good workout on Friday and a solid long run on Sunday.

Like I said in my last post, anytime you’re training hard you’re going to have ups and downs. That’s just the way it goes. In fact, that’s the whole point. You tear your body down a bit so it can build back stronger. You just have to be careful not to tear it down past the point where it can build back quickly, and that’s the fine line you have to walk. On Monday and Tuesday, I was wondering if I’d crossed that line, and I probably had at least a little, but fortunately I don’t think I crossed it to the point of no return. My right hip, which had been a little balky for a while but hadn’t been bothering me in runs, was getting to the point where it was very stiff and sore after I sat still for a while and was also starting to be noticeable while running. Furthermore, my left calf/shin, which is sort of a chronic area for me, was also complaining, and I’d had some twinges in my right foot (two during the Sunday long run on 1/22 and three during the workout on Wednesday) that honestly had me very concerned after what I went through with it in 2010.

Fortunately for me, and this is one of the benefits of having a good coach, this was built in as a bit of a recovery week, so I had two easy days to start the week and a fairly light workout on Wednesday followed by another easy day on Thursday. By Friday, I wasn’t where I’d like to be ideally, but I was good enough to put in a fairly solid workout that I was pleased with and it didn’t take too much out of me because I still felt good on Saturday, to the point where I had to hold myself back to make sure I kept the pace in recovery range. I was able to finish the week off with a good long run Sunday morning that felt smooth and comfortable even though I was hitting lots of 6:20’s and 6:30’s on a course that had over 2,350’ of elevation change.

As I start this week, I’m feeling much better all the way around. The aforementioned aches and pains aren’t quite 100%, but they’re close, improving by the day, and no longer an issue. My foot (knock on wood a thousand times) hasn’t made a peep since Wednesday and survived the Friday tempo and Sunday long run just fine, so not sure what was going on there, if anything. I’ve got a good stretch of training going right now, and my fitness is improving by the day, to the point where I’m hitting splits in workouts faster than the average pace for some of my races last year. I’ve certainly got a ways to go to get where I want to be, but if everything holds up and I can keep at it, I think I’m on the right track to make some good things happen over the course of this year and that’s both fun and exciting.

That’s all for now. Have a good week, everyone!

Sometimes the Windshield; Sometimes the Bug

2012-01-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

After feeling like I was really building momentum the past three weeks and getting pretty excited about the direction things seem to be headed in, this week is off to a rough start. I don’t think I was quite ready for all the work I put in last week and probably pushed some of my workout days harder than I should have, and now I’m paying the price for overdoing it.

My right hip has been a bit balky for several weeks now. It’s actually not my hip, but rather the top of my iliac crest where the tensor fasciae latae connects in. It’s more sore to the touch and when I first get up in the morning or stand up after sitting for a while than anything else. It really doesn’t bother me while running, but it does tighten up afterward. I think I know what originally caused it (some ancillary exercises I was doing), but after basically ignoring it to this point, I’ve started treating it with some ice and a little ibuprofen to see if I can get it to go away before it becomes more of an issue.

On top of that, my chronic right achilles has been more troublesome than usual over the past few days, and I just feel a little worn down and beat-up in general. Thankfully this week was built in as a bit of a down week, but even at that, I’m going to have to be careful not to cross the line. Actually, I think I already crossed it, so what I need to do is make sure I get back to the good side before it’s too late.

So goes it with training, however. If you want to get the most out of yourself, you have to walk a fine line between training hard and training too hard, and you’re generally on the edge of overdoing it. You can play it safe and stay off that edge, but you won’t reach as high of a level of fitness doing so. Of course consistency is always king, so staying healthy has to be a priority. Again, it’s definitely a fine line, and one that I’ve never been particularly good at negotiating, mainly due to my mentality and approach to the sport. Running decent times in races has never appealed to me that much. I’ve been there and done that. I want to run as fast as I possibly can, which in turn leads to an all or nothing approach to training. That doesn’t mean being stupid, which I admit to having been numerous times, but it does mean taking risks that sometimes don’t turn out like you hope.

I will always be a runner because I enjoy it, but I don't think I will always strive for fast race times, meaning there will come a time when I run simply for the fun of it and don’t worry about workouts, splits, diet, rest and recovery, etc. I don’t know when that day will come, but I hope to push it off as long as possible. For the most part, I love the disciplined lifestyle of a competitive distance runner and accept the inevitable sacrifices that have to be made because of the many positives that also come with it. Sometimes, however, I think how nice it would be to not have to deal with the aches and pains that come with maximal training, and so far this week has been one of those times. For the time being, though, I will keep rollin’, because that’s just what I do and who I am.

Training Summary: 1/16 - 1/22

2012-01-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

Mon: 7.5 miles
Tue: 8.5 miles including turnover work
Wed: 10 miles – moderate run
Thu: 6.5 miles
Fri: 11 miles, including fartlek
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 19 miles
Total: 69 miles

This was one of the best weeks of training I’ve had in a long time, solid both from a quality and volume standpoint. I also now believe I’m in better shape than I was at any point during 2011, and hopefully I’m just getting started.

Overall, things have gone really well since the start of the year. My focus is the best it’s been in a while, again probably better than it was at any point in 2011. My body seems to be holding up fairly well too. I’m not without aches and pains, but everything is manageable and I’m not too concerned about anything with one possible exception that I’ll get too in a bit.

Workouts this week started with 5X90 sec on/off on Tuesday. My legs were a little heavy coming off the long run that included 20 min up-tempo two days earlier, but I feel like I still moved pretty well. Wednesday was a moderate run, which some might call a steady state. I basically got rolling right from the start and by mile 2 was in the low-6:20’s. By mile 4 I was down to just over 6 min pace and basically held that the rest of the way. I did hit a couple miles in under 6, including a 5:48 for mile 7, after which I decided I needed to get under control before things got out of hand and I overdid it. I managed to reign it back in, but I still think I crossed the line a bit in this run. I was 62:12 at 10 miles, and while the effort felt exactly how I wanted it to, the pace was faster than what I was expecting for that effort level. That’s a good thing, but at the same time, having not done anything like that in a while, my body definitely felt the effects afterward.

I finished up the faster stuff for the week on Friday with some fartlek, 3/5/7/7/5/3 min on with 3 min recovery between. Knowing I was working with tired legs, I tried to ease my way into this one and focus on staying relaxed. By the second half, I was hitting 5:40’s and even 5:30’s for the “on” portions and feeling pretty good doing it. It was a good, solid workout, made all the more so by the fact I did it on less than fresh legs.

The week concluded with 19+ miles from my house over a course that had 2,700’ of elevation change. I tried to be fairly conservative with the effort and pace on this one and feel like I was, but I still hit lots of 6:40’s and even a few 6:30’s and 6:20’s. It definitely showed me that my strength/endurance is pretty solid right now. I did have one major thing happen in this run though. At mile 7 and again at mile 11, I felt a pain in my right foot, the one I broke twice in 2010. Both times it literally happened with just one footstrike and was gone with the next, but it was a familiar feeling and it almost made me sick to my stomach with the thought of what it might be. Obviously I was able to run 8 more miles after the second “twinge” without feeling a thing, and afterward there was no sign of swelling, pain, or anything else, even when I massaged and twisted my foot, but when you’ve been through what I’ve been through with that foot and been told what I’ve been told about it, any little indication of a problem is pretty scary. Hopefully it was nothing and maybe even related to the cold, damp weather, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on it going forward, not that there’s much I can do if it really is starting to crack again.

Anyway, like I said, with the exception of the possible issue just mentioned, this was a great week. I’ve still got a long way to go, especially to get back in PR shape, but I’m starting to see signs of my old fitness and it’s exciting. It’s making running more fun again too. I just hope everything holds up and I can keep it going. One thing’s for sure. I will do everything within my power to make that the case, including being smart with my training and staying on top of all the little things. I have a bit of a down week scheduled this week, which is perfect timing. Here’s hoping for another good one. Keep rollin’!

Training Summary: 1/9 - 1/15

2012-01-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

Mon: 7 miles
Tue: 8.5 miles including turnover work
Wed: 7 miles
Thu: 12 miles
Fri: 7.5 miles
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 18 miles, including 20 min “good” after 90 min
Total: 66.5 miles

I didn’t do anything spectacular this past week, but the total package and the way I felt made this the best week of training I’ve had in a while. After a fairly extended period of feeling like I didn’t have my legs fully under me and also feeling like I was often lacking the focus I needed to get out and take care of business on a daily basis, this week things started to come together, and for the first time in a while I actually could actually envision myself getting back to a high level of running again. I have no insight into what, how, or why, but it was kind of like someone or something flipped the switch. Regardless, I’m kind of excited by it and just hope it continues.

Like I said, I didn’t really do anything spectacular this week, but the sum total was solid. On Tuesday I did some light turnover work on the roads. After 20+ min of steady running, I did 6X1 min on/off, followed by another 20+ min of steady running, during which I leaned on the pace a little and wound up running 6 flat for mile 8. I could definitely tell I hadn’t run anything at a faster pace in a while during the fartlek, but in general I think I moved better than expected and was fairly pleased with it. I split a mile under 5:50 during that section, and anytime I go well under 6 min pace while doing 1 min on/off, I’m not doing too bad. When I get down in the 5:30 range or better doing that sort of stuff (haven’t done that in a long time), it’s usually an indication I’m pretty fit, so not too bad considering the recent lack of turnover work.

After a recovery day on Wednesday, Thursday was a solid medium long run. The pace was moving pretty good from the start, and the average for the last 7 miles was sub-6:30, including getting down to 6:11 for the last one. The best part of this run is how relaxed it felt. Miles towards the end that were in the 6:20 range took very little effort and I didn’t feel like the 80+ minutes took all that much out of me.

I finished the week off with 18+ miles from my house. The schedule called for 90 minutes followed by 20 min “good” followed by another 10 min to finish out two hours total. I decided to do the same loop I’d done the previous week, and considering the course (over 2,300’ elevation change) and conditions (cold with blowing snow), I knew this would be a tough one. I’d planned on cruising through the first 90 min around 7 min pace, but I wound up going significantly faster than planned, hitting 13 in 1:28:09, which is 3 minutes under 7 min pace, and that included a couple slower miles at the beginning. The 20 min up-tempo section wasn’t supposed to be all that fast or even at tempo effort, just comfortably hard, and I feel like I nailed it, getting down under 6 min pace while still feeling like I had something left in the tank. I wound up hitting the loop over 3 min faster than the previous week and was right around 1:59 at 18 miles. Anytime I’m well under two hours for 18 miles on a course as hilly as that one, it’s a pretty good effort, so I was pleased. Most of all I was excited about the fact that I felt like I used to on long runs, just flat out strong and like I could drop the hammer whenever I wanted.

Anyway, I know I’ve still got a ton of work to do, especially when it comes to getting 5k/10k pace back where I want it to be. However, not only can I see progress in that direction, but more importantly, I finally believe it’s possible. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of sub-par, difficult days along the way, but I’m ready to hurt again. I think that mentality has been missing for a while, and as strange as it might sound to some, I’m really glad to have it back. Game on.

Anything But Vanilla

2012-01-10T17:59:00.001-08:00

For those of you who might not have seen it, below is a link to me "spittin' rhymes" on live television this past Monday.

http://www2.wsls.com/entertainment/2012/jan/09/member-one-monday-rap-ar-1598634/

My coworkers and I had done this in a few of our branches and got the request to do it on Member One Mondays on Daytime Blue Ridge, something none of us were real excited about, but you do what you gotta do when your employer makes a request. I'm sure I'll never live it down, but it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Obviously it's supposed to be silly, yet kind of catchy and something people will remember, kind of like any good commercial.

Anyway, many have asked if I got a little something extra in my paycheck for this, and the answer to that is no. However, I was told I get to keep my job, which is always a bonus - ha, ha. Going forward, I think I'll stick to running as my hobby and stay away from the rap game, but who knows. Maybe my big break is just around the corner - lol.

Training Summary: 1/2 - 1/8

2012-01-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

Mon: 8 miles plus drills
Tue: 9 miles
Wed: 10 miles
Thu: 7.5 miles
Fri: 10 miles
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 17.5 miles
Total: 68.5 miles

A little late with this, but I’ve been really busy lately (maybe another post related to that shortly), so better late than not at all I guess. Anyway, this week went pretty well. I would have liked to have hit a workout in there, but between the nasty weather we had early in the week and the fact that my legs were pretty dead towards the end, I just didn’t get it done. Considering where I am in terms of my preparation, no big deal. At this point, my first race is probably around nine weeks away, so plenty of time left to translate strength into speed.

That said, I don’t have much worthy of further discussion, but I will bring up one point. I’ve always seen where many runners, particularly elites, incorporate some drills into their warm-ups before workouts. I’ve always shied away from doing this out of fear that the drills would take something out of my legs and hamper the workout itself. However, after this past Monday, I might have to re-think that a bit. That evening, I ran 7 miles and then got on the track for my normal set of drills. After the drills, I ran another mile at what I would call a steady effort. I hit that mile in 6:07, and it literally felt like I was jogging. Now 6:07 isn’t fast, of course, but it’s how I felt in hitting that 6:07 that was important. Definitely the most comfortable that pace has felt in a long time, as in it felt like I could have run a minute faster had I been trying to.

Also, my Sunday run told me that my strength is back where I need it. After not doing any long runs for around a month, I’ve been back to hitting them consistently for about five weeks. At first, they felt long. Ninety minutes seemed more like two hours. Well, I’ve hit a full two hours each of the last three weeks, and this week, in spite of the fact that the course had over 2,300’ of elevation change, two hours felt more like ninety minutes, and lots of 6:30’s and 6:40’s over hilly terrain felt quite manageable. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I just need to translate that strength into some speed, something I’ve had trouble doing of late for a variety of reasons.

Back on it this week with a more normal schedule. No really hard workouts on tap, but enough to shake the legs out a bit and keep things headed in the right direction. That’s all for now.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

2012-01-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

I’m working towards a recap of 2011 from a running standpoint, and as I do this, it has me thinking about 2012, particularly in regards to what I want to accomplish in the coming year. For whatever reason, I’m a goal setter. I always have been, and accordingly, I set a whole list full at the beginning of 2011 as I attempted a comeback from a long, tough period of injury. In the end, I only met two of those goals, which is a little disappointing in spite of the fact that I’m fairly happy with the way the year went overall.

In hindsight, my goals were simply too ambitious. I started the year coming off three straight broken bones, one in my left tibia (Nov 2009) and the other two in my right foot (May 2010 and October 2010). When I’d struggled to be consistent even prior to that, I was truly starting from scratch and didn’t realize what a challenge that would be, especially since I’m not as young as I once was. Furthermore, I don’t think I fully understood just how much the foot fractures impacted me both physically and mentally. Not only did I miss the majority of the year due to these, but I was basically immobilized much of the time. My daily “exercise” consisted mostly of hobbling on crutches from my house to my car, from my car to my office at work, from my office back to my car, and finally from my car back inside my house. It’s one thing to not run. It’s another to not do ANYTHING at all. I was challenged from a mental standpoint too (some of you will get a good laugh out of that one). Though I never believed it for a second, when a medical professional tells you that you’re just going to have to accept the fact that you will never be able to run at a high level again (and maybe not at all), it certainly affects your confidence and makes you question a lot of things.

Anyway, in the past, with a few months (sometimes even just weeks) of good, solid, consistent training, it was pretty easy for me to break 16 minutes for a 5k. I was able to hit tempo runs in the 5:30 range without a ton of effort and run shorter repeats at 5:00 flat pace or under without too much difficulty. That being the case, I set sub-16 as my 5k goal for the year, and set similar equivalent times for other distances, such as sub-33 for 10k, etc. I quickly found, however, that “in the past” was truly just that, in the past. Things just didn’t come easy. I got back to where I could handle distance pretty well, but the shorter, faster stuff just never came around.

This led to some frustration and a lot of questioning. Was I too old? Was I not doing the right type of training? Did I simply not want it enough and/or not have it anymore? I even questioned why I ran period, something that I’d never really done before, and if I’m honest, I certainly can’t say that I enjoyed the daily trial of miles or the pressure I felt to perform well each time I toed the line in a race or embarked on a hard workout.

In the end, however, I came through it all a better runner and a better person. I had to accept where I was and just work on getting better and doing the best I could without worrying too much about the end result or any of the things that were out of my control. I also realized how thankful I should be just to be able to still do the sport I love, which I also realized that I do indeed love. After all, in the opinion of some, I was done, not just washed up, but literally done.

So, that takes me back to where this all started. What goals do I set for 2012? I wish it was like the old days where I just wrote “PR at every distance from 5k to the marathon” and moved on. Honestly, I still hope that’s possible, but based on recent experience I don’t think it’s realistic for the time being, so I’m still struggling with what performance targets to go after. I want my goals to be challenging but not unattainable. I’m going to have to put some more thought into it, including whether or not I even want to set specific time goals. After all, while they’re good ways to hold yourself accountable and compete with and challenge yourself, goals in and of themselves certainly don’t help you run faster and can even limit you in terms of what you “think” you can do. Regardless, goal number one for the coming year is easy: Enjoy and appreciate the process! I think that’s a good one for all of us! Here’s to a great 2012!

Training Summary: 12/26 - 1/1

2012-01-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

Mon: 7.5 miles plus drills
Tue: 9 miles
Wed: 9.5 miles including Peakwood
Thu: 7.5 miles
Fri: 18 miles
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 12 miles
Total: 70 miles

This week capped off a pretty successful year of running for me and started a new one that I hope is even better. I hope to get a year-end recap up soon, but in the meantime, suffice it to say that I’m happy with the way 2011 went. It wasn’t without its bumps and challenges along the way, and I may not have run as much as I would have liked or as fast as I would have liked, but when you enter a year not sure how much you’ll ever be able run again and wind up topping 3,000 miles on the year and winning 11 races, you certainly can’t help but feel anything but blessed.

Nothing too exciting to recap this past week. Andrew and I ran Peakwood on Wednesday, which is always a good workout regardless of the pace. We didn’t push it at all and still got our heart rates in the 180 range (179 for him and 183 for me). I can’t imagine running that stretch in a race as they do in the Blue Ridge Marathon, and it’s even harder for me to imagine what it must do to your quads when you hit the downhill coming out of there. OUCH!

Friday, Andy Sayers was back in town from Iowa, so he, Andrew, and I hit the New River Trail at the trestle bridge near Hiwassee. That’s one of my favorite places to run, and we had an awesome day for it, being able to wear short sleeves (Andy, hardened to those IA winters, actually went shirtless). The surface on the trail is slower than pavement, of course, and was even softer due to all the rain we’ve had lately, so the 6:40’s we were hitting, along with a few miles in the 6:20’s and 6:30’s, amounted to a good, solid effort. It may have been a little too good for me, in fact, as it left my quads pretty sore and beat-up for the remainder of the week. It’s nothing to be concerned about injury wise or anything, and as I type this I’m about back to normal, but I think doing two 18 milers, both at a solid pace, plus a hill workout, all in a six day time span, was a bit much. Hindsight is always 20-20, right? The long run was actually supposed to be on Sunday, but Andy was only in town for that one day, so I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to catch up and log some good miles with him while he was here, and quad soreness or no, I’m glad we chose to do what we did. Sure wish I could move that trail 50 miles north!

Anyway, this week will be about catching up things that got behind during the holidays as well as settling back into a routine (including keeping this blog a little more up-to-date), then I hope to get to work on getting race fit for 2012 starting next week. I think I have a pretty good base in place, and with 10-11 weeks to mid-March when the racing scene starts to pick up, I think I should be in good position to be ready to do some damage come spring. Hope your year is already off to a good start, and here’s to a great 2012!

Training Summary: 12/19 - 12/25

2011-12-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

Mon: 7 miles plus drills
Tue: 9 miles including strides
Wed: 7.5 miles
Thu: 11 miles
Fri: 7 miles
Sat: 18 miles
Sun: 7 miles
Total: 66.5 miles

I knew the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Season could make this week complicated, and I was right. I had tons of stuff going on throughout the week, so I was not only out of my normal routine but very busy as well. That said, I’m pretty pleased with the way things turned out. When all was said and done, I didn’t miss a single day of training and don’t feel like I sacrificed any family time either, so mission accomplished. The only thing I didn’t do so good at this week was getting in some faster work. My average pace most days was pretty solid, but I felt like running actual workouts could push me over the top, so I figured it best just to cover the acres and leave it at that.

I was pretty tired most of the week, but nothing that got out of hand. As had been the case for a few weeks now, I’m also still battling my left calf/shin as well as my right achilles, but both actually seem to be headed in the right direction now. They were better towards the end of the week than at the beginning, and that’s after logging some pretty good mileage, so that’s a good sign.

Since I didn’t do any workouts this week, there’s not a lot to discuss in terms of specifics. Tuesday was 6 laps of ins-and-outs on the Roanoke College track, which amounts to doing 12X100m strides. Thursday was a pretty solid run up Red Lane then out to Hanging Rock and back. The course had over 1,300’ of elevation change, and while the conditions were pretty miserable with a steady-to-heavy rain most of the way, I felt pretty good and rolled out a good number of 6:40’s, all feeling pretty relaxed. Saturday was probably the best run of the week. I did around five miles on my own then met up with the RVTC group at the Ramada. After a mile or so as a group, Zac Edwards and I broke away and did the rest of the run together on the greenway, hitting mostly 6:20’s. My last ten miles were 64:28, and I was really surprised at how easy it felt and how quickly it passed by.

This coming week will probably be pretty similar to this past one. I’ve pretty well decided that I need to get through the Holidays with all the time off work, activities, and other stuff going on, then get down to business after the first of the year when things return to normal and I can get back into a routine. December isn’t going to be everything I was hoping for, but at the same time it looks like it will turn out to be a pretty solid month. I’ve been able to do enough work to lay down a good base that should serve as a nice launching pad into 2012. Hard to believe Christmas is over and 2011 is about to go into the books. Seems like the whole season passed by even faster than usual this year, possible because I really enjoyed it. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a great start to the New Year!

Training Summary: 12/12 - 12/18

2011-12-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

Mon: 6.5 miles with drills after
Tue: 10 miles hilly
Wed: 8.5 miles including turnover work
Thu: 7 miles with drills after
Fri: 9.5 miles including 20 min “good”
Sat: 6 miles
Sun: 16.5 miles
Total: 64 miles

This was a good, solid week where everything went basically according to schedule. Not that I’ve had any bad weeks lately, but at the same time, that’s the first time I’ve been able to say that in a while. Unfortunately, it’s probably also going to be the last time I can say it until after the first of the year because I have a feeling all the holiday activities over the next couple weeks will force me to employ a “do what I can” strategy. That’s ok though. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that doing too much during this time of the year when my goal is to be in shape 4-5 months down the road could be counterproductive. As is, I feel like I’m doing a nice job of maintaining fitness, maybe even building a little, while not running myself into the ground. Hopefully that will put me in a good position to go to work once things settle down a little when January arrives.

As far as how I’m feeling, all systems are go for the most part, although my lower legs could be better. I’m having a little trouble early in runs with my left calf/shin and my chronic right achilles has been a bit more annoying than usual as of late, but neither is overly concerning. Both are worthy of mention, though, and things I would like to get more on top of before the new year begins.

In terms of the details of the week, after a fairly hilly run on Tuesday, Andrew and I hit the track Wednesday night for some turnover work, including some 400’s. I still have a long way to go when it comes to redeveloping leg speed, but everything was as fast or faster than what we did the previous week and probably felt easier and smoother. It was a pleasant surprise and hopefully a sign that with enough of the right type of work I can eventually get where I want to be.

Friday looked to be a really tough day considering I would be coming off doing a big presentation at work and it was cold and pouring rain. Fortunately we made the decision to delay the start by around 30 minutes, and in doing so, we avoided the rain. The workout was basically 20/20/20, with the middle 20 minutes up-tempo. The goal was to run hard but stay very much under control, and we pretty much nailed it. We got progressively faster throughout, working all the way down to 5:36 pace for the last couple minutes, and it really didn’t feel that hard. The last five minutes was a little more strained than the first 15, but it was all controlled. Once again, it was a pleasant surprise.

I concluded the week with a solo long run from my house. It was a nasty morning, cold and windy with blowing snow flurries at times, and the course I ran was challenging, having almost 2,400’ of elevation change. That said, I cruised through it nicely. The effort was relaxed for the most part, and I felt good throughout. I squeezed the pace down a little the last three miles, running those in the 6:20’s, still feeling well within my comfort zone. The only problem I had in this run was a rookie mistake. I broke out some new shoes and made my first run in them a long run. That’s never a wise move, and I paid the price. Not far into the run at all I started feeling a burning sensation on the back of my left heel, right around where the achilles tendon inserts. I thought it had something to do with my socks, but it didn’t, and it wasn’t a blister at all. It was some sort of a “hot spot” that got really annoying by the end and unfortunately is something I’ll probably have to deal with for several days now (hopefully no more than that).

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, with this being the week of Christmas, I’m just going to do what I can do and leave it at that. I’m afraid if I push too hard I’ll put myself in a hole and perhaps miss family time as well, a sacrifice I’m just not willing to make. That said, I’ll conclude by saying I hope everyone out there has a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy it, and don’t forget the reason why we celebrate!

Brooks ID Program

2011-12-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

I received some great news this past week. I’ve been renewed for another year in the Brooks ID Program. I was first accepted back in 2007, so this coming year will be my sixth in the program. I really am honored to be able to represent such a great company and I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity to do so. I also feel very fortunate, as well as humbled, to have been renewed because I know they had many, many well-deserving runners from which to choose.

I’m sure there are instances where sponsored athletes represent the companies they do simply because they want the incentives and perks that go along with it, but I can honestly say that I would wear Brooks regardless. They make great products, whether it be shoes or apparel, and I’ve never been let down by any of the Brooks gear I’ve owned. The shoes I’m currently wearing the most, the Launch and the Green Silence, are some of my favorite shoes I’ve ever worn. If you’re looking for a lightweight trainer that can also double as a racer, check either of them out. I’m confident you won’t be disappointed.

I also love to support and promote Brooks because of what they do for our sport. Many other companies are primarily focused on the stick and ball sports, but Brooks is devoted to running and running only. This allows them to focus on making great running gear, of course, but just as importantly in my opinion is the fact they promote the sport at a grassroots level as well. Whether it be with races like the Rock and Roll Series and many other events, the Hanson’s team, the Brooks ID and Fanatics programs, or many other initiatives, Brooks gives back to the running community, which is extremely valuable since running doesn’t always get the attention other sports do yet it is one of the most accessible and health-beneficial sports there is.

Anyway, thanks again to Brooks for all they have done and continue to do for me and the running community as a whole, and here’s looking forward to a great 2012. Coming off two fractures in my foot in 2010 and having been told there was a good chance I would never again be able to train or race at my previous level, I have to call 2011 a pretty big success. I still remember vividly my first run of the year on New Year’s Day (my first run after the second fracture) and not knowing if my foot would hold up or I would wind up with the same result I had when I attempted a comeback after my first fracture. I also remember other tests like my first real workout and first race of the year and being apprehensive about those as well. I was definitely unsure of what would happen, but the one thing I was confident in was the fact I was going to give it everything I had and stay with it regardless. The end result was eleven race wins, my most in a year since 2004, and the most mileage I’ve totaled in a year since 2007 (I’m already there with 2+ weeks to go!). Sure I would have liked to have run faster and run even more, and there were times when I got discouraged and as a result grumbled when I really shouldn’t have. However, when I really think about it, I learned to appreciate the simple act of going out and covering ground on the roads, track, and trails more than I ever have and not to take for granted being able to do so. That in and of itself is a victory and a valuable lesson.

Since this is primarily a running blog, I’ll conclude by encouraging everyone to get out and run with gusto this coming year. Chase those dreams and goals, whatever they are and whether they're big or small, and I hope you exceed your expectations. Don’t let your own or anyone else's preconceived notions of what might be possible get in your way and be sure to enjoy the journey as you go. As the Brooks slogan goes, “Run Happy!”

Training Summary: 12/5 - 12/11

2011-12-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

Mon: 6.5 miles with drills after
Tue: 8 miles including 8X200 on/off
Wed: 10 miles
Thu: 7 miles
Fri: 9 miles with drills after
Sat: 6 miles
Sun: 14.5 miles
Total: 61 miles

This was another decent week where I did enough to call it a success but didn’t quite accomplish everything I was hoping to do. I fell short in two places. First, I was hoping for 11 miles in 75 min for my medium long run on Wednesday but only got in 10 in 72 min, so both the pace and distance were less than what I had planned. Then, Friday was supposed to include at least a little quality work, even if it was just 20 min up-tempo, but I bailed on that one too. In both cases it was more or less a matter of just not feeling it.

For whatever reason, I’m a bit out of sorts right now. I don’t know if it’s coming off the couple down weeks I took or just being busy with a lot of Christmas related stuff or what, but I’m having a hard time focusing and really getting into my training. It’s not that I’m not motivated to run or that I don’t want to run. I do. However, when I get started, I feel flat, tired, and dead-legged and therefore have a difficult time doing much other than just logging miles. I don’t guess that’s a terrible thing for this time of the year, but at the same time I know I need to be working on my leg turnover in the worst sort of way, and it certainly doesn’t help with that. Furthermore, it’s a little concerning, especially when I think about the much harder training to come. If I’m struggling to run 10 miles at 7:10 pace, how am I going to feel when I’m in the midst of track workouts, long tempos, etc., etc.?

Anyway, I’m hoping to get back into a rhythm soon and that things start to flow thereafter. It may be after the Holiday Season before that happens, and if so, that’s ok. Not that I probably won’t jump into an event or two between now and then, but my racing season doesn’t really resume until next April, so I have quite a bit of time before I need to be truly fit. In the meantime, I plan on enjoying Christmas and the New Year with my family, after which I can get down to business with training and start working on my weaknesses so I can make 2012 a great year of running and racing.

Training Summary: 11/28 - 12/4

2011-12-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Mon: 6.5 miles with drills after
Tue: 9 miles
Wed: 7 miles
Thu: 8 miles including 6X1 min on/off
Fri: 6.5 miles
Sat: 5 miles
Sun: 13 miles
Total: 55 miles

Nothing exciting this past week, but it was a nice transitional-type week and I accomplished what I set out to do. After a couple of down weeks, basically I just wanted to log a decent number of miles to get myself ready for more normal training, and I wanted to have a couple days where I reminded my legs of what it was like to do something other than run seven minute pace.

After a run through the cold rain on Monday, I did a good set of drills in the hallway of the Bast Center at Roanoke College. Not an ideal setting or situation for drills, but you do what you gotta do, and in spite the challenges, I got after them fairly hard and was actually kind of sore the next day. Going forward, drills will be a fairly constant part of my routine, and I’ll go into some detail on what all I’m doing later. I hope to do them twice a week, which was my goal this past week, but I failed on that and just did them once.

Thursday I did 30 minutes then went into six times one minute on/off. I didn’t want to really get after it on these but instead just wanted to remind my legs of what it’s like to run a faster pace. Based on a couple splits I got off my Garmin, I think they went fairly well, but honestly I felt winded and out of shape, which is pretty pathetic. Hopefully it was just the day and not a sign that in a couple weeks of lower quality/quantity than usual I lost a bunch of fitness.

I finished the week out with a nice 91 minute run through the hills of Botetourt with Andrew. We kept the effort and pace fairly relaxed, high-6:50’s for the most part with the last two miles in 6:46 and 6:41. I felt decent, although maybe not as strong and comfortable as I would have liked.

This coming week will be back to normal. I don’t have anything crazy on the schedule, as it’s a long way until the spring racing season really kicks off in March/April, but the prep for 2012 and the quest to get some speed back in my legs begins!

Training Summary: 11/21 - 11/27

2011-11-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 0 – Off
Wed: 0 – Off
Thu: 0 – Off
Fri: 0 – Off
Sat: 4.5 miles
Sun: 5 miles
Total: 16 miles

Well, my vacation from worked turned into a break from running and a brief reprieve from blogging as well, but the good news is I had a really good week off, including some very successful hunting which left me with a freezer stocked full of protein-packed venison. My original plan was to run most every day, but it didn’t take long for that to change. I’ve learned through years of experience that it’s just really hard to hunt and run. Getting in the woods at daylight each day, then spending hours sitting around being still, not to mention all the worked involved when you actually kill something, just makes it tough. Rather than hurt both endeavors and leave myself frustrated in the process, I decided to pull the plug on running for a few days so I could just focus on one thing. In the end, I think it was definitely the right thing to do. A few physical aches and pains I had disappeared, and I think the break did me good mentally as well.

I’ll spend this week easing back into things before gearing back up the week thereafter. Not sure yet what I’m going to focus on race wise during the winter and early spring, but in terms of training, my plan is to try to get some speed back in my legs. More to come on how I plan on going about that, but as I mentioned previously, I’ve come to the realization that I’m plenty strong enough to hold pace during races. My problem is paces that shouldn’t feel all that difficult feel way too hard and fast right now, so I’ve got to get my body used to running faster and my legs better prepared for a quick turnover rate. I think when faster paces start to feel more comfortable, I’ve already got the strength and endurance to hold together, so the two combined should lead to good race times. That’s the idea at least. We’ll see how it pans out.

For now, I’ve got three more days of vacation this week, so I’m looking forward to a short work week. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Training Summary: 11/14 - 11/20

2011-11-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 8 miles including strides
Wed: 12 mile progression run
Thu: 6.5 miles, drills after
Fri: 10 miles
Sat: 6 miles, drills after
Sun: 16 miles
Total: 65 miles

This was a pretty good week of training, much better than the last two at least! Thanks to the insanely hilly 15k the Saturday before, my quads were sore for the first couple days, but by mid-week they had come around and for the rest of the week I felt good and was able to accomplish most everything I set out to.

On Tuesday, Andrew and I did the standard 4 laps of ins-and-outs towards the end of the run, and in spite of my legs being on the tired/heavy side (see above comment about the quads), based on the mile split the strides actually turned out as fast or faster than usual, a pleasant surprise. Wednesday was supposed to be just an 80 minute medium long run, but for whatever reason I wound up turning it into an unplanned progression, getting all the way down to a 6:06 for mile 11 before easing out the last mile. The plan for Friday was a combination run, with the idea being around 30 minutes hilly followed by some light fartlek back on the flats. However, Andrew and I managed to miss a turn across the river in Salem, and in doing so got lost. We actually discovered a nice, new loop to run, but we didn't get out of the hills until the 50 min mark, so at that point we just ran it in and skipped any faster work. I concluded the week with a hilly (and when I say hilly I mean 1,199' of elevation gain) long run from my house. I threw in 5X1 min on/off starting 14 miles in, and that resulted in a last two miles of 6:12 and 6:10, feeling strong!

As I've mentioned previously, the next two weeks will likely be pretty light in terms of both volume and quality before I gear back up in early December. As a side note, I did add some drills after two of my runs this week and I'm working specifically on glute strength/firing, watching my form closely as well. I think all this will be very beneficial down the road, and it's just the beginning of an attempt to get some speed/turnover back in my legs.

I'll conclude with a big congrats to Roanoke College's Tim Smith for his 38th place at DIII XC Nationals in a personal best time of 24:50 (results here). That's gettin' it done and an awesome way to conclude a stellar season! I look forward to seeing what he'll throw down on the track this winter and spring.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Wrapping Things Up

2011-11-18T10:58:00.000-08:00

In spite of some nasty weather the past couple days, I’ve had a decent week of training so far. Easy runs on Monday and Thursday sandwiched strides on Tuesday and a solid, medium long run that turned into an unplanned progression on Wednesday. My legs haven’t been what I would call great, but at the same time they seem to have mostly recovered from this past Saturday’s hilly 15k race.

I hope to close out the week with sort of a combination run tonight where I run some hills for the first half of the run then a little light fartlek in the second half, then it will be an easy day tomorrow and a long run on Sunday. After that, the next couple weeks will be a break of sorts before I gear back up in December. I don’t plan on taking that many days completely off, but I also don’t plan on running quite as many miles as I normally do, nor do I plan on running any workouts. I’ll probably throw in a few strides here and there just so I don’t get completely stale and leave it at that.

I’m looking forward to a couple “down” weeks, but at the same time I’m already looking forward to getting back at it. This year has had a few bumps along the way, but overall I’ve been pretty consistent, especially in comparison to last year and really even the two years prior to that. I’m hoping to continue that consistency in the upcoming year and also hoping it parlays into better and better fitness as I rebuild and increase my base. I’m also looking forward to working on some weaknesses in the upcoming training block, mainly my stride and leg turnover, which I believe is the main thing holding me back right now. I’ve redeveloped the strength and endurance I need, but paces that shouldn’t feel all that difficult still feel hard/fast, and that’s something I’ve got to overcome in order to race well at the 5k to 10k distances and really even at distances up to the half marathon.

I haven’t totally figured out how I’m going to approach it, and I’ll be getting input from my coach, of course, but I’m thinking drills and specific turnover work will become a constant part of my routine. VO2 Max workouts will be necessary as well, but right now I can’t even do a good workout of that nature, so first I need to work on the mechanics and neuromuscular facilitation it takes to get there. I can’t totally explain it, but the more I’ve run strides and faster paces lately, the more aware I’ve become of this need. I’ve never been a sprinter by any means, but it’s almost like my muscles and legs don’t even remember how to run truly fast. I’m sure I probably have some muscles that aren’t firing properly (if at all), and it probably boils down to the old “use it or lose it” principle and I just haven’t used it enough for too long a period of time. That’s got to change, and I think as it does I’ll see good results.

Anyway, first things first, and that’s to finish this week off then enjoy a couple recovery weeks, the majority of which I’ll also be taking off from work. After that, let the preparation for 2012 begin! Good luck to Roanoke College runners Tim Smith and Grace England (a freshman!) this weekend as they travel to Oshkosh, WI, to run the DIII National Meet (you can watch the race live here). Also good luck to fellow Fincastle resident, Brooks ID athlete, and occasional training partner, Allie Kassens-Uhl, as she runs the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday and finally to all those who will be running the Star City Half tomorrow. Have fun, enjoy the experience, and RUN FAST!

Pipestem 15k

2011-11-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

The above elevation profile says it all. Having won the Pumpkin Run 5k once and the Pumpkin Run 10k twice, both of which are held at Pipestem Resort and State Park in Pipestem, WV, I knew running a 15k there would be a challenge to say the least. They don’t call West Virginia the Mountain State for no reason, and the park is nestled right in the midst of said mountains. Even the location of the start, a place called the “Canyon Rim Center,” where there is a steep trolley that takes you 3,600 feet down the mountain to the Bluestone River Gorge, gives you an indication of what you’re in for. Still, when all was said and done, I don’t think even I realized how tough this race would be.

Knowing running an all out 15k on a course like this would be more than I could handle right now, especially since I’ve been on the fatigued side for a few weeks and was coming off being sick as well, my plan going in was basically to use this as a long, strength/endurance workout. The goal was to run somewhere around marathon pace effort, maybe a little harder, and see where that got me. I was thinking 6:00 pace or thereabouts would be good. The weather on race morning was cool and breezy, but overall not too bad, and after driving over part of the course for a preview and warming up over another portion of it, I toed the line ready to do some work.

The start was about a third of a mile uphill, and I took it nice and easy to the top, separating myself slightly from the field as we turned left and headed downhill towards the McKeever Lodge and cabins where the first 4 miles of the course would run. I came through the mile in 5:47 and hit the next two in 6:03 and 6:02 respectively, feeling very smooth and relaxed. In fact, I remember wondering why I don’t run longer races more often because it’s nice not to feel like every step is pretty much all out like you do in 5k’s. During the fourth mile, however, I started to feel a hint of a side stitch coming on, and while it would never get bad, I would battle that feeling most of the rest of the race. To make matters worse, about the same time I started noticing the stitch, I hit the worst climb in the race, a section from 3.68 miles to 4.63 miles that had 235’ of elevation gain. Needless to say, mile 5 was slow, and mile 6 was quite challenging as well, as we hit a winding golf cart path that included a steep up and down section towards the end.

After two really slow splits in a row, I tried to get back on pace in mile 7, and I did, hitting a 6:06, but for many reasons, including the difficulty of the course and admittedly somewhat due to a lack of willingness to really push myself, I didn’t maintain and basically just wound up running it in from there. I crossed the line in a very slow time of 58:22, winning by several minutes. Per my Garmin, the course had over 1,200 feet of elevation change, and to add insult to injury, it turned out long as well. Those with Garmins had anywhere from 9.43 (mine) to 9.50. Definitely not the place to set a PR – ha, ha.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. This was a fun race, and I’m glad I went. It was part of a series the Southern West Virginia Road Runners Club put on, and I hope they do it again next year. They had some really nice, handmade awards for the series winners, and this race had some really good pizza afterward. Altogether I had a good time, and I definitely got in a good, solid workout, as evidenced by the fact that my quads were destroyed when I went to run the next morning. I was also really happy to get win number 11 of 2011. Not sure if this will be my last race of the year or not, but regardless, after only getting to run one race over a period of 17 months from November 2009 to April 2011, I’ve had a really good year this year even if I haven’t run as fast as I would have liked.

A few pics from the race are below.

Training Summary: 11/7 - 11/13

2011-11-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 8 miles including strides
Wed: 10 miles including fartlek workout
Thu: 6.5 miles
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 15 miles including 15k race
Sun: 5 miles
Total: 56 miles

This was a decent week. I would have liked to have run a few more miles, but I got in a day of strides and fairly solid workouts on Wednesday and Friday, so I really can’t complain. Also, I got my energy level back up a bit and mostly cleared whatever illness I’ve been fighting, so that’s progress as well.

As far as specifics go, I did my staple turnover work on Tuesday, running 8X100m strides in the form of four laps of ins-and-outs on the track. I feel like my stride length and leg turnover are improving, but at the same time, I have a long way to go on both. I believe there are several factors at play there, and I think if I can continue to work on this aspect of my training it will pay big dividends down the road.

On Wednesday, Andrew and I put in a light fartlek workout consisting of 1/3/5/3/1 minutes “on” with 2 minute recoveries. The goal was to run 5:40 pace, but we ended up significantly faster for each of the repeats, hitting anywhere from a fastest of 5:11 pace on the last one to 5:33 as the slowest for the 5 minute repeat. The good thing is, aside from a little breathing problems due to lingering congestion, it all felt mostly under control. I know we didn’t do a large volume of work and 5:20-5:30 pace isn’t by any means fast, but this was some of the best I’ve felt really all year running that sort of pace, so it was encouraging.

Saturday I tackled a really difficult 15k in Pipestem, WV. I knew the course would be challenging, but it was even more so than I anticipated. I felt good through 4 miles, but a variety of factors thereafter led to me basically just running it in over the second half of the race. Overall it was a good strength/endurance workout and I was happy to get win number 11 for 2011. Recap to come.

I finished the week off with a short run in Fayetteville, WV. My plan for the day was to run anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on how I felt, and I had hoped to hit the trails down towards the New River Gorge. However, the trails were thickly covered in leaves, and I didn’t want to risk rolling an ankle, especially out by myself, so I just did a short trail loop and the rest on the roads. My quads were basically destroyed from the race the day before, and even though I was feeling better as I went, I decided to make it a true recovery day and cut it at 5 miles.

I’ve got some thinking to do about what to do next and need to run some stuff by Coach Howard to get his opinion, but I’m probably done racing for the rest of the year. I won’t rule out jumping in another race or two, but as of now, my plan is to run a decent volume of mileage this week just to maintain fitness before taking it easy the two weeks after that. Those two weeks will be hunting season for me, so I’m thinking I’ll lay fairly low when it comes to running. I probably won’t take more than a couple days completely off, but most days I’ll just log 30-45 minutes at a relaxed effort and leave it at that. Then, when December rolls around, I’ll start training for 2012! Still pondering what to focus on during the first part of the year, but regardless, I’m hoping the consistency I’ve started to build this year will pay off and I’ll be able to get my race times back in the range I feel I’m capable of doing.

I'll conclude with a few shout-outs: First to Tim Smith, who finished 2nd overall at the DIII South/Southeast Region XC Championships in San Antonio, TX, this past weekend, earning a trip to represent Roanoke College at Nationals! Also to David Angell for a top-20 finish at the Richmond Marathon in a PR of 2:41:20. Dave was on 2:33 pace at 22 miles before cramps cost him 7 minutes of time, mostly in the last two miles. The marathon can be a cruel, cruel, event! Finally, to Matthew Wright for a nice PR in the half marathon at Richmond where he ran 1:21:25.

Pastimes and Passions

2011-11-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

As a fan of distance running, as well as a runner who has “been around a while,” the past few days have provided me with a major encouragement and then a disappointment. The major encouragement came this past Sunday when Meb Keflezighi set a PR in the New York City Marathon. When a guy who has been running at an elite level as long as Meb has and has faced the injury setbacks and other challenges he has over the past four years sets a lifetime PR on a tough course like New York, it shows that just because you’re not in your twenties anymore doesn’t mean you can’t still be as good or better than you ever have when it comes to distance running.

However, today, I read with disappointment that Adam Goucher needs surgery on his knee and has decided to retire from elite running (click here to read his blog post). I’ve always been a big fan of Goucher, as I think he’s one of the toughest runners the US has ever had. I also sort of identify with him both because he’s a workhorse/grinder of a runner and also because he’s had to deal with a lot of injuries throughout his career. Recently I was really happy to see him qualify for his fifth Olympic Trials by running sub-1:05 at the Philadelphia Half Marathon back in September, and I was excited to see what he could do at the marathon Trials in January in Houston. He would have been a long shot at best to make the Olympic team, but when you’ve seen him pull off the things he has over the course of his career and you know how tough and also talented he is, you know not to ever count him out. At the least he was a guy to root for as he attempted to make a comeback. I also shook my head as the message boards on letsrun blew up with negative threads about how he needed to know when it was time to retire and he was never that good to begin with, etc., etc. As supportive as the running community generally tends to be, it’s amazing how negative and judgmental some people are, even if they’re just trolling.

Anyway, since we’re all about the same age, both Keflezighi’s and Goucher’s stories give me reason to reflect on my own running and racing, something I’ve been doing lately anyway. However, the quote Goucher has to start the blog post where he announced his retirement really hit home for me: “I am not somebody who just likes to run. I am a runner. This is the difference between a pastime and a passion. I like to play golf, but I am not a golfer. I like to cook, but I am not a chef. I don’t just like to run. I am a runner. It is a passion. It is part of who I am and is woven into the fabric of my personality, character, and psyche.” I think that last sentence, in particular, applies to me. Running has become a part of who I am, and it is woven into all aspects of my life. There was a time where I would have said that I ran simply so I could compete. Now I say that it is something I will always do, whether I ever toe the line at a race or not, and the sport is something I will always be involved with in one capacity or another, always trying to share my passion with others.

So here’s wishing Adam Goucher a successful surgery and recovery, and here’s commending him for being as positive about the whole situation as he seems to be. We need people like him in the sport and I hope I can be one of those types myself. That said, here’s also hoping that I’ve still got a little Meb Keflezighi left in me! ;-)

Training Summary - 10/31 - 11/6

2011-11-07T10:55:00.001-08:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 0 – Off (Sick)
Wed: 6 miles
Thu: 7.5 miles including strides
Fri: 10 miles including aerobic intervals
Sat: 6.5 miles
Sun: 0 – Off
Total: 36.5 miles

Needless to say, not the week I was looking for. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, I generally do it up right, and this has been no exception. I started feeling something coming on last weekend (the cold, windy race probably pushed it over the top), and by Monday, I was feeling pretty bad. By Tuesday it was bad enough that I had no choice but to take the day off. I had no energy, and even if I had, I couldn’t really breathe. I got gradually better after that in terms of the amount of congestion I had, but as of typing this I’m still not clear. Furthermore, my energy level never really came back, resulting in a second “goose egg” for the week on Sunday.

Not much to recap in terms of specifics, obviously. I somehow made it through some strides on Thursday (8X100) then did a workout I probably shouldn’t have done on Friday. When you have to stop running three times during your warm-up to cough up junk out of your lungs, you probably shouldn’t be running, much less running hard, but never one to let common sense get in the way of training (lol), I tackled some intervals with Andrew anyway. We did an 18 minute w-up followed by 3 minutes at 5k effort, 3 minutes easy, 15 min at tempo, 3 minutes easy, 3 minutes at 5k effort, then a 20 minute c-down. I actually had to stop around 2 minutes into the 15 min interval to cough but managed to finally clear everything with that and had a decent workout from there on. I got some real funny looks from people walking on the greenway though – ha, ha.

Anyway, Sunday was a day that I don’t have many of, thankfully. I got up with every intention of running 16 miles, and even had my coffee and toast and started getting ready. Ultimately, however, I just couldn’t force myself out the door. My energy level was basically zero, and as a result, my motivation was lacking as well. I beat myself up over it for a while, but I knew it was the right decision and simply what I had to do. I was just too worn down to keep pressing.

So November is not off to a great start, and I think I know why. Time for some honesty. I crossed the line with my training over a month ago and followed that up with back-to-back races, a vacation where I got less rest than usual, and more hard training, including a pretty serious 19-miler, and it was just more than my body could handle right now. I not only started to feel run down, but my legs started to feel heavy and beat-up, and then I got sick, probably as a result of being tired and worn out. I’m guessing all the stomach problems I’ve had were a symptom as well. However, in spite of all the signs, I kept pressing, thinking I could beat it, and all I did was wind up digging deeper and deeper into a hole. The good news is I came to grips with all that over the weekend, hopefully this time before I did any long term (as in several weeks off due to an injury) damage. I need to refocus and be smarter. Hopefully that process will start this coming week and I’ll get back on track. Looking forward to it!

Run Happy!

Conference Champs

2011-11-04T16:40:00.001-07:00

I’m a week late with this, but time for a shout out to a couple local runners on jobs well done this past weekend.

Since I’m a little biased towards the school he competes for, I’ll start with Tim Smith (Cave Spring High) who captured the ODAC Conference cross-country title for Roanoke College in a time of 25:29. Since 1980, I know of only four runners to capture ODAC titles for Roanoke, so this puts Smith in some rare company. The other runners would be Dwayne Stover, who won an impressive three in a row (’85, ’86, ‘87), David Angell (1998), and Eric Johnson (2006). Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the race firsthand, but accounts I’ve heard all indicate Tim ran a very smart, patient race, letting other runners have their turns at the front before taking the lead late and pulling away to win by six seconds over a Virginia Wesleyan runner who ran sub-31 for 10k on the track last spring. The title earned Smith ODAC Runner of the Year accolades after he had received Runner of the Week several times during the season.

That same morning, a few states south in South Carolina where Coastal Carolina hosted the Big South Championships, Zac Edwards (Northside High) captured a conference title for Liberty University, leading his team to the overall win in the process. As opposed to Tim taking his time and letting others show the way, it appears from the 5k split that Zac controlled his race from the front, eventually crossing the line in a very impressive 23:56 to win by 18 seconds. As with Tim, the conference title earned Zac the conference Runner of the Year award, and it also lead to him being named Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Runner of the Week (the ECAC consist of 88 Div I schools). His time of 23:56 was the third fastest time in Liberty school history, just a bit behind the times of 23:49 and 23:50 run by Josh McDougal and Sam Chelanga respectively, both eventual NCAA National Champions.

Smith and Edwards will look to continue their highly successful seasons next weekend, Saturday, November 12, when they both run their regional meets with the hopes of qualifying for their respective national championships, Smith in Division III and Edwards in Division I. Smith will toe the line in San Antonio, TX, and Edwards in Louisville, KY. I’m sure results will be online and I’ll try to post an update as well. Good luck to both!

5k Spooky Sprint

2011-11-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

My original plan for this past weekend was to travel to WV to see Leslie’s grandfather and race the Pipestem Pumpkin Run while there. However, thanks to sleet, snow, and freezing rain in October (sure hope that’s not a sign of the winter to come), that plan got put on hold. That said, based on how bad I felt in my Friday night shakeout run, I thought maybe it was just as well. It wasn’t anything specific, but I felt rough. I just felt tired and run down, and by the time I finished, I had decided that I would take the weekend easy, doing runs of 20 min and 30 min respectively before getting back on schedule on Monday. As a result, I stayed up late Friday night watching my St. Louis Cardinals win their 11th World Series title and planned on running easy around lunchtime the next day.

I slept until 9:30 Saturday morning and got up feeling a ton better. After breakfast, I was sitting at the computer surfing the web and drinking coffee when the wheels started turning on racing the 5k Spooky Sprint in Roanoke that afternoon. I had seen a flyer on this race at Roanoke College and knew it had a 4:00PM start, so I started doing a little research. With the number of races remaining this year somewhat limited, I decided to give it a go.

As Saturday wore on, the temps got a little warmer, but the wind got a lot harder. By the time we made it to Wiley Drive where the race started, it was downright blustery and a whole lot colder than I expected. I headed out to warm up and didn’t feel good at all. I felt about as flat as I’ve felt in a while, similar to the night before, and as I made it back to my vehicle to change into my flats I told Leslie that I had probably made the wrong decision by racing. Regardless, I was committed now, so I had no choice but to give it my best shot and hope I didn’t have too bad of a day.

Based on the way I’d been feeling, I never intended to run this race as hard as I might ordinarily run a 5k, and with the wind howling like it was, I knew that would slow things down even more. The gun fired and a guy in a Quad Cities Marathon shirt went to the front and set a pretty solid pace. He was quickly joined by a kid who looked to be of high school age, and they proceeded to open up a gap of several strides on me. Around a third of a mile in, I was still in third, several meters back of the leaders, and I checked my watch to see I was running 5:19 pace. That was plenty fast for what I wanted to be doing, so I decided to just settle in and see how things played out.

I passed the high schooler shortly thereafter and around the half mile mark took the overall lead. From there, I was by myself the rest of the way. I wasn’t feeling great by any means, but at the same time, I wasn’t feeling all that bad and my effort was under control. I hit the mile in 5:25 and the two-mile in 10:55 and realized I had a pretty big lead. I eased off the throttle a little in the final mile, and between that and the effects of the wind, I slipped into the 5:40’s. I didn’t even attempt a kick and wound up crossing the line in 17:15. I did a nice 30 min c-down with most of the miles in the 6:40’s and actually felt pretty good. I even started to lament the fact that I hadn’t run a little harder, especially the last mile, because I was certainly on pace for a sub-17 at two miles and probably could have gotten it with a little more focus and effort. Still, I’d gone from feeling terrible and planning a couple easy days to winning a race, so I was pleased with getting in a good, solid workout and grabbing win number ten of 2011.

Later that evening, I realized I’ve had a pretty good year in 2011. By no means have I run as fast as I would have liked to and I’ve had some setbacks along the way, but I’ve been able to train and race throughout the year, and for that I should be very thankful. After all, last year I broke my foot not once but twice and was told that I might not ever be able to train and race the way I was accustomed to ever again. I’m certainly not going to give up on the idea of getting back to a point where I can challenge some of my PR’s, but regardless of whether or not I ever meet that goal, I am blessed to be able to run and compete once again. Going forward I really hope I don’t lose sight of that fact because thus far I have way too often.

Below are a few pics from the race. In the first, you can see me lined up alongside an Angry Bird (ha, ha). In the last, you will see that Tinker Bell accompanied me to the race. I should have asked her to sprinkle some pixie dust on my shoes to see if that would make me faster!

Training Summary: 10/24 - 10/30

2011-10-31T11:11:00.001-07:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 7.5 miles including strides
Wed: 10 miles including 10X1 min on/off
Thu: 6.5 miles
Fri: 5.5 miles
Sat: 11 miles including 5k race
Sun: 15 miles
Total: 62 miles

This week was a bit of a struggle. I spent most of last week digging out of a hole I dug by doing a little too much training while having a little too much fun on vacation, and I had almost gotten back on top of things by the weekend only to jump back into the hole head first by running 19 miles in just over two hours on Sunday. I expected to be dragging on Monday, and indeed that was the case, but Monday turned into Tuesday and Tuesday in Wednesday, etc. until the week was over and I was still feeling run down. This was complicated by the fact that I’ve been having stomach issues for the better part of a month now. Ever since a hill workout fiasco that will be four weeks ago this coming Tuesday, my stomach has been messed up. I’m not sure what I did, but it’s gone past annoying at this point, and I have a feeling it may be an additional part of why I’m feeling less than 100%. It’s definitely something I need to get figured out soon, and I’m going to start with a few dietary changes and go from there.

Anyway, I did some strides on Tuesday with the hopes they would shake some life into my legs before the next day’s workout. They went well enough, but I was still pretty flat for Wednesday’s fartlek of 10X1 min on/off. I didn’t run bad that day, but I definitely wasn’t able to get after it like I’d wanted. Still, including the “off” portions of the fartlek, the splits for the miles with intervals went 5:59, 6:01, 6:00, and when I got a few splits for the “on” portions they were 5:05-5:10 (some were probably slower), so it wasn’t a terrible workout, especially when I threw in solid pace for the “cooldown” to total over 10 miles in 66 min.

Thursday was an easy day, and I felt completely beat-up when I started. The first mile was pretty bad, but I did loosen up as I went and felt ok the rest of the way. Friday, however, was no better, and probably even worse. The rain/sleet mix didn’t help, but I simply had no energy at all and my legs were just tired and heavy. My plan was to race in Pipestem, WV, the next morning, but with the weather they were getting over there, that was out. I went home, told Leslie I thought I needed a couple easy days to recover, and watched my St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series. I went to bed that night with every intention of running an easy 20 min the next day and follow that up with 30 min on Sunday.

After a good night’s sleep though, I felt pretty good Saturday morning, and shortly after breakfast the wheels started turning about racing the 5k Spooky Sprint in Roanoke that afternoon (4:30PM start). Since a race was the original plan and there are only so many opportunities left to race in 2011, I decided to take a shot, and I’m glad I did. I didn’t feel great by any means, nor did I run it as hard as I might ordinarily race a 5k, but I got in a good workout and grabbed the overall win in 17:15 on what was a cold, windy day. I’ll try to post a recap by sometime tomorrow.

Sunday, I decided to go ahead and go through with a long run, and I actually felt pretty good as far as my legs and energy level went. I took it easy the first half then put a little more effort into the second, running significantly negative splits and closing the run out with a 6:26 last mile. My stomach, however, was once again uncooperative just like it had been for most of the week, so that made things less fun than they otherwise would have been.

At any rate, I managed to hit the week exactly as it was originally written on the schedule. I just didn’t do so without a few bumps along the way, which I guess is just part of the sport. If you want to achieve your goals, you have to be persistent and be willing to clear some barriers along the way. It’s not always easy, and that’s part of why I enjoy it. Of course you also have to know when to retreat, regroup, and attack again, and that’s where I’ve gotten myself in trouble more than a few times. I’m going to play this week by ear and hope for the best, but if I continue to feel worn down and my runs are on the sub-par side, I may go ahead and take a few easy days like I thought about doing over the weekend just to make sure I don’t cross the line and wind up hurt. In other words, I want to do just what Howard has been preaching to me, which is be smart and stay under control!

Happy Halloween, and happy running!

Cowart Clearing Barriers AND Breaking Through Them

2011-10-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

From time to time I like to post about a local or semi-local runner who has “done good,” and I thought I would throw up a quick post on Donnie Cowart (formerly Donnie Mikels). Cowart graduated from Rustburg High School in Rustburg, VA, in 2004 and went on to compete for VMI where he was an All-American in the steeplechase in 2009. He currently runs for the Ragged Mountain Running Shop Team based out of Charlottesville, VA.

Once he got to college, his focus became the steeple, and he’s been improving in that event and others throughout his career. However, this year in particular he’s had a breakout season. It started with a sub-14 5k during the indoor track season, when he ran 13:54 at the Husky Games at the University of Washington in February. He parlayed that into steeple success, making the final in that event at the USATF Championships, placing sixth. From there, he headed to Europe, where he set his current PR in the steeple of 8:26.38 at the Savo Games in Finland. His time was just over three seconds off the Olympic “A” standard, and he proved it was no fluke by running 8:29.72 a couple weeks later.

Cowart’s impressive performances have lead to him being selected to represent the US in international competition. He has already competed for Team USA at the Great North City Games in New Castle Gatehead, England, in the road mile, where one of his teammates was Bernard Lagat. Cowart finished sixth in that race with a time of 4:14. Today, he will represent the USA at the Pan Am Games in the steeplechase. He comes into that race with the fastest time this year of all the participants, and I will try to post a quick update once the results are up, or you can check results here. Derek Scott, an assistant coach at Liberty University, is also running for Team USA in the same race. ESPN has been showing some of the Pan Am Games so you might catch the race there at some point, but coverage has seemed inconsistent, and thus far I haven’t been able to catch any track and field coverage if there has been any.

At any rate, here’s hoping Donnie has a great conclusion to his season at the Pan Am Games, and he is certainly primed to compete for a spot on the Olympic Team next year (he holds the sixth fastest steeplechase time of all US athletes this year). He’s just one of several local athletes having great years, and I hope to profile a few others in the future. I might even see if I can interview a couple. Stay tuned.

*UPDATE*

Looks like Cowart missed the bronze medal by 22 one-hundredths of a second, finishing fourth in 8:49.97. Results here.

Brooks Pure Flow Review

2011-10-26T11:16:00.001-07:00

As everyone knows, I’m a Brooks guy, and as many know, I’ve transitioned from neutral trainers to lighter weight shoes, with the Launch and the Green Silence (read my review of the Green Silence here) being my go-to shoes right now. As a result, I was very excited a few months ago to hear that Brooks would be coming out with a minimalist line of sorts known as the Pure Project. So, when the opportunity to pre-order a pair came up, I submitted my request and anxiously awaited the arrival.

I ordered the Pure Flow, which is not the most minimal shoe of the line but the next one up, and I have now logged enough miles in them that I feel comfortable doing a review. First off, I was a little concerned when I placed my order that these shoes might not be enough shoe for me to use as a daily trainer. Even though I’ve made the switch to lightweight, very flexible shoes and had positive results with that change, all the Pure Project shoes have a 4mm heel-toe drop, which is half what the Green Silence has and about a third of what many trainers have, and they are designed to mimic running barefoot in a way. That said, I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, when I tried them on for the first time, and in particular when I did my first run in them, what struck me most was they were actually more shoe than I was expecting.

Don’t get me wrong, the Pure Flow is very light (just 8.7 oz), and very flexible. However, it’s a little firmer than I was expecting and has plenty of cushioning. This was great for me because I could tell from the first run on that I would be able to use them as a daily trainer without any problems. The ride has been great from the first stride on as well, and whereas they’ve broken in just a little and feel a touch more flexible than at first, the cushion has held up quite well. The lacing system is very traditional and effective, and as you always want to see in a shoe that lets your foot function more naturally, it has a nice, wide toebox. Also, for me, the sizing was true to size.

As far as the lesser heel-toe drop goes, I haven’t really noticed it at all. In other words, while I can tell it promotes a mid-to-forefoot landing, which is exactly what it is designed to do and what I wanted, it doesn’t really feel any different than my other training shoes (something I was concerned about at first) and I haven’t had any calf soreness or other problems after wearing them. I’ll definitely be ordering more, and might even order a pair of the Pure Connects, the most minimal shoe in the line to see how I like those.

I really can’t say anything negative about this shoe. The only thing I’ve experienced is a little slickness on wet surfaces. You can see in the photos below that there isn’t a lot of tread on the bottom (sort of like a racing flat), so when you’re on something wet there isn’t a lot of grip. It’s not a problem, just something to be aware of. Also, the Nav Band that comes up the lateral side and provides some arch support works great for me, but I have a medium to somewhat high arch, so I could potentially see it possibly being bothersome for someone with a low arch.

Overall, the Pure Flow is a VERY good shoe, and for a neutral runner to even someone who likes a little stability, I would say they would work great. Again, someone looking for a really minimal shoe might even want to go with the Pure Connects for even more flexibility. If you’re looking to transition to less of a shoe, I think the Pure Flow would be a good place to start. As I always say, it’s not for everyone and is also something you have to ease into (you definitely don’t want to go from doing all your training in a stability shoe to all in a shoe like this), but I think many runners would benefit from doing at least some of their training in a shoe like the Pure Flow. It’s a great way to get a better feel for the road as you run and it promotes a more natural, forefoot landing stride. It also helps develop foot and ankle strength and flexibility, which in turn is good for injury prevention. If anyone has any specific questions about the show, post them as a comment to this blog post and I’ll respond.

Pics are below. Note in the last one that the wear pattern has been nice and even and I have had no excessive wear.

Training Summary: 10/17 - 10/23

2011-10-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7 miles
Tue: 9 miles
Wed: 7 miles
Thu: 8 miles including strides
Fri: 10.5 miles including tempo intervals
Sat: 6 miles
Sun: 19 miles
Total: 66.5 miles

This was a rough week. I started it in a hole thanks to too much running and too much fun the week before, and I wasn’t able to dig my way out until basically the weekend. Every now and then I have to go into survival mode towards the end of a week, but this week I felt like I was in survival more from Monday on. Not a good feeling! Still, I think I salvaged things with a couple good runs towards the end, so overall I’m pleased with it and feel like I accomplished something.

As for the specifics, I had hoped to do a workout on Tuesday, but I didn’t even attempt it. I could tell by the way I felt on Monday that it just wasn’t in the cards, so I just logged some easy miles with Andrew on the greenway. Of course the last three of those “easy” miles went 6:29, 6:21, 6:28 thanks to a reason I won’t go into. I had thought about trying my Tuesday workout on Wednesday, but once again, I could tell it would be counterproductive, so I took a truly easy day in hopes I could get back on track after that.

I started to feel at least a little better on Thursday, but still wasn’t ready to do anything overly ambitious, so I did a few strides in the hopes that would jumpstart the system since I knew I would attempt a workout on Friday. The strides seemed to help, but I was still pretty tired and dead-legged while warming up on Friday and figured the workout might not go too well. In fact, I was fully prepared to bail out should it start to get ugly. However, as soon as I hit the watch for the first interval, I felt decent and actually wound up having a pretty good workout. I did 10 minutes at tempo pace, a 5 minute float (6:30 pace), then two miles at tempo. Most everything was around 5:40 and this was the first time in a while that 5:40 pace didn’t feel harder than I would think it should. I finished the workout off with a little over 3 miles in the mid-6:30’s, and those felt very relaxed. I was encouraged, especially based on how the week had gone so far.

After an easy day on Saturday where I ran faster than I thought I would based on the effort, I tackled Sunday’s long run. I had agreed to meet David Angell for his last really long run prior to the Richmond Marathon and knew coming in that he was not planning on letting the pace dawdle. I truly questioned my ability to sustain the sort of pace he wanted (high-6:20’s to low-6:30’s) for two hours but figured I would give it a shot. The plan was to run the Ramada loop twice, maybe cutting the second one a little short, and at 8:00AM we set off on what was a chilly morning. After a couple miles to get going, we were in the 6:20’s quickly then began to hit some faster than that. We rolled through the first loop in just under an hour for around 15k, grabbed some fluids, and hit lap number two. I continued to question how long I could hang, especially since we were running faster than the original stated goal pace, but I held up really well. My legs got a little tired the last 3-4 miles, but other than that I felt really solid. Per my Garmin, the first 10 miles was right at 65 minutes, and the last 9 miles was covered in 56:45 (6:18/mile). The fastest mile of the day was mile 17 in 6:06, and the overall average was 6:24. For whatever reason, my Garmin always seems to register less distance than just about everyone else’s, so Dave’s watch was actually more than a couple tenths ahead of me towards the end, meaning he had us even faster.

I was definitely pleased with this one. I haven’t done a long run at that sort of sustained pace in quite a while, and I handled it really well, especially considering I’m only around 7 weeks back into real training. This tells me that if I can stay healthy and build some consistency then I can do some good things as I begin to develop a little leg speed and continue to get fitter. In other words, it’s still in there, I just have to get it out.

As a side note, Dave went on to run four more miles, dropping the pace the last two. His overall average would have put him on 2:45:03 marathon pace with just 5k to go. Dude is fit! I hope he has a good day all the way around in Richmond in three weeks. If so, he will pop a fast one, maybe not as fast as he could since he plans to be conservative, but a fast one nonetheless.

Hopefully back to normal training for me this week. I have my next set of workouts, and thankfully the schedule calls for easy days today and tomorrow, which is just what I need after yesterday. Then I can go back to work. As I begin to see more glimpses of hope towards getting back to where I want to be, I am getting more excited and looking forward to getting down to business.

The Colony Lost and Found 5k

2011-10-21T17:55:00.001-07:00

When I learned that the only week we could schedule our fall trip to the beach would cause me to miss the annual Bank of Fincastle 5k/10k Fall Runs, I admit I was a little bummed. In spite of the fact that this course is brutal and I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the race for more than 15 years, I always look forward to racing there every October. I guess it has something to do with it being basically in my backyard and also being the first road race I ever ran. Regardless, it wasn’t going to happen this year, but I was able to do something else I’ve always wanted to do instead, run a race on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

My family and I have been visiting the Outer Banks since I was three years old, so I know the place like the back of my hand and really enjoy going there. However, I’d never been able to work things out such that I could run a race there. They generally hold a race or two a month on some part of the islands, but I just never seemed to be there when they were having one, and it’s a bit too far to make a special trip just for a race. I almost got to race in Kill Devil Hills this past spring, but that event sold out before I could enter, so once again things didn’t work out.

This trip I noticed there was a race in Manteo the second weekend we would be there, so I hoped I could finally pull it off. The one catch was the ability to travel from where we were staying on the far southern part of the islands to where the race was being held well north of there. Hurricane Irene caused several areas to be breeched by the ocean and/or sound, and one could not be repaired without building a bridge. This project took several weeks and wasn’t completed by the weekend we traveled down, meaning we had to take an alternate route and access the island by taking two different ferries. If the road didn’t open in time, the race would be out, and we would also have to take the long, alternate route home, something I wasn’t looking forward to. Fortunately the road opened on Tuesday, so for me the race was on.

After several things led to a bit of a down week the week before, I made one of the cardinal mistakes of training and tried to make up for lost time by running a little extra the week leading up to the race. This was particularly a bad idea while on vacation because my whole routine was off as well and all the ancillary things like rest, nutrition, hydration, massage/stretching, etc. was less than optimal. By the end of the week, I was feeling the results, so I knew race day might be rough.

Race morning was another early start, which didn’t help how tired I was feeling, as we headed out to make the hour plus trip north well before daylight. The race was on the island of Manteo, someplace I’d been many times but never really explored that much. In particular, the race was at Fort Raleigh, the site of the Lost Colony. I got myself registered and headed out to preview the course, which thankfully was very well marked. It didn’t take long for me to get a surprise, which was the fact that quite a significant portion of the course was on trails. Oh, and there were mosquitoes, LOTS of mosquitoes!

Outside of an area called Nags Head Woods, I really didn’t know they even had much in the way of trails on the Outer Banks, but these seemed fairly extensive at least in terms of what you would think they might be. They were a combination of woodchip and sand, some of which was actually a little deep in spots, and there were a couple sections that were actually muddy. As I ran over them I was thinking “Mud?! At the beach? Really?!?!” Regardless, it might not have been what I was expecting, but it was what it was and I would just have to deal with it.

The race lined up a little early and I had to rush to get changed into my flats and singlet. The horn to start the race sounded right on time, and off we went. I took the lead right from the beginning, with the eventual second place finisher, a guy I talked to for a minute or so just before the start, just off my shoulder. We stayed pretty close together for a third of a mile or so before I began to get a little separation. I checked my pace, and the Garmin was showing 5:17. Unfortunately, it felt a lot harder. I hit the trails pretty well clear of the field and pressed the pace as best as I could, hitting the mile in slow 5:32.

I wasn’t too pleased with my split, especially since it felt faster than that, and from there things just got slower. I admit to not pressing super hard, but at the same time I was hurting a little, so there was definitely some effort there. The trail was fairly windy as it snaked its way towards the sound, and as I mentioned before was muddy in spots with some fairly deep sand in others. Still, it was flat and didn’t seem like it would be that slow. However, I hit the second mile in a pathetic 5:51, and at that point I just went into survival mode and hoped to hang on for the win. Mile three passed in 5:48 and I crossed the line 36 seconds later in 17:48. Second place wound up exactly one minute behind.

As I headed out for my cooldown, I was happy to have gotten the win, but none too pleased with my time or the way I had felt. I had run 16:58 on a very tough course the week before and thought I was really starting to make progress. This seemed to indicate otherwise. I ran the course again and tried to take in some the scenery of the area as I pondered the reasons for not running any faster. That’s when I looked at my watch and saw I was running 7:40 pace, in spite of the fact that I felt like I was cruising along at a decent effort (in other words I wasn’t just jogging the cooldown). I never run 7:40 pace, even when taking it super easy, and especially when running at the effort I felt like I was running at, so that’s when I decided that maybe the course/surface was just slow. I later learned that the guy who finished second in 18:48 had run 17:15 in a 5k a few weeks earlier, which also seemed to indicate it was just a slow day. I also broke the course record by ten seconds, and it was held by a guy who I was told by some of the local runners is normally a 16 minute 5k guy.

At any rate, I had fun and achieved a longtime goal by getting to race on the Outer Banks. It was even nicer to get the win, and best of all, I picked up a two night stay to the Nags Head Ramada that I can use anytime between now and December 2012. That’s one of the nicest hotels on the islands, so I figure it’s worth somewhere between $300 and $400 and certainly more than covered my entry fee! I might not have run the sort of time I would have liked, but all is well that ends well, and this was definitely a good day and a nice part of what turned out to be a great vacation!

A few pics from the race are below. The first is obviously the start. The second is around the 3 mile mark. The third is me and Kaitlyn running together after the race (some of my favorite moments are running with her after the races as she has a BLAST!), and the final is a photo with a couple of the Lost Colony actors.

Hundreds of Feet Miles of Care 5k

2011-10-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

Even though it was just nine days ago, this race, and the week leading up to it, seems like a long time ago now. Gonna attempt a recap anyway though, so here goes.

My original plan for this weekend was to race the Fall Festival 5k in Vin
ton. However, when I looked for some specific info on the race on the Vinton Chamber web site a few days before the race, the start time was listed at 10:00AM. Knowing I had a LONG drive to Havelock, NC, ahead of me as soon as the race was over, and also knowing I had to get up prior to 4:00AM the next morning, that late of a start time pretty much ruled out my ability to race in Vinton and sent me scrambling in search of a different event. I was able to find two alternatives, one in Bedford and one in Lynchburg, both of which started at 8:00AM and both of which would put me closer to the destination I needed to reach later in the day. When I saw that Google Maps actually sent me through Bedford as the closest/fastest way to Havelock, that sealed the deal and Bedford it was. Of course I learned on Friday that the Vinton race would actually be at 8:00 not 10:00, but at that point I had basically worked everything out in my mind in terms of the schedule, trip, etc. and therefore I was pretty well set on running elsewhere. I would later learn that turned out to be a good decision for sev

eral reasons.

Anyway, I arrived in Bedford not really knowing what to expect. I figured some of the Lynchburg area runners might show up since Jordan Whitlock had won the race the year before, but with a race also in Lynchburg that morning, I wasn’t sure. About the time I got registered, a kid who runs for Longwood College showed up and I knew I would have some pretty good competition. I headed out to warm-up over the course, and it didn’t take long to see that this thing would be a beast. There wasn’t a flat spot on it, and the hills ranged from gradual to steep and short to long. The finish would be particularly tough, as it consisted of a long climb that got steepest towards the end, then two 90 degree turns in about a 100 meter stretch before finishing in the Bedford Hospital parking lot. At this point, I wasn’t too happy. I’d had a rough week thanks to some MAJOR stomach issues, so my lead in to this race was anything but optimal. Between that and the difficulty of the course, I really didn’t like my chances at running a fast time and wasn’t too sure how I would fare against a young college runner either.

The race started promptly at 8:00, and the kid from Longwood and another guy went out like they were shot out of a cannon. I was probably 50 meters back no more than 30 seconds into the race in spite of feeling like I was running pretty hard. They put a little more distance on me over the next couple minutes before I bega

n to hold my ground and stay about the same amount back. A quick check of my watch around the half mile mark told me I was running 5:10 pace, so I knew I was doing what I could (and needed to) do and would just have to be patient and see how things played out. When we hit the first climb of the race, the one guy faded quickly, and by the top I was in second and starting to make up some ground on the leader. He wasn’t coming back much though, so I knew I was in for a tough race.

As I got closer and closer, I could tell he was trying to up the pace to hold me off and could also tell he was starting to feel the effects of his fast start. I finally drew even right around the two mile mark, which just so happened to be right before a long, gradual climb. I figured this would be a good place to test the waters, so I put my head down and pressed the pace. He didn’t respond, and before long I had opened up a gap. At the mile, I really didn’t think I had much of a chance to win this race, but now I figured I had a shot, so I was going to give it what I had. The climb to the end of the third mile was brutal, and just before the top and the 90 degree turn towards the parking lot my quads about seized up. I might not have been running fast, but I was definitely running hard! I never lo

oked back and had no idea where the Longwood kid was, so I closed the last tenth of a mile as hard as I could (turned out to be 4:40 pace) and crossed the line in 16:58. My mile splits were 5:24, 5:27, and 5:34.

For one of the first times all year, and really in the last two years, I was truly pleased with my performance. I competed well and ran hard. I had hoped to break 17 min in Vinton on the fast course they have there, but I would have never guessed I would do it on this type of a course. My Garmin showed 313’ of elevation gain, so it was definitely anything but easy, and the Garmin also showed the distance at 3.11 miles so it was accurate as well. Furthermore, I broke the course record by 28 seconds and also won a $50 Gift Certificate to Dick’s as the prize for taking the overall win plus a $20 to Play It Again Sports as a door prize, so I covered my entry fee and then some. Definitely a good day and a nice way to kick off my vacation!

I’ll conclude by saying that at first I was a touch disappointed I hadn’t run in Vinton. I figured the same sort of effort there would have netted me something in the 16:30 range based on how much faster the course is, and that

would have been really nice, especially considering where I am in my training. I even lamented to Leslie afterward that I wished I’d gone there even though this put us farther along in our trip. However, the prizes I won helped me feel a little better about it, and a few text messages back and forth with Matthew a little later led to me feeling a lot better about it. Seems the Vinton course had some problems and wound up being short, around 30 sec by Matthew’s estimate. That means I would have probably run right around 16 min, which would have looked nice in the results, but not meant much. Guess this was just one of those days where everything worked out really well for me. Now if I could just figure out how to repeat that time and again!

Below is a pic of me grinding it out to the finish line.

Training Summary: 10/10 - 10/16

2011-10-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.5 miles
Tue: 10 miles including fartlek
Wed: 12 miles
Thu: 7 miles
Fri: 5.5 miles
Sat: 11.5 miles including 5k race
Sun: 15.5 miles
Total: 69 miles

After a bit of a down week thanks to some stomach problems (which I’m actually still struggling with to a small degree), I wound up with very solid volume this week in spite of the fact that I was at the beach on vacation. It was actually kind of nice to get up fairly early each morning, watch the sun come up over the ocean while having some coffee, knock my run out, then have the rest of the day at my disposal to do whatever I wanted. The only problem is I may have overdone it to a certain extent. I came into the week already tired from two hard days of traveling and compounded that by being out of my normal routine. I got a decent amount of rest, but my nutrition and hydration weren’t as good as they should have been, and I really didn’t do as many of the little things as I should have either. As a result, towards the end of the week I was pretty well worn down, and I’m entering this week in a bit of a hole.

At any rate, it was a good, fun week, and I enjoyed it. I’ll recap the race shortly and try to post a few pics as well. Still need to do a recap of the race I ran in Bedford too. However, I’m playing catch-up in many areas at the time being, so it may be another couple days before I’m able to get to it. I really need to focus on getting some extra recovery and doing all the little things right this week and may even have to modify my training schedule a little while I get my legs back under me. I don’t feel bad other than being tired and dead-legged, but history tells me that if I press on feeling like I do right now, a setback is just around the corner and I want to avoid that if at all possible.

Major shout-out to David Angell for his 1:08:29 half marathon this past weekend at the Heritage Half Marathon in Haymarket, VA. That’s 5:14 pace for 13.1 miles and comes just two weeks after his 51:44 ten mile PR. That’s getting’ it done!

Training Summary: 10/3 - 10/9

2011-10-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 9.5 miles including hill repeats
Wed: 6.5 miles
Thu: 7.5 miles including 8X100m strides
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 11 miles including 5k race
Sun:6.5 miles
Total: 52.5 miles

At the beach this week, but it's a rainy day, so thought I'd get up a quick training summary from last week. Otherwise posts will likely be few and far between until next week.

This week was a bit of a bust, starting with Tuesday's hill workout. I hit Mill Mountain for 6X2 min with jog down recovery, and my legs really weren't feeling it right from the start. My legs, however, turned out to be the least of my problems. My stomach wasn't in great shape when I started, and by the time I got about halfway through, I was hurting. I managed to finish off the workout, but I think I did more harm than good. I was 10:00PM that night before I could eat or drink a thing, obviously less than optimal recovery after a hill workout.

Wednesday was supposed to be 75 minutes, but my stomach was still a little shaky, and between that and the lack of rest the night before, I knew I'd never make it that long. I was hoping for an hour, but that was a no go too. I was lucky to make it through 45 minutes and tore my stomach up again in the process. Not fun!

Thursday, Matthew and I did some strides towards the end of the run. After around 6 miles, we hit the track for 4 laps of ins-and-outs. I still wasn't feeling great, but they went well enough, as we hit the mile in just under 6 min. Stomach aside, however, I could tell I'm really lacking in that sort of work. It's almost like a neuromuscular thing where my legs have a hard time remembering how to run that sort of pace.

Saturday I hit the Hundreds of Feet Miles of Care 5k in Bedford. I'll try to get up a recap later. I had originally planned on racing in Vinton, but after seeing a 10:00AM start for that race on the Vinton Chamber's web site, I started searching for an alternative because that was way too late for me since we would be making a long drive to the beach that afternoon. The course was extremely hilly (313' of elevation gain), and based on that and an obviously less-than-optimal lead up, I was pleased to get the win in 16:58.

I finished the week on Sunday with yet another day that did not go as scheduled. After getting up at 5:00AM Saturday morning and 3:30AM Sunday morning, spending a ridiculous amount of time in a vehicle over those two days, and poor hydration/nutrition to boot, I decided attempting a long run would likely do more harm than good, so I just did a maintenance/recovery run after arriving in Avon, NC, mid-day. I felt decent enough all considered, but I wouldn't have wanted to do any more.

This week might not be much either. It's always a challenge to train hard while on vacation, and it sort of defeats the point of vacationing to even try. As a result, I'll do what I can and see what happens. The race on Saturday showed me things are definitely headed in the right direction and that I've made a lot of progress over the last 5-6 weeks, so if I just have to hold steady for a couple weeks that'll be okay for now. Off to resume my vacation, because a rainy day at the beach > a sunny day at work!

Training Summary: 9/26 - 10/2

2011-10-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 11 miles hilly
Wed: 6 miles
Thu: 14 miles w/ 20 min up-tempo
Fri: 7.5 miles
Sat: 7 miles
Sun: 16 miles
Total: 68 miles

I’ll call this my best week of training of the year so far. I hit solid volume and got some good quality work accomplished as well. Most importantly, I felt good doing it. This is the sort of training I need to do in order to get where I want to be. I just have to be able to do it week after week, month after month, and even year after year to build the consistency I so desperately need. If I can do that, it might take a while, but good things will happen!

Tuesday I tackled the Hanging Rock loop via Red Lane and Polar and pretty much leaned on the pace from about the second mile on. I never got down to what I would call tempo effort, but I was definitely doing some work and wound up averaging 6:15 for the last 8 miles and 6:25 for 11 total. The 6:25 was 26 sec per mile faster than I had averaged over the same loop (actually a shorter version) a month before, so that showed me how far I’ve come over the past few weeks.

Thursday was a workout I’d been a touch nervous about since I saw it on the schedule three weeks earlier. I’ve done some mid-week medium long runs in the 80 min range quite a few times, but I haven’t done many longer than that, so I knew 90 minutes with 20 of it up-tempo would be a challenge, especially when my longest run in the past 3+ months was just 15 min longer than that. I handled it really well though, and thankfully Matthew joined me to give me some help. I cruised through the first 30 min at 6:56 pace, ran the next 20 min at 5:56 pace, then finished off the last 40 min at a 6:30 average. Overall I covered just short of 14 miles at an average pace of 6:30/mile, and what was surprising is I only started to feel it in the last five minutes or so. Otherwise it all seemed pretty easy.

By Friday my legs were feeling somewhat tired and heavy from the work of the previous few days, so I had one of a very few runs over the past 5-6 weeks that felt a little more difficult than it probably should have. I was still feeling a bit flat on Saturday, so I threw in 6 strides towards the end of that run in the hopes of loosening up some. Those actually felt pretty good and I think I turned my legs over fairly well, at least for me for right now. Sunday, Matthew and I did the Wildcat Holler loop in Fincastle, which is a very hilly 8.5 miles then picked up Allie to help her out with 7-8 miles of marathon pace work. I wasn’t feeling too good the first hour, but after we picked the pace up I started to feel better. The last 8 miles were at a 6:33 average with the last couple in the 6:20’s, all feeling quite comfortable. I was surprised at how strong I felt at the end, especially considering the overall run had over 1,500’ of elevation gain. I might also add that Allie should definitely be ready to roll in Philly next month!

Anyway, that was the week. I feel pretty good about it and know that if I can continue to do this sort of work, I will make progress. I might not pop off any fast race times in the near future, but within a few weeks to months, my fitness should be higher than it’s been in a long time and eventually that will translate into good things happening. Big shout out to David Angell for popping off a 51:44 ten miler this past weekend in Richmond, winning the Capitol 10-Miler for the second year in a row and setting a PR by roughly 30 sec. Dude is fit! Oh, and speaking of fit, Ricky Flynn, former DIII runner from Lynchburg College, ran a 1:04:15 half marathon this past weekend (that’s 4:55 pace for 13.1 miles) to qualify himself for the Olympic Trials Marathon. That performance came just 8 days after running 50:40 in the Virginia Ten Miler, which those who know that course can attest to how impressive that is. Finally, Zac Edwards, former Northside High runner, won his second XC meet in a row for Liberty University, taking the title at the Charlotte Invitational in 24:08 for 8k. We’ve got some fast runners in the area!

Bell Lap of 2011

2011-09-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today puts September in the books, and three quarters of 2011 is done. Seems like it’s flying by. This was probably my best month of training this year. I ran about five more miles in April, and I had weeks in both April and May where I ran some harder/faster workouts, but this month was better mainly because of the way I felt. In April and May I was starting to feel worn down and beat-up. I was dragging through a lot of runs, downright dreading some of them, and while I was making some progress, it’s no big surprise I wound up hurt shortly thereafter. In looking back, I just didn’t have the base under me, and while the track workouts I did gave me some quick, short-term gain, in the long run (no pun intended) they were counterproductive.

Another problem I had in the spring was a general lack of direction. I didn’t really have a plan, but instead I was making stuff up week-to-week, and really even day-to-day, and that’s rarely a recipe for long term success. I wasn’t very confident either. When you lack direction and things aren’t going all that well on top of it, it’s easy to start questioning what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Before long, that starts to sap the fun out of it and it all becomes a downward spiral.

Fast forward to now, and I’m currently running with a lot of confidence, not because I’m doing any incredible workouts or demonstrating a ton of fitness, but because I believe I have a long term plan in motion that will eventually get me back to the level where I want to be. It may take a while, but as long as I do things the right way, I feel like it will happen, and I’ve had some glimpses to help confirm that. For example, Tuesday night I ran the Hanging Rock loop via Red Lane and Polar, a course that’s about as hilly as they get. I’d done this loop exactly four weeks prior, averaging 6:51 per mile for an hour worth of running. Tuesday I averaged 6:25 per mile (6:15 for the last 8 miles, including one sub-6) off a very similar effort. Last night, I did 90 min with 30 min to 50 min up-tempo. I averaged 5:56 for the up-tempo section, feeling pretty darn controlled, then averaged 6:30 for the last 40 min, hitting just short of 14 miles for the hour and a half of running.

This time last week I was pretty nervous about racing again and basically totally lacking in perspective. Fortunately I think I’m working my way past that. I’ve started to accept that over the next few months, and maybe even beyond that, I will likely have some disappointing performances where I race times that are slower than I used to do tempo runs for the same or even longer distances. That’s fine. I’m going to refuse to be embarrassed, get down on myself, or get discouraged. I'm also not going to let my own expectations, or those of others (real or imagined) get the better of me. Instead I’m going to take each race and workout for what they are, steps in the process and something to have fun with and appreciate being able to do. After all, this time last year I was only a couple weeks from my second broken foot of the year. I’ve lost a ton of time over the past several years and I’m not going to gain all that fitness back in a short period of time. It’s going to take many months of consistent training and clearing a lot of hurdles and bumps in the road in the process. However, there’s only one way to find out what’s left in me, and that’s to jump in and give it what I’ve got. Here’s looking forward to the last quarter of 2011 and beyond. Time to do work!

Fired Up For A Cure 5k

2011-09-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

Warning, this is a long recap based on everything that happened. Here goes:

You never know what you’re gonna get with a first year event. Sometimes they go off smooth as silk, and other times not so much. The Fired Up For A Cure 5k/10k this past weekend in Roanoke was a combination of the two. Overall they did a great job with it. The race was only part of the day’s festivities, and they had some really good activities that the whole family could enjoy. Kaitlyn (and Leslie too I think) had a blast participating in the various things they had set up. It was a good, fun atmosphere, and it certainly benefited a good cause, so in spite of a few snafus, I would go back next year. Furthermore, with a few small adjustments, this could be a really good race as well.

To my own discredit, I arrived about 10 min later than I would have liked and quickly discovered there was a long line for registration (they had a really solid turnout). Once I made my way up to the table, I heard them say that the guy right in front of me got the last t-shirt. Also, they were out of entry forms, so they were having to hand write everyone’s info on a piece of paper. Hmmmmmm. Things weren’t off to the best start, but oh well. I signed up for the 5k and made my way back to my vehicle so I could head out for a warm-up.

At this point it was only about 30 min to race time, so I knew I probably didn’t have time to run the whole course as I generally like to do for 5k’s. There were course maps available at the registration table, and I had studied one to the best of my ability, but the way they were done you couldn’t really read any street names and the middle of the 5k course looked somewhat confusing. Based on that, I was a little concerned, but as I began to run the first part of the course, I could see there were arrows down on the street, and once I got to 2nd Street they had an entire lane blocked off by cones as well as volunteers already out on the course, so I started to feel pretty good that everything would be fine. For my warm-up, I went out nine minutes then turned around and ran back the same way. In hindsight, it’s too bad I didn’t go just a couple minutes farther, but like I said, I didn’t think I had the time to do so.

Once back, I changed into my flats and singlet, somewhat hurriedly since start time was less than ten minutes away, and I got over to the start as quickly as I could. I hadn’t been there long at all when Josh Gilbert, who was timing the event, grabbed a megaphone and told the crowd that the start of the race was going to be delayed until 9:15. No reason as to why was given, but this wasn’t good. It was a somewhat cool, cloudy morning, and I was all warmed up, so I knew it would be hard to stay loose while at the same time not expending too much energy. I decided to make good use of my time by going to look at the course map again, but as with every other time I’d looked at it, it didn’t really help, even though I’d run part of the course now. I talked with a guy I knew who was running the 10k, and he told me he had tried to run the 5k course that morning and had gotten “turned around” on the middle part in spite of the fact that he had a course map with him. I responded by telling him that I was already concerned and he wasn’t making me feel any better, but I was hoping there would be markings and/or volunteers at the spot he got confused and maybe that was why the start was being delayed.

After a bunch of strides (some of which were with Kaitlyn, something I truly enjoy), and some other various attempts to stay loose and focused, it was finally time to get going. The race started with the sound of a horn, and off we went. I grabbed the lead immediately, only to be joined by a couple guys after about 200 meters. These guys looked fairly fit, so I just tried to settle in and see what would happen. Having not raced or done any faster work in basically three months, I had no sense of pace, but a quick look at the Garmin showed 5:14 pace, so I figured I was running fast enough. After a third of a mile or so, I took the lead back and began to pull away quickly. By the half mile point I couldn’t hear anyone behind me, and a little bit past that was a 90 degree turn that gave me a chance to do a quick look over the shoulder to see that it was just me and the motorcycle cop (which I briefly passed in the turn – ha).

The first mile contained several climbs, so I put my head down and pressed the pace. I wasn’t feeling all that smooth, but at the same time I was feeling good, and I hit the mile in a relatively controlled 5:24. Somewhere right around that point the 10k course broke off to the right and the cop stopped there to pick up those runners. That left me all by myself as I headed towards downtown. It wasn’t long until I was running down the bridge towards the Roanoke Times, and I could see the cones on the course ended at the intersection of 2nd and Salem Ave. I could also see there was no volunteer there or any arrows on the road. Not good, and I started to get pretty concerned again, but fortunately when I got to the intersection I could see some cones set up on Salem, so I turned right. Unfortunately, those cones ended a block later and there was nothing – no cones, no volunteers, no arrows, no anything, and therefore no clue which way to go. Options were straight, left, or right.

Initially I ran a little past the cones, but I saw nothing and didn’t really think the course could head too far that way based on how far I had already run. I headed back, scanning the street and surrounding area for some clue, but there was nothing. I went back in my cooldown afterward to make sure I hadn’t missed something and confirmed that indeed the course was simply not marked at all. Those who know me well can imagine the tirade I went into at that point, which fortunately probably only a couple homeless people heard. I finally decided that the race was just over and turned to run back the way I had come. About that time, the second place guy rounded the turn and I threw up my hands and told him what the deal was. He exclaimed “What?!?” and said he had no idea where to go either. Luckily the third place guy came along shortly after that, and he knew the course, or at least guessed correctly. He told us to turn right where the cones ended, then told us to turn right again when that street came to a “T.” I did as instructed, and not too far after the second right began to see arrows again. We were now back on the 10k course and it was marked and/or staffed with volunteers perfectly the rest of the way.

I started to run hard again, but my rhythm was totally broken and my motivation was now lacking because I knew any chance I had to run a decent time was gone. I could also tell I was pulling away quickly again and the win would be mine as long as I could finish. Of course that in and of itself made me run a little more hesitantly than usual because I kept wondering if there would be another spot on the course where I would get lost again.

In any event, I made it back to the Civic Center with no additional problems and negotiated the 90 degree turn and the steps at the end to cross the line in 18:06. Yes, I said steps at the end. You had to run up the steps in front of the Performing Arts Theatre because Civic Center officials did not want to block the road with a finish chute. That would have made for an interesting “sprint” finish had there been one.

I was disappointed that I didn’t get any real indication of my fitness and a bit aggravated with what had happened since it could have easily been prevented with a couple arrows, a few extra cones, or just one volunteer, but I was happy to get the win and even happier that I felt good during and after. That was the most important part. I cooled down with about 5 miles, most of which were right at 6:50, and felt ok about the day. I later learned from Josh that he wasn’t given the sheet they were hand writing the race-day entries on, which created some havoc for him with the timing. Also, I was told the 10k course was significantly long (I think the 5k would have been very close had I not run a little extra searching for which way to go).

Anyway, like I said, that was a long recap simply because of everything that happened. Again, overall this was a fun event, of which the race was only a part, and they did a good job with it. I hope I didn’t come off as being negative as far as that goes. There were definitely numerous snafus when it came to the race, but all of them could easily be corrected (order more shirts, print up more registration forms, mark or staff the one small section of the 5k course that was unmarked, change the finish to avoid the steps, etc.) and the majority of the problems very few people probably even knew about. I hope they’ll make a few adjustments and do it again next year. What could I have run had there been no issues? I’m honestly not sure. I would guess I lost around 30 seconds at the unmarked spot and then probably lost some time after that from not running as hard as I would have and could have if not for the screw-up. I would guess 17:15-17:20 range, give or take, which isn’t great, but at the same time wouldn’t be that bad running solo on a fairly hilly course after just three weeks of real training and no faster work. All I can do is take it for what it is and go back to work, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing, trying to be a little more positive in the process!

Training Summary: 9/19 -9/25

2011-09-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 11 miles, hilly, pushing the ups
Wed: 6.5 miles
Thu: 9 miles hilly
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 10.5 miles, including the Fired Up For A Cure 5k
Sun: 13.5 miles
Total: 62 miles

Another really good week in the books. I almost hesitate to say it (knock on wood), but I’m feeling 100% now, and my strength is coming along quite nicely for just 3-4 weeks of real training. The race on Saturday showed me that I’m still somewhat lacking in the ability to run faster paces, but I’m confident that if I stick to the plan and build some consistency over a period of several months, not just weeks, that will eventually come around.

For workouts this week, Tuesday was “70 min hilly, push the ups,” so I did a version of the Hanging Rock loop from Roanoke College, and it was definitely a challenge. After a mile or so to loosen up, I went to work, and with the exception of a couple extra hilly ones, I was hitting miles in the 6:15 range consistently. I was pretty well worked by the end, but managed to go 64 flat for 10 miles, which I felt pretty good about.

Thursday was another hilly run over parts of the old Star City Half Marathon course. Knowing I would be racing on Saturday, I tried to keep the effort somewhere between easy and “leaning” and did a pretty good job for the most part, running 6:40’s through 5 miles. I got a little carried away after that though, going as fast as a 6:06. Still, it was all relatively comfortable and gave me an indication of how far I’ve come over the past few weeks.

Saturday was the Fired Up For A Cure 5k in Roanoke, which I won in 18:06. As I e-mailed Howard after, “Before you see results and think I’m really out of shape, let me just say that I am. However, I’m not 18:06 for 5k out of shape.” Recap to come within the next day or two, but suffice it to say my time means nothing, and while overall they did a good job with this race, there were several first-year snafus that made it interesting.

I finished the week off with a little over 90 minutes in Fincastle with Matthew and felt pretty good for coming off the race the day before. My legs were a little tired, but there was no soreness to speak of, and I felt strong throughout. With the exception of the first couple miles and a couple really hilly ones in the middle, we were running 6:40’s, and I felt nice and relaxed at that pace.

This week will be a challenging one. It’s still all strength based with no real intervals (although I do have some pushes to do), but it definitely contains the most work I’ve done in a while. I’ve been responding very well to this sort of work so far and my body has been ready to run each and every day, so I’m looking forward to it. That which does not kill……

Half Empty

2011-09-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

I use this blog for a variety of purposes, including the simple fact that I like to write, but from time to time it serves as a journal and is almost therapeutic for me to write out my thoughts. So, in the way of a warning, here comes one of those “insight into the mind” posts, and yes, I’ve been told many, many times that I think way too much, especially when it comes to running!

I’ve come to the conclusion that my own expectations for myself, and to a certain extent those I know others have for me as well, often get the better of me and make me into my own worst enemy. Over the past few days I’ve been fighting this battle as I have so often in the past. A month ago I was just beginning to run consistently again after spending three months battling my calf, and in looking at my log, I was just happy to be running pain-free again and completely fine with struggling to run 7:15/mile pace. However, here I am less than four weeks later already concerned with what sort of times I can hit should I toe the line at a race.

Sometimes it gets to the point where I just want to stop racing altogether, simply because of the pressure I put on myself to perform up to a certain level regardless of the circumstances or where I might be in my training. I enjoy training and getting fitter, but instead of looking at races as a reward for all the hard work I put in and an opportunity to do something great, I look at them as another chance to embarrass myself. I’ve tried and tried to overcome this mentality, because I know it’s not only counterproductive but downright silly as well, but I’ve never been able to beat it, and to be honest, I’m almost to the point where I’m going to give up trying.

The past three weeks of training have gone better than I could have hoped for. I’ve seen myself go from struggling to run sub-7 min miles and really being spent to finish “long” runs of 11 and 13 miles to nailing super hilly runs at a sub-6:30 per mile average and feeling strong throughout. In looking back at my log, I’m not so sure that my strength isn’t better right now than it was when I was at my fittest in the spring, even though I’ve only been back at it for a short period of time. Furthermore, earlier this year, I spent a lot of time dead-legged and with my legs feeling on the brink of injury, whereas now I’m ready to run each and every day and don’t feel the least bit beat-up. I’ve missed doing the type of work I’ve done here lately, and I can see and feel the progress I’m making. Finally, I’ve now more than doubled the total number of miles I ran in 2010, and if stay healthy over the remainder of this year, I should hit my highest total since 2007. All these are very positive things!

So, I should be feeling pretty good about where I am and how things are going, and to a certain extent I do. However, as I consider resuming racing, my entire thought process, mood, and outlook changes. Whereas I should be excited that I’m healthy and able to compete again and not the least bit worried about my time and where I finish, inevitably the pressure and my own expectations start to haunt me. I don’t do all the work I do to sit on the sidelines on race day, and I know I need to race to get good feedback on my training. I’m also a highly competitive person (probably to a detriment), and racing is my outlet, but, all that said, it’s really not much fun as is.

Anyway, I don’t have any grand conclusion or positive thoughts to wrap this up. Like I said, it’s basically just me typing out my thoughts. Am I a head case? Absolutely, but ultimately it’s something I have to deal with and decide whether or not it’s worth it, especially as I get older. College freshmen are literally less than half my age now, and whereas they’re going to get faster as they get older, I’ll be dealing with the opposite of that. I will always run for the health benefits of it and simply because I enjoy it. However, when it comes to the racing aspect of the sport, I need to learn to do it for myself, be satisfied in accomplishing personal goals however big or small they might be, and enjoy it for what it is, or I need to walk away. I honestly feel like I still have some really good racing, and maybe even some PR’s left inside me. I just don’t know if I have what it takes to get there anymore, but, for now, the battle will continue.

Training Summary: 9/12 - 9/18

2011-09-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

Mon: ~6 miles
Tue: ~9 miles hilly
Wed: ~6 miles
Thu: ~10.5 miles hilly
Fri: ~9 miles
Sat: ~6 miles
Sun: ~15.5 miles
Total: ~62 miles

This may have been my best week of training this year (which would by default also make it my best week since May 2010 – ha, ha). If not, it was close. I had weeks in the spring where I ran more miles and weeks where I did more quality work, but what made this week so good was the way it all came together. The volume was solid, I had three good quality runs, and most importantly I felt good doing it. The last of those three things is the main reason I say this may have been my best week of the year. Not only was I fine from an aches and pains standpoint, but I was ready to run each and every day. Sure I was a little tired here and there, but I never felt beat-up or worn down and never had a point where I didn’t feel like I could have run harder/faster if I had so desired. That’s a big deviation from where I’ve been many times recently when quite honestly I just wanted to get runs done (or skip them altogether).

As far as the quality work went, I hit the hills across the river in Salem on Tuesday and had a solid run, working the climbs and leaning on it for the downhills and flat sections. Thursday I did the old Star City Half Marathon course with Matthew. I stayed quite comfortable through around 8 miles, which meant 6:30’s and :40’s for the most part. After that I picked the effort up a touch, although I stayed very much under control. That amounted to a 5:43 for mile 9 (mostly downhill) and sub-6:20 after that. I finished the week off with one of my favorite long run loops, Lee’s Gap in Fincastle. This loop is not quite 15 miles, and while it’s rolling throughout, it’s predominantly uphill for the first 8+ miles and net downhill from there to the finish. Matthew joined me again, and we kept the pace honest through nine miles (6:50’s with lots of climbing) before picking it up a little for the next four (6:30’s and :40’s). At 13 I decided to press it a little and ran a 6:22 14th mile followed by a 6 flat for mile 15. I was 5:57 pace nine tenths of the way through that mile and was kind of ticked that I didn’t go sub-6, lol. I didn’t cross the line in terms of effort though, so I did what I needed to do.

I’m sure I have no speed right now or ability to hit 5k/10k pace, but my strength is really starting to come back and I’m very pleased with the direction things are headed. I’ve missed doing the type of work I’ve done the past three weeks, and it’s already starting to pay off. I can feel myself getting fitter, and like I said before, I’m doing so without feeling like I’m digging myself into a hole, which is a problem I’ve had for a while now. My confidence is also growing, even though as I just mentioned I know I’m not ready to go and race fast right now. It will come though. Might be later than sooner, but that’s alright. I’d rather do things the right way and take longer to get race fit than get in okay (but not great) shape fairly quickly only to wind up hurt again.

I’ve got more of the same on tap for this week with solid, hilly runs on Tuesday and Thursday then perhaps an interesting ending to the week. More on that later. Have a good week, all!

Chasing the Dream

2011-09-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

I ran across this blog post by Adam Goucher yesterday, and it struck a nerve. As many of those who read this blog of mine know, I’ve always been a fan of Goucher, at first because he was one of America’s best and one of the toughest runners I’ve ever seen, then more because he sort of reminds me of myself. He’s on a completely different end of the talent spectrum, of course, but the more I learn about him the more I feel like he and I have a lot in common, with the most obvious comparison being all the injuries we’ve both endured and the likely reason for those injuries (which he mentions in the blog post linked above). We’re the same age as well, putting us at about the same points in our running careers at all times.

What struck me in his most recent post is what he said about the point in time where his dream became an expectation and that basically drained the joy out of his running. I can almost pinpoint a time in my running where this same thing happened to me. I remember when I was happy winning my age group and running a decently fast time. I was ecstatic if I actually finished in the top three overall at a race and even more so if I ran a personal best time in the process. However, as I continued to improve, I started to win races and run times I never even thought possible previously. As a result, I remember showing up at races and people saying “Well, there’s the winner.” It was great that I’d earned that sort of reputation, but at the same time it came with a lot of pressure. What if I didn’t win? What if I ran slower than usual? What would people think, say, etc.? How would I respond when they asked what happened? What about my training partners, coach, and all those who supported me, particularly my wife who knew the sacrifices associated with training and racing at my best? I didn’t want to disappoint them.

So, in response to all that, I did a couple things. First, I decided the best way to respond to the pressure was to make sure I was always ultra-prepared for every race I did. In other words, train like a madman with the hopes of minimizing the chances of a bad performance. Second, I stopped taking as many risks. If you jump in a big race that you might not be as prepared for as you would like, and as I’ve said before with my mindset I was never as prepared as I would like, you might get beat or not run as fast as the expectations, your own and those of others. This, of course, led to two outcomes. The training like a madman got me injured, repeatedly, and the avoidance of risk meant there were plenty of times where I was likely fit enough to set a PR but didn’t race because I was trying to make sure I was even fitter.

Putting all this out there is a little embarrassing, and it’s made even sillier since running has never been anything more than a hobby for me, but I do it for a couple reasons. One is my own accountability. As I said in my last post, I’m as focused as I’ve been in years and feel like I still have a shot to do some good things in running before I’m done. I don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. I don’t want to let pressure to succeed cause problems that ultimately do me in, and I don’t want to avoid taking risks even if that means falling short from time to time. The other reason I say all this is maybe somebody out there reading this will be like me reading Goucher’s post. If so, don’t make the errors he and I made. This might sound corny, but chase whatever dream you have with unbridled enthusiasm and be sure to enjoy the journey along the way. Oh, and here’s hoping Gouch crushes it this weekend in Philly and goes on to shock the world at the Olympic Trials. If you’ve followed his career like I have, you know to never count this guy out, and hopefully that’s one more thing he and I can have in common!

Training Summary: 9/5 - 9/11

2011-09-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

Mon: ~6 miles
Tue: ~9 miles hilly
Wed: ~6 miles
Thu: ~7 miles
Fri: ~9 miles hilly
Sat: ~5 miles
Sun: ~15 miles
Total: ~57 miles

Week two of being back on it and it went very well. From an injury standpoint, I seem to be good to go for the most part. I say “for the most part” because my calf still feels a little weird from time to time. It no longer hurts at all, but every now and then it almost seems like it’s a little weak. The good news is it doesn’t limit me at all, and I guess when I think about it, it would be logical that it might be a little weak based on being injured for close to three months. I’m still doing my strengthening exercises along with lots of stretching and other treatment, so I hope to have the whole ordeal nothing but a distant memory soon.

In terms of my workouts, I’m fully in a strength-building mode, meaning no intervals, just a decent volume of work with some very hilly days thrown in here and there. For example, Tuesday I did the Hanging Rock loop from Roanoke College via Red Lane and Polar. I knew this would be hilly, but it was even more so than I expected. When all was said and done, I had climbed over 1,250’ for a net elevation change of over 2,500’, and done so at a decent pace. Friday I hit the Wildwood Loop at a solid effort, and that turned out to be an even better day. It wasn’t as hilly, but I got all the way down to 6:02 for mile 7 before I purposefully backed out the last couple miles so as to not overdo it. I concluded the week with 15 miles in 1:41 and change (including a last mile of 6:18) over the hills of Fincastle with David Angell, who was coming off a 31:56 10k PR at the Eastman 10k in Kingsport, TN, the day before (big props there as he won the race by well over 2 min and dropped an insanely fast last mile to dip under 32 min!).

To sum up my training right now, basically I’m leaning on the pace on the longer (and hilly) days and taking it very easy the other days. This seems to be working well because I’m feeling (and seeing via my splits) progress in my fitness level, but at the same time I’m not feeling tired or beat-up. The basic idea is to start from the ground floor and do a complete build-up, starting with getting a nice, solid base so that when I add faster work down the road it will not only benefit me more than if I didn’t have that base but my body will also hold up and not get hurt. This means short term sacrifice in that I probably won’t run any times that are even semi-fast this fall in favor of long term gain in the form of staying healthy and running really fast this coming spring and beyond. I feel really good and confident in the plan (which is exactly what having a coach will do for you) and I’m actually probably as focused as I’ve been in quite a while, maybe even a few years. I know what I want to do, have a plan to get there, and I’m ready to do what it takes, even when that might not necessarily be what I would like to do.

That’s all folks!

Brooks Green Silence Review

2011-09-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Having made the decision to transition the majority of my training from neutral trainers like the Glycerin and Defyance to lighter weight shoes like the Launch (a favorite of mine since they came out), I purchased a pair of the Brooks Green Silence, something I’d been intending to do for a while, albeit with using them as a racing flat rather than a daily trainer in mind. Now that I’ve logged some miles in the shoe, here are my thoughts.

When you first lay eyes on this shoe, it has racing flat written all over it, and at just 6.9 oz, certainly it’s quite suitable for that purpose. In fact, I think it would make a great 5k to half marathon shoe for a lot of runners, and going forward I will likely use it myself for races over 10k (for 10k and under I LOVE the Brooks T Racers). There’s almost nothing to the upper (light material with minimal stitching and few overlays), and between that and the lacing system (which I will discuss later), it’s almost sock-like. However, as I headed out for my first run, what struck me was how much cushioning it had for such a light shoe. This was great for me, since my hope was to use it as a daily trainer. My only concern then became whether or not the cushion would hold up over time or break down quickly, and I’m pleased to say that the shoe has held its cushion quite well as the miles have accumulated.

The ride itself is really comfortable. The sole is very flexible, which means the transition from landing to toe-off is quite smooth. The heel-toe drop is 8mm, which is a little less than most trainers, which come in at 11-12mm. This encourages more of a mid-to-forefoot footstrike vs. landing on the heel, something I think is good since it’s more natural. Put all that together with the light weight of the shoe, and it just feels fast. It’s also really breathable thanks to the aforementioned light upper, and the toe box is roomy. Finally, the shoe fits true to size for me.

As far as negatives, I don’t have any to speak of. The lacing system did throw me at first. As you can see in the pics below, it’s not conventional, and the tongue is actually integrated into the upper, which is definitely different. There aren’t the eyelets that most shoes have, and when the laces are tied up, they’re quite close together, particularly down at the bottom. That said, I haven’t had any trouble with them (I do have to double-knot or they tend to come untied on me), and I think the lacing system does contribute to the sock-like fit of the shoe, which is something I like. Also, as you may be able to see in the pics, I’ve experienced some wear in the forefoot. That’s pretty typical of shoes that fall in the racing flat category, however, and the wear has been even and not what I would classify as excessive at all. In fact, the shoes in the pics have some pretty significant mileage on them and still feel quite good when running, meaning I think they have a decent amount of life left in them. I think I can get 300-350 miles out of a pair, which isn’t bad at all, and some people would probably be comfortable putting even more miles on them, while others might want to go a little less.

Overall, this is a great shoe for both training and racing. With the 8mm heel-toe drop and very flexible, yet cushioned ride, it would also be a good shoe for someone looking to transition to a more minimal shoe or add this type of a shoe to their rotation. It doesn’t have a really minimal drop of 0-4mm, but as I mentioned before, it has less than most trainers, making it sort of an “in-between” model in terms of heel-toe drop. It’s not a shoe for someone who requires support/stability, but if you’re a neutral runner, you can use it as a daily trainer without any problem at all, and since it’s super light but still has a lot of cushioning, it would make a great racing flat and/or fast workout shoe for lots of folks. It’s probably most intended for those with a mid-to-forefoot footstrike, but there’s enough cushion that if you happen to land on your heel it can handle it just fine. I’m definitely a fan and plan on having the Green Silence as one of my go-to trainers/racers for quite a while.

Finally, if you're curious as to how the shoe got its name, it's not from the color on the model pictured below. It's due to the fact that the shoe is eco-friendly. Read more about that here.

Below are some pics. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to post them as a comment and I will be glad to respond.

Training Summary: 8/29 - 9/4

2011-09-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Mon: ~6 miles
Tue: ~7 miles hilly
Wed: ~6 miles
Thu: ~8.5 miles
Fri: ~6 miles
Sat: ~5 miles
Sun: ~13 miles hilly
Total: ~52 miles

Pretty solid week, and most importantly, no calf pain! I’m not ready to declare that I’m out of the woods yet as I still feel like there’s a little weakness there, but so far so good, and all the tests have been passed.

I don’t have a lot to recap, as most days I was just logging minutes at whatever pace felt right for that day. Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday were my “harder” days, and they all went well. Sunday was the best of the bunch, as Matthew and I traversed the back roads of Botetourt, averaging 6:49/mile. Our last five miles went 6:42, 6:38, 6:27, 6:43, and 6:25, so it was definitely a good effort considering the hilly terrain, and to be honest I was pretty much just hanging on towards the end. It was exactly the sort of thing I need to get my legs back under me and get ready for harder training down the road.

This week’s schedule will be about the same, just covering acres at whatever pace feels right, with a couple of hillier runs thrown in and a long run of 1:40 on Sunday. One thing I noticed this week is a tendency to run my easy days a little faster than I probably should. That’s not a huge deal right now since I’m not doing any big workouts, but it’s something I need to work on, because when I do start adding workouts it will be important that I recover properly in between.

Anyway, I consider this to be week one of training, and it went about as well as I could have hoped for. I’m currently excited about running again, thankful to have some guidance towards what will be a long term plan for success, and I’m very motivated to see what I can do. Here’s hoping for a great fall and beyond!

Bye Bye Summer

2011-09-01T11:19:00.001-07:00

Basically halfway through what I consider to be my first week back to real training, and I’m feeling good. At the moment, my calf is a complete non-issue (knock on wood). This includes feeling 100% on Monday, the day after a hilly 11 miler, and during and after a hilly run at a fairly solid pace on Tuesday. I have a long way to go to regain all the fitness I’ve lost and even longer to get to a point where I’m in better shape than I was earlier this year, but early returns indicate I’m not as far behind as I might have suspected, so a few weeks of solid training and I should be ok. By mid-to-late fall, I might even be ready to run a decent race or two.

The 39th edition of the Charleston Distance Run is this coming weekend, and I really hate to miss it. This race had been a goal of mine for several months, and it looks like this year’s field is going to be exceptional. I really hate to miss mixing it up with those guys and getting to hang out with several friends afterward, but that’s the way it goes. I’m just going to use it as fuel for the fire. I’m also still looking at this latest injury as a blessing in disguise. It forced me to re-evaluate some things and make a few changes that I think are already paying off. I think if I had continued on the same path I was on, an injury would have been inevitable at some point, plus, even if I’d been able to remain basically healthy, I don’t think I would have gotten the results I was looking for doing what I was doing. Sometimes the best thing you can do is hit the reset button, and being stubborn as I am, it takes a lot to make me do that, so again, this could have been exactly what I needed even though it wasn’t what I wanted.

Hard to believe it’s now September. Cross-country season is upon us, and even though it will be a while before cool weather comes and the official start of fall is still a few weeks away, I always consider Labor Day to be the last day of summer. Seems like it just got started and only a very short time ago that I was longing for some warmer weather to train in (boy did I get that!). Anyway, in spite of the fact that it means winter is right around the corner, fall has always been my favorite time of year, so I’m looking forward to it. We generally get some of our best weather in the fall, and between that, all the good road races taking place, the return of football season, and the start of hunting season, I just really enjoy it. So here’s looking forward to the last summer weekend and all that lies ahead the next couple months!

Training Summary: 8/22 - 8/28

2011-08-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Mon: 0 –Off
Tue: 5.15 miles in 38 min (7:22)
Wed: 6.19 miles in 45 min (7:16)
Thu: 7.07 miles in 51 min (7:12)
Fri: 8.28 miles in 60 min (7:14)
Sat: ~6 miles (no Garmin on purpose)
Sun: 11.06 miles in 1:17:00 (6:57)
Total: ~44 miles

Not ideal by any means, but this was certainly a positive week in comparison to my past several. After taking four days off in a row, I resumed running on Tuesday with what was a completely pain free five miles. Having been there before, I knew that run would go just fine, so I anxiously awaited what would happen the next day. I awoke to no pain, a good sign, then was able to log another pain free run that evening. That was actually the first time I was able to put together back-to-back completely pain free days since all this started, so I was encouraged, albeit still very cautious. However, Thursday rolled around and I was pain free once again, and by the end of the week I had strung together six days in a row with no problems.

I’m still not out of the woods yet, but my outlook is changing form pessimistic to cautiously optimistic. As I write this recap, I seem to have survived yesterday’s hilly 77 min (with a last mile of 6:23) without any negative repercussions, which is a very good sign. I really hope my calf is going to hold this time so I can get down to some real work. I definitely need it, as was very evident in my pace and the way I felt throughout this past week. I’m out of shape, but as I mentioned in a previous post, since I’ve been able to run at least some throughout this whole ordeal, I don’t think my fitness has eroded as much as I might have suspected and I think I can make progress fairly quickly as long as everything stays solid.

To help keep me on track, I’ve enlisted Howard Nippert to coach me again. After putting a lot of thought into it, I realized I need the guidance. I can coach others all day long, seeing the big picture and developing a long term plan. However, for whatever reason, when it comes to my own training I just can’t do it. Instead of looking at a long term progression and a set of specific goals, I basically make stuff up week-by-week and even day-by-day, and that’s almost never a recipe for success. I need someone who can be objective and help me develop a long term plan, and with Howard having known me for as long as he has, he knows my tendencies along with my strengths and weaknesses, so I believe he’s the man for the job. I just have to listen, and as he said in the message that came along with my first two weeks of workouts, “stay under control.”

I likely would have jumped back into some faster workouts this week (and done a little more volume as well), but my aforementioned coach says not yet, so this week will just be base mileage with a couple of hilly runs thrown in to start building strength. When I think about it, I’m confident that’s the right thing to do. I know I’ve said this before, but hopefully this will be the start of a long, uninterrupted period of healthy training that will see me get back to running at the level I know I still can, and I’m looking forward to the process. Have a good week, all!

Fingers Crossed

2011-08-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m not out of the woods yet by any means, but I’ve managed two pain-free days in a row, which is progress. In the past, I’ve managed one day, then day two has been “mostly” pain free, but not completely, even though I’ve tried fooling myself numerous times into thinking what I was feeling was just me being hypersensitive rather than anything to worry about (hardcore runners have a way of doing that). After a good-feeling easy five miles on Tuesday, I went six yesterday afternoon with honestly no pain at all. I’m hoping this is it, but based on previous history I’m certainly not counting on it.

If indeed I am able to run uninterrupted from here on out, I actually don’t think I’ve lost as much fitness as I might have originally suspected. Don’t get me wrong. I am out of shape. However, because I’ve been able to do at least a limited amount of running over the past couple months while I’ve battled this problem, I’m not as far behind as I’ve been at times. A few weeks of decent training, and I can probably be at a point where I would feel comfortable jumping in a race or two, more or less for fun and as tests of fitness and a way to work back into shape than anything else.

So, there’s the latest. The next several days will be the key. If my calf holds through the weekend, I think I’ll be good to go. Then, I can get down to fun stuff, like plotting a fall season! Sure hope this is it.

Training Summary: 8/15 - 8/21

2011-08-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Mon: 6.56 miles in 48:00 (7:17)
Tue: 8.07 miles in 57:00 (7:03)
Wed: 8.21 miles in 56:00 (6:49), including some turnover work (2X100, 3X400, 3X200, 2X100)
Thu: 6.58 miles in 47:00 (7:08)
Fri: 0 – Off
Sat: 0 – Off
Sun: 0 – Off
Total: 29+ miles

Well, here I am again. After my last post on Friday, I did a lot of thinking and decided that more time off was the best course of action with my calf. My primary reason was simply the fact that I just wasn’t enjoying running. When you have a least some level of discomfort every day, it wears on you after a while, and since I’m not that fit anyway and have no big goal races coming up, there was no sense continuing to suffer through runs and potentially prolong the healing time on top of that. So, I pulled the plug on Friday’s planned tempo run and fully prepared myself for a week to ten days off.

Saturday morning I attended the FAB 5k at Green Hill Park in Salem and took a few pics while I was out there. I wasn’t too sure about going to a race, because I thought seeing people running fast and having fun might depress me, but it had the opposite effect. I left more motivated than ever to figure things out and get back at it. At the same time, as I walked through the fields so I could cheer on the runners at various spots, my calf kept reminding me that I was hurt. Again, I prepared myself for significant time off.

Sunday I got up expecting to feel about the same as the day before, but much to my surprise I felt significantly better. I can’t say that I was completely pain free upon testing my calf, but I was close. Now, as I type this on Monday, I feel 100%, including going up and down stairs this morning and a subsequent test jog in my yard just to see how I would feel.

Sooooooo, I plan on taking today off whether I need it or not. I will likely try running again tomorrow, probably just 20-30 minutes followed by a few drills. I’ve noticed my hips are really tight right now, so I think I may need to do something to loosen them up. That could even be the root of the calf pain issue, who knows. At any rate, I expected it to take longer for me to feel pain free, but perhaps the fact that it didn’t is indicative of me being really close to having this thing knocked out. However, I’ve been pain free before, only to start running again and have it come right back, so I’ll just have to play it by ear. As opposed to previous restarts, this time I will not try to run through any pain. In the past, on day two I’ve felt a little something but told myself that maybe I could run through it from there on. I now know better. I also know that one of these times I will get to 100% and have it hold. I just hope it’s this time.

Status Quo

2011-08-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

My calf seems to have locked itself in at a certain state and is refusing to vary. It’s not hurting bad enough to prevent me from running or even from doing workouts, and it doesn’t seem to get any worse regardless of how much I run or how fast I do it, but at the same time I feel it every single day. So far this week I’ve logged about 30 miles in four days, including a track workout on Wednesday where I did some 100’s, 200’s and 400’s, and I’ve felt about the same every day.

I’ve come to a point where I’m in a bit of a quandary. I know I’m riding the line between being somewhat fit and being out-of-shape, and that adds to the dilemma. After Wednesday’s workout, I made the comment that with a little bit of consistent training I feel like I could get reasonably fit fairly quickly. However, at the same time, I have a feeling that a week or so off would lead to a significant loss of fitness that would take a while to recover. When your fitness level is really high, you can take a few days off and really not lose much at all, but when you’re just in so-so shape, the effects of a few days off are multiplied exponentially.

So, therein lies my dilemma. I’m able to maintain basic fitness right now and I’m even making a bit of progress towards getting in better shape. If I take a week or so off in the attempt to get my calf to 100%, all that goes out the window. However, on the other hand, I don’t want to carry on along my present course indefinitely, because having at least some discomfort during every run is not much fun and I know it’s also preventing me from training optimally and making progress towards my ultimate goal of running fast.

All that said, I’m really not sure what to do, but I know I need to get this issue resolved sooner than later. Over the past two and a half months, I’ve thrown just about every treatment possible at this thing. The only things I haven’t really done are 1) stretch my calf like a madman and 2) take a significant amount of time completely off (the most I’ve done is 4 or 5 days in a row on a couple different occasions).

So, that’s my current plan. Normally stretching a strained muscle does more harm than good, but since nothing else has worked, I feel it’s worth a shot. If I don’t notice significant improvement within a few days, I will bite the bullet and take 7-10 days off. From experience, I know I can take 3-4 days off then have a pain free day or two, only to have it come back (possibly in a different area as has been the case lately). Maybe a week or more would do the trick and knock it out completely.

Anyway, I’m giving myself through the weekend to see what happens. My ability to run fast this fall has already been compromised, and if I don’t get on top things soon, my ability to even race at a decent level is going to be challenged as well. I don’t want to risk that. I want to get back to being able to enjoy my runs (even the hard workouts) and be able to do what I need to do to race competitively. Stay tuned.

Training Summary: 8/8 - 8/14

2011-08-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Mon: 6 miles
Tue: 7 miles
Wed: 6 miles including 12X100m strides
Thu: 6 miles
Fri: 8 miles – 20 min w/u, 6X400 w/ 300, 20 min c/d
Sat: 6 miles
Sun: 12 miles
Total: 52 miles

Can’t complain too much about this week. If anything, in looking back it might have been a bit too much, but overall I’m really pleased with it.

As far as my calf goes, the injury that knocked me out is pretty much a thing of the past. I’m not willing to pronounce it healed, because it could still come back, but I’ve had none of the pain associated with it for well over a week now. However, I have another issue in the same calf. Whereas the previous injury was in the soleus, my current problem seems to be in the gastroc. Basically the pain was low and to the outside, and now it’s high and to the inside. The current problem seems to be more soreness than anything else, but it’s still annoying. I don’t know if it’s related to the previous injury and possibly a compensation issue or if it’s maybe the result of me doing too many calf raises and other exercises in an attempt to strengthen my lower legs. It might even be related to the change to training in flats. Who knows, but it’s something I’m going to have to keep an eye on.

In terms of the specifics of the week, everything was just steady, fairly slow running aside from Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Wednesday I did 4 miles, then jumped on the track for 6 laps of ins-and-outs (12X100m strides). I didn’t try to run them fast. I just wanted to turn my legs over a little for the first time in a long time and I tried to focus on good form. Friday I returned to the track, this time for 6X400. Again, I didn’t try to set the world on fire with my splits, but just tried to work on good form and solid efforts. The times were slower than what I would have liked, and thanks to the heat and dead legs they were a little harder than I would have preferred as well, but I got through it and afterward was pleased with the knowledge that I had gotten in some beneficial work.

Sunday I joined David Angell for a run through the hills of Botetourt. He was coming off an impressive win at the Salem Distance Run 10k the day before where his time of 33:07 was the second fastest in the history of the race (Jason Dowdy holds the course record at 32:45 and I am now #3 all time at 33:18), so I figured he’d take it easy and we’d average 7:05-7:10 pace with maybe a couple miles quicker than that here and there His fitness is so good right now, however, that we wound up significantly faster than that, hitting five of the 12 miles in the 6:30’s and four in the 6:40’s. The good news is this was the best I’ve felt in a run in a quite a while. My legs were fully under me and I felt smooth and comfortable in spite of the fact that I hadn’t run this far or this sort of sustained pace in a good six weeks. The effort started to get to me the last couple miles, especially on the uphills, but overall I held up pretty well and it was a good way to cap off what turned out to be a pretty solid week of training.

I’m looking for a similar week this coming week. I’d like to get in a steady, tempo-type effort one day and some shorter intervals on another. Throw in a few light strides one day and a 90 min long run on Sunday, and it should be a good one. I’m thinking I’ll keep my mileage in the mid-50’s for the foreseeable future and just focus on good quality workout days. I’ve got a long way to go to regain the fitness I lost in July and even farther to go to improve on where I was in June, but hopefully I’m on my way!

Training Summary: 8/1- 8/7

2011-08-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Mon: 0 – Off
Tue: 0 – Off
Wed: 30 min
Thu: 40 min
Fri: 45 min
Sat: 37 min
Sun: 60 min
Total: ~29 miles

I’m certainly not willing to pronounce my calf injury as being over, but I think I’m definitely seeing light at the end of the tunnel. This week was a nice step in the right direction at least.

After taking Monday and Tuesday off and being completely pain free both days, I joined Matthew for an easy 30 min on Wednesday, and as expected, felt fine. I knew the key, however, would be how I felt the next day, so when I got up Thursday morning and walked down some stairs without any pain I was encouraged. Run number two that evening went well, and I woke up pain free again on Friday morning.

Friday I had just a little discomfort when I first started, but it was more soreness/tightness than actual pain and was a different sensation than what I’d been experiencing. I was somewhat concerned when I started my run on Saturday because I ran in the morning and wasn’t sure how my calf would react to exercising without having time throughout the day to warm up. It did just fine though, so I planned the first real test for the next morning, a one hour run.

For my Sunday run, I didn’t get started early enough, and as a result I was heading out just as the sun was breaking through the clouds. It was extremely warm/humid (heat index was 93 when I finished around 9:50AM), and about 30 min in I was wondering if I was going to make it. Thankfully I got a little cloud cover from about 30-50 min, which allowed me to regroup and finish pretty well. My 8th mile was a 6:32, after which I jogged a little over 2 min to hit the one hour mark, covering 8.33 miles total (a 7:12 average). The good news is this was the best I’d felt in a run since May. It’s amazing how much more fun running is, regardless of the conditions and/or what kind of shape you’re in, when you don’t have any aches or pains. The bad news is I have A LOT of work to do, as 7:10-7:15 pace wasn’t what I would call hard, but it wasn’t exactly easy either.

Hopefully this week I’ll be able to start to build some consistency. If everything holds up from here on, I’m currently debating the direction I’m going to head with my training as fall approaches. I’m leaning towards a little lower mileage than is my norm with a bit more emphasis on quality, but for now I just want to get my legs back under me and then worry about all the other details. All I know is that as of the moment my motivation is back and I’m looking forward to getting down to work.

Training Summary: 7/25 - 7/31

2011-08-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

Mon: 40 min
Tue: 0 - Off
Wed: 40 min
Thu: 44 min
Fri: 47 min
Sat: 0 – Off
Sun: 0 – Off
Total: ~24 miles

I guess this was an appropriate way to close out the month. After battling my calf throughout the month of June while continuing to train and race at full volume, I first made the decision to take some time off on July 1. I took off five days in a row, ran five days in a row, took off a couple days, ran a couple days, took off four days, ran four days, and that was pretty much the pattern through the remainder of the month.

As for this past week, I started out with a basically pain free run on Monday. I say basically, because it wasn’t totally pain free. It just felt much better than it did the Friday before (after taking the weekend off), and after a mile or so I didn’t really notice it at all. The problem is, on Tuesday, I could feel it some just walking around. I couldn’t feel it with normal walking, but I could feel it going up and down steps and really any time my leg was bent to much of an extent (as it would be in running). I took that day off and was back to feeling pretty good again on Wednesday, so I gave running another try and probably had the best run I’d had since all this began. I still wasn’t 100% pain free, but I was close. I felt ok walking around again on Thursday, so I put in another run, and while I didn’t feel as good as I had the day before, I still felt decent and thought maybe I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Friday, however, was not quite as good, and when I finished I decided enough was enough.

At this point, what pain I have while running is mostly just a dull ache. However, there seems to be some weakness there as well and enough pain that I know it’s causing me to alter my stride. I had hoped to run through the remainder of this injury with the goal of salvaging at least a little bit of the fitness I worked so hard for six months to gain, but it just isn’t happening. I feel like I’m close, but this pattern of running a few days then taking a day or two off just isn’t getting me anywhere. I’m probably delaying the healing process; I’m not maintaining much, if any, fitness; and I’m also not having a whole lot of fun suffering through this heat and humidity with a dull ache in my leg every time my left foot hits the ground.

So, I’m going to do what I said I was going to do and just stop until I have no pain at all, go a couple days past that, then try to run again and see what happens. I have no idea how long that will take. As I type this, it’s Monday, and I’m very close to being totally pain free. In fact, I can’t really feel anything when I do a single-leg squat or when I go up and down stairs, so I might even be pain free (haven’t tried a test jog so can’t say how that would feel). I may be able to run later this week and I may be sometime next week restarting. I really don’t care as long as I put an end to this thing. It’s already ruined my first big goal race of the year, the Charleston Distance Run, and I don’t want it to mess up anything else if at all possible. Time to stop trying to convince myself that it feels good enough that I’ll be alright and get it fully healed up so I can get back to work!

Getting My Fix

2011-07-27T11:01:00.001-07:00

"It is my experience that time off is rarely a solution for an injury. You need to FIX the problem. Time off may or may not make it feel better, but the problem will come back if you don’t fix the issue. Also with tendon issues, time off tends to weaken the area and can make running hurt much worse after the layoff - the opposite of what you’re looking for. Not saying there is never a time for time off, just saying that taking time off without proper treatment is very ineffective." - Nate Jenkins (2:14 marathoner, 7th at 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials)

Not much to say about the above quote other than I believe he is dead on. As I've mentioned before, I have two areas where I tend to have recurring problems, my right hip and my left calf/shin. Right now it's the latter that's gotten the best of me. While no one has ever really been able to identify anything specific, I truly believe there is some sort of weakness, imbalance, or biomechanical problem at the root of my injury issues. I've tried to address this in the past, but none of the shoe, orthotic, etc. combinations I've tried have worked, and I've never had the dedication to stick with any particular strengthening routine long term. I believe I have a pretty good routine in place now, and I hope I can persuade myself to stay on it even when I'm back to training full speed and feeling good. Between that and transitioning to shoes that should allow my natural stride to come out and help me strengthen my lower legs and feet, I'm hoping for a permanent solution.

In the meantime, I'm taking it day by day. Monday I had what was probably my best run since my calf started hurting. I ran 40 minutes totally pain free, and my stride felt better and more open/natural than it has in a while. The pace was as good as it's been in a while too. However, yesterday I had some pain again walking around and took the day off accordingly. So far today, I'm back to no pain at all, even when I test it, so it looks like another run is on tap for tonight. Hopefully this one will go well and not lead to any pain the next day. I know I'm close. I just have to be patient and proceed cautiously until I'm totally past this thing.

Training Summary: 7/18- 7/24

2011-07-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

Mon: 30 min
Tue: 37 min
Wed: 40 min
Thu: 45 min
Fri: 37 min
Sat: 0 – Off
Sun: 0 – Off
Total: ~26 miles

When compared to the 5 miles I logged the week before, this was a step in the right direction. However, when you have to take the last two days of the week off thanks to a relapse of calf pain, it definitely doesn’t feel that way. I just can’t seem to get over the top with this thing.

I started out with a nice test run on Monday that went quite well. I did a couple laps on the Roanoke College track in case I needed to bail out early, then once I decided my calf felt fine, I headed to the Municipal Golf Course for a lap and back. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty similar, just a few more laps on the track and a little more time on the golf course. As I mentioned previously, while making the transition to training in flats and lightweight shoes, I want to spend as much time on soft surfaces as possible, so while the track and golf course are boring, they serve the desired purpose. They’re also relatively flat and smooth, which is probably a good thing for my calf.

On Thursday, I decided I couldn’t take another day of the same old same old, so I headed to Greenfield to run the trails and cross-country course there. In spite of a heat index well in excess of 100 degrees, I actually had a very enjoyable run. It was 15-20 min before I really even noticed the heat, and while it got to me the last 10 min or so, I held together nicely and felt good. It was nice to have a change of venue, and running through fields and over trails with no worry about pace or anything else reminded me of why I enjoy running.

Friday, I headed back to Greenfield, hoping to repeat the success of the day before. This one turned out to be a disaster from the start though. I didn’t think the conditions were that much worse than the day before, but they must have been. I know the heat index was a few degrees higher, and there was actually an air quality warning as well. I felt it from the very beginning, and to make matters worse, my calf was bothering me as well. By 20 min I was really starting to overheat, and I’m pretty sure my pace had been reduced to a jog. When I got back to my car, I was right at what I figured to be 5 miles worth of running, so I just called it a day. I had wanted to do 45-50 min, but I was DONE. I can’t describe it any other way.

Saturday morning I got up with every intention of running early to beat the heat, but it only took a little walking around the house and a couple “tests” for me to tell that my calf was worse, meaning things were headed in the wrong direction again. I scrapped the plans to run and decided to take the weekend off in the hopes that maybe I could finally put this thing behind me.

I actually wound up spending a lot of time on my feet and doing a lot of walking on Saturday, but this didn’t seem to bother my calf at all. I never even felt it, and Sunday it seemed close to 100% again. Perhaps it was running on the very uneven surfaces at Greenfield or doing all the hills there that aggravated it. In any event, I know I’m close, but I just can’t seem to get to 100%. Even when it flairs up, the only time I really feel anything now is when my leg is fully bent, like going up stairs or doing a one-legged squat. The problem is that’s the same motion that’s used in running, so while I’m fine just walking around, running seems to aggravate it and make it progressively worse.

Hopefully this coming week will be the week where I finally get over the top, but I’m not counting on it. I may have to bite the bullet and just take a complete week or more off. That’s not something I want to do, but at this point my fitness and any race plans for the next several weeks are pretty much gone anyway, so any more setbacks and that’s what I’ll do.

So Far So Good

2011-07-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Halfway through the week and so far so good. In order to avoid any temptation to worry about the pace, I’ve been running without my Garmin, so I don’t know the exact distances I’ve covered, but I ran for 30 minutes on Monday, 37 on Tuesday, and 40 yesterday, which I’m calling 4, 5, and 5.5 miles respectively. No calf pain thus far and otherwise I’ve been feeling ok as well.

I’ve logged all my miles this week in the Brooks Green Silence, and I’m really liking this shoe. I’d been wanting to try them for a while as I’ve heard a lot of good things about them, but they came out last year while my foot was broken and it’s taken me the first half of this year to get up the nerve to try a truly lightweight shoe. So far this year I’ve been racing in the Brooks ST Racers. Normally I race 5k-10k in the T-Series, which is an awesome shoe and one of my all-time favorites, but it’s very light and doesn’t put a whole lot between you and the road and that made me a little nervous coming off back-to-back Jones Fractures. The ST Racers are great shoes, but at around 8 ounces, there’s a little more to them than the T-Series or the Green Silence, which was exactly what I was looking for in a race/workout shoe up to now. It makes them great shoes for longer races too.

Anyway, back to the Green Silence. Again, my initial impressions are very favorable. It’s very light (just over 6 ounces), very flexible, has a fairly low heel-toe drop (8mm), and has a surprising amount of cushion considering how light it is. The toebox is roomy, and while the lacing system seems a little funky when you first put them on, it works just fine. I’ve heard it’s also a very durable shoe, capable of handling a good bit of mileage, and lots of people put well in excess of 500 miles on a pair. My hope is to get 300-350, but I’m going to play that by ear, monitoring how the shoe feels, how it looks, and of course how my legs and feet feel.

In the past, a shoe like the Green Silence would have been something I would have used for 15k to half marathon races, so it kind of seems strange to me to have a plan of logging the majority of my miles in them. However, as I mentioned in my last post, I think making the switch to training in flats and lightweight trainers full time might be a good move for me, and this seems like a great shoe for that transition. I expected a little calf and possibly achilles soreness in the first few days, but so far I’ve had none, possibly because I haven’t done any longer or faster runs yet. The only thing I’ve noticed at all is a little soreness in my left arch after yesterday’s run, but it went away quickly and feels fine walking around today.

I’m sure there are lots of weaknesses in my feet and lower legs that will come out over the next few weeks and months, but that’s part of the process and part of why training in “minimalist” shoes often helps people overcome a history of injuries. Strengthening those weak spots can go a long way when it comes to injury prevention. To help, I’m doing exercises to strengthen my feet and shins and doing the core and balance routine Dr. Rich gave me as well. Also, I’m running as much as possible on soft surfaces. This has led to quite a few laps on the track and around the Municipal Golf Course in Salem, which is boring, but serves its purpose. Finally, I’m doing as much of my other walking around in lightweight shoes and/or barefoot as possible too. In fact, a couple pairs of old Brooks T6 racers are now my casual shoes.

So, that’s the news for now. Hopefully I’m on my way, but I know I’m nowhere near out of the woods yet. I’m sure my calf is still right on the edge and somewhat vulnerable, so I’m going to continue to be cautious and remain prepared to face a setback or two. Hopefully that won’t happen, but hey, a day or two off in this time of 100-110 heat indexes might not be a bad thing! Stay cool y’all!

Sometimes Less Is More

2011-07-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

So, I mentioned in my last post that I made a decision this past Thursday to make a fairly drastic change in my training. Before I get into exactly what that is, let me recap what led to the decision.

I now consider my most recent injury-free streak to be over, officially ending at 26 weeks, although I was in some pretty significant pain for about a month prior to that. Considering my longest previous streak over the past few years was 19 weeks, that’s progress and a step in the right direction, but it still doesn’t cut it, particularly when you consider a couple of other factors. For one, the first few weeks of my training this time were very light as I eased back into things after two straight Jones Fractures in my right foot. In other words, I didn’t get 26 straight weeks of quality, full-bore training. For another, while I made it 26 weeks, it wasn’t a great 26 weeks. I battled through numerous problems that I won’t really even get into, but suffice it to say I had something bothering me much of the time that was more than just everyday soreness. In particular, I struggled with my left calf, which gave me trouble off and on starting in April, and both my quads and hip flexors, especially the right one. My chronic achilles wasn’t 100% either, although it actually did the best it has in a long time. Finally, I just plain never felt smooth in terms of my stride, and I never managed to get very fit either. I attributed it to missing as much time as I did and needing form work and speed work, and I still believe that’s part of it. However, in the past, I would have gotten in much better shape off the amount of training I did and felt better doing it.

I guess I could write off a lot of this to being older, but I don’t buy that. There are plenty of guys who are much older than me and who have run many more miles in their careers than me who aren’t having these sorts of problems. Furthermore, I got started in this sport late and have missed a whole lot of time to injury really ever since I started, so while I might not be a spring chicken anymore, I should still have plenty of run left in my body.

So where does that leave me? Well, for years (and I'm talking all the way back to 2002), I’ve felt like something was “off,” and all the common injuries seem to confirm that. I’ve had problems a little bit of everywhere over that time period, but for the most part, my main injuries have always been to my right hip area and my left lower leg. I’ve seen numerous people over the years from sports med docs to orthos to physical therapists to chiropractors, and nobody has ever really been able to identify anything in particular like a leg length discrepancy, specific major imbalance or weakness, etc. I’ve done tons of experimentation on my own with different strengthening programs, shoes of all types, makes, and models, orthotics, etc. all with the same results. The only thing I’ve really learned is my body seems to do best with neutral shoes and no orthotics. Obviously that hasn’t kept me healthy, but I can throw in some orthotics (custom or over-the-counter) or wear some really supportive shoes, and my hips or shins will be wrecked in a few weeks. With neutral shoes and no orthotics, I can generally buy myself a few months before I have problems.

That brings me to my current decision. I am going to switch to training mainly in racing flats and really lightweight trainers. Don’t think this is a snap decision or that I don’t understand it comes with risks. It’s just that I’ve tried everything else with the same results, so I feel it’s worth a shot, especially based on what I’ve learned through all my other experimentation. I’ve thought about doing this previously but never made the commitment, partially because it seems counterintuitive. If you keep getting hurt you need more cushion and more support, right? That’s definitely what most of the so-called experts will tell you (and something I’ve tried with poor results). However, you can find a ton of people who have found just the opposite. Like me, they’ve tried everything, all with no success, only to switch to training in minimal shoes and have all their chronic injury problems go away. I could cite numerous examples of elite caliber runners based on research I’ve done, but I can also cite one I know personally, my friend Jason Pyles. Jason had many of the same problems I’ve had and almost quit the doing the sport competitively as a result of one injury after another. He made the switch and has been mostly injury free ever since. He does all his training in racing flats now, and that includes 80-90 miles per week and long runs of over 20 miles. Knowing my current situation, he gave me his full story and told me I might want to think about it. Since I was actually already thinking about it and had previously as well, that was enough to shore up the decision.

I could go on and on about my reasoning behind this switch, talking about how running shoes used to be similar to the flats of today and how runners ran more and were less injured then and also talking about natural motion of the foot, the advantages of strengthening your feet and lower legs, etc., etc., but I won’t. This isn’t for everyone and may not even be for me, but again, I feel it’s worth a shot. As I’ve told several people, let’s say it blows up in my face and I wind up with a stress fracture in a month. How is that any different than the three I had between Nov ’09 and Oct ’10 and the seven (maybe more) I’ve had over my running career?

So here comes the latest in my many attempts to figure out a way to stay healthy. I plan on easing into it, running less miles than I might if not making a change, but I want to give it an opportunity to work. Fortunately for me, Brooks makes some shoes that will be perfect for what I want to do. I’ll do a lot of my training in the Green Silence, some in the ST Racer, and will use the Launch for my longer days. Also, Brooks is coming out with a new line of minimalist shoes this fall that they are calling their Pure Project. Those should be great as well. I know it’s not a magic bullet and I will have to do other things, most importantly training smart, but here’s keeping my fingers crossed that this is what will allow me to finally build some consistency. Let the experiment begin.

Training Summary: 7/11 - 7/17

2011-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Mon: .5 of a mile in 4 min
Tue: 0 – Off
Wed: 4.5 miles in 33 min
Thu: 0 – Off
Fri: 0 – Off
Sat: 0 – Off
Sun: 0 – Off
Total: 5 miles in 37 min (Woohoo - lol)

Well, if you look at the above stats, you can probably guess my thoughts on this past week. After running 13 miles the previous Sunday, then feeling relatively good throughout the remainder of the day, I thought I was well on my way to being past this calf thing. However, the first few strides of my run on Monday were really painful, and while I was loosening up with each step, it wasn’t going away, so I decided to bag it at half a mile and walk the rest of the way back. The odd thing is, it felt fine walking, and I almost felt bad about stopping, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

I took Tuesday off, and I was right back where I’d been before, having pain just walking around. Wednesday I didn’t have any pain walking around, so I decided to try a run even though I probably should have known better. I had a little pain when I first started, but it was very slight, and within a few minutes was gone entirely. I did around 4.5 miles, and it was one of the most pain free runs I’d had in about as long as I could remember. With the idea of strengthening up my feet and lower legs, I got on the turf field at Roanoke College afterward, took my shoes off, and ran about a lap and a half (not quite two and a half minutes) barefoot. Again, no problems out of my calf whatsoever. The rest of the evening, my calf felt 100% fine. It didn’t even tighten up any after I iced it, which has been common throughout this whole thing. I went to bed thinking maybe I was finally there, only to wake up with it hurting Thursday morning.

At that point, it had been almost two weeks since July 1 when I first took a few days off, and I came to the realization that getting close to being pain free then trying to start back running was not working. Dr. Rich, who I saw again on Wednesday, seems to think I should be able to run through this, but my body keeps telling me otherwise. This has been going on since very early June, and all that said, I made the decision to just stop until I was completely pain free, go a day or two past that, then try again. I also made another decision, one that involves a fairly drastic move, that I will get to in a subsequent post.

As I type this up, my calf is pain free as far as I can tell and was yesterday as well. With a couple pain free days in a row, I’ll probably try to run again soon and see what happens, but if I have any indication of pain at all, I will stop immediately. The one thing I’ve learned with this is if I have any pain whatsoever and run on it, it will just get continually worse. However, I feel like it’s been close for a while now, so hopefully the past several days of rest have pushed it over the top. Time will tell.

Training Summary: 7/4 - 7/10

2011-07-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

Mon: 0 - Off
Tue: 0 - Off
Wed: 4.07 miles in 30 min (7:22)
Thu: 6.15 miles in 45 min (7:19)
Fri: 7.59 miles in 53 min (6:58)
Sat: 5.54 miles in 41 min (7:24)
Sun: 13.06 miles in 1:31:00 (6:58)
Total: 36.4 miles in 3:50:00 (7:06)

Considering how I finished the previous week and started this one, I’m pretty pleased with the way things turned out. On Monday, my calf was still hurting just walking around, and I could still feel it a little even on Tuesday. However, by Wednesday it seemed to be in pretty good shape, and a short test run that evening was pain free. I felt it a little during Thursday’s run, but it wasn’t bad. However, it did tighten up a little overnight that night, which had me concerned going into the next day.

I agreed to meet up with Matthew on Friday, but told him I might have to bail out at any time. I started the run with every intention of going very slow throughout and probably only running 20-30 min, maybe much less if I was feeling anything. I ended up doing 53 min though, with the last two miles in the 6:30’s, and I felt pretty good the entire way aside from the heat/humidity. When your shoes get soaked in a seven mile run, you know it’s bad!

I figured Friday’s run would be a good test, so I was apprehensive when I started out Saturday. I ran from my house down to the nearby logging road for an out-and-back and wound up feeling the best I had since I started back on Wednesday, so I decided to try a long run on Sunday. Andrew and I met at the Brian Center in Fincastle, which obviously meant we would be hitting some hills. In spite of the relatively slow pace, I felt sluggish and dead-legged for the first half of the run, but my calf was doing fine. I started to feel better around the 8 mile mark and closed the run out nicely, going 6:34 and 6:04 for the last two miles. I was actually surprised at how relatively easy and comfortable that last mile felt. I was doing a little work, but overall it was pretty controlled. Most importantly my calf felt fine during, after, and throughout the remainder of the day, so another test passed.

That brings me to the upcoming week. My plan is to continue to ease back into things and see if I can get myself back to full training by the start of next week. I’m still not 100%, but I’m probably at 90% or better now with things headed in the right direction, so the goal is to keep it that way. Looks like this is going to be another really hot week, which might be a good thing as it will keep me from being able to get too carried away. I know I can’t have lost much over the past two weeks, but I honestly felt like I’d gotten out of shape when I started running again on Wednesday. What should have been an easy pace seemed like a struggle, and I was sore afterward and remained that way all the way until Saturday. Sometimes I think I get out of shape faster and take longer to get back in shape than anyone. It’s not just being a little older either. I’ve always been that way. Anyway, here’s hoping to get back on track and stay that way all the way through the fall! I’m not out of the woods yet with my calf, but if I don’t miss any more time, I think it will have actually been a nice little break that has helped me get refocused and will pay off later this year.

Things That Go Bump

2011-07-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thought I would check in with an update on my calf. After five days in a row off, I headed out for a test run in Salem yesterday afternoon. The plan was an easy 2-4 miles with every intention of pulling the plug earlier if I felt any signs of trouble. I am happy to report that I made it four full miles without any pain whatsoever out of my calf. I also didn’t tighten up after, which is another good sign. The key will be how I feel with today’s run, but all signs are positive thus far.

The other aspects of yesterday’s test run were not quite as good. For some unknown reason, anytime I take a few days off then start to run again, my outer shin muscles in one or both legs feel like they’re going to explode through the skin. I’ve heard from a couple other runners who experience this same phenomenon and would love to know what causes it. It generally goes away after 2-3 miles and the next day is fine, but it’s no fun when it happens and yesterday was one of those times. Additionally, the heat and humidity was just nasty yesterday and I felt “off” in general, so it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience. Still, in spite of all that, I was happy to be back at it, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be good to go from here on out.

Should I be fortunate enough to get away with just a few days off and no more, this whole event could have been a blessing in disguise for a number of reasons. For one, it got me refocused in terms of doing all the little things, specifically core work and massage for me, that I’d gotten lazy about. It also led to me visiting Dr. Rich at Core Chiropractic for the first time in a couple years, and he did some really good work on me, both ART and chiropractic adjustments, and also offered to help me develop some core/strength-building routines to help keep me healthy. Going forward, I think I will try to get in to see him on a much more regular basis. ART has definitely been proven to be beneficial, and Dr. Rich has worked with some elite caliber athletes and really seems to know his stuff. I also found out that my insurance now covers at least some of these visits, making them much more affordable. That said, I think once a month visits could go a long way to keeping me functioning at 100%. Finally, I’d been training for 6 months with very few days off, and with my goal being to peak in the late fall, a bit of a break might turn out to be a good thing. Even when everything goes really well, you can only train full-on for so long without getting burned out, and it’s a long way to October and November.

I might also mention that a few days off made me realize how much I enjoy running and miss it when I can’t. I grumble a lot about the weather, this and that being sore, and my workout times not being as fast as I’d like, and sometimes all that makes me question why I even put myself through what I do. However, after just a couple days off, I was really itching to simply get out and hit the roads, not because I didn’t want to get out of race shape (although certainly that was part of it) but just because I missed the simple act of running. From here on out I’m going to try to do a better job of not taking it for granted, not complaining about little things that don’t really matter, and just having a more positive attitude in general.

So that’s the update for now. The plan for the rest of this week is just easy runs, probably a little shorter than my normal distances, while I feel everything out. If everything seems to be good come the first of next week, I’ll get back to my usual schedule. My first big goal race is the Charleston Distance Run on Sept. 3, and this weekend will be eight weeks from that date, plenty of time to get ready but also time to get down to business.

Training Summary: 6/27 - 7/3

2011-07-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.58 miles in 54 min (7:07)
Tue: 9.55 miles in 67 min (7:00)
Wed: 11.07 miles in 74 min (6:41)
Thu: 6.63 miles in 48 min (7:14)
Fri: 0 – Off (calf)
Sat: 0 – Off (calf)
Sun: 0 – Off (calf)
Total: 34.83 miles in 4:03 min (6:58)

Well, here’s the post I’ve been dreading writing for the past 26 weeks. When you have my history, you hope for the best, but you almost expect injury to happen. After all, until this most recent block of training, my average time between injuries the past six years was 10-14 weeks, and the longest I’d made it without a significant interruption was 19 weeks. I guess the fact that I made it as long as I did is a victory of sorts.

At any rate, as I’ve mentioned several times, my left calf has been bothering me for basically a month now, and it actually goes back farther than that. I remember having an issue with it all the way back in April when we were at the beach, but it cleared up for a month or so before coming back again. Since I’d run through it before, I was hopeful I could do so again, especially since it always seemed to loosen up as I went, allowing me to do workouts, long runs, and even races without any major effects on my performance. It just wasn’t getting better though, and over the past week or so it seemed to be getting worse. What was some annoying discomfort at the start of runs became downright painful for the first few strides, and what had loosened up after a mile or two was taking 30 minutes or more before I didn’t really feel anything. With my eyes on a 5k race on Saturday, I headed out to do a shakeout run Friday evening but didn’t even get started. The first few steps were painful enough to tell me that my calf just needed some rest, so I finally threw in the towel. I probably should have done it sooner, especially since I really hadn’t been enjoying running for quite a while thanks to the amount of pain I’d been in, but after all the work I’d done to get to where I was and due to the fact that I was just starting to see some signs of my fitness starting to come around, I wanted to make sure there was no other alternative before I pulled the plug.

So the question becomes, how long am I looking at? History says a minimum of two weeks and more likely 4-5. However, I’ve already beaten history once this year by making it 26 weeks before having to take time off, and I hope to beat it again. Obviously I’ve been treating this thing all along, but I’ve doubled, actually probably quadrupled, my efforts over the past few days. I’m throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it, and I have an appointment for some ART (Active Release Technique) tomorrow. I also hope that visit might yield some clues as to why I keep having problems in my lower left leg, since this is just one in a long series of problems I’ve had in that area, including 4 stress fractures (the most recent being Nov ’09). In fact, I’ve had other problems, the fracture in my right foot last year being an obvious example, but most of my problems in my injury riddled last several years have either been in my right hip or lower left leg. That would seem to indicate there is a weak link somewhere that I might be able to correct with the right approach.

Anyway, I’ll check in with another update in a day or two, probably sometime after tomorrow’s ART appointment. I can say that I’m already feeling a lot better with just four days off, so I’m hopeful that maybe this will turn out to be just a bump in the road rather than another dead end. Time will tell.

We'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain 5k

2011-06-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

It’s almost been so long since this race that I thought about not even doing a recap, but since this was an interesting one, I thought I would go ahead with it. Back on Saturday, June 18th, I ran the “We’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain 5k” in Ansted, WV. The race was part of the Ansted Mountain Festival, and this was the first year for the event. You never know what to expect with first year events, and this one definitely had its share of mishaps, but overall it was a lot of fun and I’m glad I went.

I made the trip over on Friday evening, and we spent the night at Leslie’s grandfather’s house in Fayetteville, which is less than 10 miles from Ansted. I was already pretty tired from a long week, and I didn’t get much sleep that night, so I came into the race feeling less than stellar. When I arrived at the start, I noticed a couple of young guys who looked like they could be pretty fast. One was definitely a high schooler, while the other looked to be more college age. I went up to the table to register, and upon doing so proceeded to ask if the course was marked so I could run it as a warm-up. The response I got was “No, honey, it’s not. I don’t know why she didn’t mark it.” This, obviously, did not leave me with a good feeling, so I then asked for a description of the course. I received a great, very detailed, response, but the problem is I was being told to go by the Shell station, past the bank, across the bridge, by the fire department, etc., none of which I knew the location of since I wasn’t familiar with Ansted.

Feeling even less confident at this point, I headed out to see if I could find the course. I knew it was going to be point-to-point, running through town then onto a rail trail all the way to the finish, so my goal was to at least find the rail trail. I managed to find the bank, Shell station, bridge, and even the fire department, but no luck with the rail trail. I even stopped at the fire station and asked for directions, at which point I was told I missed it but if I kept running the way I was going and turned to the right I would run back into it. Obviously that didn’t happen, although in hindsight it would have if I’d kept going far enough, so I just headed back to the starting line and got changed into my racing flats and singlet.

By this point it was only about 5 minutes before the start time of 9 o’clock, so I did a couple strides and got ready to go. However, 9:00 came and went, as did 9:05 and 9:10, before the race director finally drove up and apologized for the race not starting on time. She explained that the local police had set the course up wrong and were in the process of correcting it. In the meantime, she said, there was a Jazzercise instructor there who would lead anyone who wanted in a warm-up. Obviously I declined to participate, but I was shocked at the number of people who did (probably 20 or more). While all this was going on, I ran about 6 miles worth of strides trying to stay loose – ha, ha. I did fast strides, slow strides with Kaitlyn, and everything in between. Finally, around 9:20, we were ready to go.

The race started and the college-age looking guy I mentioned earlier busted out. I had talked to him briefly before the race and learned that he had a 5k PR of 16:10 but wasn’t in that sort of shape at the time being. Knowing he was pretty good though, I didn’t want to let him get too much of a lead, so I followed closely, about 4-5 strides back. Unfortunately I had left my Garmin at home, so I had no idea the pace we were going, but by a little over a minute into the race I was breathing hard, not gaining any ground on the leader, and thinking there was no way I could hold this pace for 5k. I told myself to just settle in and see what happened, and by probably the half mile mark, I had drawn even then took the lead shortly thereafter.

Not too far past this something happened that I had only had to do in one other race previously, and that was a trail race. We did an out-and-back section, and at the turnaround all runners had to get their hand stamped. Obviously this was done to make sure no one cut the course, but it was just odd for what was basically a road race, and the ink from whatever they used to make the mark (wasn’t a true stamp but looked sort of like a marker) ran as I sweated and left my hand looking like I had slit my wrist by the end of the race - lol. In fact, after asking me if I won, Leslie’s first comment to me when I got back was “What did you do to your hand?!?”

Anyway, back to the race, where we were now a mile or so in and I was starting to build a lead. We had done a loop through town, which was rolling, but probably more downhill than up, and the rest of the course would be all downhill. Somewhere around 8 min or so in, we hit the trail, and it was not what I was expecting. Most rail trails I’ve seen have been like the Hanging Rock Trail, New River Trail, Creeper Trail, or Greenbrier River Trail, which are all basically flat and crushed gravel. Some even have paved sections. This trail, however, was gradual downhill, and while it was very runnable, it had rocks, roots, and slick spots you had to watch out for. I was feeling pretty good and felt like I was running fairly fast, so when I looked at my watch and saw close to 16 min, I figured I was getting close to the end and actually tried to pick it up to finish strong. However, I hit 16:30, 17:00, and 17:30, and still no finish in sight. I had the thought that maybe I wasn’t running as fast as it felt, but when I hit 18:00 and 18:30 and still wasn’t there, I knew something was wrong. I worried a little that somehow I had gotten off course, but there had been volunteers at every turn before we got on the trail and even a four wheeler that led me onto the trail and stayed in sight for quite a bit of the way, so I didn’t think this could be the case. Finally, just before 19 min, I saw another volunteer who told me the finish was just around the corner. I crossed the line in 19:10 to take the win by a significant margin. Results were supposed to be online, but still aren’t up, so I’m not sure how much I won by, but I would guess at least 2 min and probably more.

Because the race finished at Hawks Nest Lake at the bottom of the New River Gorge, we had the option of taking the tram back out. I sort of wanted to do that because it would have been really pretty, but I didn’t want to wait for them to start it up at 10:00AM and knew I needed to do a cooldown, so I just ran back up the trail all the way back, which turned out to be quite a climb.

After the race, I got to meet the mayor of Ansted, and the awards were done on the festival stage. I received two trophies, one for the overall win, and one for being the top overall male. Never had that happen before. I talked to a few of the other runners who had Garmins, and they all had the course as being between 3.6 and 3.7 miles. I was also able to find the trail on the terrain map at MapMyRun.com, and I measured it out at 3.57. If you round to 3.6, my pace would have been 5:19 per mile, which would be a 16:28 5k, and I think about right based on how I was feeling and the downhill course. While it was a bit of an adventure, the trail ran alongside Mill Creek and was really serene and pretty and overall I really enjoyed it. I guess like they say, all is well that ends well.

Training Summary: 6/20 - 6/26

2011-06-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Mon: 0 – off for work related reasons
Tue: 7.05 miles in 51 min (7:13)
Wed: 10.02 miles in 68 min (6:47)
Thu: 8.15 in 57 min (6:59)
Fri: 11.16 in 74 min (6:38)
Sat: 7.17 in 51 min (7:06)
Sun: 15.86 in 1:50:00 (6:56)
Total: 59.4 miles in 6:51:00 (6:55)

Not an optimal week by any means, but all considered, I’ll take it. Due to not getting a lot of rest over the weekend, then starting my Monday prior to 4:00AM and ending it later than usual, I decided starting the week with a day off was the right call. After logging 132 straight days, I wasn’t the least bit excited about missing two in a row, but sometimes you do what you gotta do. Even at that, I was still in a hole most of the week, but managed to salvage at least a decent amount of volume and a couple fairly solid runs, so I won’t complain.

I thought I might wind up with three days in a row off when I arrived in Salem Tuesday afternoon to meet Andrew and we saw a bad storm building in. We decided to stay near the college, run as much as we safely could, and bail out if need me, but we wound up being able to do 7 miles with no problems other than getting absolutely drenched. There was some lightning in the area, but it never was that bad, and thankfully we also avoided the hail that a lot of other places in the region got.

Wednesday was a run from the Ramada with Andrew and Matthew, and it wasn’t a lot of fun. It was hot and humid as usual, and the previous few days caught up to me in the second half. After around four fairly easy miles, I tried to push the pace, hoping to do a progression through 10 miles, but after a 6:11 for mile 7, I was done. The last three miles weren’t bad (mile 10 was under 6:30), but they felt like death. I just had no legs whatsoever and my energy level was non-existent. It was at that point that I decided I was just going to have to take what the week gave me and not worry about any specific workouts, etc.

A fairly easy run from Hanging Rock was followed by a light workout on Friday. Andrew, Matthew, and I hit the Wildwood Loop with a plan of running around 8 miles, doing some drills, then running a fairly solid 2 miles afterward to finish. Wildwood turned into a progression, and we finished mile 8 at the track with a split of 6:01. We then did a set of drills and took off for a mile and a half at a solid effort (first mile was 5:42) followed by a mile and a half to ease out. It was a good workout, incorporating both speed and strength, and after feeling pretty bad early I felt solid towards the end and was pleased with the results.

I finished the week off with about 16 miles from my house Sunday morning. I decided to play this run conservatively for several reasons, including the fact that my allergies were bothering me thanks to a day of yard work and tree cutting the day before. I almost turned around after 2-3 miles because I was just dragging, but I decided to keep going and was glad I did because after 4-5 miles I started to feel pretty good. I cruised through 12 miles around 7 min pace, feeling very comfortable, then decided to lean on it the last 3+ miles, hitting splits of 6:35, 6:29, 6:25, and 6:29 (.86). It turned out to be a decent run and a good way to close out a tough week.

After a couple weeks now of sub-par training, I hope to get back on track this coming week. However, I also have an even bigger goal of getting the issue with my left calf that I’ve had for quite a while now resolved. It’s very annoying, and even though it hasn’t limited my workouts or even racing, I feel like it’s holding me back at least a little. Hopefully I can get that taken care of and really start to make some progress as we hit July. I’m not there yet, but I honestly feel like I’m close to having a breakthrough and have seen signs of such. Just gotta stay focused and stay on it! Have a great week, all!

Training Summary: 6/13 - 6/19

2011-06-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.61 miles in 55 min (7:13)
Tue: 9.15 miles in 64 min (6:59)
Wed: 10.52 miles in 69 min (6:33) – 30 min, “Mono” Fartlek, 19 min
Thu: 7.62 miles in 55 min (7:13)
Fri: 5.15 miles in 38 min (7:22)
Sat: 11.5 miles, including We’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain “5k” in 19:10 for first overall
Sun: 0 - Off
Total: 51.6 miles

This week was basically a struggle. It didn’t go bad, it just wasn’t what I was looking for and then sort of finished with a fizzle. The heat and humidity have really been working on me so far this spring/summer, and I’m not acclimating as fast as I’d like (if at all). I guess it goes without saying, but I think that’s placing a little extra strain on my body, such that what might be a fairly easy effort when it’s 60 degrees with low humidity takes considerably more out of me when it’s 90 degrees with a matching dew point. So, by the end of the week I was feeling pretty worn down, then complicated matters by traveling to WV Friday evening and only getting about 5 hours sleep that night. I fared well enough in the race the next morning, even feeling about as good as I have to date, but by the next evening I pretty well crashed. I awoke Sunday morning with every intention of doing 15-16 miles, but I just couldn’t force myself out of bed. I knew I would be getting up prior to 4:00AM the next morning to head to work, and I figured I could use some extra rest. On top of that, my calf has been a real pain, literally, for several weeks now, so I thought a day or two off might do it some good as well. In the end, I hated to skip a long run, but I hadn’t had a day off since February 6 and knew it was the right decision.

As for the other details of the week, nothing too exciting, mostly just running with the exception of the race on Saturday, which I will recap later, and Wednesday’s workout, which I will cover now. I got the idea for this workout from my friend, Jason Pyles, who borrowed it from the great Australian distance runner, Steve Moneghetti, for whom it’s named. Andrew and I hit the greenway for this one, and we ran 30 min at a fairly easy effort to start. When we hit the 30 min mark, we did 2X90 sec, 2X60 sec, 4X30 sec, and 4X15 sec, all with equal recovery, then ran a pretty solid 2+ miles (running 6:12 for mile 10) before easing out with a half mile jog to finish. The key to this workout is to “float” the recovery intervals, so instead of doing them as an easy jog, you do them at a moderate effort. I’m not totally sure what we hit for the on/off sections, but our mile splits were in the 5:50’s and got down to low 5:40’s towards the end, so we were moving pretty well. I really liked this workout and plan to do add it to my repertoire going forward. Eventually the goal will be to run the fast parts right around 5 flat or a little better and the slower parts around 6 flat to average 5:30 pace. Overall it’s a good workout that incorporates both speed and strength, and it doesn’t take a ton out of you so it can be done the week of a race or before/after another big workout during the same week.

Race recap to come. Suffice it to say this one was a real adventure, but at the same time a lot of fun. The fact that I have the “5k” part above in quotes and ran 19:10 probably gives you some clues as to how it turned out, but stay tuned for more.

Catching Up

2011-06-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, just a quick post to let everyone know I’m still alive. Sorry this blog has died the past week and a half, but I’ve been very, very busy at work, and using what little bit of free time I’ve had for running, rest, and time with family, so blogging has taken a back seat. I will get up a couple posts hopefully in the near future, including a training recap from last week and a race summary from the race I ran last Saturday (an adventure to say the least).

As far as how running is going, it’s been better, but I’m hanging in there. I’ve been battling some pain in my left calf for over three weeks now, and while it loosens up as I go and doesn’t really limit what I can do in terms of workouts, it’s been annoying and I would like to get on top of it sooner than later. Additionally, I’ve had a little issue crop up with my right hip flexor, but it actually seems to be under control now after being somewhat uncomfortable for about a week. Between those two things, the heat/humidity, and a major lack of rest thanks to work (plus not taking the best care of my body during that time as well), about all I’ve been doing is treading water and trying to maintain fitness. In fact, after a rough run this past Wednesday, I’ve pretty much written this week off and decided to just take what it will give me until I can catch up on my rest.

Thankfully work doesn’t interfere with running or family for me very often, but the past week or more was an exception due to the culmination of a major project I’d been working on for almost seven months. The good news is it went well, and now I can start to get back to a normal schedule. I’m really looking forward to this weekend where I can maybe get a little extra rest (although I have a lot of work to do around the house that’s been neglected as well), and then next week hopefully I can get back to my normal routine and schedule and start to make some progress on the running front again. Have a great weekend everyone!

Greenbrier River Distance Run

2011-06-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

After spending most of the week sweltering in the heat and unable to even imagine running fast, I made a late-week decision to head to Ronceverte, WV, to race the Greenbrier River Distance Run Five Miler. It probably wasn’t the wisest decision based on the way I was feeling, but part of me felt I needed to at least try to incorporate a little quality into my week of training and I knew there was no way I was going to do so unless I was basically forced to run hard by entering a race. I had previously debated heading to Burkes Garden for the half marathon or 5k and a shot at the money/savings bond those races offer, but ultimately I decided it was just too far to drive for a 5k and I couldn’t really fathom trying to race 13.1 miles in the heat, so Ronceverte it was.

I first ran the Greenbrier River Distance Run back in 1997 and have returned multiple times since. It’s a small race that is part of the annual Ronceverte River Festival, and I enjoy it. Unfortunately numbers have dwindled over the years thanks to numerous other races having cropped up in the area on the same day, but they do a good job with it and it’s a fun event. The only think I don’t like about the race is it always seems extremely humid, and this year was no exception. I know the time of year has a lot to do with it, but I think maybe the race being alongside the river adds to the humidity. It always seems to feel like it at least. This year was no exception, and in fact was probably the worst it’s ever been thanks to the weather pattern we’d been in for several days prior.

I headed out for my warm-up and returned 22 min later just about completely soaked. I told Leslie that I was sweating way too much for just a warm-up and that the race itself was likely to be ugly. I had thought about trying to treat the race as a progression run, starting a little over 6 min pace and trying to run about 5-10 sec per mile faster each mile, but when the race started a couple of high school kids shot to the front and I was afraid to just let them go since the one kid looked fairly fit (even though he was wearing basketball shorts that came below his knees). There was also a guy I knew there, and I figured he would run fairly well, so I didn’t want to take too many risks.

I caught the kid in the basketball shorts about a quarter mile into the race, and he immediately surged. I just maintained even pace, which found me catching him again 100 meters or so later, at which point he surged again. I checked my Garmin to see we were running around 5:30 pace, so I saw no need to respond to his antics. I eventually opened a small gap on him about three quarters of the way into the first mile, only to hit a downhill section and have him come flying by me like he was on fire and put a good 10 meters on me. As soon as we leveled out, I caught him again, went by, and hit the mile in exactly 5:30 a short time later. I was starting to get a bit annoyed by all the surging, so thankfully it ended at that point and I was on my own the rest of the way.

I wanted to use this race mainly as a hard workout and not get too far out of my comfort zone, so after all the back and forth of the first mile, I tried to settle. As a result, I wound up falling asleep a bit and hit a slow second mile of 5:47. Seeing the split woke me up a bit, and I hit the next mile in 5:38 in spite of that mile containing a pretty good hill as well as a 180 around a cone at the turnaround point. From there I ran right around 5:40 pace the rest of the way, crossing the line in 28:39 to win by a minute and 20 seconds. The course was 5.04 miles according to my Garmin, which was the exact same measurement I got the last time I did this race in 2009, so the course is pretty accurate and maybe a touch long if anything.

This was the ninth time I’ve won this race overall, so I was happy about that. I was also pleased with my effort and the way I felt. The big hill at 4.5 miles worked on me a bit, but I finished strong and overall stayed mostly within my comfort zone. While my finishing time was my slowest ever at this race (I hold the course record in under 26 min) and certainly nothing to get excited about, it was faster than I ran at the Mannathon a few weeks ago even though the conditions were much worse. Furthermore, this was the most comfortable I’ve felt at this sort of pace since starting back, so I’ll take all that as a sign of progress.

After the race, we hit a couple local stores, ate lunch at Wendy’s, and then decided to take Kaitlyn by the Fish Hatchery in White Sulpher Springs so she could see the big trout. When we got there, we found out they were having an event related to National Get Outdoors Day, and that turned out to be a lot of fun. We even saw a quail hunting exhibition, which prompted Leslie to request we buy some bird dogs – lol. The day concluded with a Choclate Xtreme Blizzard from Dairy Queen and watching track and field on television. Doesn’t get much better than that!

I’ll try to get up a couple pics in the next day or so and maybe a link to results as well if they get them online.

Training Summary: 6/6 - 6/12

2011-06-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.61 miles in 55 min (7:13)
Tue: 9.07 miles in 64 min (7:03)
Wed: 11.61 miles in 82 min (7:03)
Thu: 8.05 miles in 57 min (7:04)
Fri: 6.15 miles in 45 min (7:19)
Sat: 12.6 miles including Greenbrier River Distance Run 5 Miler in 28:39 for 1st overall
Sun: 15.5 miles in 1:48:00 (6:58)
Total: 70.6 miles

This was a tough week for many reasons. I’ve got a major project at work that is about to come due, so I’ve been busy, busy, busy, and will likely only get more so over the next week or two before things start to settle down. Furthermore, the heat and humidity we’ve been having has worked on me. I normally do a pretty good job of handling hot conditions, but I haven’t responded too well to it so far this season. I hope that will change as I have a chance to get better acclimated, but so far it’s caused all sorts of problems from muscle cramps to stomach issues to just plain slow, miserable runs. Finally, I’m still battling an issue with my left calf. I feel it even just walking around and it hurts at the start of every run before loosening and being fine once I get warmed up (meaning it’s likely something muscle related). I’ve been wearing calf sleeves in the hopes they would help and have thrown a variety of treatments at it from ice to massage to e-stim to ultrasound, but no luck knocking it out so far. Thus far it’s been more annoying than anything else and hasn’t really limited me, but with no improvement for two weeks, I continue to be concerned that it could blow up into a bigger problem at any time. My plan is to keep training through it, but if it gets the least bit worse or doesn’t start to improve soon, I may need to re-evaluate.

Anyway, all that considered, I really got in a pretty solid week. Andrew told me at the start that based on the way he’d been feeling in the heat he thought this would be a week where he would just log miles and not try to do any workouts. Being in a similar position, that sounded just fine to me and is basically what we proceeded to do. Wednesday was a real cooker of a day, and we ran from the Ramada over to Patrick Henry High School, through the trails there, then through Grandin Court and back to the Ramada. We hit numerous 6:40 miles and even a couple in the 6:30’s, which took a lot more effort and felt a lot harder than it should have. Thursday I ran the last 3 miles of the run on my own and picked up the pace to right around 6:40 or just under. When I finished, I bet my heart rate was in the 170’s, which is ridiculous for that pace, and it also felt like the air I was breathing just wasn’t being processed. Not fun, and after those couple of days, I couldn’t even fathom trying to run truly fast in those conditions. However, knowing I needed at least a little quality in my week and wouldn’t get it any other way, I decided to race Saturday morning, heading over to Ronceverte, WV, for a race I’ve run many, many times, the Greenbrier River Distance Run 5-Miler. I got the win in 28:39 and a recap will come soon (if I can get the time to type one up!). I finished the week off with a fairly relaxed effort long run and was surprised when I added things up in my head just after I finished and realized I’d hit 70 miles total.

Not sure what this week will bring. My work schedule and my calf may dictate it to a certain extent, although I’m hopeful neither will be a problem. Just going to play it by ear and see what happens. Looks like we might get a bit of a break from the heat, at least in comparison to what we had this past week, so that will be more than welcome. I’m hoping to race again this coming weekend, but again, everything is day-to-day right now, so who knows. That’s all for now. Stay tuned.

Training Summary: 5/30 - 6/5

2011-06-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.53 miles in 54 min (7:10)
Tue: 9.14 miles in 65 min (7:06)
Wed: 8.04 miles (plus drills) in 56 min (6:57)
Thu: 10.64 miles in 71 min (6:40), 3 mile w-up, 4X400, 1X2 miles on the road, 4X200, ~3 mile c-down
Fri: 8.05 miles in 57 min (7:04)
Sat: 7.21 miles in 50 min (6:56)
Sun: 16.43 miles in 1:52:00 (6:49)
Total: 67.1 miles

Not a bad week, all considered. With a forecast of several days in the 90’s, I knew coming into it that it was going to be difficult, but I managed to keep the volume where it’s been and get in at least a little quality as well, so overall I’m satisfied.

I spent much of the week with sore quads, especially the left. It started after the long run last Sunday and took most of the week to completely go away. I’ve also had a little nagging issue with my left calf as well. I think both may be somewhat related to possibly getting a little dehydrated, so something to keep an eye on in more ways than one.

As a result of the sore quads, I really wasn’t able to attempt any faster running the first three days of the week. My left quad was bad enough that it would have been futile. I did get some drills done on Wednesday, and after the drills I put in an additional mile and a half of running at a solid, but comfortable effort. That yielded a first mile of 6:08 and a next half mile at 6:06 pace, and I was surprised at how relatively easy those felt. I think it helped loosen me up a little too, because Thursday’s workout went pretty well. Andrew and I did a 3 mile w-up then 4X400 on the track with 200 recovery, a 400 meter jog, 2 miles at tempo on the road, about a 600 meter jog back to the track, then finished with 4X200 with 200 recovery and about a 3 mile cooldown. I’ve done workouts similar to this in the past, mixing shorter, faster intervals with longer, slower ones, and I really liked the layout of this workout. I may throw in something like this fairly frequently going forward. After a couple of easier days, I finished the week off with a long run on Sunday. I took it relatively easy early, but after a couple of miles I started running pretty solid through 11-12 miles and was feeling good. Just like the long run the week before, though, the heat/humidity started to get to me somewhere around 90 min, and the last 3-4 miles was pretty rough. I needed fluids badly! Still, I was able to maintain a solid pace, finishing with a last 3 miles of 6:31, 6:29, and 6:20. However, I was pretty spend afterward and as a result decided that I’m going to have to start structuring long run courses so I can get some fluids in the middle.

Looks like this coming week is going to be another hot one. As a result, training will probably be pretty similar to this past week. If I can get in a day with strides/drills, a mid-week longer day, a light workout, and a long run, I’ll be pretty happy, as that should be enough to keep the fitness level building and allow me to continue the acclimation process without putting myself in a hole. I’ve always heard it takes about two weeks to adjust to the weather, so hopefully that process will take place soon and the heat/humidity will at least start to feel a little more manageable. Stay cool, everyone!

Training Summary: 5/23 - 5/29

2011-05-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.55 miles in 55 min (7:17)
Tue: 9.11 miles in 64 min (7:01)
Wed: 10 miles – 3.25 mile w-up, 2X800, 2X600, 2X400, 2X200 with half the distance recovery, 3 mile c-down
Thu: 7.05 miles in 52 min (7:22)
Fri: 11.05 miles in 72 min (6:31) – 3 mile w-up, 4.5 mile tempo (Wildwood Short, finishing on the track), 3.5 miles
Sat: 7.09 miles in 51 min (7:11)Sun: 16.65 miles in 1:53:00 (6:47)
Total: 68.5 miles

This week didn’t go as planned but still turned out ok. My original plan was to race on Saturday and possibly the following Monday (Memorial Day) as well, but thanks to getting sick the previous weekend and not being able to shake it (I’m still not quite 100%), that was out. I never felt terrible, but I had various amounts of congestion and coughing, ranging from a little to a lot, throughout the week, and the bigger factor was just a general “worn down” feeling.

That said, I still got in good mileage and a couple of decent, but not great, workouts. I already recapped my Wednesday workout, so I’ll cover Friday’s. I warmed up with Matthew, my first run with him since Boston, then hit the Wildwood Short loop with the plan of doing it as a progression/tempo. I wound up getting out a little fast and knew when I hit the mile that it would be tough to pick up the effort and pace each subsequent mile. I decided I would just keep running hard and see what happened, and I hit mile two in almost the exact same split as the first. Mile three is mostly downhill, and I split a 5:36 for that one, but was starting to feel a little more strained that I should have been. I faded pretty badly towards the end, but still managed to hit the loop 54 seconds faster than the last time I’d done it as a workout back on March 25th. I had wanted to run a few 200’s on the track after the tempo, but I just didn’t have the legs. I think that was due to a combination of the weather, being a little sick, and running a little too hard in the tempo. I finished the workout off with a solid last 3.5 miles though, averaging just under 6:30 pace.

Sunday I did a very hilly loop from my house (over 2,300’ of elevation change). I felt good through ten miles or so, but the heat and humidity started to work on me after that. My plan was to do 5X1 min on/off starting 13-14 miles in, but by the time I got to that point I was really starting to overheat, so I just finished the run out as solidly as I could. My legs felt fine, I was just HOT and in need of fluid! However, in spite of that and all the hills as well, the last eight miles was at a 6:37 average, and the last two were both just under 6:30, so it was a good overall effort.

I’m sort of at a crossroads with my training right now. I want to work on my 5k race pace and know that’s what I need the most. However, the heat and humidity of the past few days has shown me quickly that it’s going to be very hard to do quality workouts over the next few months. I don’t really have time to run before work, and running late like 8:00 or 9:00 PM really isn’t an option either, so I’ll be facing some pretty extreme conditions throughout the summer. I handle heat fairly well, so it’s generally not a problem for me to log miles even when it’s mid-to-upper 90’s, but jumping on the track and running intervals is another matter. That’s why summer is generally a great time to build a base that you can take advantage of once fall rolls around and you can start doing fast workouts again, but I’m not sure that works too well for me right now based on where I am and what I need the most. In any event, with a forecast of over 90 degrees each of the next several days, I probably won’t do anything too hard this week. Instead I’ll log some good mileage and hope being out in it consistently will help me start to acclimate. Hopefully I’ll be able to increase the quality from there, even if I have to shorten some of my faster workouts and/or just stay in touch with my speed via strides. I definitely don’t want to neglect the faster element of my training, but I’ll also have to be smart about it now that the heat is on. Welcome to summer!

Summertime

2011-05-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

After a great week of training last week, I’m struggling so far this week, and it looks like plans for racing on Saturday and/or Monday are out. Saturday is out for sure, and Monday depends on how the next couple days go. I did some serious yard work this past weekend, including about 90 min of weed eating Sunday evening in some grass and weeds that were at least two feet tall (that’s what happens when you live on a farm, your weed eater breaks, and you wait a few weeks before buying a new one). At any rate, afterward I noticed my throat was sore, but I chalked it up to allergies based on the work I had done and the fact that I had neglected taking any allergy medicine for the past couple days. However, a couple of Zyrtec later, I knew I was either facing more serious allergies, a cold, or likely a combination of both. As of today I’m still congested, coughing a little, and what’s worse is I just feel worn down. It’s not bad enough to cause any real trouble, but definitely enough for me to feel it.

The weather the past few days hasn’t helped. Whereas we had several days last week that could almost have been classified as cool, this week as been hot, hot, hot (and equally humid). It was under those conditions that Andrew and I embarked on a track workout last night. I knew I was a little worn down from the cold/allergies and I also knew the conditions were poor (it was 89 degrees when we started and I told Andrew this would basically be like doing a workout at altitude), but I still hoped to run decently. The plan was 2X800, 2X600, 2 (or 4) X 400, and 2X200, and after churning out a 2:33 800 on Sunday and a 1:55 600 last Wed, I was hoping to run in that same range or a little faster. Suffice it to say that just wasn’t happening. I had no legs from about the second repeat on, and it was all a struggle. I wound up hitting 2:35’s for both 800’s, which wasn’t too bad but still a couple seconds off my goal, 1:57 range for both the 600’s, which was 3-4 seconds off the goal, and the quarters were just pathetic in 78 and 77 (I was hoping 73-75). I closed with a 36 and a 35 for the 200’s and was basically wiped out.

I was pretty aggravated while cooling down, but afterward I didn’t feel quite as bad once I put it in perspective. The conditions, as well as me being a little sick, definitely had an impact. Even at that, I ran faster than I was running 3-4 weeks ago. Furthermore, the last time I did this workout I was significantly slower across the board (as sad as that might be) on a day with much better weather, and I had to bail after the first 400 because I was totally fried. Finally, when I got home and downloaded the data off my watch, I saw I got my heart rate to 190, the highest it’s been yet, so I was definitely doing some work and will get the benefit from it. Oh, and so much for the 220 minus your age as your max formula. 190 is significantly higher than that and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t at my max.

Anyway, I’m hoping to get over the hump with the allergies/cold in the next day or so and maybe get in another good workout this week and/or a race on Monday. Not sure either will happen though, as I’m just gonna roll with the punches and not push anything. However, I know one thing for sure. Summer is here and it’s time to get acclimated. It won’t be fun and it will definitely slow things down, but after the winter we had, you won’t hear me complaining much. Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend, and good luck to those racing the Festival races on Saturday!

Training Summary: 5/16 - 5/22

2011-05-23T11:26:00.001-07:00

Mon: 7.51 miles in 55 min (7:19)
Tue: 9.06 miles in 63 min (6:57) plus 6 hill bursts
Wed: 10.5 miles including 1600/1200/1000/600/400/200
Thu: 7.05 miles in 51 min (7:14)
Fri: 13.02 miles in 1:26:00 (6:36)
Sat: 7.15 miles in 51 min (7:08)
Sun: 11 miles including 1X1600, 2X800, 2X400, 2X200
Total: 65.3 miles

Pretty good week! Volume was decent, and I got in three good, quality sessions plus a day with hill bursts, so I definitely can’t complain. This finished out 20 weeks since I started back running on Jan 1, which is a record for me over the past several years. The longest I’d made it previously without an injury setback was 19 weeks, so that’s a major accomplishment in and of itself. Hopefully it’s just the start too, because consistency is king, and overcoming the lack thereof for so many years is one of my biggest challenges right now.

Speaking of challenges, as I eluded to in a previous post, I have decided to go a bit unconventional with my training for a while. I honestly think my fitness really isn’t too bad (better than my race times are showing at least). I just think it’s been so long since I ran faster paces (as in low-to-sub 5 min pace) that my body just doesn’t know what to do at that intensity. Therefore, I’ve decided to focus on teaching my body how to run that pace again. I think it’s easy to burn out and/or peak yourself by doing too much in the way of fast interval work in a short period of time, and it can increase risk of injury as well if not done carefully and properly, but I think a few weeks with a good bit of quality work is what I need right now. Once my body starts to adapt, I can go back to more conventional training, albeit with track/interval work continuing as a major component. Even when healthy, I’ve neglected track and faster interval work for years. Call it a revelation, shift in philosophy, or whatever you want, but going forward I plan for it to be a constant part of my training regardless of what I’m focusing on.

That said, I decided to skip a long run this week in favor of a track workout. Man, I don’t think I’ve EVER done that! The results turned out pretty good. I got my strength work done on Friday with a medium long run that turned into a progression. I originally planned on running 60 min around 6:50 pace, then doing 5X1 min on/off before finishing out 80 min total. However, I kept working the pace down as I went, and when I hit mile 8 in 6:28, I decided to just keep pushing. That led to the next three miles going 6:21, 6:13, and 5:51 before I backed out. My legs were a little tired and heavy, and I never felt all that great, but at the same time everything was pretty controlled with the exception of the 11th mile, which I was quite surprised to run as fast as I did as it felt more like 6-flat pace.

Sunday, I warmed up with 3 hilly miles over part of the Bank of Fincastle course, changed into flats and did a couple strides, then attacked a workout on the Central Academy track. Working out on this track is always an adventure because it’s not a full 400 meters. You have to know where the marks are in order to get accurate splits, but I’ve been there enough to know without even hardly having to look, and other than that it’s a really nice track. I wound up with splits of 5:12, 2:34, 2:33, 76, 73, 34, and 33. The mile was the fastest mile I’ve run since Dec 2007, and I also hit the fastest 800 and 400 I’ve run since starting back. I wanted to do 4X400, but I could tell my legs were going and I wanted to keep the quality high. My heart rate maxed out at 184 consistently (3 beats less than the max during Wednesday’s workout), and my legs were basically mush by the end. I haven’t felt like that in a long time, and that’s exactly the sort of work I need right now, both for my VO2 max and my neuromuscular system.

Anyway, I have a long way to go before 5 min pace will feel comfortable, but that’s what I’m working towards. The strength is there, so once my body starts to remember how to run “fast,” I should be able to hold together fairly well and run some solid races. I have a feeling it will still take a while though, so I’m fully prepared to stick with it and be patient while the adaptation takes place. It literally took me years to put myself in this position, so I can’t expect a miracle overnight and must be prepared for some frustrating days along with the good ones. In the meantime, I think I just might like getting back on the track consistently. For whatever reason, I had convinced myself that I hated it, and sure, it’s painful, but in a sick, warped sort of way, I really enjoyed how I felt Wednesday and Sunday, so who knows? You might even see me spiking up for a 1500m sometime………….just don’t count on it ;-)

The Experiment Begins

2011-05-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evening I made my return to true track work with a favorite workout of mine. It’s a downward ladder of 1600/1200/1000/600/400/200, which adds up to 5000 meters of hard running. I’ve done various recovery amounts over the years, usually going with 400/400/400/400/200. I have gone with as little rest as 400/400/300/300/200, and when doing it that way, I’ve found that I can generally race 5000m on the track within about 10 seconds of my total time for the intervals in the workout. At my fittest, I once totaled up a 14:52, hitting splits of 4:50, 3:38, 3:01, 1:45, 67, and 31. Sadly, I never raced a 5k on the track around that time because it was back when I was in that mindset that I wasn’t “ready” unless I did something mind-blowing, and this simply wasn’t good enough in my mind, even though it indicated the potential to run very close to 15-flat if not under. However, instead of taking advantage of that, I chose to continue to train through numerous road races, running hard and running well, but never as fast as I could have if I’d cut back and/or jumped on the track. As a matter of fact, I ran a hilly road 10k just two days after doing that workout, winning by a couple of minutes in 32:26. I don’t say any of that to brag, simply to point out a big mistake I made. I can only wish/hope that I can get back in this shape again someday so I can correct my error.

Anyway, back to the Wednesday workout, Andrew joined me and we used rest of 600/400/400/400/200. My splits went 5:24, 4:00, 3:18, 1:55, 74, and 34, for a total time of 16:25. That’s probably the slowest I’ve ever done that workout, but I was actually fairly pleased with it. Coming in, my goal was to run 16:40-45, and I had times in my mind for each of the intervals. I was faster than those times for every interval but the 1600 (which I hit exactly on goal), and of course my total time was significantly faster than the original goal. What’s more is I think I could have run a little faster if not for a couple of things. First, it rained throughout, and that didn’t help. Second, I was pretty hesitant in the first three intervals because I wasn’t sure how I would hold up as the workout wore on. After all, it was just three weeks earlier that I had to bail out of a track workout, and I didn’t want a repeat of that incident. As is, I was feeling strong at the end and probably had a little more in the tank.

I really like this workout because I feel it has numerous benefits, one of which is to serve as a gauge for progress. That said, I hope to do it consistently going forward, probably every 3-4 weeks. Next time out I hope to hit 16:10 or better, then shoot for sub-16, and I would like to be down in the 15:30’s once fall rolls around. That should put me on track to achieve at least some of my short term goals.

In any event, I’ve done a little more looking back at my logs since my last post and have really confirmed my lack of faster paced work over the past several years. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but I can literally count on one hand the number of times I’ve run under 5:10 for a mile since 2007, even though there have been a few decent races during that time. It’s pathetic, not because I lack the ability to do it but because I’ve either been injured and unable to or just haven’t trained that way when healthy. It’s now at least a little easier for me to understand why paces under 5:30 feel fast and why I can’t race 5k’s at 5:10 pace. I know my endurance and strength are good, as evidenced by my long runs and even some of my longer workouts, and I believe my aerobic engine/capacity is not all that bad either. However, I honestly believe that it’s been so long since I’ve done any work at 5:00-5:10 pace that muscularly and neuro-muscularly, my body just doesn’t know what to do at that pace and therefore can’t sustain it.

That said, I still believe building a big aerobic base is the best way to train. After all, it doesn’t take much speed to run a 75 sec quarter. However, if you’re strong enough to be able to string enough of them together, you can run some very fast 5k, 10k, etc. times. Still, you can’t lose touch with speed altogether, and that’s what I’ve done. Therefore, I may have to get a bit unconventional with my training for a while in order to “play catch-up.” As crazy as it might sound, just going to the track and running one mile in 5:10 right now would be excellent for my development. It’s hardly any volume, but it’s a pace my body needs to learn to run again. I think once that adaptation takes place, I can use my other strengths to make some big progress when it comes to racing. That’s the idea at least. Now I just have to put it into practice. Let the experiment begin!

Use It or Lose It

2011-05-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

In preparation for longer track workouts on the horizon, I decided to do a little looking back through my running logs to see when the last time was that I did any quality work on the track (not just short turnover workouts like 400’s, but real intervals targeting both speed and VO2 Max, like repeats of 800m to 2000m). I keep all my workouts classified in spreadsheets, so the data is pretty easy to get to, and while what I found wasn’t that much different than what I expected, it was still a little shocking.

The last time I did an interval over 1000 meters on the track was August of 2008. WOW, that’s almost three years, and that workout was actually a rare one. There were no consistent track workouts all the way back into 2006 and maybe even longer than that. I didn’t bother going back any further because I figure what I did more than five years ago has very little impact on my current situation (actually that could be true of even 2-3 years ago). At any rate, my suspicion was confirmed, but in the process it revealed something else.

In my recap of the Vinton Dogwood race, I wrote how the 5:18 opening mile I ran there was my fastest mile since July of 2009 when I ran a 5:15 to open a four mile race. Well, that’s ugly enough, but that doesn’t really scratch the surface. The next fastest mile I could find was a 4:58 from December of 2007, when I ran that fast at the start of the Christmas Classic 10k in Bedford in order to win some cash for leading the race at the mile. That mile is significantly downhill, however, so I’m not really sure it should even count. If I throw it out, the next fastest becomes a 5:07 from May of 2007, FOUR full years ago! The last time I broke 5 minutes legitimately was the first mile of an indoor 5000m race at Virginia Tech in February of 2006 when I went 4:57, yes, over FIVE years ago. Furthermore, the fastest quarter I could find in at least the last three and a half years was a 68 I ran in May of 2008. Good grief, no wonder I’m so slow!

I’ve always heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” and it’s pretty obvious that’s the case with my speed. Injuries, of course, have played a big part in my lack of faster paced work, but even when healthy I specifically avoided the track, which in retrospect was definitely a mistake. To an even greater extent than I imagined, I have neglected a very important part of building fitness and probably the most important part of racing fast at distances of 10k and less.

While it’s definitely not pretty, there is some good news, and it’s twofold. First, it explains why anything under 5:30 pace feels so fast to me right now. I simply haven’t done any work at paces any faster than that in forever. I was beginning to wonder if it was just old age (something I didn’t really buy into but at least had to consider based on the way things were going), something biomechanical and/or something with my form, something muscular or neuromuscular, etc. However, in the end, I don’t think it’s any of that but is instead a simple case of “use it or lose it.” Second, whereas some of those other considerations could be very difficult to correct, this one is much “easier.” It simply involves sucking it up and getting on the track on a consistent basis until I get faster.

That’s also where the bad news comes into play. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long, hard, ugly, and painful process. I’m definitely not going to run fast to start, and it will likely be at least a little while until I see results. In the meantime, I’m going to have to keep myself from getting discouraged and frustrated at running times on the track that I would have considered to be a complete joke back when I was doing track workouts consistently. In fact, not wanting to see slow splits is one of the main reasons I’ve avoided the track for so long. However, I now realized I was putting myself in a Catch 22 situation. I was avoiding seeing the slow splits, but I was also not doing the work necessary to get to a point where I wouldn’t see slow splits.

No more! From here on out mondo will be a pretty consistent part of my weekly routine. That’ll be extra fun as the weather heats up, but in a some sort of sick, warped way, I’m actually looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll even throw up! Yeehah! Bring it!

MANNAthon 8k

2011-05-17T11:12:00.001-07:00

After a good workout on Wednesday, I headed in to the MANNAthon 8k in Vinton Saturday morning optimistic for a good performance. However, it would be my fifth race in four weekends and my first attempt at anything longer than 5k since re-breaking my foot at the Bank of Fincastle 10k last October, so I knew it would be a challenge.

Andrew and I decided to warm up by doing the 5k course, which he would be racing, and this led to several observations. First, it was extremely humid. I was sweating like a pig at just warm-up pace. Second, my legs didn’t feel too good. They were on the tired and heavy side. Finally, this course would be interesting. For the 8k, it was mostly flat through 3.25 miles, but after that it was predominantly uphill all the way to a little past 4.5 miles, then gradual downhill to the finish. In other words, the hard part would come just when you were hurting the most, so it wasn’t what you would call a fast course.

We also noticed there were no cones blocking off traffic on the main highway, and this led to the race being about ten minutes late getting started due to a wait for the cones to be put out. It was a narrow start, as we all lined up in less than one lane of Dale Avenue, and I quickly observed that most of the runners lined up at the front were kids. Andrew and I wished each other luck, and soon thereafter we were off, with Andrew taking the pace down the gradual downhill start. I gave chase, and by a half mile in he was well clear of the field with me not too far behind then a pretty good gap back to the next runner, who I think was in the 8k.

I felt pretty good the first mile but was a little surprised at how much Andrew was pulling away from me, especially because I felt like my pace was decent. I later learned he blitzed the first mile in 5:05, which explains that. Not too far past the mile, the course started to climb, and the 8k then broke off to turn onto the greenway for an out-and-back. At this point the humidity was already starting to get to me and my pace was slowing accordingly. Basically it felt like I was working harder than the pace I was going, and I wasn’t feeling too good. After a 5:28 opening mile, I hit 5:42 for mile two, and that discouraged me a bit, as I felt like I hadn’t slowed down that much.

The turnaround on the greenway was challenging because it was basically a 90 degree turn, followed by a short, steep uphill, followed by a 180 turn, followed by a 90 degree turn. In other words, all momentum and rhythm was completely lost. I did a check of my watch when I made the turn and checked again when I saw the second place runner, and some quick math told me I had a 58 second lead at that point, which was just about halfway. At that point, I got into a poor mindset. I wasn’t feeling particularly good and knew I had a solid lead, so I just sort of settled rather than continuing to push.

Now, prior to the race we had checked out the course maps, which were on the USATF web site, and the 8k showed as being 5.06 miles. I had hoped this was not the case and the map was just a little off, but sure enough, I crossed the line in 28:50 with exactly 5.06 miles showing on my Garmin. Coming in, my goal was to run around 5:40 pace, which would equate to 28:10 or so for 8k. My average pace would have put me at 28:16 at 8k, so not too far off. Considering the day, I was ok with it, but I was a little disappointed that I didn’t feel better during the race and that I didn’t push harder in the second half. Regardless of how I might be feeling or what might be going on in the race itself, I have to get used to pushing from start to finish, because that’s exactly what I will need to do in more competitive races and what will be necessary for me to run fast times.

At any rate, I got in a decent effort, and Andrew won the 5k in a very solid 16:33, so it was nice for us to sweep the titles. Overall the race organizers did a nice job with the event. The course was well marked, there were water stops throughout, and they had a nice post-race celebration. The awards were nice too. The only bad part was the narrow start, which turned out not to be a big deal, and the length of the 8k course, which could easily be corrected by adjusting the turnaround of the out-and-back section.

Results can be found here, and below are a few pics. The first is me coming down the hill to the finish, and the other two are me running with Kaitlyn after. At her insistence, this has quickly become a bit of a post-race tradition, and I love it!

Training Summary: 5/9 - 5/15

2011-05-16T11:29:00.001-07:00

Mon: 7.57 miles in 54 min (7:08)
Tue: 9.16 miles in 63 min (6:52), including 5 hill bursts plus drills
Wed: 10.1 miles in 66 min (6:32) – 23 min w-up, fartlek of 4/3/2/3/2/1 min on with 2 min rec, 18 min c-down
Thu: 7.06 miles in 51 min (7:13), plus drills
Fri: 5.52 miles in 40 min (7:14)
Sat: 12 miles, including the MANNAthon “8k” in 28:50 for first overall
Sun: 16.11 miles in 1:48:00 (6:42)
Total: 67.52 miles

This was the best week of training I’ve had in the past month or so, and I’m fairly pleased with it. I got the week rolling on Tuesday with some hill bursts and drills, and whereas the week before I had to scrap them based on how my hip flexors were feeling, this week I got in a good set of five. After I finished them, I did some drills on the track then about a mile to hard-wire it all in. The mile afterward is what surprised me, because I cruised the majority of it at 5:59 pace feeling totally smooth and relaxed. While it’s not what I would call fast, that pace hadn’t felt that easy in a long, long time.

On Wednesday, Andrew and I hit the greenway for some fartlek, and it turned out to be the best fartlek workout I’ve done since starting back. The pace for all the intervals was in the 5:20’s and :30’s, which is 15-20 sec per mile faster than I was doing them in 4-5 weeks ago. Additionally, we closed it out by running 5-flat pace for the last one, and none of it felt as hard as it’s been feeling recently, so I was definitely encouraged.

Saturday’s race was one I would describe as ok. It wasn’t great, but it was a decent effort and I’ll post a recap soon. I closed the week out with one of my best long runs since starting back. I did a hilly out-and-back from my house, hitting lots of miles in the 6:30’s and :40’s, all feeling very smooth and relaxed. I had no aches, pains, or soreness from the race whatsoever, and while I kept waiting to hit the wall and start feeling rough, I never did. I pressed the pace a little at the end and ran the last two miles in 6:16 and 6:13, and even those felt pretty comfortable.

Overall I’m starting to see some signs of progress. I still have a long way to go, but I finally had a few days this week that made me think I’m starting to build some momentum and that I just might have some hope of accomplishing what I eventually want to. I think the glute strengthening and core work is already paying off by helping my hip flexors, which have been a major source of my “dead” legs, and I also went to see Dr. Gilbert his week, who made a few adjustments which I think helped as well. Simply having a better attitude and approach is helping too!

After running five races in the past four weekends, it looks like I’ll take a break from the race scene for at least a week or two, and I’m actually looking forward to just training and seeing if I can’t make some significant gains in my fitness. This past week made 19 weeks since I started running again on Jan 1. That equals the longest injury-free period I’ve had in several years, and I really, really hope it’s just the beginning! If so, I think some good things will happen, and I’m starting to get excited about the possibilities.

Have a good week, all!

CAFE 5k

2011-05-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

After back-to-back races last weekend, I headed to Roanoke Saturday morning for my third race in eight days and fourth in the past three weeks, the CAFE 5k. Smart??? Probably not, but as I mentioned recently I’m just enjoying being able to compete right now and hoping that I’ll sort of “race myself into shape” in the process, although normally I don’t advocate that strategy or feel like it works particularly well.

In any event, this was a first year event, which always makes me a little nervous, but it turned out really well. They did a great job with the organization, had a decent turnout, and it was a really nice morning for running. They had a ton of volunteers, including someone at every turn on the course, and the proceeds from the event benefited a good cause, the Cultural Arts For Excellence (CAFE) Center. I was definitely glad I went.

The race started up Lafeyette Blvd, and when I say “up,” I mean it. As I got out the first mile, I felt like I was putting in a pretty good effort, so I was really surprised to see my first split be as slow as it was, a 5:33. I guess I didn’t really pay attention to how much uphill there was while I was racing or when I warmed up over the course prior to the start. I felt like I was working fairly hard, however, and when I downloaded the race data from my Garmin later I could see why. The rest of the course was similar, lots of turns and lots of hills. There were some nice downhill sections, but some good climbs as well, especially at the end. The race finished up Staunton Ave then turned left on 25th Street, and the lead up to 25th was basically a quarter mile climb that you definitely wouldn’t call gradual. In other words, with all the turns and hills, this wasn’t a fast course. Nothing wrong with a good challenge though!

I basically maintained the same effort throughout, slowing a little on the hill at the end, and crossed the line in 16:32 to get the overall win. I never felt great during the race, and even had a hint of a side stitch from just past the mile on, but I didn’t feel bad either and think I got in a good, solid effort. Before you think I had a breakthrough though, my Garmin had the course a little short of three miles, so I would have probably been low-17’s just like the past couple weeks. I do, however, think this was one of my better efforts thus far considering the course. I cooled down 35 minutes afterward and felt really good during that. I was cruising along in the 6:30’s and :40’s and even had one mile sub-6:30 and it all felt very relaxed and easy. I thought that was a good sign.

Anyway, I enjoyed getting to talk with many of the other runners after, including fourth place finisher Jeff Stone who I hadn’t seen in a long time, and I was pleased to put another healthy race in the books and take another step in the right direction. It’s a little discouraging to be stuck at the same level week after week, particularly when that level is so far from where you eventually want to be, but you can’t expect a ton of progress in a short period of time, especially when you’ve only been running less than four months and training full bore only about two of that. I’m finally coming to grips with that fact, and my attitude, which admittedly hasn’t been nearly as positive as it should have been, is improving as a result. Considering this time last year I had just broken my foot for the first time, I’ve come to the realization that I am, and should be, really thankful that I’m even able to train and race. I’ve also realized and accepted that I just have to keep plugging away and hopefully I’ll have a real breakthrough sometime soon. In fact, it might be sooner or it might be later, but I fully believe I’ll do just that. In the meantime, I’ll keep having fun and try to worry less about the results, and instead be confident that with every race, workout, and even recovery run, I’m making progress towards my eventual goal of approaching my PR’s again.

Training Summary: 5/2 - 5/8

2011-05-10T11:22:00.001-07:00

Mon: 7.53 miles in 54 min (7:10)
Tue: 9.16 miles in 64 min (6:59)
Wed: 10 miles – 3.5 mile w-up, 10X400 w/ 200, 2.75 mile c-down
Thu: 6.55 miles in 48 min (7:19)
Fri: 5.57 miles in 40:30 (7:16)
Sat: 11.25 miles – 23 min w-up, CAFE 5k in 16:32 for 1st overall, 35 min c-down
Sun: 15.65 miles in 1:48:00 (6:54)
Total: 65.71 miles

Not a bad week. Still not exactly what I’m looking for, but much better than the past couple weeks. Most importantly, I think I’ve figured out a couple of things that will allow me to really start to make some progress over the next few weeks. The first thing is I need to take my easy days easier. As soon as I got to a point where I could, I started running almost all my miles at 7-flat or better. I’m capable of that and most days it doesn’t seem to take much effort, but at the same time I think it might be more than I can handle right now and still recover as I need to for workouts. I just seemed to be accumulating too much fatigue, so hopefully slowing down the recovery days will help with that. Second, I think I may have figured out the source of my dead legs. Some of it was the aforementioned fatigue, but I also think my hip flexors, particularly the left one, are overworked right now and I believe this is due to some weakness in my gluteus medius and core. I plan on starting some strengthening and core work this week and also hope to get my alignment checked. If my suspicion is right (and it’s based on several things, including consulting with a PT), I should feel some more power in my stride as soon as the new work has a chance to do its job.

This week itself started off with me on the tired side from back-to-back races last weekend. I actually felt better than I thought I might on Monday though and hoped I could do some strides and hill bursts on Tuesday. My legs weren’t feeling any better when Tuesday rolled around, however, and when I started the first of my hill bursts I could tell I just didn’t have any power in my legs, so I bagged it and jogged it in to call it a day. Wednesday I ran 400’s for the first time in more than a year and a half. I almost bailed on this workout, but thanks to some words of wisdom from Andrew, I went through with it and was glad I did. I didn’t run particularly fast, but my first repeat was a 76.2 and the last one was a 76.3, and with the exception of #9 where I fell off a bit, all the rest were within a second of those. It was definitely a step in the right direction. After a couple recovery days, I jumped in the CAFE 5k in Roanoke on Saturday, winning in 16:32. Before anyone thinks I had a breakthrough, my Garmin showed the course being a little short. I do think it was perhaps my best performance since starting back, but nothing to get overly excited about. Recap to come. I finished the week with a nice out-and-back long run from my house. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve done myself in a few times with long runs the day after races, so I tried to make sure I kept the effort under control. I actually felt very good with the exception of my left hip flexor, which didn’t really hurt but didn’t have any power at all and was actually somewhat limiting on the uphills. I definitely need to address this issue. However, I was still able to close the run out with a 6:29 15th mile and 6:06 pace for the last .65, and I actually felt better at the faster pace.

My primary goal for the upcoming week is to start the core and glute strengthening work and get my hip flexors feeling better. If my theory is correct and I can get on top of this issue, I think I may be able to make a good bit of progress fairly quickly. I believe they’ve been a limiting factor in my workouts and races and my fitness might actually be a little better than what I’ve been able to get out of my body thus far. We’ll see. Regardless, I feel like I’m starting to build some momentum and I’m excited to get to work and see how things go over the next several weeks.

Spring for Fitness 5k

2011-05-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

After the awards ceremony for the Vinton race, Leslie and I headed out to run a few errands. Walking around, I was feeling pretty good (almost too good like in the cool-down after the race), so the wheels started turning. A couple days earlier I had noticed a race in Oak Hill, WV, which is just a few miles from where Leslie’s grandfather lives. I e-mailed the race for more info, and when I received a reply the attached flyer read “Cash Prizes for the Top Three Overall Finishers.” This, of course, piqued my interest, so I discussed making the trip with Leslie. However, we were unable to find a dog-sitter and didn’t figure it was worth the drive to go over and back in the same day, so we pretty much nixed it. Still, the idea kept floating around in the back of my mind and continued to even after running Vinton Saturday morning. Somewhere a few hours after the race, I decided to give it a shot. I knew Leslie had been wanting to make it over to WV to see her grandfather for quite a while, and even though we wouldn’t be able to spend a whole lot of time with him, some is better than none, and this would give me the chance to potentially pay for the trip and make a few bucks on top of that, so why not.

Now I’ve raced on back-to-back days a couple times before and even done two races in one day once, but I don’t advise it. It’s particularly a bad idea if you’re not really fit and in the midst of a so-so training block, so I knew this wasn’t the smartest idea I’ve ever had. However, sometimes you just need to have fun with something and that was pretty much my attitude with this. I wasn’t worried about the results, a rarity for me. I was just going to get in a run/workout, and if I did well and collected some cash for my effort, great. If not, that would be ok too because we would get to see Leslie’s grandfather and enjoy a fun day and that was plenty enough reason to go.

When I woke up that morning, it was cloudy, and shortly thereafter I heard a few rumbles of thunder. The forecast had been for sunny weather and warm temps, but a quick check of the Charleston, WV, radar showed that was anything but the case. It was absolutely pouring rain in WV, and we drove in and out of it all the way there. Just as we arrived, the rain began to let up, and it remained dry from there on, so we lucked out weather wise. There were supposed to be some free kids races though, which Kaitlyn actually wanted to participate in, and those got canceled at the last minute due to the fact that the field and dirt track where they were going to hold them was too muddy. That was a shame, but Kaitlyn still got a t-shirt for registering, her first road race tee - lol.

I have lots of friends and acquaintances in WV from racing there for so many years, and a few were at this race. I warmed up over the course with one of them, the eventual second place finisher, and noticed that the course was hilly, but not really too bad with the exception of a long climb around the two mile mark. The finish was downhill then flat, so that would be nice.

Standing on the line surveying the field, I figured it would come down to me and the guy I warmed up with and I hoped my legs would cooperate. The race started just a couple minutes late, and three of us quickly separated from the rest of the pack. By the half mile mark, I was pretty much dictating the pace, and while I was running a little harder and faster than I wanted, I was pretty comfortable and felt decent. I hit the mile in 5:24 and still had some company not too far back. This continued to be the case to about halfway, at which point I started to put some distance between myself and the others. I must have gained quite a bit on the big hill around the two mile mark because I turned to look in a 90 degree turn not too far after that and couldn’t see anyone close. I relaxed a bit at that point and ran a good solid tempo effort from there to the line, which I crossed in 17:19. My Garmin showed the course as 3.11, so pretty much dead on. Looking back I almost wish I’d pushed a little harder, as I could have probably beaten my time from the Chug for the Jug, but that wasn’t the point. Being smart was the much better decision.

I was pleased to have run basically the same pace as the day before on a course that I would say was of about the same difficulty, and I was even more pleased to have done so while feeling pretty good in spite of what I'd done the day before. My legs were a little tired and heavy, but overall I didn’t feel bad at all. I cooled down with 4 miles with the second place finisher and had a good time talking racing and training with him. When they called my name at the awards ceremony, I got no trophy, which disappointed Kaitlyn a little since she’s been collecting all mine of late as her own, but they handed me a hundred dollar bill, so I certainly wasn’t complaining! Of course Leslie snatched it out of my hand so fast I didn’t really get to look at it – ha, ha.

From there we headed over to Fayetteville to spend a few hours with Leslie’s grandfather, always a treat! In the end, I had done two races in two days plus made a trip to WV, and basically broken even when entry fees, food, and gas were taken out. I had a good bit of fun in the process, so I’ll definitely take it. No more Michael Wardian impersonations for me for a while though!

Vinton Dogwood Festival 5k

2011-05-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

I debated this race for several days before finally deciding on Friday night to give it a shot. Why so non-committal? Well, for a couple reasons. First, I’ve never particularly cared for this race ever since they changed the course several years ago. With the big climb just past the one mile mark as well as the long, gradual climb back to the finish at the end, it’s not particularly fast, and I’ve always suspected it to be a touch long as well. Second, after feeling sub-par for more than a couple weeks and having to bail out of a workout just a couple days before, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Sure I’d run 17:14 the week before, but this was probably a slower course, and if I couldn’t make it through a few repeats on the track, who was to say I could make it through 3.1 miles of racing, at least at any sort of respectable pace.

However, at the end of the day, I decided to go for several reasons. First, I just wanted to see what would happen. I was curious to see if I could pull things together and race well or if I would fold like I did on Wednesday. In other words, I needed to know if the failed workout was an anomaly or a sign of a bigger problem that might need to be addressed with several days off. Furthermore, I knew if I didn’t jump in a race where I would be forced to run hard, there would be no quality running for several more days, and I felt like I needed to at least try to do something faster. Finally, after not getting to race but twice in almost 18 months, I just wanted to race while I can.

Anyway, after all that thought process, there I was in Vinton Saturday morning ready or not. I warmed up and noticed it was a little more warm and humid than I thought it would be. Not a bad day by any means, but not perfect either. I felt ok warming up, but not great. My legs and energy level were better than they had been on Wednesday, but still weren’t where I would like them to be. Regardless, I changed into my flats and toed the line hoping for the best.

The race started as most 5k’s do, with everybody and his brother busting out. I still don’t get that, especially when many of the ones doing it are experienced runners. It took 200 meters or more for me to work my way from about 8th or 10th place to 2nd, and it was at that point I noticed the leader had already put a good 20 meters or more on me. I checked my Garmin to see I was on sub-5:20 pace, which was fine with me, and began to focus on catching the kid in front of me, and when I say kid, I mean it. He was a high school sophomore from William Byrd. I figured he would die quickly, as so often happens, but by the 3/4 mile mark I realized that wasn’t going to be the case.

By the mile I had cut the original deficit in half and was about 10 meters back. We hit the big climb getting on the greenway, and I hoped this was where he would fall off. Instead, he opened a bigger gap on me, and I knew at that point this was going to be a race to the finish. Over the next half mile or so, I closed the gap back down to where it was when we entered the greenway, but I couldn’t get any closer and I was working pretty hard. We remained the same distance apart all the way until we started the climb back to the finish with about half a mile to go. This is where I started to gain some ground and actually got pretty close by the 3 mile mark. However, I knew with my lack of speed and him likely having a kick, I would not only need to catch him but get by and build a slight lead if I was to win. Well, I couldn’t even quite get to him much less by, and when we made the final turn he kicked like mad and I finally gave up the pursuit. I lost by 9 seconds, with probably half or more of that coming in the last 200 meters.

I changed shoes and set out on my cool-down, disappointed with the result but ok with the effort. I competed well and certainly didn’t fold like I had in the workout two days before. I had run the opening mile in 5:18, which is certainly not fast for the start of a 5k, but at the same time I looked back in my log later and found that it was the fastest mile I had run since July of 2009. Wow! That shows just how long I’ve been out of it and how far I have to go! Furthermore, my Garmin showed an average pace of 5:31 per mile, whereas the average for the race the week before had been 5:36. I know Garmins aren’t 100%, but I showed the course as 3.15 miles, and like I mentioned earlier, that seemed to confirm a long suspicion that myself and a few others have had that the course was a touch long. That would amount to 15-20 sec for me, so I would have been 17:0-something at 3.1, an improvement over the week before.

So, I never like to lose, particularly in what would generally be considered a slow time for me, but I had done what I could, survived another race, and felt pretty good afterward. My 5+ mile cool-down was all done in the 6:40’s and :50’s and felt very relaxed, almost too good. That helped confirm that my basic problem right now is just a lack of ability to run faster paces. I’m strong as an ox, but I can’t turn my legs over. I guess when 5:18 is your fastest mile in 21 months, that stands to reason. The good news is, if I can continue to stay healthy, I can work on that, which is just what I plan to do. This comeback is obviously going to take longer and be even more challenging than I thought, but I’ve never been afraid of work, so bring it on! I’m really curious to see where I’ll be a few months from now and beyond. Hopefully I’ll be laughing about how hard things were and how slow I was when I first got back to racing. We’ll see. Race recap #2 to come.

Training Summary: 4/25 - 5/1

2011-05-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.09 miles in 50 min (7:03)
Tue: 8.61 miles in 60 min (6:58)
Wed: 7 miles – 23 min w-up, 2X800, 2X600, 1X400, 1 mile c-down
Thu: 6.07 miles in 44 min (7:14)
Fri: 4.53 miles in 33 min (7:17)
Sat: 11.11 miles – 20 min w-up, Vinton Dogwood Festival 5k in 17:25 for 2nd overall, 35 min c-down
Sun: 10.33 miles – 23 min w-up, Spring for Fitness 5k (Oak Hill, WV) in 17:19 for 1st overall, 29 min c-down
Total: 54.74 miles

This was an up and down week, mostly down, and as with the past couple weeks, not bad, but not really what I was looking for. I started out feeling pretty good on Monday with a nice recovery run. However, on Tuesday, my legs didn’t feel as good as the day before, and I got knocked out of doing the hill repeats I had planned thanks to the really bad thunderstorm I posted about previously. Wednesday was a failed track workout, and at that point my confidence was severely shaken. When you haven’t felt great for a couple weeks, then have a day like that, you start to question a lot of things. I took it easy on Thursday and Friday, then decided to jump in the Vinton Dogwood Festival 5k on Saturday. I followed that up with another 5k race on Sunday, thereby doubling my race total from last year (one) in two days – ha, ha. Both races were what I would describe as ok, and recaps will follow.

So now the question becomes where to go and what to do next. I honestly feel like I’m not that far away from jumping up a level in my fitness. At the same time, I’m struggling a little bit with the day-to-day grind of training. I feel like I’m more tired than I should be and the quality of my training is definitely suffering as a result. This frustrates me, which then leads to mental exhaustion on top of the physical fatigue. Not a good combination. I’ve considered making some drastic changes, but each time I get close to doing just that I start to feel better and wonder if what I’m doing now isn’t working just fine and I just need to give my body more time to adapt.

Here’s what I know. I’m thankful to be healthy and able to train and race. I’ve been back at it 17 weeks now, and over the past several years my average training time between injuries has been 10-14 weeks, and the longest I’ve made it is 19 weeks. Making it to this point is a positive and seems to indicate I’m doing something right. At the same time, in the past I would be in pretty good shape by now and certainly running mid-16’s for 5k, if not low-16’s. To not even be able to break 17 is both frustrating and discouraging. It certainly has to make me question whether or not I will ever get back to the level where I once was or if time and injuries have taken too much of a toll.

For now, after much debate over the past couple weeks, I plan to stay the course and see what happens. I’m going to double down on all doing all the little things right and see if that won’t speed up the adaptation process. If in another few weeks I’m still feeling less than 100% and my training and racing are still what I would define as sub-par, I’ll re-evaluate. In spite of all the struggles, at the end of the day I’m definitely enjoying being a runner again, and I just need to remind myself of where I’ve been and not be so hard on myself when things that have been easy in the past aren’t so easy now. That’s what will help get me where I want to go, and keep it fun in the process.

The Best Laid Plans

2011-04-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

In my last post I wrote about how Mother Nature put a damper on my plans for some hill bursts on Tuesday. Well, Wednesday’s workout got changed as well, but this time the weather was a much smaller factor.

My plan for the day was around a 3 mile w-up then onto the track for 2X800, 2X600, 4X400, and 4X200, followed by a 2 – 2.5 mile c-down. Andrew joined me for the w-up, which I completed in 23 min feeling ok but not great. I could tell my legs were a little heavy and I felt somewhat flat, but I figured I could work through it. After all, running workouts when you’re not at your best teaches you the toughness you need to work through the pain of a race, right?

So I changed into flats and started the workout as planned. I won’t say what my times are at this point because they’re still a little slower than I care to admit, but I hit the first 800 pretty much dead on where I wanted to be. It didn’t feel great, but not terrible either. I jogged the 300 recovery interval and started the next 800. I hit it less than a second slower than the first, and felt ok about how things were going. These were actually some of my fastest intervals I’d run since starting back, so while they didn’t feel smooth, I chalked it up to just being a bit off and running faster than I was used to.

However, as I started the first 600, I could tell things were starting to go south. I hit it just a second or two slower than goal pace, but I had no legs or ability to push. I started to debate whether or not I could finish the rest of the workout, but started the next 600 right on schedule. This one got a bit ugly. I wound up about 4 sec slower than on the first, and it wasn’t easy. I tried to tell myself that the next four intervals were just one lappers and I could work through them, but after one 400, I was done. I practically jogged the final straightaway and was basically walking when I came across the line about 6 sec slower than goal pace.

At that point I did something I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve done. I bailed out of a workout. What’s worse is I didn’t even do much of a cooldown. I started out planning to do at least two miles, but after half a mile I just turned around and jogged back. I had no legs, energy, or motivation. Frustrating!

It was hot and very humid, but I don’t think that totally explains it. I’ve been dead-legged for close to 3 weeks now, ever since the week I was at the beach. I’m also running workouts a lot slower than I should be. I don’t expect to be burning up the track based on where I am with things, but I shouldn’t be as slow as I am. I have to think something isn’t quite right. I don’t know if it’s allergies, a dietary problem, or what, but things just aren’t going well and I feel “off.”

That said, I think I need to re-evaluate some things and see if I can’t get back on track. I feel like I put myself in a bit of a hole, admittedly by overtraining a touch, and I just haven’t been able to pull out. As of now, I plan on taking a couple of really easy days while also focusing on getting some extra sleep and eating as good and healthy as I can. My weight in and of itself has become a bit of an issue, as I’ve gotten down as low as 125 pounds. That’s a little light for me, so maybe I just haven’t been taking in enough calories.

In any event, Tuesday and Wednesday were a rough couple of days for me and I’ve actually not trained like I wanted for a couple of weeks or more now, so it’s time to step back and turn things around. I’m thankful to be healthy and experiencing very little in the way of aches, pains, or even soreness, so I need to take advantage of that by being at my best otherwise as well.

The Thunder Rolls

2011-04-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

It’s been an interesting past couple of days running wise. On Tuesday, my plans got altered by Mother Nature, and by the end of the run, I was just thankful to be alive. On the drive from work to Salem I noticed a thunderstorm brewing, but thought based on where it appeared to be that it would work its way south of Salem and I’d be fine. However, as I walked out of the Bast Center to start my run, I noticed that it was doing the direct opposite of what I thought it would, as evidenced by the bright flash of lightning and loud boom of thunder that greeted me as I opened the door.

I noticed Dave was in the parking lot changing shoes after a track workout, and he said he had his cooldown yet to do, so I decided to head out with him and hope for the best. We ended up running three miles together and dodged the storm altogether, as it seemed to stay to the west of Salem then somewhat dissipate altogether. Dave commented on how we had gotten lucky, and I then picked up Andrew who was joining me for the next four miles. I thought we were good to go, but quickly saw otherwise, as another storm appeared to be following the first. I had hoped it would also stay to the west, but no such luck this time. It started to rain on us, fairly heavy, and the wind was blowing pretty good as well. Then, the lightning started.

At first it wasn’t so bad, but then it got WAY worse quickly. It was almost like the storm was growing in size and severity. By the time we got to Andrew’s house, where he was stopping, lightning was striking all around and was much too close for comfort. At that point I debated waiting it out at his house, but decided to try to hurry back and get done. I knew my plan of doing hill bursts was out, not only because of the dangerous conditions, but also because I was completely soaked at this point such that my shoes probably weighed 3+ pounds a piece. As I made my way back, things got worse still. I felt like I was in a war zone based on all the flashes and booms. It was also raining so hard that it was literally going up my nose. The back of my throat was hurting and I felt like I’d been swimming and breathed in some water. It was causing a flash flood as well, so I was running through water 3 or more inches deep in spots. I know this all sounds like exaggeration, but it’s not.

To add insult to injury, just as I got back to the college, it literally just stopped. It went from pouring to nothing almost instantly. I’d never really seen anything like it. Definitely some of the worst, and most dangerous conditions, I’ve ever run in. Thunderstorms are one of the only things I won’t run in, but sometimes you get caught out and that’s what happened to me Tuesday. I can certainly say I hope it doesn’t happen again anytime soon!

Anyway, this has gotten kind of long, so I’ll recap my Wednesday workout in a separate post. My plans got altered again, but this time Mother Nature was a much smaller factor.

Chug for the Jug 5k

2011-04-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

After much debate with myself and others, I finally made the decision mid-day on Friday to make my 2011 racing debut at the Chug for the Jug 5k in Rocky Mount, VA. Since he’d signed up for it BEFORE running Boston, I knew Andrew was planning on being there even against his coach’s recommendation and wishes, so after giving him strict instructions not to push much faster than marathon pace, I wanted to be there to make sure he stuck to his promise of following that plan. Knowing he can reset all his PR’s from 5k to the marathon and drop some really fast times in the process (not to mention the fact that I like to have a training partner), the last thing I wanted to see him do was wreck himself by racing a hard 5k just 5 days after a 2:42 marathon. As Andrew knows, I could go on about this subject, but I’ll just leave it at that – lol.

Moving on to race morning, we had a pretty good day for racing. It was overcast and a touch warm and humid, but overall conditions were good. The course itself wasn’t what I would call hard, but at the same time it definitely wasn’t fast either. It had five pretty good hills, including the most significant of the day just before the three mile mark. It also had a bit of a crazy turnaround just past the mile. You basically had to do a 90 degree turn, run less than 10 meters, then do a 180 degree turn, run less than 10 meters, and do the 90 degree turn again. They could probably redo that to make it better and smoother/faster, but other than that the course was well laid-out, well staffed with volunteers, and overall this is a well run event. They had a good turnout this year too. In the past I think there’s been 50-60 finishers, but this year they had 119 plus a good number of kids in the fun run.

When the horn sounded, as is typical at road races, several younger people (a couple were old enough that I don’t want to call them kids) busted out like mad. The one guy had to be on sub-14 pace the first 200 meters, and it took me probably a quarter of a mile or so before I caught him. From there, I led the rest of the way and felt decent doing it.

Coming in to this, I truly had no idea what to expect. I always tend to downplay my chances, but this time I was being totally honest when I said I thought it might be really ugly. Knowing I’d struggled to run even 5:40 pace in workouts for distances much shorter than 5k and also that I’d been tired and dead-legged all week, I just wasn’t sure what might happen. Honestly something right around 18 min wouldn’t have surprised me.

That said, I played it somewhat conservative throughout. I ran hard, but I left something in the tank because I wasn’t sure when a big blowup might occur. I ran around 5:30 pace most of the way until I hit the big hill around 2.75 miles in. At that point, knowing I had the win secured, I pretty much just shut it down and cruised in, crossing the line in 17:14. I’ll admit, almost as soon as I finished I was a little disappointed because I realized I felt ok and could have pushed harder. I was also a little upset with myself for shutting it down before the end of the race. Could I have run faster? Yes. How much? I’m not sure. In the end, I was just happy to make it through a race healthy. After all, this was just my second race since October 31, 2009, and in my last and one-and-only race of 2010 I re-broke my foot. You gotta crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run, so this was a step in the right direction.

Andrew crossed the line 27 sec later in 17:41 after running much of the race with third place finisher H.T. Page (17:53), who has to be one of the better 50+ runners around. For the most part he had been smart, although he basically blitzed the last mile. Even though I had a little something in the tank, I’m relatively sure he could have won even with Boston in his legs, but as his coach I was proud of him for making the wiser decision and not taking that risk. He was probably just afraid of what I would say had he not – ha, ha.

Anyway, it was a good day and a lot of fun. The custom-made moonshine jugs for the winners are great, and Mountain Junkies did a good job getting the results out quickly. As for me, I now have a better idea of where I am with things. I’m maybe a little better off than I thought, but at the same time I have a LONG way to go and A LOT of work to do. However, if I can keep myself healthy, continue to train consistently, and start to add some quality workouts into the mix, I think I can make some good progress over the next couple months.

Here’s a link to the article in the Franklin News Post and here’s a link to results. Pics below. As you can see, I had the “face of death” going on even though I wasn’t hurting that bad. The first pic is the starting line, obviously, the second is a little past the two mile mark, the third is just before the finish, and the final is the jug for my chug.

Training Summary: 4/18 - 4/24

2011-04-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.08 miles in 51 min (7:12)
Tue: 6.61 miles in 47 min (7:06)
Wed: 9.62 miles in 67 min (6:57) – 4 hill bursts at 9 miles, .5+ mile to finish
Thu: 6.55 in 47 min (7:10)
Fri: 4.56 miles in 33 min (7:14)
Sat: 10.6 miles – 3 miles w-up Chug for the Jug 5k in 17:14, 4.5 mile c-down
Sun: 15.58 miles in 1:47:00 (6:52)
Total: 60.6 miles

This was an odd week and not exactly what I was looking for, but in the end I guess it turned out alright. Towards the end of last week I started feeling really run down, to the point where everyday activities were wearing me out and I was having a hard time just focusing much less training hard. I still don’t know what the exact cause was and it could have been a combination of things, but I’m glad to be feeling better now.

As a result of feeling tired and dead-legged, I wound up taking a down week, which is probably something I needed to do anyway. I would have preferred for it to be a little less impromptu, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. You have to be flexible. In the past I would have told myself I was being a pansy and would have kept on pushing until I wound up hurt. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way many times, so the older, wiser me backed off this go ‘round.

I had originally planned on a strides workout on Tuesday, but I made the decision to pull the plug on that before I even started. Wednesday I was going to do some sort of a workout (I had a couple options), but once again, based on the way I felt when I started I just decided to run some miles, do a few hill bursts at the end (something I want to start incorporating into my routine anyway), and leave it at that. Thursday went according to plan, and Friday I decided to race, which pretty much dictated the rest of the week.

The race went ok, and a recap will be coming shortly. Sunday I did a long run that was maybe a little harder than I wanted it to be. I’ve wrecked myself several times by doing long runs the day after races, so I wanted to be sure to be conservative this time. I wanted to run 15 miles, running each 5 mile segment a little faster than the previous, but being sure to stay under control throughout. I accomplished that for the most part, but I got carried away and did a little too much work the last few miles. I wound up hitting segments of 35:23 (7:05), 34:13 (6:51), and 33:17 (6:39), with a 15th mile of 6:24. Add in the fact that it was the first really warm/humid long run of the spring, and I was feeling it by the end.

One thing this week did do was force me to take my recovery days a little easier, and that’s a trend I want to continue going forward even though I might be feeling fine. I need to get in some good quality workouts over the next few weeks, and I need my legs to be ready for each of them. If that means averaging 7:15 or 7:20 pace on a recovery day instead of 20 sec or so faster, so be it.

Not sure what this coming week will be. I haven’t planned it out yet, which is both a pro and a con of being self coached. For one thing I need to see how my left calf is going to feel. I’ve been having a little pain in that region for over three weeks now, and after the race/long run combo, it seemed a little worse. Hopefully it’s nothing more than just one of the normal aches and pains associated with training hard, but it’s definitely something I need to start treating a little more diligently and being careful with. Have a great week, everyone!

Down Week

2011-04-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry no posts this week. I actually wrote out a couple different ones but didn’t publish them. I’ve been struggling with dead legs and being tired in general, and it’s left me in a foul mood. Probably best I keep my thoughts to myself when that’s the case.

Thinking is actually one of my chief problems. I’m the king of over-analysis, and if I had a dime for every time Howard has told me “you think too much,” I’d be able to train full time and not have to worry about a job. At any rate, I knew this would be a long, difficult comeback, but even at that I think I underestimated just how hard it would be. There was a time where I could miss a few weeks or even months of running, and within a few weeks of training I’d be ready to roll in a race. Unfortunately that time has obviously come and gone. Unless you’re freakishly talented, and I am anything but, you can’t train inconsistently for years, then make things even worse by missing the majority of a year and a half, and expect to be fast after a couple months of training, especially when you’re not as young as you used to be.

After beating myself up and asking way too many questions over the past several days, I think I’ve finally accepted that fact. Now I have to get over the embarrassment factor. It’s hard for someone who’s accustomed to running certain times to run so much slower than they’ve ever run before. It’s hard to think about things like finishing third in a race that you would have won by 30 seconds a few years ago. However, first off, if I’m going to continue racing, I’m going to have to get used to that. Regardless of how stellar my training is going or how fit I am, I’m not going to be able to run times at 50 years old that I ran at 25. Second, the good thing is, I’ve got more than a couple of years before I even hit 40 still, so right now I can still get back to running as fast as I ever have. I just have to be willing to endure the process to get there and view what happens between now and then as steps in that process. In other words, if I run a 17:30 5k, sure, that’s two minutes slower than I’d like to be running. However, it’s a good bit faster than I could run a year ago when I was sitting on the couch with my foot in a boot, and the next time out I will likely run faster and the next time faster still until I eventually reach my goals.

So, this has been a tough week, but I think it’s been good for me. I think I’m about ready to embark upon the next step in my journey towards getting back in shape and running the times I want to run. I also think I’m better prepared to enjoy that journey and not be so hard on myself, and at my level, having fun is really what it should be about anyway.

This has been a down week, both in terms of my training and my mood, but next week starts a new phase and I’m already looking forward to it. Happy Easter, all!

Training Summary: 4/11 - 4/17

2011-04-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.09 miles in 50 min (7:03)
Tue: 9.15 miles in 64 min (6:59)
Wed: 9.08 miles in 61 min (6:43) – 5 miles, 8 laps ins-and-outs, 2 miles
Thu: 11.07 miles in 73 min (6:35) – 4.5 miles, 4 mile progression (6:24,6:08,5:56,5:52), 2.5 miles
Fri: 7.58 miles in 54 min (7:07)
Sat: 5.59 miles in 40 min (7:09)
Sun: 17.22 miles in 1:56:00 (6:44)
Total 66.8 miles in 7:38:00 (6:51)

Not a bad week, but definitely not what I was looking for. Honestly I had hoped to race this weekend but decided to pull the plug based on the way I felt all week. Pretty much every day I had dead legs and just felt drained. The first couple days I figured I was just tired from all the training I’ve been doing plus the previous week’s vacation where I got less rest than usual. By the end of the week, however, I started to feel it was more than that, and my number one suspect was seasonal allergies due to all the pollen in the air. Not only was I tired when it came to running, I was tired just doing normal stuff and I also seemed to be having a hard time focusing. I finally broke down on Saturday and took a Zyrtec. It may have just been placebo, but I felt like I had more energy and was more clear-minded within a couple hours of taking it. Furthermore, my run the next morning was probably my best of the week. Maybe it was getting a little extra rest over the weekend, but rather than take chances I will likely remain on the Zyrtec until the pollen finally dies down. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.

As for specifics of the week, I’ve already recapped my two primary workouts, leaving just the Sunday long run to cover. Dave joined me out in Fincastle for a hilly, two-loop course, which saw us run the first four miles uphill and into a headwind. That made for a bit of a rough start, but once we got through that point we hit lots of 6:30’s and :40’s the rest of the way, all feeling pretty relaxed. My left adductor was a little sore the last few miles, but I managed to run the fastest mile of the day at the end, a 6:19 for mile 17, still feeling pretty solid. It was about the only run all week where my legs weren’t dead and I had some energy and it was encouraging to run 6:30’s on a hilly course and feel quite comfortable doing it.

Ok, that’s the week in review and I’m going to wrap it up at that. However, I’ve got a lot on my mind that I want to get typed out at some point, so another post will be forthcoming in regards to what’s next. I feel like I’m on the right track for the most part and certainly can’t complain too much. As crazy, and you might could say pathetic, as it is, my average training period over the last several years has been 10-14 weeks. That’s as long as I’ve been able to make it without an injury knocking me out for several weeks or months. The longest I’ve made it in years is 19 weeks and that was the only one outside the 10-14 week average. This past week made 15 in a row, so that’s encouraging. I’m also a heckuva lot faster than I was a few weeks ago, so I’m making progress. Still, I think some changes may be in order. Nothing major, just a few tweaks and what you might call a different phase. Stay tuned!

Frustcouraged

2011-04-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

This has been a fairly frustrating week. For one, it’s been crazy at work, which has left me somewhat mentally drained. On top of that, I’m either tired from all the training I’ve been doing, fatigued from last week’s trip and the lack of rest I got throughout the week, experiencing some effects of seasonal allergies, or likely a combination of all three. In any event, I’ve been dragging and my training, while not terrible in terms of quality, hasn’t been a whole lot of fun.

I did some strides on Wednesday that went ok but not great. The first mile’s worth was decent, but the second mile wasn’t as fast and felt harder, never a good thing. I followed that up by joining Andrew for his last pre-Boston workout last night on the greenway. I did around 2.5 miles on my own then joined him for a 2 mile warm-up followed by a 4 mile progression and a 2 mile c-down (I did 2.5). The idea for the progression was to take a transition mile around 6:30 pace then do a couple miles around marathon pace before finishing with a faster mile at the end. I was very tired and flat coming in to this and hacking and coughing in the warm-up, so I had to tell Andrew that even though my goal was to do the pace setting so he could just relax and run through it I really wasn’t sure how much assistance I was going to be to him.

We got going and hit the first mile pretty much perfectly in 6:24. It actually felt pretty good, but I was concerned about my ability to pick it up from there. I was able to do so, however, and led us through a second mile of 6:08. I continued to lead the way through mile 3 with a split of 5:56, but as we started the final mile I began to get a bit of a side stitch and couldn’t work the pace down to the goal of 5:45. Instead, I wound up hitting a 5:52, with Andrew a couple seconds ahead. I finished the run with a couple miles at 6:30 pace for a total of 11 miles at an average of 6:35. I knew I’d been a bit dehydrated on top of everything else, and the stitch was basically a confirmation of that, plus the hacking and coughing in the warm-up demonstrated that all the pollen in the air is certainly impacting me. Considering those factors and how I’ve felt all week, overall I was ok with the way the workout turned out.

However, while I was ok it, I have to admit that I’m starting to get concerned with how my training is going. Actually I don’t know if concerned is the right word. Discouraged might be more appropriate. I basically ran an 18:30 5k, and sure I wasn’t the least bit rested and wasn’t going all out, but it still felt way harder than it should have. I fully understand that I took a year and a half almost completely off thanks to back-to-back-to-back stress fractures, and based on that I shouldn’t expect to train for three months and be running fast. However, at this point, I’ve been working pretty hard for a good 8 weeks now and I really don’t have much to show for it. It just makes me wonder how long this is going to take and what the eventual outcome is going to be.

I know I’m not “old” and I certainly don’t feel old. In fact, I feel like I recover as well or better from workouts and long runs than I ever have. I’ve never had much natural speed though, and that fact really seems to be limiting me now. Perhaps the combination of years of inconsistent training and never being able to run and race all that fast due to injuries, along with the fact that I’m definitely not a spring chicken anymore, has left me at a spot where I will never run anywhere near what I’ve run in the past. I hope that’s not the case, but realistically I have to wonder. I mean when you’re goal is to race at 5-flat pace or just below and 6-flat pace feels fast, you’ve got a long way to go.

In any event, I guess all I can do is stay at it and see what happens. From time to time there have been some bright spots that indicate I might eventually get back to my old self, but the indications otherwise have been much more prevalent. Time will tell. Sorry for sounding negative, but this blog is an honest insight into my thoughts and experiences primarily as they relate to running, so it is what it is.

Training Summary: 4/4 - 4/10 (Part II)

2011-04-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, time for part II of the training summary, the details.

My Tuesday strides workout was pretty funny. The winds that morning were blowing 30-40 mph with gusts to 55 according to weather.com, so I had Leslie take me 8 miles to the south so I could run back towards the house to keep it at my back. If it’s any indication as to what the wind was like, I was less than a mile into the run when I had to stop to pull a huge garbage can out of the road that had blown into the middle of the right lane and was obstructing traffic. It also didn’t take me any time at all to start clicking off 6:30 miles off much less effort than that. When I started the strides, I felt like Usain Bolt. I was getting’ it, but not because I was feeling great (I was actually pretty dead-legged) and/or had suddenly developed speed. I was simply getting blown along. All of a sudden I was running 30 sec 200’s at 35 sec effort. For once in my life, I understood what it was like to be fast – lol.

Wednesday morning the wind had lessened, but I was feeling pretty tired and not all that excited about the idea of doing a workout. Based on that, I decided to just play it by ear and if I felt ok once I got going maybe I would do something faster. If not, I would just log some miles and be done for the day. After a mile or two I decided I felt decent, so I came up with a plan on the fly and proceeded to attempt a new workout. The idea was to do a mile up-tempo, a mile float, two miles up-tempo, a mile float, a mile up-tempo, a mile float, then a short c-down. The up-tempo miles were around what I would classify as marathon pace and the floats were somewhere between that and easy pace. This wound up being a really good workout that I want to do again in the future. I averaged 6 flat pace for the up-tempo miles (the fourth one was a little fast at 5:49) and around 6:25 for the floats. It was all under control, but at the same time I could tell I’d done some work when it was over. Overall, this was a great strength workout, and that’s why I want to add it to my workout repertoire.

Friday, I attempted another workout, fartlek of 4/2/4/2/4/2/2 min on with 2 min recovery. I wound up forcing this one. I just didn’t have the legs from the start and knew when I started the faster sections that it would be ugly. I probably should have bailed out and just logged some mileage, but I toughed it out and at least got some work done. The end result wasn’t all that bad, but it was a struggle. I used to think these were the days that made you tough. Now I think that’s sometimes the case, while at other times these are the days that get you hurt. Gotta be careful not to cross that line too much or too often.

Sunday was the final tough run of the week, made more so by the fact that I was tired from a week of too much fun and too little rest as well as traveling all day the day before. Plus, this would be my reintroduction to hills, and when that takes place in Fincastle you know you’re in for it. I figured it would be one of those “time-on-feet/get-it-done” runs, but it turned out to be a fairly solid day. I was tired and felt like I could have just veered over to the side of the road and taken a nap at any point, but my legs and lungs actually felt very good. I was thankful to have Dave and Matthew there to keep me company, especially the last few miles.

Anyway, not sure what this week will bring. I’m still in the process of mapping everything out. I do know that it will be a down week. I’ve already started down that path simply because I can tell my body needs it. Hopefully towards the end of the week my energy will be back up and my legs feeling good. After missing as much time as I did, I knew getting back in shape would be a process. In many aspects, it’s been even more challenging that I thought it would be, though. However, I feel like I might be starting to turn the corner so I can finally toe the line in a race sometime soon and not totally embarrass myself. We’ll see!

Training Summary: 4/4 - 4/10

2011-04-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Mon: 6.58 miles in 46 min (6:59)
Tue: 9.05 miles in 59 min (6:31) – 35 min, 10X30 sec strides (Usain Bolt impression) w/ 60 sec rec, 10 min
Wed: 11.65 miles in 75 min (6:26) – 4 miles, 1 mile up-tempo, 1 mile float, 2 miles up-tempo, 1 mile float, 1 mile up-tempo, 1 mile float, .5 mile easy
Thu: 7.11 miles in 49 min (6:53)
Fri: 11.1 miles in 73 min (6:34) – 28 min, fartlek of 4/2/4/2/4/2/2 min on w/ 2 min rec, 13 min
Sat: 6.6 miles in 45 min (6:49)
Sun: 16.74 miles in 1:55:00 (6:52)
Total: 68.83 miles in 7:42:00 (6:42 avg)

Well, this week didn’t go at all according to plan, but I’m not complaining. The original schedule called for a down week with a race at the end, but when I e-mailed the race to inquire about race day registration, I learned the event was already sold out. I’m still a little bummed that I didn’t get to race, particularly since I’ve always wanted to do a race on the Outer Banks and this was a rare opportunity to do so, but it is what it is. The race was supposedly capped at 350 entrants, although when I checked results there were only 301 finishers. That figures. Of course those same results also showed that I didn’t really miss out on a race, per se. The winner ran 21:11, so obviously I would have been solo from the gun. Not sure if the fact I would have won by several minutes makes me feel better or worse about the way it all worked out.

Anyway, once I learned the race was out of the picture, I had a dilemma. I’ve been training hard and consistently for a while now, so I knew a down week certainly wouldn’t hurt anything. I was on vacation too, and training hard while trying to relax and have fun isn’t exactly easy. At the same time, I had to keep in mind that I want to race sometime soon, and with this one out, I’ll need to search for something else in the next couple weeks. I wasn’t particularly excited about backing off this week and either training through my first race a week or two from now or backing off again then, meaning two out of three or four weeks would be down weeks. Sooooo, my improvised plan was just to run by feel and see what happened. If I felt good, I would put in a normal full week of training, and if I didn’t, I wasn’t going to force the issue. As it turned out, I got in a very solid week. I was on the tired side for much of it, but I definitely got some good work done and was pleased with the end result.

Before talking about the specifics, let me say that running at the beach is a different experience from running around here. The obvious biggest difference is the lack of hills. However, sometimes I wonder if the wind isn’t a bigger factor. We think we have windy days here, but the wind on the Outer Banks is relentless. Even on a relatively calm day, it’s still there and a significant factor in your effort and pace. On a windy day, forget about it. If it’s into your face it will wear you down like a grinding wheel. I was reminded of this during my first run on Sunday and again on Monday during my recovery day. In fact, my recovery day was basically ruined thanks to a headwind the last couple miles. You can try to run as relaxed as you want, but it won’t feel easy. Basically it’s like running a slight uphill mile after mile, no break, and when it gusts, it’s like the slight uphill goes really steep for a period of time. Add in the fact that I absolutely HATE running in wind, and it’s not a pleasant experience for me. So, after back-to-back wind-blown, frustrating days Sunday and Monday, I did a lot of point-to-point runs the rest of the week so I could keep it mostly at my back. I owe my lovely wife big time for making this possible by dropping me off and/or picking me up at various spots throughout the week.

As a result of keeping the wind mostly at my back, I was able to take advantage of the flat terrain and have a number of solid runs in terms of average pace. Since this post is already starting to get long, I’ll recap those in another post, maybe tomorrow. Until then, I have lots of catching up to do in various areas. In other words, I already need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Oh well, it sure was fun while it lasted!

Training Summary: 3/28 - 4/3

2011-04-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Mon: 7.08 miles in 51 min (7:08)
Tue: 9.11 miles in 61 min (6:41) - 38+ min w-up, 4 laps ins-and-outs plus 4 laps 150m accelerations, 10+ min c-down
Wed: 12.6 miles in 82 min (6:30) - Medium Long Run/Progression
Thu: 7.01 miles in 50 min (7:07)
Fri: 10.5 miles - 3.5 mile w-up, 1000/800 with 400 rec, 2 sets of 600/400/200 with 300/200 rec, 3 mile c-down
Sat: 6.12 miles in 43 min (7:01)
Sun: 18.13 miles in 2:01:00 (6:40)
Total: 70.6 miles

At the beach this week, so not gonna take the time to go into much in the way of details. This was a planned higher-volume week and it turned out really well. I not only exceeded 70 miles, but got in a couple good workouts and a solid long run as well. I carried a little more fatigue throughout the week than I might would have liked and had a few aches and pains here and there, the most significant of which was my left calf, but overall I held up very well and accomplished everything I set out to do. After a day of traveling on Saturday, I got in a solid long run Sunday morning and my legs felt good in the afternoon, so that's a good sign that my body handled the work well.

Not sure what this week will bring. I had planned on a down week with my first foray back into competition in a 5k race on Saturday, but when I inquired about race day registration, I got a reply saying the race is sold out, so looks like that's a no go. I will still back off a bit this week because last week was a tough one, mentally and physically. Not only did a run a lot, but it was a tough week at work and the weather was a challenge in and of itself, so I plan to enjoy my vacation, get some recovery, and not literally run myself into the ground.

Ok, that's all for now. Time to go hit the beach again!

Kickin' It Old School

2011-03-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

Andrew, Matthew, and I hit the old Star City Half Marathon course last night for a medium long/progression run. It had been quite a while since I’d run that loop, probably a year and a half or more, and it didn’t take long for me to remember why. I ran 1:11 on that course twice, and every time I run it in training, I wonder how. The elevation profile doesn’t really do it justice nor does the word “challenging,” but I’ve always kind of liked it actually, and it’s definitely a great course for getting in a solid strength workout. I wish they’d go back to holding the race on it rather than using the current, boring greenway course, but I’m guessing that will never happen.

Anyway, the plan for last night was to gradually increase the pace throughout, working down through the 6:50’s, :40’s, and :30’s, then Andrew was to hit his marathon pace starting at mile 9 and hold that for four miles before easing out with a short half mile cooldown. I was going to help him for two of the four miles at marathon pace then back off and get in 12 total. Well, in what was totally my fault, that plan was out the window by mile three. I was feeling good and really didn’t think I was running as fast as I was, but next thing you knew we were already in the 6:30’s then :20’s, and once you get to that point there’s no backing off, so it was on. I continued to press the pace, hitting mile 9 in 5:49, then we settled in a bit to get back on Andrew’s goal marathon pace with miles 10 and 11 in 6:05 and 6:06. A quarter mile or so into the 12th mile, I backed off as planned and sent Andrew on his way to finish things off, which he did nicely. I wound up with 12.6 miles in 1:22:00, feeling a lot better than expected.

I used to do runs like that on the Star City Half course all the time and it led to me getting super strong. I’m starting to see some signs of that strength coming back and hope that was the first of many runs of that nature over that loop. I’ve still got a long way to go to get race fit, but if I can start to gain at least a little speed back, I’ll get there sooner or later (probably later). In any event, it was definitely a good, solid workout and it was nice to go sort of “old school.”

Speaking of old school, my weight this morning was a massive 128 pounds. Should I even admit that??? Regardless, looks like I’ve cleared that hurdle. That’s as light as I’ve been in a long time and is actually on the lower end of my goal weight. Someone asked me the other day what my “secret” was when it came to being thin. I gave them an honest answer, which was I have no secret. I try to eat somewhat healthy and actually really like fruits and veggies, but I basically subscribe to the “if the furnace is hot enough it will burn anything” philosophy and certainly don’t count calories, avoid desserts and fatty foods, or anything like that. I guess I’m somewhat lucky when it comes to genetics, and a lot of miles take care of the rest.

Ok, that’s all for me for now. Looking forward to a really easy day today, and then not so much to a track workout tomorrow, but you do what you gotta do. Also looking forward to some warmer weather. I mean snow and 30-something degrees at the end of March?!? As Aaron Rodgers would say, “C’mon, man!”