An Exercise In Utility

40:00 :: 5.5+ miles

2007-10-28T06:23:00.000-05:00

Easy run. Ran the Veteran's Day course in my new spikes--to break them in as well as get in some time on the course. It's quite the ankle breaker again, and it's helpful to practice some of the more technical sections before coming across the ravines, hidden logs, and micro-moguls at race pace.

I should have a couple of workouts over the next week, so today was a nice way to get recovered and ready for them.

Icebug MR3 :: Updated!

2006-12-07T18:17:00.000-06:00

I got the Icebug MR3 shoes today, and I am looking forward to throwing down on the ice tomorrow morning with carbon-studded abandon. Winter can kiss my ass. I'll post a further review of the shoes after I have had some time to wear them a bit. So far, I wore them out to the car and around the yard a bit, and I'm very excited by how well they work. Hopefully my feet get along with them.

Follow Up Review:

My feet and my shins hate these shoes. Unfortunately, they will have to be sent back. I think if they were less bulky, like the MR2 Bugrip, I would have a better chance with them.

First Run Review:

They are very good (8 of 10). Sixteen studs per shoe, and they grip well without the 'wobbly' feeling you get from the slip on variety. Much more stable. The shoes are roomy across the toebox, like Saucony shoes, but still fit well. I am an Asics die-hard, and they still worked well for me right out of the box on a six mile run.

They are best on compacted snow, and still offer solid grip on concrete and smooth ice. You will find yourself searching out compacted snow or snow rather than ice, asphalt, or concrete though. Hard surfaces are noticeably less grippy and very noisy.

The styling is very nice, if that's a factor for you. They look like technical trail shoes. The shoes are on the heavy side at 14+ ounces each in a men's 10. Also, the value could be better. At $120, you're paying a premium for a technology no one else offers and taking a chance on fit and ride comfort.

Overall, I'm happy with the shoes. We'll see how they hold up over the next two months when I do the follow up review. Cheers!

Motivation

2006-12-01T07:09:00.000-06:00

I saw this bit of video while I was on the treadmill this morning and thought it was pretty good. I was on mile nine of an eleven mile run, and I had run out of motivation around mile four. Even though this guy was talking about his job as a park ranger, it really resonated with me in terms of running. Plus, he has a really cool mix of Scottish and South African accents.

Running Gear

2006-11-29T07:31:00.000-06:00

This is what I have been wearing out the last couple of days. It's good down to at least zero fahrenheit in a fifteen mile an hour wind. I proved that out this morning on the mid week two hour run. This setup can probably go to five below, but after that I'd add arm warmers and another thin layer on the legs over the tights.

If the air temperature gets colder than -20F, it's treadmill time. Otherwise it's fair game for a run. In a normal year, we will have a couple of weeks with early morning air temps in the minus teens, especially on clear nights. Once the sun comes out, it might warm up to zero. Fortunately, that doesn't last long.

I have been anxious to feel comfortable again at 6:10-6:20 pace like I had been right before the injury. With all this clothing, mid-6:30s is about where I get due to the restriction of movement. I found out that's only part of the issue when I weighed all my gear a couple of days ago. It came to 4.8 pounds, which is a good bit. I guess I can look at winter running as resistance training.

New blog features

2006-11-18T10:40:00.000-06:00

I have added some functions to this blog and the training blog in an attempt to better organise and display the information I'm entering every day. You may have noticed the recent comments that have been added to the sidebar. That's just to make it a bit easier for readers to follow new comments, especially those that get added to old threads. Additionally, for the training blog, I've added a larger button and link to the sidebar at Mike's suggestion, since the training blog is getting a lot more updating than the 'regular' blog nowadays.

Another training blog feature I'm excited about is the addition of some roll-up areas below the day's main workout entry. By clicking on the various links at the bottom of each day's entry, I can add (and you can display) additional information about other activities that have played a part in my training for the day. It may not be interesting, but it is detailed. I hope you find the new features useful.

Yes, I know I promised a plan in the next entry. Once I finish sanding my drywall seams this afternoon and gotten in my second run I can think about it. I promise.

Slacker!

2006-11-14T07:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't updated here in a while. I've been writing up my daily runs on my training blog and not giving this blog much attention. I tend to to think of a lot more things to write about than I actually have the motivation to create. Anyway, there's my excuse. If you're here for a good story, my apologies! Try Mike or Andrew for some exceptional writing about running.

I've been reading a lot of training information lately, trying to understand what exactly makes up a proper training plan. I'm infamous for never having a plan, but somehow lining things up in my head and generally doing approximately the right thing. Whether I actually devise a plan this time or not, it helps to have the right information floating around in my brain. Some good information I've found lately can be found here, and here.

Enjoy.

Shocking

2006-10-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

I found this article yesterday, but didn't get a chance to finish it until this morning. Unbelieveable. The first question that comes to mind is, why has it taken so long for this to get written? This kind of expose/explanation should have been written years ago. It's obvious that the effects of these drugs have been well known in the medical community for a long time, and any one of hundreds or even thousands of doctors could have provided this information. The dirty bastards.

Anyway, while I read the article, I alternated between feeling mildly sick at the thought of how easy all this training becomes when a person is on drugs, and mildly happy that I don't have the funds or the desire to try any of this stuff myself. I imagined what kind of marathon I could run after a five year training period if I could run 20 miles a day at my best aerobic pace and never have to stop to recover. Then I imagined having to look back at those five years in complete shame with a complete lack of satisfaction, knowing that I didn't do my best, but the best that my money and my doctor could provide.

I feel sorry for anyone who was talented enough to keep rising through the ranks, but not good enough to keep competing well without drugs. If they were less talented, perhaps they wouldn't have tried to make a career out of sport and forced to make a choice between taking drugs and being able to pay the rent.

I'm happy that my potential best is nothing compared to international standards. I will never have to worry about making that choice. Instead, I choose every day to get out of bed, run the workouts I think I should run, and see how fast I can get. For myself. By myself.

Chicago in October

2006-10-19T08:06:00.000-05:00

The running is going well lately. With the exception of some high winds here the last few days, everything is peaches. I've been taking a day off to rest a bit once a week, so my weeks are six days with mileage right in the 55-60 range. This week should approach 70. The hip and leg are feeling really good, with the exception of the days off, which is really weird, so I'm definitely healing up and should be ready to start building up the miles again.

I've started another blog for logging my training. This one is updated daily (for as long as I can stand it) and will just contain grammatically incorrect sentence fragments about the day's training. Once a week, and probably once a month, I will sum it all up and hopefully it will be big, impressive, consistent numbers with no injury/laziness time outs. I've linked it up permanently over to the right side of the page, near the picture of the fake hill that I sometimes pretend to run up and down on.

I'm getting very excited to see what everyone does in Chicago. Greg, Dallen, Evan, and Zeke will all be looking for PR or near PR performances. Good luck, guys!

A Good Kind of Frustrated

2006-10-13T07:39:00.000-05:00

This weather is a pain in the ass. In the last three days it has been under 30 degrees with 15-25 mile per hour winds, and yesterday we had snow. I'm pretty motivated coming off of this injury, so it's more than a little frustrating to be working hard and running slower than I would like, and then running even slower because of the conditions.

I tried a shorter tempo run this morning, trying my best to stay in the trees and out of the gusting 35 mph wind. The result was a less than exciting 5:55 pace average for three miles, at heart rates approaching 95% of max by the end. But the good news is, I am able to do something faster than 6:20 pace without re-injuring, so that is progress.

The recovery seems to be on track, based on the last week or so of running, so although I'm champing at the bit to get back to 'normal', I need to exercise some patience getting there. November through January will be base building and maintenance anyway, so there is plenty of time before the next marathon build-up starts in February.

Time for coffee.

Reindeer Milk Popsicles

2006-10-09T07:25:00.000-05:00

This past week went pretty well. I was able to put in 59 miles, including one faster eight mile run and a 16+ mile run. There is still the slightest hint of my lingering quad/hip injury, but stretching and warming up well are keeping it in check. In the next week or two, it will hopefully get over the hump and go away completely.

The weather here is starting to turn 'seasonal'. We had a nice 82 degree day on Friday, and another nice 70+ day on Saturday, but I think our Indian Summer has come to an end. This morning it is a crisp 30 degrees with a bit of wind. Mornings from now on will be cool and getting cold in the next month. After that, continuously cold, with morning temperatures registering the kind of cold you don't get used to. Lasse Viren trained in worse and didn't complain. Must have been the beard.

Rollercoaster

2006-10-01T20:22:00.000-05:00

I've had some up days, like today, and some down days in the last week or so. I was able to get a 14 miler in today, feeling pretty good. I had to stop once to stretch out at around five miles, but otherwise the run was uneventful.

I'm finding that it takes me a solid half hour to prepare for a run since starting up again. Usually fifteen minutes of biking and fifteen minutes of stretching. Hopefully this will get less and less shortly, because it is a pain in the ass.

I was a little bit disappointed to see that this would have been a good year to run TCM in terms of placing. The first sub-2:30 was 27th place, and 2:39:19 was 50th. I had set a time goal of 2:29:xx and a place goal of top 30. Obviously, it's ridiculous to talk about any of this not having run the race, but it cool to look at the way things worked out and see that if I had achieved either, I would have acheived both.

Anyway, I can put that behind me now and look forward to the next goal. As I was on my run today, I thought about my plans for 2007. I haven't given up on running faster in shorter distances, so I'm thinking I will run a spring marathon and then use that fitness toward a summer of shorter races, trying to set myself up for a peak 5k and 10k.

Sounds nice. We'll see what happens.

Follow Up

2006-09-21T05:41:00.000-05:00

I went in for a follow up x-ray yesterday and got some good news. No healing stress fracture, and probably not even a healing stress reaction. All the bones looked great, although I did have a small bone spur on the outer edge of each of my hip sockets.

This allows me to put my mind at ease about the minor pains I am still having all over my right leg. The hip pain and limping is completely gone now after five weeks of cycling, pool running, and rest. However, I am still having muscle pain and tightness through my entire right thigh.

Yesterday I was able to do four miles, which is my longest pain-free run in a long time. Significant-pain-free I should say. I'm now clear to ramp the running back up, although it will take some time to build up the miles again.

Sorry for the lack of writing lately. Now that I am (hopefully) running again consistently, I'll get back to blogging a few times a week. Thanks for the supportive comments and e-mails. All much appreciated!

Less Pain, More Running

2006-09-12T06:28:00.000-05:00

My hip is feeling pretty good the last few days. Since I last blogged, I have been able to run a bit as well. One full mile at 8:00 pace on Saturday, and two miles, one at 7:30 and another at 7:00, with no pain on either run. Again, most important in my mind is there was no pain the day after these runs. I suppose I could have gone further, which is good to know.

I'm going to continue being conservative through this week and then go back for a second x-ray next week. After four weeks, I would expect to see a bone callus if I had a stress fracture, and possibly if I had a stress reaction. A callus would mean the healing is continuing, so I'll need to be cautious for another several weeks. If I don't see a callus, I'll have to assume I had a nasty muscle strain somewhere in my hip. Either way, By next week, I'm hoping to be ready for some longer short runs.

Time to hit the bike. Later!

Bad Blogger

2006-09-07T07:36:00.000-05:00

Can you tell I'm injured? Not a lot of ambition to blog about hour long rides on the trainer. Unfortunately, due to weather and the aforementioned lack of ambition, I didn't get out and do the ride in Wisconsin over the weekend. Hence, no pictures.

I did spend the labor day weekend taking a three day break from everything. My hip was still feeling tight and slightly sore during minor daily activities such as pants-putting-on and standing-up, so I decided to take my non-running doctor's advice and take some time off--of everything. It seems to have had some good effect, as I can now get out of bed, stand up, and put my pants on with no pain whatsoever.

I was also able to jog at 8:30 pace for two full minutes with no pain and just a bit of tightness, which was to be expected. There was no pain the following day either, which is more important in my eyes. I'm planning to continue the biking and strength exercises through next Monday, and then attempt a 1/2 mile jog on the treadmill. Depending on how that goes, I'll begin adding in pain-free jogging and hopefully progress to pain-free running over the following two week period.

Time for work! Check you later.

Cycling Blog

2006-08-28T19:56:00.000-05:00

Well, there is no good news. My leg and hip are still hurting, and I have not run even a tenth of a mile since the 16th, twelve days ago. On a good note, I have only taken one day of cross-training off in that time, and that was intentional, to see if it would improve anything. It didn't.

Since the last post, I have been hitting the bike as hard as my crotch will let me (cycling hurts). Tomorrow I'm getting a trainer so I won't have to wait for the sun to come up to get out on the bike, and I should be able to get in some longer rides in the days ahead.

So you're probably putting two and two together at this point in your reading, and wondering where I'm going with this. Talking about long bike rides, weeks on end with no running, and continuing pain...

I'm not running the marathon October 1.

I got an x-ray on my hip last Thursday, which confirmed nothing except the absence of bone cancer. There was no thin grey line, which is a good thing, but it wasn't helpful for making decisions. I talked with my PT and my doctor about possibly getting an MRI or a bone scan, but ultimately I came to understand that no matter what is causing the injury--a stress fracture, stress reaction, or a muscle strain--I will have to reduce the stress on the injury until I am pain free. Depending on what it turns out to be, that could be as little as a couple more weeks for a strain all the way up to a few months for a stress fracture.

Chances are, because the pain is so slight and so persistent, that my injury is a stress reaction, which is like a stress fracture that hasn't cracked. And chances are it wasn't caused by the TV incident, but rather by running two hard, long runs each of the three weeks preceeding the 5k race. Exhausting your muscles reduces their ability to absorb shock. Without enough recovery, the lack of basic muscle strength that I've talked about before, and with enough mileage and maybe a hard race peppered in there, I can see how I could have developed a problem.

Having a definitive diagnosis would be costly, about $250 out of pocket for an MRI after insurance, and having it show a stress reaction or fracture wouldn't change the advice I would be given, which would start at 'take eight weeks off.' for the least athletically inclined doctors to 'no running until you're pain free and then no pain when running' for those who are more understanding of a runner's needs.

It all comes down to needing to take time away from running. The timing is particularly bad, shooting down TCM and very possibly the Veteran's Day cross country race that I started my blog with a year ago. I'm not as disappointed with missing out on the marathon as I thought I might be. It was going to be my first marathon, and I trained for a long time with that in mind, but more importantly I had a goal. The goal I had for my first marathon since the day I decided I was going to run a marathon was to run it up to my potential. For me, based on my times at other distances, sub-2:35 was a reasonable debut goal, and sub-2:30 was what the training was designed to deliver.

I think three weeks ago, I was primed to run somewhere between the two. Now, even with cross-training going well, I can feel 2:40 slipping away. With just three weeks of potential training to go, even if I was able to run I would be concerned about the goal at this point. Being nowhere near even jogging a slow mile makes it an easy call. Following the theory that you only have so many marathons in your legs, I intend to make every one as good as it can be.

So where do I go from here? First order of business is to get pain free, which will involve cross-training for fitness and some targeted exercises for the pelvic area as well as for overall trunk stability and general leg strength. Later, I'll start using the expensive weight set and bench that we got several years ago and barely use to improve my overall strength, all the while reminding myself that the reason I was so durable in college had something to do with the weight program we were all doing. I saw a video the other day where Paula Radcliffe was doing squats with about 40 pounds more than her bodyweight. She's probably doing that for a reason.

I suspect that in 4-6 weeks I will be back to regular running, given that the pain was always moderate, and never severe. In that sense, being cautious paid off. I could have easily kept banging away, like a lot of runners do, and ended up with a real problem that could have taken months to heal. It doesn't look like I'm in that boat, so I'm happy about that. There's another marathon out there for me, but probably not until May 19, 2007, the Fargo Marathon. It's local, flat, and fast, and the only race in the next six or seven months that wouldn't require an extremely long drive or a plane ride to get to.

For now, this will become a cycling blog. Yeah, I'm sad about that, too. But there should be some nice pictures on the way, so look out for that. I'm going to do a ride in southern Wisconson next week, and I'll snap a few on the road for upload. I'll keep blogging through the rehab, and I'll try to post more often than weekly. That way I won't have to do long winded posts like this every Tuesday.

Thanks for reading. Cheers!

Repairs

2006-08-21T19:26:00.000-05:00

Repairs

Busy in the pool and busy around the house. Busy, busy, busy. The picture is the former front porch of my house, now destined to become a library/study, albeit a very small one. It's only about 140 square feet, but it still took me over a year to make the time to strip it to the studs, reframe the windows and the entire north wall, wire the lights and outlets, insulate, wrap, and sheetrock the room. Actually, I finished everything but the sheetrock wayyyy back last year, and I have dragged my feet on that part of the room for many months. It is unbelieveably nice to have it done.

I didn't do it myself. That would be something like hauling around a 250 pound TV. In the last few weeks I came to know a fellow runner who also hangs sheetrock, and he was able to finish the entire room in the time it took me to hang one sheet. Literally. With the hard part out of the way, I am looking forward to taping, texturing, painting, flooring, and trimming the rest of the room. After the marathon.

Speaking of the marathon, I'm still in the pool. Today is day seven, which I would normally be really excited about due to its proximity to day ten, which is when I planned on starting to fold in some running. Unfortunately, the leg isn't coming around. I did about ten strides at nine minute pace yesterday, and the limp is still there. It has improved to the point where there is no pain when walking or up and down stairs, and I can even do one-leg squats. Weight bearing is still causing some pain though.

I went back to the athletic trainers at my alma mater for treatments yesterday, and finally found a therapist, an attitude, and a plan that works for me. Or at least it puts me back into things mentally. The PT there was able to identify the painful spots, and do some interesting treatments on the muscles to relax them. The really brutal one is Neuroprobe. In any other context, this is a torture device. I'm pretty sure Saddam had a couple of dozen of these things laying around his palaces.

The 'concept' is to stimulate points in the muscle with electricity, which has the effect of interrupting the spasm/pain cycle, relaxing the spasm, and relieving the pain. A ground pad is attached to your stomach, and a wetted Q-tip is placed into the wand that distributes the pain. My plain talking therapist told me, "Neuroprobe hurts. A lot." What it really does is inject three-inch-long, red-hot needles directly into your muscles and wiggles them around for fifteen seconds. You quickly forget how bad the muscles hurt before and focus on the new pain. I call it childbirth for men.

My wife disagrees.

It's a good kind of pain, though, and I can visualize it helping, which is part of the cure. I have been flipping through the Kevin Beck-edited Run Strong, and seeing a lot of things I will need to start paying attention to in my old age. I've stopped almost all of the weight training and stretching that made me so durable in college, and so far it's paid off in two extended injury time outs. Over the winter, I will be much more focused on durability than I have been in the past several years. There is no point to training this hard if injuries stop me from doing it consistently.

Here's my pool/x-training from the past six days:

8/16: 25m elliptical, 60m pool run
8/17: 25m elliptical, 35m pool run
8/18: 25m elliptical, 45m pool run
8/19: 15m warmup, 6x5m hard w/ 5m jog recovery, 10m cooldown. 1:28 total (pool).
8/20: 1:30 medium effort (pool)
8/21: 30m elliptical, 35m pool run

Hopefully I'm feeling much better today. I'll find out if the repairs are working in a couple of days.

Seven week itch

2006-08-15T20:13:00.000-05:00

Seven week itch,
originally uploaded by esondag.

Check it out...my 'new' old Trek 2300. I just got it today from my friend Mike (not that Mike or Canada Mike, or Fatboy...geez, too many Mikes.) Anyway, it goes way too fast way too easily, and so far is a lot of fun. I'll get some good cross training this winter and next season, I'm sure.

My leg is still giving me problems, so it's off to the pool again tomorrow. I'll spare everyone the histrionics and drama, slip quietly into the cool, chlorinated water, put my head down and get the work done. It worked pretty well before, and I should be back out on the roads with 5+ weeks to go. Plenty of time to put the finishing touches on my fitness. Later!

Technical Difficulties

2006-08-08T06:34:00.000-05:00

I'm not running right now. The leg did not improve after a zero and a 1.5 mile day, so I have been hitting the bike. Yesterday was 45 minutes of something like a fartlek run. Definitely some high aerobic/low anaerobic work in there. And this morning was 55 minutes at what I would call an easy effort. Not laying back, but not cranking hard either. I also threw in a couple of parking ramp laps, just for fun.

My ass hurts the whole time, and I'm kind of jumpy about traffic, so I can't wait to get off the bike. That and I'd like to get back to training during the most important six weeks of my race preparation. I figure this will take five to seven days to clear up, and just like with the earlier episode in the pool, I expect to come out the other side stronger, so although I am pissed off about this, I won't waste too much time thinking about it. I just have to get through the week and move on.

I'm going to become a believer in cross-training in the future. Not a lot of cross-training, but just enough to stay balanced. I'm starting to feel like Dick Beardsley with all of these injuries.

Oh, Puke!

2006-08-03T06:10:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, I ran that 5k and followed it up with a nice, easy six mile cooldown. Everything felt great. Then I helped my neighbor move a 36-inch television. He had asked me about helping him move it way back before we went to San Diego at the beginning of June, so at nearly the beginning of August, I thought I would (should) inquire just so I didn't seem like I was pretending not to remember. I was secretly hoping it had already been taken care of, but it had not.

It can't be that heavy.

Yes, it can. Just a quick glance around the 36-inchers at Amazon shows me a weight of 225-250 pounds for one of these things. It was every ounce of that. My neighbor is a slight guy, like me, and is in his late 60s, so once my wife and I saw the size of this tv, we were concerned. He insisted on moving it, though, so we did.

The next day, I didn't feel up to my normal 22 miler, so I just did 14 at an easy pace. My right leg felt odd. No power. I attributed it to the race and the hills. Then on Monday, just a seven miler, still not feeling good overall, and the right leg a little bit sore now and still a sense of no power when landing and pushing off.

Tuesday I did a good stretch and warm up, started off with a very slight limp for about a quarter mile, then everything was pretty good. The sensation of power was there for the most part, and even got to the point where everything felt 100% for the last four miles.

Later on Tuesday, my hamstring and inner thigh started to hurt and tighten up. Stretching briefly made it feel better, but the slight pain and general weakness continued.

Waking up Wednesday morning, it was just as bad as the day before, so I decided to take a day off. No sense pushing a minor injury this late in the game. I went for a walk Wednesday evening, and it was about the same.

This morning the leg was feeling slightly better, so I opted for a bike ride at high RPMs. The ride felt fine, but I wasn't able to get my heart rate up very well. Pretty much hovering in the 110s.

I'm not too concerned about missing a couple of days right now. It won't make the log look good, but if I can heal up in time for the quality workouts or at least minimize the impact on the quality workouts, missing a couple of recovery runs is immaterial. All in all, this should be pretty quick to fix. Just a simple hamstring and adductor strain.

One thing that will be key to my next build up is strength training. Whether it's plyo, weights, hills, or whatever, I obviously have developed a durability problem in my old age. F@$%ing irritating, but it is what it is. Next time around it won't be a problem.

Solitude

2006-08-01T07:26:00.000-05:00

Up and out the door a bit earlier today. I wanted to get a longer run in, but I haven't been feeling up to it since the race on Saturday. I woke up at 3:30, had a small bowl of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, a swig of Gatorade, and was out the door by 4:00 for my warmup, which I have been doing ever since the calf problems. I usually just walk about a quarter mile, then stretch whatever feels tight. It's been working, so I don't mess with it.

At 4:25, I hit the road. I'm almost embarrassed to mention this given everyone else's weather situation, but it was fifty-two degrees and calm, perfect for a run. I had wanted to get in 18 to 20, but needed to be home by 6:00, so I decided to go for 15, making the somewhat ambitious assumtion that I could pull off six minute miles for an hour and a half.

I was out just thirty minutes earlier than I usually run, but it was absolutely dark and quiet this morning. I was able to hear and analyse every breath for the first hour of the run, and it was, at times, mentally draining. These workouts are tough in a way that transcends the physical, step-after-step discomfort. The mental aspect is one that I was unprepared for, coming from a 10k and under background. The legs seem to be willing to do whatever the mind tells them, but the mind is unrelenting, in a constant subconscious versus conscious battle to do less.

I ran past my house at ten miles in an effort to mess with my own head, and in a further effort to show myself who my daddy is, I did the last five miles over what is usually the beginning 2.5 miles of my longer, faster efforts. The effect was as intended, and I had to work my brain a little to adapt to the fact that I wasn't stopping, and I wasn't just getting started either.

A really good run overall. Fifteen miles in 1:29:22 with an average heart rate of 150. Mile-by-mile (with average heart rate) was 6:43(128), 6:12(143), 6:05(144), 6:03(146), 5:57(148), 5:47(152), 5:56(155), 5:55(151), 5:54(153), 5:57(155), 5:53(156), 5:46(157), 5:47(159), 5:38(161), 5:37(159). The heart rate and pace information is very encouraging. I actually started feeling smoother and breathing better with four miles to go, once I hit the 5:40s and near 160. Not sure why this would be, but the last four miles felt much better than any other four miles that I could have picked out of this run.

Now it will be interesting to see what kind of recovery I need before I'm ready for the next one. Hopefully just two days, but I don't necessarily make that decision. The committee of the whole will be giving me lots of feedback over the next day or two, and we'll see what the legs, lungs, mitochondria, and brain decide. Cheers.

Coming This Weekend :

2006-07-29T13:09:00.000-05:00

Area Man Runs Local 5k -- And Gets Second! F!

I ran the Knight's Challenge 5k, which supports one of our two high school's cross country teams--the one with good coaching that actually tries to be competitive and makes cross country fun. I ran this same one last year as well, so it was nice to compare times. Last year was a painful 17:48, compared to this year's equally painful 16:21. I was able to beat High School Kid, finally, but still ended up second to College Kid, a sub-31 10k runner. I ended up three seconds behind CK and one second in front of a slowly closing HSK, so it was a good race all around. Our team ended up second to the high school team. Although we did have the most interesting team: five guys, a twenty-something, thirty-something, forty-something, fifty-something, and a sixty-something. We finished in age order, too, which was neat.

Pace Graphs, Heart Rates, and Hills! Oh My!

Here are some chartsngraphs, brought to you by the fine people at stickenstone

Overall average heart rate of 172 with a peak of 179. Pretty consistently in the 170s, which objectively suggests redline. I would subjectively concur.

The 5k I ran at the end of April had similar numbers, an average of 171 and peak of 178.

The two big peaks were quarter miles that included a 40 meter hill at 18% grade. The corresponding downhill is a further quarter-mile away, but is only about 15 meters long. It's a loop course. Two loops, and a 200 meter finish stretch.

Here is a view of each quarter-mile split against the overall pace average. A solid race, I think. Fast start, strong first mile. Recovered from the pace a bit, then hit the first hill. Faster again in the middle, lost contact with the leader right before the hill, which just DESTROYED me, and then held on for dear life the last quarter and through the finish.

Double Running Stroller Finally Delivered!

We ordered a double running stroller from BicycleSource.us about six weeks ago and it finally showed up. Whoopie. Mike was lucky to have had a good experience with this company, but it looks like it's much more common to get completely bent over by these yahoos. Don't ever order anything from them should you have a choice.

The stroller is fantastic though. Absolutely wonderful.

This Week's Mileage! This Week's Workouts!

75 miles! Highlights were the 22 on Sunday, and a 14 miler on Thursday once I finally recovered from Sunday. I gave myself about 60 seconds to be impressed with the 14 miler before I flicked myself in the back of the head and reminded myself that these kinds of efforts need to be bread and butter (peanut butter and jelly?) in the coming weeks. I did the first seven around 6:10 pace average, and then dropped the pace down to a 5:45 average, just about goal MP. A good workout, and my first run ever over ten miles and under six minute pace. 1:23:10 for 14. Now for a few more, and longer.

'Homemade' Pizza? Just A Fabrication? DiGiorno's?

Why so much interest in the pizza? It did look good, didn't it?

Long Run Jeopardized By Global Warming and Drywall

No long run today. I was a bit sore from the race and helping a neighbor move a 150 pound TV (stupid is as stupid does) so I just went for 14 as the body and mind dictated. Almost exactly seven minute pace in hot, humid weather. We hit very close to 100 degrees here today with a dewpoint of about 75 all day long. Nasty.

Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm off to find a cool place to lay my head.

Best. Pizza. Ever.

2006-07-26T12:44:00.000-05:00

Best. Pizza. Ever.,
originally uploaded by esondag.

Mercy

2006-07-23T19:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a forgettable four mile tempo run at 5:30 pace. Didn't feel good at all, and was surprised at how hard 5:30 pace was. I guess that means my aerobic system is VERY highly developed. Ha. Totalled nine miles with another four later in the day with my daughter in the stroller, very slowwww. That was actually a lot of fun.

And another long run in the books today. This one was very tough, but despite the mental bargains I tried to make with myself, I stuck it out and did the workout as planned. Twenty-two miles comprised of ten laps around a park, including a 50 meter long grassy hill that rises about 30 feet, an 18% grade, and a 15 meter downhill of the same grade. I was able to incorporate my house into the loop as well, and had my family manning a water station for me, which was a lot of fun.

The first few laps were really good. The hill section would get me out of my comfort zone for a quarter mile or so, and then I was recovered. As the run went on, the recoveries would take longer and longer, until they were taking almost half a mile. By the last two laps, the up and down was kicking my ass.

I practiced taking water and gatorade every lap, and I was surprised how difficult it is to get a good amount of fluid and to maintain breathing. I was able to pick up the cup without spilling a drop, but as soon as I tried to drink it was all over. Pinching the top of the cup closed quickly turned a nine ounce cup into a four ounce cup, and the extra couple of ounces to go sloshing out the gaps. I did manage to get several ounces each time, but it probably only amounted to 35-40 ounces total, which wasn't enough. Also, drinking requires that you stop breathing long enough to get everything swallowed. Basically, every drink was like another hill. I would finish my cup within 100-150 meters of picking it up, then require another 200 or so to feel recovered. More practice is needed.

So, another 22 mile run, out in 1:10:15, back in 1:10:00, about 6:22 pace. This was the hardest of the three I have done over the last three weeks. I didn't bonk like last week, I was just exhausted at the end. I probably ended up a little bit dehydrated again, but at least I was sweating all the way through the finish this time. The hills definitely hit me in a different way later in the run, so I think today was a really key workout.

The next several weeks I will be incorporating a sort of 'hill phase' which will be tricky considering there are precious few hills around. The idea will be to add some anaerobic power to the miles in the form of hills, and beginning to tolerate some heavy breathing and lactate baths. Fun.

Assessment of Needs

2006-07-21T12:58:00.000-05:00

Feeling better the last couple of days. Still having some issues with breathing through a stuffed up nose and my 'intestinal fortitude' could be better. I've needed to stop by some construction sites on my runs over the last week to use the portable facilities. Not fun.

Thursday I had anticipated going out for 16-18 and running as quick as I could comfortably manage. The first eight went down at 6:15 pace average, and I wasn't feeling very good doing it. After a pit stop at one of the aforementioned facilities, I started in on the second half. After feeling like crap for another half mile or so, the pace picked up naturally and felt pretty good, so I went with it. Eight and a half miles later, I finished with a nice little marathon pace effort averaging 5:50s. Overall, 16.5 miles in 1:40 and change, 6:06 pace.

Today was just a nice little 12 mile recovery run at just over 7:00 pace. I didn't necessarily feel like I needed a recovery run, but I've got a tempo run on schedule tomorrow and a strongly paced 22 miler on Sunday. It's likely the recovery will have been a good idea.

It's about time I come to grips with what I am going to do. I'm either going to put 2:29 out there and train like it, or I'm going to keep doing what I have been doing, which is lack intensity in my training because I'm okay with going for 2:35 because it's my first time in the marathon, I need to respect the distance, the course is hilly at the end, my dress is too tight, etc., etc.

I've started to realize that the fear of failure is part of the reason I haven't committed to the 2:29 yet. That and the fact that I haven't demonstrated the ability to run even 13 miles at 5:43 pace yet, let alone comfortably.

I've been told, however, that some of the workouts I have done already look like 2:29 building blocks, and that the right kind of peak should be worth 20 seconds a mile. If that's the case, I'm right there.

There's no penalty for failure, other than running 2:29 pace through 18 or 20 miles and finishing in 2:41, so what am I afraid of? . That's right--nothing.

I have a few more key workouts to do before I can begin to believe in the 2:29, but I started having faith a few days ago. And hope is increasing. I'll start with what I have and get what I need. Seventy days to go.

Sneezing Large and Coughing Easy

2006-07-19T06:28:00.000-05:00

The last couple of days have been tired and lackluster. I'm still feeling the effects of the cold--run down, stuffed up, and the voice of a life-long smoker. Yesterday, I did an eight mile run with a couple of marathon pace miles to finish. Not as far as I wanted to go, but I just wasn't feeling up to a longer run. Basically the same situation this morning. Seven mile run with some solid pick-ups, but just too tired to do anything sustained like a tempo or steady run.

Better days ahead. Thanks to Mike I finally got my hands on Daws' book Running Your Best. It's a great read so far. Makes me wonder what I could have done with a resource like this in college. Where I went to school, the coaching staff was of the opinion that 100 mile weeks were something that other schools did to their runners as a way of 'thinning the herd'. Of course, these were always the schools that fielded a fifth runner that could generally beat our third, and so on down the line. Did I just go on a mini-rant there? Where was I?

The book is great so far. It's hard to find, as it is out of print, and used book sellers know that it is in demand, charging correspondingly high prices. Try getting it through your library, or just borrow it from Mike. Ha!

Sick Day

2006-07-17T16:13:00.000-05:00

Summer colds are the worst. I'm normally able to avoid getting sick, even with the rest of my family sneezing and coughing around me, but this time was an exception.

It started on Saturday afternoon with a tickle in the throat, and caused a fitful night of sleep, er, no sleep on Saturday night. I wasn't feeling too bad before the long run on Sunday, but by the time it was finished, so was I. The temperature had climbed into the mid-70s less than halfway through my run, and even though I had downed a bit less than two quarts of water prior to and during the effort, I still weighed in five pounds lighter at the end. That's just about 4%, which qualifies as dehydration.

It definitely affected my performance. I ended up pulling the plug about half a mile short of 22. I was dropping off my planned pace pretty severely, and my legs were dead. I got a good dose of what I expect miles 20-26 will feel like starting at mile 19 of this run, so I stepped off the path and walked it in. 21.4 miles in 2:16:16, about a 6:23 pace.

After last week's 22 miler, I thought I had probably gone at it too hard. It took me almost four days to really feel recovered. I figured I could either cut the distance, which I didn't think sounded logical, or cut the pace. I chose to slow the pace by about 10 seconds per mile, and it worked out almost perfect, with the exception of the fluid issues.

Encouraged by 21+ miles and the dehydration, the cold viruses in my system burgeoned forth in search of new territory. By dinner time, my legs were feeling better and I had drank enough water to recover my morning weight, but the cold had taken hold. A second night of no sleep came and went, and I made the decision to turn off the 4:00 am running alarm and forego Monday at work.

I had planned to take a zero today, but I've gradually started to feel more energetic, after reading, resting, or sleeping the day away, and realized that an easy thirty minutes of fresh air and sun will probably do me some good. I got my ForeRunner 301 back today, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had opted to replace, rather than repair the busted one. And I got it back in just less than a week. Most impressive, Garmin.

What is up with these shorts?

2006-07-14T12:56:00.000-05:00

The last couple of mornings have been nasty, leaving me standing on my sidewalk at the end of my run with sticky, wet, dripping shorts, but I put some good running in anyway. Even at four in the morning it has been in the high 60s, which matches up well with the dewpoint. Everybody has mentioned the weather lately, from Tucson to NYC. It seems to be sticky everywhere.

In spite of the weather, yesterday I felt surprisingly good, with the exception of some odd motility issues. Nothing more to say there (although if you insist on being grossed out completely, read Mike's latest post. Guh.), other than 10 miles worked better for me than the planned 15. Since it was supposed to be a recovery day, I didn't get too bent out of shape about the extra miles. 10.25 in 1:10:01.

Today I spent my efforts on a 10 mile progression run. Feeling good from the start, I rolled from 6:35 to 6:14, then 6:03, 5:58, 6:03, 5:46, 5:52, 5:49, 5:31, and 5:27. The last half mile was about 2:35, and it had me sucking air pretty good. 59:21 for 10 miles. Good quality, and with the exception of the last half mile, it was pleasantly hard running. No tightness, soreness, or anything feeling odd. I actually feel pretty springy.

The last half mile got me wondering about my VO2, though. It is definitely a weak spot right now. I've never felt that flick of the switch from aerobic to anaerobic like I did today. It was like within meters of going below 5:20 pace, I started an oxygen debt. Not sure what is happening there, but I don't think it's helpful. Sure, I won't be doing any sub-5:20 miles in the marathon, but I imagine that at 20 miles, every mile will start to feel like a 5:20. It's something I'll need to start working on.

Time to wrap up and get back to work. Have a great weekend, everyone. Stay cool!

Down Days

2006-07-12T07:12:00.000-05:00

The last two days have been solid, but have left me feeling a bit disappointed. I think it's time to lower my expectations a little bit and settle down. It's pretty apparent that the 22 miler took more out of me than I thought it did. I'm sure I'm getting a great training effect out of the last two weeks of workouts, and they have been very strong overall, so to be disappointed after a couple of 'off' days is kind of ridiculous.

The tempo run this morning didn't go as well as I would have liked. The warmup mile went down in 7:06, which gave me pause. I added another mile to the warmup and a couple of strides to get things moving, and set off. The first two miles went down in 5:37 each, then a 5:35 feeling a bit uncomfortable, with the last quarter turning into the wind. Mile four was entirely into the wind, and the pace increased along with the effort for a 5:45.

Mentally, my run got totally messed up at this point. My f-ing Garmin 201 started dropping signal in the trees. The next mile showed up as a 5:23, which was not accurate. Then the next mile showed a 5:50, which was also not accurate. Continuing on for a short distance, the average lap pace showed 5:36, which was about correct. Two mile warmup, six mile tempo in 33:51, about 5:39 pace, and two mile cooldown, 10 miles in 1:01:24.

Based on the effort compared to the last tempo, this one was too hard for a seven miler. I realized that around mile four, and decided to cut the tempo to six miles, which would bring the average 5:39 pace into line with the Daniels pace charts and the Pfitzinger 1/2 marathon pace recommendation.

The temperature made things interesting as well. It wasn't overly humid, but at 68 degrees, it was about 10 degrees warmer than I'm used to for these efforts. It may have been a factor in feeling a little off.

There are lots of little reasons why this run didn't feel easier, but at the end of the day, I got a longer tempo done at the correct pace on a day that I wasn't feeling so good. I'll take it.

Bad Moon Rising

2006-07-11T06:54:00.000-05:00

There's a full moon today, and it was rising just as I was shutting down the engines around mile four this morning. I went out feeling great in the first mile, but seeing that the time came out about 20 seconds slower than what it felt like, so I knew I was not recovered from my Sunday effort. Mile two and three confirmed it, and by mile four I knew I needed to make a conscious effort to slow down for one more day. 10.25 miles in 1:08:48.

The full moon was out, but no caveman antics for me today. Tomorrow maybe. I'm planning a seven mile tempo at 5:40 pace, which I'm hoping will feel easier than the last one I did.

Feel the burn

2006-07-10T20:38:00.000-05:00

Today was an easy easy easy recovery run of six miles in 43:35. I wore long pants even though it was almost 60 degrees just to encourage a bit slower pace. I turned over the last half mile at 5:30 pace just to shake out the legs. Everything felt good, just a little bit heavy.

That's all for today. About 65 miles last week, on pace for 75 or so this week. Lots of sleep. Lots of sleep...

But where are the little chocolate doughnuts?

2006-07-09T12:03:00.000-05:00

Today was my first official long run since the pool episode. The weather was conducive to the effort, although it was windy at times. There is a front coming through that took yesterday's muggy 90+ degrees somewhere south of here and replaced it with some dry 55 degree air. Whenever that happens in North Dakota, the wind rolls across the open plains with nothing to stop it. All you can do is try to stay near the few trees we have and hope for the best.

I have been using Mike's idea about not eating, or in some cases minimal eating, before heading out on my runs. I can't say it is working, but I can say it isn't negatively affecting my performance. The idea is to promote fat burning efficiency by starting the run with insulin levels very low. Insulin is antagonistic to fat burning, therefore the less in your bloodstream when you start the run, the more likely the body is to burn fat as opposed to glycogen. So, you can't objectively see that it is working. Also, it improves, like fitness, over time. It's a faith-based initiative.

Today I had a tiny bowl of Raisin Crisp, some water, and a cup of decaf about 90 minutes before the run. The article I'm referencing above talks about fasting prior to running, but it also mentions that a similar effect can be had by eating a small amount about two hours before the run. Ninety minutes was close enough. The article also mentions that once the run has started, you're free to consume gels, sports drinks, etc. as needed. The idea is to begin the run at a fasting blood sugar level.

I downed twelve ounces of 1:3 gatorade to water and headed out. I've been using the first mile as my recovery indicator, and today it showed I was feeling good. After the first mile in 6:37, I settled in to 6:15-6:20 miles for the first ten. Then the pace dropped. Initially, it took me by surprise because the effort basically didn't change. I thought the GPS had gone wacky, and I would wait for the next mile to get a correction.

The correction never came. With the exception of mile 12, 6:23 into the wind, miles 11-22 were between 5:53 and 6:07. Six of those miles were run around a measured course from my college days, partially to stay out of the wind, and partially to confirm that I was actually doing what I thought I was doing.

I originally had planned on 20 miles, but I was still feeling great at that point so I continued on for a couple more, knowing that long runs have been in short supply lately. I started to get a bit tired at 21, and saw the pace slow to 6:07 while the effort was increasing. Twenty-two would be a good stopping point, and it was reached in 2:16:05, about 6:11 pace.

It would have been fun to continue for 4.2 more miles to see what the time looked like, but I'll save that for another day. Training to race, not training to train. Needless to say, though, to have done this run comfortably and without gatorade or gels out on the run in that kind of time gives me a lot of confidence heading into the next ten weeks. I just have to stay healthy to take advantage now.

Since coming out of the pool, my focus has been aerobic volume. I've done three of these runs, 15, 17, and 22 miles at 6:03, 6:04, and 6:11 pace, respectively. All three have felt comfortably hard overall, that steady-state pace that is hard to quantify, but easy enough to feel.

Obviously, given the amount of keyboard pounding I am doing lately, I am excited about the way things are going. I could not have imagined being 33 years old and being able to run distances and times that I would have struggled with in college as a 23 year old. It truly is all about the miles.

Before I completely exhaust your patience, dear reader, I should describe the picture. I need to track down the reference for this...I have been following a recovery plan after these longer, steady efforts which involves drinking a Slim-Fast shake within thirty minutes of finishing the run, then one to two quarts of water and a decent size plate of pasta or other high carb food about two hours after the run. The article describes the concept fully, but in summary, it is supposed to improve your recovery dramatically. It has worked very well for me so far. I don't have the post run cramping anymore, and I have avoided DOMS (muscle soreness) completely. Drinking a lot of water and gatorade was what I had used before, but it was hit or miss. This seems to work consistently well. Good stuff.

Okay, I'm done now. If you stuck it out and read to the end, thank you, and enjoy the nap which you are surely ready for. Have a good Sunday!

New Look, New Features

2006-07-09T07:19:00.000-05:00

Enjoy. I'm going out for a 20 miler. It's about 50 degrees here with a nice breeze, so hopefully I don't freeze to death the first few miles.

Phone blogging

2006-07-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

Phone blogging,
originally uploaded by eric.

I just set up my phone to allow me to make posts from anywhere, at any time. This should give me a five percent better chance of blogging half as much as Mike or Duncan.

Easy run today recovering from yesterdays run (which I still need to blog). Eight miles in 56:20.

Firecracker!

2006-07-04T19:55:00.000-05:00

Today was the Firecracker Half-Marathon. I didn't run it, being conservative coming back from the calf problems. I was disappointed, but I think it was the right thing to do. I had been looking at that race as a condition check, but it just didn't work out.

There was an 8k as well, so I ran that. I ended up second overall behind the same high school kid that edged me out at the Veteran's Day race last November. The race went well overall. It felt more difficult than the 5k I ran back in April, and it was slower by comparison. High School Kid is about a month out from the finish of the track season, when he ran a 9:46 two mile, so he had speed to burn and he showed it at the start. His first mile was around 4:58, gapping me by 18 seconds. I guess I should have done some striders.

The gap was the same at mile two, where we each ran a 5:25. In hindsight, I should have gone after him here for a few seconds. There is a decent uphill in this mile of the course, though, so that may have bitten me at the end.

At the turnaround, the kid asked me if I was running the 8k or the half. Of course I'm running the 8k! I'm right behind you. Would it make you feel better if I was running the half marathon at 5:20 pace? Anyway, I could see he was worried, and sure enough, mile three was 5:17 for me, and another 5:25 for him as the gap shrunk to 10 seconds. About this time he also started looking back every 50-100 meters. It was absolutely infuriating. I hate it when people look back...or I should say I love it because it pisses me off and gets me fired up.

It didn't work this time, though. Mile four passed in 5:33. In addition to going back over the hill, I was rigging up. My shins did that lock up thing I have described before, but only to about 50% of the intensity I'm used to. High school kid was having problems of his own, and must have run about a 5:35, because now I was within striking distance.

I slowly closed the gap from eight seconds to six then six to four. He kept looking back and I stayed right there. I could feel him putting in little surges each time he looked back, and in the end it was too much. With just under half a mile to go, he stretched the gap slightly. I tried to go, but I was spent. All I could manage was the steady pace that I had going. No speed for me today. He put another two seconds on me in the last quarter mile, throwing down a 5:17 to my 5:19, finishing in 27:18 to my 27:27.

The course, as usual for podunk races in podunk towns, was not measured correctly. It ended up being 5.09 miles, as opposed to 8k or 4.96 miles. I passed the actual 8k mark at about 26:44, which was about what I expected to be ready to run.

I personally enjoy the McMillan calculator. I find it to be very accurate for race equivalents, so I use it often in planning. It shows 26:44 for 8k to be equal to a 16:11 5k, which suggests I have lost a small degree of fitness since the end of April. I would tend to agree. I just haven't been able to get the long runs or the mileage in the way I had prior to April. However, I didn't taper for this race like I had been able to for the April race, and I wore trainers instead of flats today to protect the calves somewhat. In that sense, the performances were about equal. I guess holding on to what fitness I had is better than losing it and having to rebuild.

The calculator also suggests that today's race equates to a 2:37:xx marathon, and I believe I am in sub-2:40 shape at this point, so I'll buy that as well. I've got 87 days to do what work I can to whittle that down to the 2:33-2:34 range, and I'll have a couple of test races along the way to see how I'm doing. Including at least one more against High School Kid. He owns me right now.

Pigs

2006-07-01T11:57:00.000-05:00

[ed. note as you read this post, laugh whenever you see a reference to adding two seconds to each mile. It turned out to be more like 10. I'll adjust the table and add more notes later, for posterity.]

More on the title in a minute. Yesterday was an easy four miler, which put me at 49 miles for the first full week back from the pool, with one day to go. I think I said I was going for 55, so I was in good position going into this morning's run.

Lately, I pretty much know that if my first mile comes in under 7:00, I'm feeling recovered. Which means it's going to be a faster run. Today was no exception. I also had a new toy, a Polar 200SD. I'm not going to be keeping it, but I decided to give it a try since my Garmin 301 is on the fritz. The Polar uses the footpod instead of GPS, so once it is calibrated, it should be more reliable and potentially even more accurate. Once it is calibrated. Did I mention the thing is useless until it is calibrated? [ed. note: this thing is useless unless it is calibrated.]

Mile one was 6:53, but the watch was off by about .15 of a mile [ed. note: this mile is accurate.]. That's a lot. I had tried to calibrate it to my treadmill, which obviously didn't work. I reverted to the default calibration and set off on the rest of my run. Mile two was within 10 meters of what my GPS normally hits [ed. note: that means my GPS is 20 meters off. This just keeps getting better...], so I figured all of my splits going forward were probably good with an added two seconds [ed. note: ha!]. Here are the rest of the splits with corresponding heart rate information:

**Splits have now been adjusted +10 seconds**

	Time	Avg HR	Max HR
Mile 1	6:53.3	133	142
Mile 2	5:57.7	147	155
Mile 3	5:42.2	155	158
Mile 4	5:35.9	158	160
Mile 5	5:34.1	159	162
Mile 6	5:32.0	161	163
Mile 7	5:33.8	162	164
Mile 8	5:18.2	168	175

Minus the first mile, that's 39:06 for ~~seven miles~~ 6.70 miles ~~including the extra seconds~~. I'm going to ride out the course on my bike this afternoon because it will drive me nuts otherwise. [ed. note: I should have stayed home. Now it's really driving me nuts.] ~~This is one of the faster workouts of this distance I have ever done~~, and it was very comfortable, even through the end of the last mile. I have to check this course...

More important though is that it felt great and very controlled. Even if the miles were ~~five seconds off~~ ten seconds off, it shows I have gained fitness coming out of a nine day cross training layoff, and I have some semblance of durability in my lower legs again. I also have gained confidence that I can do relatively hard aerobic workouts with one day of recovery, like Fatboy recently recommended. Since I am training up for a marathon and not a 10k, I'm really not concerned about hard workouts and repetitions. I'll get in some mile or 2000 meter repeats later on in the buildup and will continue with striders 2-3 times a week, but the bread and butter of my first marathon will be long, strongly aerobic efforts as often as possible, and moderate distance AT/tempo pace runs once a week. And assloads of calf raises.

Now, about those fucking pigs. I respect police officers, just like I respect firefighters and military people. They are all providing a service to the rest of us, making it possible for people like me to pursue pointless leisure activities like training for marathons, instead of fighting thugs in the street for scraps of food like we all would be doing if it were not for the social order that these people help to provide. On the whole, these are great people doing great things.

I'm running down the street, on the street, at ~~5:2x~~ 5:3x pace, just after 6am. In a small town on Fourth of July weekend, there is no one driving. There is no one driving at 6am seven days a week on these roads. Except for two bored cops. I spotted them from about 100m away, just hanging out at a green light. Odd. As I run by, I flash them a quick wave, and continue on. No wave back. Odd. Another 30m down the road past them, I hear an eardrum blasting voice over a loudspeaker:

[unintelligible] RUN ON THE SIDEWALK.

"Fucking motherfuckers" was how I expressed my shock. Continuing to run on the road was how I expressed by lack of respect for these two idiots. These are the people I'm supposed to depend on to maintain social order? They can't even restrain themselves from harrassing someone who is obviously causing no harm to anyone? I would expect cops to be way beyond doing that kind of 'run, Forrest, run' crap. I guess not. I wanted to turn around and just point blank ask them what I was doing wrong, and if it was illegal to run on the road. I also wanted to ask them to write me a ticket, so I could take a day off from work to go to court and make a point of how these pricks are spending their time. I didn't because I had a mile to go and I wasn't going to waste my breath on them. They still screwed me though, because a ~~5:10~~ 5:18 mile has nothing to do with tempo pace. Bastards.

There must be something about the cops around here. Me and a friend of mine were literally and purposely run off of the road into a ditch by a sheriff's car about twelve years ago. It's one incident that sticks out in my mind causing me to believe that no one has respect for a runner except for other runners. Anyway...

Hope you all are having a good weekend. Celebrate your hard-earned freedom, watch some Fox News, wave your flag, and go 'splode some stuff.

Retraction: Oops, I Did It Again.

2006-06-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

Mike has been experimenting with his body again. Let's pull our minds out of the gutter for a second, shall we? That's better. He's been experimenting with not eating before running, trying to improve his marathon endurance by doing so.

I thought the idea sounded like something some kind of idiotic, stupid, moronic caveman would do. Like a runner growing a beard in the summer or something dopey like that. I was not on board with the idea to put it mildly.

Then I did some reading, and realized that Mike may just be a genius. An art-loving, song-singing, cheerleader-loving genius.

So, I am making public my most heartfelt apologies to Mike via my blog as requested by his lawyers. As a condition of the settlement, I was also required to try the whole fasting thing out for myself, and, honestly, I am a fan of the concept now. I took nothing more than two ounces of water, and was out the door for a 90 minute run. I ended up feeling great, completing a seemingly effortless 15 miles in 1:32:30. And as a final gesture of good faith, In Mike's name, I will attending running camps this summer, distributing false beards to children who cannot grow their own. Boys and girls alike. Other than apologizing directly to Mike, his family, all of the members of his extended family living in the contiguous 48 states, any of his pets, either living or deceased, his podiatrist, dentist, hair stylists (yes, there are several), groupies, and Lucas, it's the least I can do.

Crossed Fingers, Crossed Toes

2006-06-27T06:54:00.000-05:00

Okay, here it is. I hesitate to write about this because every time things seem to be going well, something happens and I end up back at square one. Screw it. Let's see what happens...

I did nine days in the pool rather than the ten I promised. Around day seven I started to have some odd shooting pains in my knees and a fair amount of cramping in my feet and calves. I was starting to see overuse symptoms from pool running! Too much of anything too fast is not good, I guess.

Fortunately, after day six, my calf injury was feeling better. Maybe 80%. By day nine it felt great, so I went for a ten minute warmup followed by a three mile run. By the end of that run, my OPPOSITE calf was burning and hurting just like the one that caused me to start this pool thing in the first place. Needless to say, I was beside myself with anger, fear, anger, anger, sadness, anger, and of course, anger. Then into the pool to stew on my situation for another 30 minutes

I stretched, did some calf raises, and tried to forget about the three miler. The next day I did seven and a pool run with no problems, and the day after that a five mile progression run, again with no problems. Four miles easy the next day, and a ten mile steady run at 6:15 pace the day after that. Still no problems.

So far, what has seemed to work is, of course, the complete rest from impact so the muscle could heal. As important, though, have been brisk walking warmups, stretching, tens and dozens of calf raises, and NO MASSAGING THE DAMN THINGS. I received that last invaluable bit of info from my wife, who insisted that grinding my thumbs into already injured muscles might not be helping. I think she's right. The physio did a lot of that, but it was always followed up by 2ml of dexamethasone pumped directly into the muscles he was beating on. Net result was the calves felt better after that than before.

It's not the same without the drugs.

So, no more deep-tissue massage unless it comes from someone who knows what the hell they are doing and can explain to me why it is going to help. So far, so good this week. I did eight miles easy with strides on Sunday, a five mile tempo (5:35 pace)yesterday, and eleven this morning with a relaxed final mile in 5:50. Total mileage the first week back was 29 in five days, and projected mileage for this week is 50-55. Hopefully by the end of July, I am back to 90-100 weekly until the taper. We'll see.

One day at a time.

Sandals in the grass

2006-06-24T17:40:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of news this week. I'm back to running somewhat and feeling okay. More details to come, good and bad.

I'm writing this from a picnic blanket, sharing it with the rest of my family and some sandwiches. This is the good stuff, providing me some much needed perspective. I hope your weekend is going as well as mine. Cheers!

The Pool Update

2006-06-14T17:39:00.000-05:00

Not a lot to report, but I'll post anyway. I've finished day four of my Ten Day Exclusive Pool Tour, and I'm a bit surprised that my leg isn't feeling 100% yet. I am still getting a pretty significant burning sensation up the lateral side of my right leg, along the peroneals, and still have some knots in my calf. The pain during walking is completely gone though, which is good I suppose. I'm going to begin light massage, stretching, and strengthening tomorrow, and gradually increase the load of each over the next three weeks. By the beginning of July, I should be able to start integrating some hill work, plyometrics, and drills which will hopefully be the insurance against this ever happening again.

As far as the workouts go, so far so good. I am able to abuse myself sufficently in the pool and on the elliptical machine that I get off of or out of one or the other with my legs feeling like I just finished a 20+ mile run. The pool workout today was especially tough. I did ten minutes to warm up, then five reps of five minutes hard with a one minute float (ha!). I was able to get my heart rate into the 150s and my breathing was labored to say the least. Thankfully, I managed not to inhale any water while I was sucking air. I finished with a cooldown and totalled fifty minutes. Even though the workouts leave my legs dead, I find I am feeling totally fine by mid-day, and am well recovered by the next day's workout. That tells me that the cardiovascular system can tolerate a lot more work than the muscles and skeleton can. I guess this has been well demonstrated by cyclists and swimmers, many of whom train upwards of four hours a day. There are precious few people on this earth who could run four hours a day for any length of time without completely breaking down.

Back to the YMCA tomorrow for hopefully thirty minutes on the elliptical and sixty minutes in the pool. I'm averaging about an hour of aerobic work per day so far, which is half an hour short of where I was. I can't do much about that without breaking in to the YMCA at 4:30 am, so it will have to suffice. The quality does seem on par with my steady run efforts, though, which I couldn't do every day on the roads. I suppose it balances out. I'm hoping to get at least eight hours per week of training in during this rehab phase, which would be approximately seventy miles plus per week on a minute for minute basis. It may not eqate in the real world, but it makes me feel better, so there it is.

Pool Runner

2006-06-11T14:54:00.000-05:00

I finally hit rock bottom on Saturday. My name is Eric, and I have a calf problem. After a great week of reduced mileage, running huge hills, and not having any pain or even tightness, I got back to the flats, threw down on a couple of ten milers, and the calf problem is worse than ever, with the exception that it is on the opposite leg now and in a totally different area.

I plunked down my $48 for a one-month membership at the YMCA this morning, and jumped (don't worry, I planted with my good leg) off the pool deck onto the pain train. I don't dislike pool running, but it's boring and the effort is harder. Based on the first workout, this is going to be a really positive thing. I can already feel my shins, hips, quads, and adductors are getting some much needed attention. I was able to keep the heart rate up in the high 130s to low 140s for the 45 minute workout, which is great. About half of the effort felt like a tempo run, and the ventilation pattern was similar to what I would get on a run at about 5:30 pace. The other half was warmup and cooldown.

Then it was on to the elliptical trainer for a 30 minute ass-kicking. The machine I was on didn't have quite the range I was looking for, so the strides felt cramped. After a few minutes I got used to it though, and did 3x8 minutes with a two minute recovery for a total of 30 minutes. I got the heart rate even higher (140s to 150s) on the elliptical, but it felt much more like a steady pace running effort. That really worked my glutes and lower back in a way that running rarely does.

Overall, the workout was really different and challenging. And in such a way that I can't wait to get through the next two weeks. Cross-training is a lot harder than running, both mentally and physically. My plan is to do pool running and/or elliptical exclusively for about ten days, then add the strength exercises recommended by the physical therapist for week two, then add about 20-30 miles of running in week three, followed by 50-60 miles in week four with some light plyometric exercises. Week five should be back to normal at 70-80 miles, but normal will now include regular strength training, plyometric drills, and strides. Obviously, the plan is subject to revision depending on how things go. I would say, though, that revisions would be toward being more conservative.

The toughest part started today: no running for ten days. I'm satisfied that the aerobic work I'm able to do in the pool and on machines will put me in better condition in a month than I am right now, so I'm not too bent out of shape about lost time. Part of me is still worried, but I will have 12 weeks to go when I am done with the rehab plan, and 12 weeks is still a lot to work with. It's funny that two months ago when this whole mess started, I was freaking out about missing a day or two of running. Now I'm making a matter-of-fact decision to stop running for almost two weeks! Strangely enough, I couldn't have done this back then. I believe it when people say you have to hit rock bottom to make the right decision.

I wish the YMCA didn't open so damn late, though. I can't believe 5:30 is the earliest these lazy yawners will open the place.

P.S. World Cup football kicks ass! I got to see the first goal of the Argentina - Ivory Coast match, but otherwise have been having a tough time seeing any games on tv. I remember the 1998 WC you could catch a match a day somewhere with just basic cable. My buddy Maddog and I watched an assload of soccer that summer while we were both underemployed. Good times.

En vacance

2006-06-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long dry spell in posts. For some of you, this was probably reminiscent of the early days of my blog when a monthly update was the best a reader could hope for. I should be back to posting two to three times a week again now that I am back home. My vacation will last through Monday morning, and then it's back into the trenches, so I will try to make the best of it until then.

The family vacation. Challenging with a two year-old and a five month-old, but still a great experience. We will certainly look forward to the chance to take trips with the kids at every age, and we will always look forward to getting settled back at home with them after a few days in a new, strange place. We visited San Diego, California where we discovered the hills are steep and the food is best when it's cheap. The Sea Lodge at La Jolla Shores Beach was home base for a few days of relative relaxation, where we had a beautiful oceanfront view thanks to the good folks at Expedia. We paid for the $199 special, but got the $349 room due to overbooking. The upgrade included enough extra space for the kids to have their own crib corners, and a full kitchen for making paper plate pasta dishes that rivaled, and some would say exceeded, the haute cuisine that San Diego had to offer. I was able to do some out-and-back running on the beach, which was a total of 1.5 miles long. Running was nice on the compacted, fine-grained sand, but I could only take so much of the repetition, and soon headed out to the La Jolla hills. I spent some time running around the Birch Aquarium / San Diego State University campus area, which was really difficult. The hills were immense by anyone's standard, one that I measured climbed 330 feet in just over half a mile. Nothing to Lance Armstrong, maybe, but certainly hors categorie for me. Going up, I was generally around 7:45 pace, and coming down it was a struggle to hold back 6:00 miles. I wouldn't want to train here regularly, but if I did, I would probably need titanium hip and knee replacements in a few years, as well as daily massage and a steady supply of morphine for my quads.

As far as the running goes, I'm glad to be home.

We didn't take in the San Diego Rock-n-Roll marathon as we had planned due to the logistical impossibilities of marathon day traffic and the short window of opportunity available due to the kids' needs. We would like to have seen the elites run by, as well as Mike, but it just wasn't in the cards. We were able to meet up with blogger Mike and his running pal Jeff for a bite to eat in downtown San Diego at the Cheese Shop, one of the few places we ate at in San Diego that I would actually recommend. It was here that I shared, in retrospect, some bad advice with Mike, telling him to go out at 5:40 pace in the first few miles to really shake things up. The advice was bad, but the pastrami was fantastic.

I am officially done with physical therapy. What a f$@king joke. I have good insurance, but it is still going to cost me nearly $400 for the 10 or so treatments I received. I would feel better about the whole process if I thought it had helped, but it didn't. I think the money would have been better spent on half a dozen really brutal massage sessions. I haven't had pain now for over three weeks, but I still have knots forming and a burning sensation in my right calf every couple of days, usually following a harder or longer effort. I'm just getting started on the stengthening exercises, and I have backed off my mileage quite a bit in the last 10 days, but so far I have the same issues after a four miler as I do after an eight or ten, so I'm going to be treating it day to day with massage, ibuprofen, and as much running off the concrete as possible. It's just a thing now, like a neuroma, a black toenail, or any other of a number of chronic impairments that runners have. It will be my constant companion, like the travel size bottle of scotch I keep in my waistband to ward off the demons while trudging down the sidewalks in the wee hours.

Not a lot to report as far as running due to the above mentioned reduction in mileage. I ran once a day in San Diego from four to eight miles, usually with a couple of faster miles thrown in due to the downhills. The hill work was good, and I didn't elicit any complaints from the calves the whole week. That was the goal, so mission accomplished. Yesterday was my first run back on home turf, and it was good to be home. The first mile was very comfortable in just under 7:00, which generally means a steady stream of 6:00 miles, plus/minus 10 seconds, is on the way. Ten miles passed in 1:00:25, and with the exception of two miles on grass in University Park, they went by with little perceived effort. It's good to be home.

Three Days

2006-05-26T07:33:00.000-05:00

The title of a great song by Jane's Addiction, Three Days will also be part of my plan to completely rid myself of the ghost of this calf problem I have been having. I've been trying to ignore it, but it keeps reminding me that it is there. It hasn't been painful, but it has been hanging out, waiting for the next hard workout, the next long run, the next opportunity to make me question how long I can continue running well before it decides to flare up and sideline me for a week.

I've decided to slide all of my workouts three days down the calendar, in hopes of cleaning up the problem for good. The PT made a suggestion about a week ago that backing off the mileage would be helpful in healing, but he was cool with continuing my normal schedule. The treatments I had received seemed to work right up to a point one or two days after the tempo and long run, then my calf flared up again on Monday morning. After massage and treatment, they were good through two easy days, and the steady 12-miler, but then sore and tight again twelve hours later, for no apparent reason. I suggested to the PT on Tuesday that it might all be in my head. He didn't agree that the pain was in my head, but he agreed that the strange behavior of the symptoms was probably getting to me mentally.

So anyway, the plan is three days of doubles, four and four miles, at an easy pace with a couple of faster miles in there for a reasonable amount of stress. I'll also be supplementing some strength exercises specifically for the peroneals, dorsiflexors, and the calf area. I haven't decided yet if I will drop the tempo run this week and catch the long run on Monday, tempo Wednesday, and steady Friday, or if I will tempo Monday, go long on Wednesday, then steady on Sunday, say at 5:50-5:55 pace for 10 miles or so somewhere in San Diego. Not sure yet.

I hope this works. I think it's worth investing a few easy days to try to clear this off, both for my mental state as well as my physical. It has been extremely tough to go for a hard run and worry the whole time that it might be the one that derails me for another ten days. I could afford one ten day interruption, but the next one would be my fourth in just over two months. Not cool.

Steady

2006-05-24T07:55:00.000-05:00

Just a short post today about my morning workout. I did 12 averaging 6:12 per mile, just trying to lock into a comfortable but strong pace. I changed it up from last week's similar workout by dropping the final two hard miles. With a tempo run coming on Friday, I think it amounts to too much. By the end of today's run, my breathing was just slipping into a shorter rhythm, and my heart rate was about 160, which I think is good for this kind of long effort. According to the GPS, the miles broke down like so:

7:18, 6:20, 6:08, 6:12, 5:52, 6:07, 6:14, 6:01, 6:04, 6:06, 6:04, 5:48

I tend to think some of those are a bit off, because I felt locked in to the effort. This is a standard route, though, so overall it's accurate. I also tried not to add anything to the last mile, but obviously it happened anyway. It felt easy enough, I guess.

Anyway, good run, and no calf issues on either leg. Easy day tomorrow, then another tempo on Friday. Later.

Air Supply

2006-05-23T04:37:00.000-05:00

That band should be making a comeback sometime soon. When I was eight, they were on top of the world. The marketing cycle makes all things old new again for purchase, so Air Supply should be coming out with some new material soon. Let's hope.

On to running. Last week was 10 sessions, 90 miles total. Toward the end of the week, it started to creep in to my legs like old times. Just a bit sluggish the first mile of the run, then loosening up and slipping into gear for the balance. Three of the runs were easy four milers and three were what I would call quality. A 14 mile run averaging 6:17 pace, a six mile tempo averaging 5:40s, and a 5+ mile fartlek averaging 6:17 pace. A good week overall.

This week started off well with a 2:21 20 mile trail run at a state park. It was nice to finally get out and put in a long, steady effort after all of these stupid calf problems. There are lots of small rolling hills out there, so it was a different kind of feeling than I am used to when running on the roads in town. Even at lower heart rates (135-140) I noticed my breathing was similar to patterns I would normally have at 155-160. Interesting.

After the run I was good and tired, and a bit sore. Yesterday was really easy, just a five miler in the morning and two on the mill to keep the blood flowing. I have been having some muscle soreness since the mileage picked up again, so a nearly "off" day of seven miles should help that clear up. I'm planning on two quality workouts this week, probably Wednesday and Friday. One will be another six mile tempo, and I'm not sure what the second will be yet.

Have a good week, everyone.

It's been a long time, sweetie...

2006-05-19T05:54:00.000-05:00

The legs were sore the last couple of days with a touch of DOMS, so I took a nice easy eight yesterday in about an hour. Compared to the weeks when I was running 100+, when that was my average pace, those runs feel like aimless shuffling. But they do exactly what they are supposed to do. Help you recover.

The soreness was almost completely gone, so I was keyed up for what I planned for this morning. A long tempo slightly faster than marathon pace. Based on the information in Daniels' Running Formula, I established a goal pace of 5:40 for this workout. This pace corresponds with a VDOT of 65 extrapolated for 35 minutes at tempo pace rather than the typical 20 minute tempo run that is kind of the Daniels baseline. The workout was two mile warmup with a couple of strides, then six miles at 5:40 pace, followed by a two mile cooldown including four strides. The tempo went down like so:

min/mi (maxHR)
5:39 (158) checked the gps a couple of times for pace
5:43 (159) still trying to lock in the pace
5:31 (158) oops. running by feel, feeling good.
5:42 (162) out of the trees, into the wind
5:38 (166) still into the wind
5:39 (166) back in the trees, damage done, breathing 2:2

Overall, this was a good run. I haven't done tempo runs very frequently (1 other), so I didn't expect it to feel great, or even good. The effort at the end was more than I wanted, probably due to the low 5:30 at mile three and two miles into the wind trying to hold pace rather than effort.

On the positive side, I know this pace will begin to feel more and more comfortable as I get further into the program. I'm really just getting started and still in 'base' mode for a few weeks. I haven't been doing strides due to the injuries, so I really have no feel for anything faster than 5:30s. In that sense, this run got me pretty excited. I thought it would be more difficult. A run like this could very easily be done once a week along with one to two other quality workouts, provided the recovery is always in the plan.

Ugh. A plan. Sometime. Maybe soon.

Therapy Part Two

2006-05-17T07:19:00.000-05:00

The last few days have been very good. The injury is completely under control now, if not gone. I was using a heat pack for about 5 minutes prior to heading out the door, but I stopped that yesterday and have had two runs now with no special preparations.

I saw a different therapist yesterday, and even though I was basically symptom free by the time I saw him, I'm still happy I went. He checked out my old shoes, and a pair with 250 miles on, looked at my gait pattern on the treadmill for about ten minutes, examined both of my lower legs through flexion and extension, reviewed my logs, and asked about prior injuries. The appointment was almost two hours, was very thorough, and I left feeling confident that I had a good idea why I had the problems and how to avoid them in the future.

One: no more running 1100-1200 miles in a pair of shoes. Two: no more running exclusively on the treadmill for weeks, let alone months, at a time.

Shoes break down. Simple as that. I can get more miles out of a pair than the average person because I am efficient and I weigh less than 150 pounds, but I'll probably stick with 700-800 per pair max in the future. I also learned that the treadmill creates a 'dead spot' in the stride where your hamstrings and calves don't pull through the same way as on the road. That, combined with the softness of the treadmill deck can leave you vulnerable to injury when returning to the roads.

I had a good conversation with Fatboy last night about training and racing during the build-up to October 1st. I will probably be doing a half-marathon in mid-August, followed by a 10k the first week of September. Otherwise my training will be sufficiently challenging to keep me from testing my fitness in crappy little 5k somewhere. Eyes on the prize. I know the Lydiard thing about training to race, not training to train...I guess I am training to race, just not for a while.

The converation last night also opened my eyes to the fact that I can train a lot smarter and more efficiently than I have been. I can do a better job of running near my aerobic threshold and recovering properly, rather than just going out and putting in the miles. This morning I set out for 14 with a goal of running the elusive 'comfortably hard' pace that Lydiard talks about. I settled in after a couple of miles to an average 6:20 pace, and finished with two 5:40 miles. The final mile had me pushing 170 on the HRM, so I pulled back a bit. Overall a very good run that I felt I could have continued for several more miles (at 6:20 pace!). I think that is the direction I am going. Hopefully I can stay injury free now long enough to make the trip.

Therapy

2006-05-13T08:50:00.000-05:00

Five miles yesterday easy and eight miles this morning in 50:17. The leg is feeling better, but probably only 90%. I haven't had any sharp pains in the last few days, but I can tell that if I were to move the right way I could certainly cause them to come back. It's possible that I could be back to more regular, 10+ miles per day running in another 3-5 days. Good, good, good.

I have definitely lost some fitness, which will take a good week to ten days to get back. The miles this morning felt clunky until the last few, and my heart rate is up by about 10 bpm at marathon pace. I'm not getting the same bounce from the rest this time around. Now I need to stay healthy and get back to the consistency that got me where I am.

I did end up going to see a physical therapist, which unfortunately was a waste of my and her time. And my money. My goal going in to the appointment was to get a firm diagnosis, short-term symptom relief, and long-term strategy for avoiding more problems. What I got was alignment voodoo. I thought I was at a friggin chiropractor. What she didn't ask was telling. No questions about history, volume, shoes, surfaces, hills, intensity, or previous injuries. The first and only question was, "So your left calf is hurting?". Assuming it was a prelude to treatment, I went along with various hip rotations, drops, adductor lifts, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouths, and even some fiddling with my shoulders. (!) WTF?

The cause of my left calf problem turned out to be that my right shoulder turns in and restricts my ability to fill the upper lobe of my right lung, which, with every arm swing rotates my left hip outward laterally, reduces the function of my adductors, causing my inner thigh to be weak, and by extension causing my calf muscles to compensate for that weakness.

That's all fine and well. How is it going to help me run 6, 8, 10, 12 miles today? It's not. So we get through all that crap, and the appointment is over. Any questions for me? Yeah, I have a ton of questions. Do I have a muscle injury or an achilles injury? What can I do to run on this leg today without pain? Why do I have trigger points up and down my left calf and not my right? What can I do to get rid of them? Is it possible my injury is from a change in volume, surface, intensity, or shoes?

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! To be continued...

Day 8 : OMFG!

2006-05-11T06:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, day eight of this calf issue. It's getting old. Progress is slow, but steady. I was able to make 2.5 miles this morning with some stiffness and a small amount of soreness, but absolutely no sharp pains for the last three days. So the progression of the injury has been like this:

Day 0: 21 miles
Day 1: .5 miles
Day 2: .62 miles (1K! So injured, I converted to metric.)
Day 3: No running
Day 4: No running
Day 5: No running
Day 6: 1 mile
Day 7: 1.5 miles AM :: 1 mile PM
Day 8: 2.5 miles AM :: TBD

This injury stands in marked contrast with the previous calf problem in that the pain was so bad I actually had to stop running completely to get some healing going. At least with the other leg, I only had one day of less than a mile, after which I was able to get right back up to my regular distances within 10 days. I'm not so sure I will be back as quickly this time around.

I'm going to have a physical therapist look at my calf, and possibly get some deep tissue massage on it. While massaging it this morning, I noticed at least two painful knots outside the location of the injury. I'm wondering if these are contributing to the problem. If they are anything like the knots I get in my neck every couple of months, they can't be good.

Bottom line, the injury is improving. Not as quickly as I would like, of course. But if there were instant gratification of every wish we had, we'd probably all be living in a soulless, me-first, consumerist society, like a bunch of puppets being jerked around by a nepostistic oligarchy.

Is that a Radiohead song?

On the way back

2006-05-09T07:13:00.000-05:00

I was able to walk and then run a mile this morning with no pain, but I could feel the injury in terms of tightness and some tingling. It's healing, but it's definitely still not ready for a lot of stress. I took three full days off of running, which helped, although not as much as I would have liked. Progress is progress.

On to heat, ice, and stretching. Have a good day, everyone.

============
Addendum
============

So, today I've been freaking out about wave one and wave two. Twin Cities is doing a two wave start, where only the first 2000 with a qualifying marathon or half-marathon time qualify for wave one. My friend Paul got thrown into wave two last year, and said it was a pain in the ass, running at six-minute pace, to get through the crowd of penguins he started with. I'm not calling slower runners a pain in the ass by association, so don't go there. The situation is a pain in the ass. I would imagine a four hour marathon runner wouldn't enjoy starting up in front of five thousand 2:30 marathon runners either. Elbows and expletives would certainly fly as that guy or gal got trampled.

I don't know how these big marathons work. The scale isn't conducive to weaving through the crowd to the front, while pointing out to every stink-eyed observer that, hey, I'm a legit sub-2:40 runner, I just need to get closer to the line. It might not even be possible. How the hell do I know?

So that's why I'm trying to get into wave one. All I need is to fax proof that I have run a sub-1:46 half-marathon in the last two years. Easy enough, I averaged a half-marathon or better every day most of the winter well faster than 8:06 pace. Of course, training don't matter. I haven't run a half-marathon in about three years, and I'm not planning on another until July. Problem is, as soon as they get 2000 people in wave one, it's closed, and registration is already 90% full. That means there are already 9,450 people ahead of me with a shot at getting their proof in first. Can I afford to wait until July 4th? Probably I can't. That, of course, means entering another half, and soon. Which means driving to another town, picking up packets, etc., and paying for the privilege of doing a training pace run that somebody else is timing. Proof.

I don't want to wade through a pack of people the first mile or two of the race, and I defintely don't want my race or time being affected by the people traffic. Any ideas on how to get an official time by the TCM wave nazis? I already tried talking to them directly. No soup for you! Bring official result! Pay cash! No refund! was the response. Does it really matter to be behind five thousand other runners at the start, given there is a high likelyhood I will pass more than 4900 of them in the first ten minutes of the race?

Ugh. I'm already nervous.

How about an injury report?

2006-05-07T17:05:00.000-05:00

It looks like there were quite a few races run this weekend, and good results were had by all. Congrats to Duncan, Dallen, and Mike, who tuned up with a sublime 10 miler, a tough half-marathon, and a hilly, near-PR 10k, respectively. I am supremely jealous of you all.

My calf problem is progressing along a ballistic trajectory. And that's no hyperbole! Get it?! Ha! Hyperbole, hyperbola? Nothing? Alright. Anyway, a ballistic trajectory in the sense that it got worse the day after it started, no better the second day, and no better on the third day. Today is day four, and I suspect it is not much better, although I think I am ready to begin the light massage and alternating heat and ice treatments that are recommended after 48 hours of rest. Forty-eight hours? But, it's been four days. Isn't that 96 hours? Well, yes, it is. The first two days I was in denial, and trying to do as much as possible without pain. Turns out that is a good way to prevent healing with a muscle strain. I only ran half a mile each day, but I stopped only after getting a single sharp pain. Feel that tingle? That means it's ripping.

So active rest doesn't work for strains. Sitting on your ass does. Sitting on my ass is very difficult for me. I picked up a bike trainer at a local sporting goods store and have been doing 25-30 minutes a day on that just to do something. It doesn't seem to aggravate my calf because I am a terrible cyclist, and I can elevate my heart rate to about 120 spinning away at 90 rpm on my massive 35x17. It's not much, but I would go nuts if I didn't do something.

Speaking of nuts, I can only make it about 30 minutes before said nuts get uncomfortable. No, I'm not sitting on them. I'm just not used to the pressure, and it's tough on the quads so far as well. I'm not getting used to it if I have any say in the matter.

I had a streak going, which I can talk about now that it is over. I don't get too worked up about streaks because keeping them going can force you to make bad choices, especially if you are on the verge of injury. Anyway, my streak went from about November ninth or tenth of last year to Saturday, May sixth. It was a good long time. I was secretly hoping for a full year. Didn't happen, but I can feel pretty good about taking a few days off now having that streak and a couple of thousand miles behind me. Not that I want to, but since I have to, it makes it easier. Relatively easier. I am still going crazy reading all of those race reports.

Pull the other one...

2006-05-04T12:46:00.000-05:00

Good news and bad news. The 22 miler turned into a 21 miler, which is fine. And the ten mile progression changed a bit, but probably for the better, into a seven mile (6:30, 6:12, 6:10, 6:09, 5:47, 5:42, 5:51). Unfortunately, I tweaked my other calf early in the run and it held together well enough to finish. A full day later it feels about like the third day of the achilles injury, which is to say moderately painful. The difference this time is it is a much more acute pain that seems to be localized to two different areas of the muscle rather than the achilles.

I'm treating it the same way, with ice, ibuprofen, and active rest. I think racing broke it down some, then a 3-4% hill run on the treadmill on Monday probably pushed it over the cliff. Two runs on Tuesday was the free fall, and 21 miles on Wednesday was slamming into the pavement and making a big dent. I've been doing strength and stretching exercises to avoid this very thing happening, but obviously it didn't work quickly enough. Interestingly, the original bad leg from two weeks ago feels *like Fabio's freshly waxed chest*.

What?

I managed only half a mile this morning of walking and half a mile of running before I got a big sting and decided to call it off. I've iced twice today, and will make it three tonight, and I will stretch lightly again before bed. I expect it will start to clear in one to two more days and then I can get back into calf raises and dorsiflexions to strengthen the whole of my lower legs. This shit has to stop. I'm just glad I have 150 days left to pull things together.

The 21 miler kicked ass though. The lead up was nine miles averaging 7:00 pace, then I met up with Paulie and did the progression. We ended up talking quite a bit during the 6:10s, which was a surprise. They felt pretty easy. The 5:50s were a bit more stressful, but still not bad. I was most happy that my legs felt strong with no cramping, even sitting at work hours later. I had loaded up on Gatorade Endurance Formula the night before, and I think that really helped. I seem to have a big problem with electrolytes, but the GFE takes care of it every time. It's a bummer that I'm hurt again for the second time in a month, but I can see my way through this one better. Another few days and I'm pretty sure it will be fine. And no more racing for a while. I've got nothing left to prove until my half-marathon in July, and I have a long way to go to position myself for TCM.

circo

2006-05-02T12:58:00.000-05:00

My daughter's sandals are made by a company called circo. There should be a band called circo. A couple more lines of this and I will be ready to stop reading my own blog. On to the running...

The last couple of days required some laying back out of caution rather than necessity. My left lower leg was sore with inversion and eversion of the ankle, not unlike an ankle sprain. Some icing and ibuprofen Sunday and Monday allowed me to run through it, and it is feeling good so far today. I moved my long run from Sunday to Wednesday (tomorrow) hoping to get past the soreness without aggravating anything to the point of having to back off, and it looks like I did it.

Sunday was fourteen miles with a quicker last five, about 6:30 pace. With the speed of the previous day, it came easy. Monday I was able to get two runs in, six and four. The four was a lot of fun. I took my daughter out in the stroller in overcast conditions, and about a mile in it started to pour rain. She was snuggled and dry under a blanket and a canopy and was really enjoying it, so we just kept on rolling. Bumps and Puddles was the theme. I was completely soaked. Good times.

The plan for tomorrow is twenty-two with a progressively faster final ten. Possibly venturing down to goal marathon pace for the final two miles. I need to do more research, as I don't want this to have any kind of sharpening effect on me. The goal is strength and aerobic power, but maybe that's a bit fast this early.

A nod and a wink to my readers. I guess I have more than two now, especially now that I am getting loads of referrals from Mike's blog. I suppose this means I need to publish more often! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog. If you have any questions or comments please leave something behind. Cheers!

I Feel the Need...

2006-04-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

The need to avoid quoting Top Gun just to make up a catchy title for this entry. I became race director as well as first place finisher this morning for the Altru Cardiac Care 5k. If you are a regular reader, you remember we recently had a flood in the park hear my house, the same park the race was held in this morning. We took a family walk to scout the course last night and noticed the rain had turned the two inches of dry river dirt on about 400 meters of the course into some of the slickest mud on the planet. There were also some full-size trees and other scattered garbage on that part of the course. In short, there was no way I was wasting my time or money trying to run fast over that.

I showed up to the registration table at eight sharp to see if they had changed the course, and they had not. The last time the director had checked, the course was dry, and without looking, she figured that it couldn't be that bad. I went down to take a look with her and she quickly changed her mind. I thought it was incredibly thoughtful of her that rather than just blowing me off, she looks right at me and says, "Any suggestions?". We quickly figured out a course adjustment that would get back the quarter-mile that needed to be excised and I set out to bike the course. I was sure it wasn't accurate to 5k in the first place, so I figured as long as we are remapping I would just as well get it right. It turned out to be a good idea. The course would have been about 200m long if we had just run it as they laid it out after the initial adjustment.

Now we had an accurate 5k course. I just needed some competition. Initially I was worried the rain would keep everyone away and I would end up running a time trial by myself. That thought was dashed by the appearance of Paulie, a 31-flat 10000m guy in 2005, from the university. He's not in 31 shape right now, but that hardly matters. You don't exactly lose that capability overnight. Anyway, I wasn't racing to win, necessarily, but more to get a good time and a reading on the effort I am capable of right now. Paulie told me he was going for more of a 17-18 minute effort, and I was shooting for low 16s, so it looked like I was on my own.

Off we go. The plan was even split 5:10s, then try to bring the overall time under 16:00 over the last half-mile if I was feeling good. Within the first half-mile, my shins started to lock up. By one mile, they were fully rigid and painful and I could hear the slapping of my forefoot on the pavement as my lower leg made no effort to absorb the landing shock of each step. It was awful. Mile one in 5:12.

Mile two was just holding on. Systems were all good except for the total lack of efficiency from my lower legs. Early in mile two, Paulie pulled back the 20 meters I had put on him early, and settled in to help me out. It was good to have him there, because I was fading psychologically. He kept my mind off my shins and on the race, which was very helpful. Mile two went by in 5:28, and the race was on.

I was fighting pretty hard to maintain contact with Paulie a couple of times during the last mile, but I hung in. I could feel my shins either numbing or loosening. Not sure which, but the pain was less and I was finally able to focus. At 500m out, I surged a bit and Paulie stayed right there looking smooth and comfortable. I couldn't read any weakness, so I resigned myself to fighting hard until he took off on me. With 300m to go, there is a slight incline that lasts for about 100m. It was my last stand. I went strong to the 'hill', but Paulie stayed right there. Oh where, oh where is that college boy's kick? I think I gritted my teeth waiting to get my doors blown off, but it never happened. Somewhere in the next 50 meters, Paulie later told me, he about lost his Froot Loops and dropped back. Maybe it's rude of me, because I know Paulie is a very competitive guy, but I think he probably let me get the win. But, my wife tells me he looked like he just didn't have it over the last 200m. It's a mystery to me. Mile three in 5:19, and finish in 16:14. Paulie finished about 16:20.

Overall, it was a solid effort and is very encouraging. If you hate it when people rationalise their race efforts to make themselves feel better, please turn off your browsers now. The course had two 180 degree turns, and was relatively slick with river mud. The footing was poorer than a wet road, but better than wet grass. Additionally, I did 7 on Tuesday with 3 miles at goal MP and a final mile of 5:16, 18 on Thursday with the final 5 in 29:44, and 90+ miles this week in the fastest average pace I've done since I started my build-up back in November 2005. What I'm getting at with this is I am very, very encouraged about my time today. Based on the way I felt, I know I could do 15:50-16:00 on the track right now.

I haven't run that fast in about ten years. The great thing is it only took me six months of really solid base to get back there. From this level of fitness thirteen years ago, it took me a further 18-24 months to run all of my other PRs. This is good stuff.

I was able to get some really solid data from my Garmin 301 as well. The HRM is sometimes flaky, but it held up today, and I don't appear to have any dead spots in the collection. The Garmin came up with 3.06 miles for the course, which you'll see in the screenshots. Actually pretty accurate for GPS. However, I did measure the course to 3.10 miles with my bike computer, which is calibrated down to +/- millimeter tolerances. My max HR is up a bit, to at least 178, which suggests I am getting back some of my top end aerobic capacity, and the fact that I redlined my heart rate for the vast majority of the race confirms that I raced very near my best effort.

Alright, time to post this monster. Have a great weekend, readers! Both of you. Cheers.

Continued...

2006-04-27T09:55:00.000-05:00

On the sunny side, once you exit the long dark tunnel of winter base, there are frickin' unicorns and rainbows all over the place. What a great feeling 22 weeks out. I am completely bipolar. Have a great day!

No pressure no diamond

2006-04-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

What a great quote. With 22 weeks to go, I'm still focusing on base mileage, but I've learned from my lengthy winter cycle that base doesn't mean slow. Not always, anyway. Lo and behold, when you regularly include some threshold pace and strides during the base phase, your overall efficiency and paces improve across the board.

I noticed that this morning. I was able to comfortably run 18 in about 1:57 with the last five in 29:44. I need to go back through my logs to quantify this, but subjectively my sense is that I was a complete idiot not to have included some higher-end aerobic work in my winter build-up. It may not have cost me anything...hell, maybe it saved me from injury. But I can say with certainty that it is extremely uncomfortable both psychologically and physically to struggle through the month or so that it takes to comfortably do a marathon pace workout after running so many slow base miles. It's easy to get frustrated if you don't know what's coming.

Twin Cities Marathon

2006-04-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

I am officially registered for TCM 2006. WooT. Very exciting. Now I have just about twenty weeks to pull everything together to take advantage of the last twenty weeks of work. I'm dubious in my ability to prepare correctly at the moment, so hopefully I will be able to beg, steal, or borrow some good coaching over the next few months.

I won't say I'm shooting for sub-2:30, yet, for a couple of reasons. One, I've never raced the distance, and the debut has been a humbling experience for nearly everyone I know. Two, I don't know how much I can pull back from my college years in one year of training. My 10000m PR suggests that I am capable of 2:29:xx, but I am nowhere near that kind of condition right now. And that PR was set in 1995. Small detail.

I will say I'm trying to run as close to 2:29 as possible given the time that I have put in and the time I have left to invest before October 1. I'll have a really good idea in a couple of months how close I can get in my first marathon.

And I have a really good idea that if I don't quit writing and get running, I won't be getting any closer. Later!

Must have been the alcohol...

2006-04-22T18:41:00.000-05:00

The week-long layoff from running that I recently experienced has reared its ugly head. I did two runs today. The first was an eight mile progression run to test the achilles and just to have some fun. Mile one was a warm up in 7:20, then 6:35, 6:25, 6:18, 6:18, 6:00, 5:58, 5:39, 5:30. The 5:30 had me hurting pretty good, but otherwise it felt comfortable-hard with the heart rate for the whole run averaging mid-150s. All systems felt great start to finish.

Even cooler than that, though, was my second run, which got me thinking that I'm never doing a hard workout before the sun rises ever again. I went out for an easy run just to enjoy the One Nice Day that we get in North Dakota between the snows of winter and the bugs, humidity, and scorching temperatures we get during the 27 days of summer we have here. Wow. Where did that come from? Latent geographical rage. Anyway, I ran another eight miles, starting off in 7:00 feeling WTF?! easy, then without changing my effort at all or looking at my watch, mile two came in at 6:18. Must be a mistake. Mile three in 6:18. Okay, what's going on? I take stock of breathing and legs. No complaints, cap'n. Onward through mile four in 6:21, five in 6:19, and hey, there's one of the University guys. He's a 30:5x 10000m guy just coming off a foot injury, and thankfully he is back at it again and feeling better. I run about half a mile with him through mile six in 6:53, which actually caused me some breathing problems. I could barely talk to him running that pace. Fast Guy exits stage left, then I'm right back to 6:21 for mile seven.

I'm thinking I don't want this to end, and why not ten or twelve, but I spot my wife and kids on the sidewalk, take it as a sign that all good things give way to better things, and finish mile eight in 6:19, feeling like I just went for a nice recovery jog.

I'm obviously reaping the benefits of what amounts to a taper, having consolidated some of the speed and fitness from recent strides and tempo runs, along with rest from a 31 mile injury week. But, man, what a confidence builder! With only five months to go to TCM, I wasn't feeling like sub-2:40 was all that reasonable. Today has me thinking differently. Happy Weekend, everyone!

Back In Black

2006-04-18T19:14:00.000-05:00

Dun. Da-da-dun. Da-da-dun. My leg feels better. Still not competely healed, but probably 90% and coming up. I was able to do eight last night straight through with no pain and just a bit of tightness. It was probably too fast at an average of 6:30 pace, but the speed came naturally due to the 'taper' I was just forced through. I followed that up twelve hours later with an easy ten on the treadmill and didn't feel the leg at all.

The injury is very close to being gone, but I'll still give it some time before throwing down big mileage or speed on it. I'm debating whether to continue with plans to run the 5k on the 29th. It's still eleven days out, which is plenty of time. I'm certainly not going to risk anything to run a stupid local 5k, but I NEED! Precious NEEDS to run FAST! There's plenty of time to figure that out, I guess.

Quick recreation of every scene from the television show 24:

"WHERE IS THE BOMB!!??"

run away from an explosion...

"GIVE ME THE CODE!!"

Have a good night.

I'm in Purgatory

2006-04-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it's been seven days since my little achilles problem started, and I have to say, things are improving (quick, hide the kids). Not fucking fast enough, but improving. The past week looked something like this.

Sunday, day 0...15 miles, ice, drugs (Owwww!)
Monday...3 miles easy, 35 minute pool running, ice, drugs, alcohol (Owwwwww!)
Tuesday...1/2 mile easy, 40 minutes elliptical, drugs (Owww!)
Wednesday...1 mile walk, 2 mile run, ice, drugs (Owww.)
Thursday...1 mile walk, 3 mile run, ice, drugs (Oww.)
Friday...2 sets of 25 calf raises, 5 minute walk, 3.5 mile run, ice, drugs (Ow.)
Saturday...3 sets of 40 calf raises, 5 minute walk, 4 mile run, ice, drugs (Ahhh.)

So that all looks good. Then there is today.

Sunday...1 set of 40 calf raises, 5 minute walk, 5 mile run, ice, drugs (Ah, FUCK!)

I wanted to get six with no pain, and I made it four with no pain and one more with it not feeling quite right. It's not that bad. I just expected it to be even better today than yesterday, and it isn't. It is tight and hurts mildly, especially when going down stairs. It's trending toward being completely repaired within a week, but my expectations were higher given the treatment I gave the injury. Assuming it gets very comfortable by Friday, I should be able to do enough strength training and stretching to be back to my normal mileage by the first week of May. If it lingers past Friday, which is what I'm worried will happen, I am going to burn my leg off at the knee with a blowtorch and eat the charred remains with some refried beans and a nice bottle of Maddog 20/20.

I had planned on seeing a doctor this week because my heel and part of my foot went numb along with the achilles pain. I did a bit of reading, though, and figured out that it is probably nerve damage from icing. It should go away in a few weeks or months. Apparently, it is not a good idea to use the frozen gel packs without a towel between your skin and the pack. The thin skin on the lower part of the ankle and heel makes it easy to 'burn' the nerves in that area. As long as the skin is not turning purple, you pretty much just have to wait out the healing process, which, for nerves, is six weeks to never. The numbness doesn't cause me any problems. It just feels weird in the morning moving my foot around under the sheets. And when I stick tacks in it.

As far as new shoes, I settled on the Asics 2110 after a lovely conversation with a disgusting old shoe salesman. I almost always order my shoes from Road Runner Sports or Eastbay so I don't have to deal with idiots like this guy at FootLocker. I asked to see the 2110s in a 9.5 (yes, ladies, a size nine and a half) and he proceeds to tell me about how much he loves his Asics, and he used to wear New Balance before, and these 2110s have 90% better cushioning than the compact spare in his Ford Focus and his son is a runner and he runs lots of miles.

Yes, I bit.

"How much does he run?"

(The guttural groan of an old man fumbling numbers in his head)
"Errr. Mmmmm. Four or five miles. Every day!

"Huh. I've been running about 15 a day."

"Oh, well, my son is a triathlete. You know, these insoles come out..."

He then proceeded to try to sell me some shitty Spenco insoles for an extra $12.95. I declined, paid too much for my shoes, and exited the store in a funk. Happily, my spirits were lifted when I spied a Tomodachi store just down the hall. I spent a few moments wandering around the place looking at Akira models and doe-eyed stuffed animals with happy smiles on their faces. This place is great. I bought a medium-sized Chococat for my daughter's second birthday. She loves it.

Tomorrow will be better.

2x4

2006-04-10T09:22:00.001-05:00

As in, 'smacked in the back of the leg with a..'. Out of the clear blue sky, I have some kind of achilles injury. On Saturday, I had run a quick seven mile progression from 6:40 pace down to 6:00 because we were travelling to Minneapolis later in the day. Everything felt fine except for some very mild shin-splint-like feelings in my legs, ostensibly from running more on the roads than the treadmill. My long run on Sunday started off well, but got progressively worse from eight miles until I was forced to stop at fifteen.

It's very strange and really disheartening to have to deal with this right now. It was 47 degrees this morning and I was looking forward to running in shorts for the first time this spring. It should have been really refreshing. Also, I was planning on meeting up with Evan tomorrow morning for an out-and-back tour of the last seven miles of the TCM course. I was only able to get through three miles at 7:30 pace before heading back to the hotel pool for 40 minutes of mind-numbing water jogging. There are few better places to be when nursing an injury, though. Lots of ice, a pool, an elliptical trainer, and even a couple of soft treadmills if things work out.

I've been icing and taking ibuprofen like a madman since yesterday. So far it is holding steady, but I'm only on day two. I'm pretty sure new shoes are the cure for this problem. I've been rotating two pairs of Asics 2090s for the last 1700 miles or so. Probably too many miles. I thought I would be much more durable with all the miles on my legs, but all those miles country-clubbing it on the soft deck of a high-quality treadmill do not a leatherman make. Hopefully I can get through a couple of days with the pool and elliptical, pick up some new shoes, and get through this quickly.

Just one final question. Have you hugged your legs today? If not, let them know you care. They may conspire against you tomorrow.

Put On Your High Water Pants

2006-04-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

This picture illustrates the severity of the current flooding nicely.

Flood Watch

2006-04-04T07:26:00.000-05:00

We've had a good stretch of low water over the eight years since the 1997 flood, but it looks like our time has come again. Although there is very low danger of the type of flooding we experienced in 1997, the intimidation factor is still there. The only thing between my house and the rising river is a large clay and grass snake winding its way across the landscape fifty yards from my front door.

As I write this, the river stands at 46.4 feet, which is the sixth highest mark on record since 1887. Flood stage is considered 28 feet, but that doesn't really mean much to the average person. The water is covering up most of the park and golf course near my house, including the running paths that wind through them.

Memorable workouts from the last week include 12 miles, including 8x200 strides on Saturday, a brutal 22 miler on Sunday that didn't go well (but got done), and 12 miles this morning with a four mile progression from 6:30 to 6:00 pace. I'm feeling pretty good. I have noticed that the transition away from the treadmill is tougher on my legs than I expected. Concrete is much harder than a treadmill deck, and the faster paces that feel comfortable on the road add to the stress. The lack of fluid availability is making things more difficult as well. I have bonked on a couple of longer runs now without my Gatorade Endurance Formula readily at hand.

I'm racing a 5k at the end of April. I post some further details later. Time to get to work.

Update

2006-03-29T20:01:00.000-06:00

Just a quick entry since I haven't posted in a week. I've been out of town for work since Sunday, but the running is still going fast and furious. Okay, maybe not furious, although my legs are furious at me right now for all of the hills I ran in St. Cloud and the Minneapolis area these past few days.

Saturday was a semi-hard 20 miler at 6:43 pace average with some fast miles at the end. That set off the DOMS in my quads, which only got worse once I hit them again on Monday morning with a 15 mile fartlek over some really steep rolling hills. I would stride out the downhills, usually 80-100 meters, at sixty second quarter speed or faster, and then work the uphill as steady as I could, about eight minute mile pace. Eight minute miles at 90% plus heart rates. Like I said, the hills are short and steep.

Tuesday brought more hills, but at a relaxed pace. The DOMS was really bothering me, so I was trying to lay back. I still ended up with 13 miles at about 7:00 pace with a 5:45 mile to finish. It actually felt better to push the pace. Go figure.

Today I intended an easy two to two and a half hour run, hoping for 20 miles. I got 13 and realized it wasn't happening. I was operating on 5-6 hours of sleep each of the last two nights and the sore legs were taking me out of it mentally. Tomorrow will be 18-20 easy on the mill, which will reduce the pounding quite a bit versus the concrete.

Running Scared

2006-03-21T19:52:00.000-06:00

I did twelve this morning, and finished feeling a bit disappointed. I wanted to get in sixteen outside with a final four miles at under six minute pace. The five-above-zero temperature this morning wasn't conducive to that kind of effort, so I stayed inside and did my miles on the treadmill. I was able to finish with a six-minute mile in just under 1:25, about 7:04 pace. It felt good, but it wasn't the run I was looking for today.

I cleared it with my wife to run five or six when I got home from work, knowing that it would be sunny and in the mid 20s around that time. I've been concerned for a while about my ability to train at paces relevant to running a sub-2:30 marathon, so I knew I needed to get out and check the engine, as it were. I was scared to death to try this workout. The plan was five to six miles with two or three miles at 5:25-5:30, or what is supposed to be tempo pace for a 2:30 marathoner.

I'll spare the dramatic details and just say that it went well. A two mile warmup with a couple of strides set me up for mile one in 5:26, mile two in 5:24, mile three in 5:25, which was a nice surprise after turning back into the wind, and a final half mile (.51) in 2:50 (5:40 pace). My heart rate was very steady between 164 and 168 from the quarter-mile onward. I was just happy to not be anywhere near max. Mentally, I was expecting a tough two miles at 5:40 pace, so I was very excited at how easily this came to me.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes. I'm here to tell you, LSD works. The last week or so has been amazing in terms of gains. A few strides here and there as well as some six-minute miles, and I feel like I have my legs back at all but the fastest paces. Good, good, good.

White Noise

2006-03-19T18:38:00.000-06:00

I'm listening to white noise right now. So that's the title. That's the kind of insight into the writing process you won't soon find on a run of the mill blog.

I think I'm going to vomit.

See, real stream of consciousness stuff that puts you right there in the moment with me.

Alright. I posted my logs on Flickr, because they don't seem to get all fricked up and resized like they do on Blogger. All my logs are now linked on the right sidebar, so you can take a look if you like.

I had a great run today on the treadmill. I've been down in the 60-70 mile range the last three weeks trying to inject some speed into my routine as well as figure out what my next step would be after running almost 1500 slow base miles in 15 weeks. So, the great run today, I think, was due in part to being pretty well recovered from the long miles, but was also because I am responding really well to the faster running. I averaged exactly seven minute pace for 22 miles, roughly half at 7:15 and half at 6:45, with the final two miles between 6:20 and 6:00. A bit of a riff on the McMillan fast finish run. As I sit here, twelve hours later, my legs feel incredible. I was smart enough not to go for another run today, although I wanted to very badly.

What is really curious, and I think this speaks to the value of high aerobic volume, is that I have experienced no side effects from the faster near-MP running of the last three days. Friday was four miles at 6:00 pace, Saturday was two more, and today was very close to two more at the end of a solid 22 miler. I'm certainly not tireless at 6:00 pace, but so far I don't appear to need to recover from it. Granted, the volume of near-MP miles is pretty low at this point, and I will be jacking my overall miles back up starting this week, but I'm feeling pretty confident that I can continue to add in the MP pace miles and keep the overall mileage up near 100. It seems to make me feel better.

I think I am getting close to figuring out a racing schedule for the late spring and summer. I'll probably add it to the sidebar with everything else, so look for that in the clutter, coming soon.

Monkey Off My Legs

2006-03-17T07:20:00.000-06:00

What's up with Mike's site lately? It keeps coming back with 403 permissions errors. Are you trying to tell us something Mike?

I was able to do a nice little almost-MP workout this morning, finally, without the lower leg rigor mortis I have experienced the last two weeks when attemtping anything faster than about seven minute mile pace.

I started with a five mile progression from 7:20 pace down to about 6:40, and then four miles at 6:00 pace. My goal marathon pace is 5:44, but my treadmill only goes to 6:00 pace, so I make due. With the problems I've had the last couple of weeks, goal MP is probably too much like a tempo right now anyway. My average HR progression through the four miles was roughly 157-160-163-167, which is more than drift. More like piling on. It did feel like I was past LT on the last mile, though it was still comfortable.

Anyway, I was happy to have the workout on my legs. It may have been partially out of range, but dammit, it felt good and that's what counts.

9 miles :: 1:00:35 :: 6:43 pace :: including 4 miles in 23:58

HRMMMMM...

2006-03-14T19:11:00.000-06:00

Very interesting. I have the heart of an old man apparently. My max heart rate test turned up a 176. That is much, much lower than the 192 that I had been determining all of my percentage efforts from. So that is good news. Another bit of good news is that I did not often let my heart rate monitor determine how fast I run. Maybe two or three runs in 15 weeks. I run how I feel, but I like having the data to get a consistent objective set to correlate with how I'm feeling. Plus I'm just a gadget dork.

Now I can look back at those 1450 miles over the last four months and feel very good about the effort levels. Before I was very concerned because it felt like I was working really hard on most of my runs, but they were coming out to be less than 70% percent of what I thought was my max HR. So then I would get frustrated and crank out a long, hard run and maybe get 74-75% max HR average, but then be totally wiped out for two or three days. Well, that 75% at 192 turns into about 82% of 176, which is pushing into the mid-range of a good, solid LT working zone.

I found some information that might explain why my max HR is so low. I know that 10 years ago, it was at least 200. Turns out there is some evidence that it can change dramatically based on your conditioning. I found this on Pfitzinger's site:

You can accurately determine your max HR during a hard interval session. An appropriate workout is to warm up thoroughly and then run 3 high intensity repeats of 2 to 3 minutes up a moderate hill, and jog back down right away after each one. If you run the first hill at 90% effort, and then run the last 2 all out, your heart rate should reach its maximal level during the 2nd or 3rd repeat.

Interestingly, there is evidence that max HR changes with an individual’s aerobic fitness. Your max HR decreases when you make large gains in your cardiovascular fitness, and increases again if you have the misfortune to go from being very fit to out of shape. An untrained person may experience a 7% decrease in max HR with training. As your max HR changes, your heart rate training zones may need fine-tuning. If you have substantially increased your level of training you should test your max HR every 6 to 12 weeks to check whether it has decreased. Similarly, if you have had a prolonged break from running, you should check your max HR because it may have increased during your time off.

I certainly should have made large gains in my CV fitness, so this puts my mind at ease. I will definitely be making the max HR test a more regular part of my training, as well as the Hadd type testing. The information is invaluable to progress, which is what we are all after.

By the way, the max HR test is a BITCH! Fifteen percent incline at 7:30 pace is brutal.

Analyze This

2006-03-14T09:56:00.000-06:00

Once again, Zeke inspired some heart rate talk with his recent comment about max heart rate and his entry on the Hadd test. Reviewing my training log, I noticed something from a run on February 24th that I did. It was a 10-miler, one of the first I had done in a long time outdoors. I tacked a 5:30 mile on to the end, which was mechanically very difficult, but physiologically felt pretty good. Using SportTracks and my Garmin 301, I was able to break the final mile down into .25 mile increments, and get average HR and pace data for each quarter. Here it is...

Pace	HR
5:49	156bpm
5:43	161bpm
5:25	163bpm
5:01	168bpm

The thing that I found interesting was that I wasn't able to crack into the 170s, which is generally considered marathon racing territory, with the effort. Also, considering my goal marathon pace is 5:43 and change, a heart rate in the low 160s at that pace looks very favorable. As opposed to all the negative thoughts I have been having about 'what have slow miles done for me lately?', this is making me feel really excited.

According to Hadd, and a number of other aerobic system proponents (including Lydiard), it is the maddening process of aerobic development that puts one in a position to do equally meaningful development work, such as threshhold pace runs. These are the runs that allow one to feel more comfortable at fast paces, and thereby run faster, longer.

One possibility the above data brings up, though, is that my max heart rate is not as high as I think it is, which would change the meaning of the data completely. We'll see. I'm going to try to max tonight on the treadmill.

Acceleration

2006-03-12T18:52:00.000-06:00

Mister Buddy and Miss Beans. As requested, here are the kids. Mister Buddy is two months old, and Miss Beans is almost two years. They definitely keep us busy.

I mentioned in my last post that I was frustrated with how little I seemed to have gained in terms of overall fitness. Looking back over my logs, I can see that all I was really doing for almost 1500 miles was recovery runs. Almost all of my running was done at heart rates between 125-135. At first, staying in this range was the only way I could manage 100+ miles a week, and after a couple of weeks, it was all I could manage without getting really tired. Pushing up into the low 140s was actually difficult, and required the kind of recovery usually reserved for a late season, high-volume interval session. If I had not had a heart rate monitor on, I would have slowed down, thinking I was pushing too hard.

What I have done the last couple of weeks is try to gain some perspective on my training, as well as try to get a handle on what I need to do to start progressing toward the marathon in October. I cut my mileage down to 60 and 64 miles for each of the past two weeks, respectively. I added some faster easy running, with several runs over an hour and under 7:00 mile pace. I also was able to complete about 7 miles between 5:30 and 6:00 pace over the course of three runs.

I found that while I hadn't completely wasted my time running too slow, the bottom line was it was nowhere near my best aerobic pace. I ran this way for such a long time that my muscles 'forgot' how to run faster than about 6:30 pace. As I had hoped, I have made huge gains in the past two weeks, running my heart rate well into the 140s and even into the low 150s without feeling wiped out for the following three days. It's still tough, but it's getting easier.

Lesson learned? Mileage and pace should not be mutually exclusive. There has to be balance across the entire range of paces, heart rates, and distances. With this in mind, I can spend the next 200 days building toward my goal race in a much more effective way than I was before.

Changes Afoot

2006-02-28T11:10:00.000-06:00

I had a seminal moment this morning. I realized that I can run all the easy miles I want. I can run 130 miles a week if I feel like it, and I probably won't break down. All I have to do is slow down, just like I did to get to 100s and 110s and even my 124 mile week that I was soooo proud of. 1450+ miles of running in 15 weeks.

So where did that get me?

This morning I attempted a 6:00 mile pace workout (2 mile WU, 6 miles of 2min on/2min off at slightly slower than marathon pace). I failed miserably. My shins and calves basically locked up within half of a mile at that pace, and I had to stop.

While this is most certainly an isolated incident, one thing has been apparent to me for about six weeks. I have gotten slow. Long slow running does indeed create a long, slow runner. I have attempted a few other workouts at sub seven minute paces, and, invariably, I either can't complete the modest goals of the workout, or I complete the workout, only to need 2-3 full days to recover from the effort, usually at substantial reduction in mileage.

Needless to say, the satisfaction of running big miles is completely outweighed by the fact that I feel like shit running faster than 6:30 pace. At least before the big miles I could run 50 miles a week at a decent clip and still get in some fast workouts without completely falling apart.

So anyway, I have some thinking to do. Right now, I'm considering cutting the mileage for a couple of weeks to 80-90 and trying to get in a moderately fast workout that actually goes well. I'll post up some more details in the next few days as I figure things out.

I Could Use A Nap

2006-02-22T20:06:00.000-06:00

Rough couple of days. Work required a long day Tuesday, first in the office all day, then driving on treacherous icy roads to get to another office, and another five hours of work, followed up with driving back home for almost two hours on the same nasty roads. To top it all off, our seven week-old gassy little guy had his worst night so far, which agitates the two year-old, and makes for a very tough time for mom.

Normally, I'm in bed by 9:00pm so I can get up by 4:00am for my workout, so when I have to work from 8:00am to 12:30am the next day, and I know I'm going to miss my workout and have to spend my post-work family time doing the running that should have been done early in the morning, when it doesn't adversely affect everyone else in the house...that's a long clause. Allow me to restate. When I am put in a position to have to make those kinds of sacrifices for work, the kind that completely fuck up my family's life and my personal ambitions, I get annoyed.

Anyway, that's where I'm coming from this week. I'm at 68 miles for the week so far (Sun-Wed), which probably explains why I'm tired, irritable, and using the f-word in my blog. If the week continues to go well, I expect to end up with 110-115 miles in singles. In terms of running, it's fantastic! I've been able to comfortably drop the pace a bit over the last two weeks, and I don't appear to be breaking down in any way. I can't wait for spring and clear roads!

Based on the changes I can see and feel, both objectively and subjectively, things will get really interesting when I can get out and start some strides, hills, tempo runs, and marathon pace work. My treadmill only goes to six minute pace, so it will barely cover marathon pace, and fail completely for anything faster. It will be useful even into the spring and summer for hill work though, as there are no hills within 20 miles of here. I guess I'm starting to get the itch to speed up...

Also, I wanted to say Hello to those of you who have been checking in on my blog. Most of my referrals come from Mike's blog, which is very nice of him. I've seen hits coming from South Africa (how do you say hello in Swahili?), the Netherlands, the UK, and of course from all over the US. It's very motivational to know you all are looking in the windows. Hopefully I can keep things interesting for you one way or another. Cheers!

Title Goes Here

2006-02-19T17:18:00.000-06:00

The long run today went better than anticipated, and I was able to get 28 miles in. Overall, I felt really good, although there were a couple of tough spots. This was my longest run ever, both by time and by distance. It was done entirely on the treadmill, though, so unfortunately it doesn't count toward my weekly mileage.

This 28 felt about as difficult as the 24 milers I did a couple of months ago, so I'm assuming that means progress. I even felt good enough at the end to throw in a half-mile at six minute pace. The Gatorade Endurance Formula that I mentioned in one of my previous entries worked well again. I would definitely recommend it if you haven't tried it. I mix it 50/50 with water and take in about eight ounces every half-hour. I feel really good from a fueling standpoint start to finish, which bodes well for my upcoming marathon.

Not running related, but curling is actually an interesting game. I won't call it a sport any more than I will call golf or NASCAR a sport, but it is more interesting than I ever gave it credit for. I ended up watching an entire match, which is 10 'ends' over the course of my 3:28:07 on the hamster wheel. Basically, each team tries to get its respective rock as close to the center as possible of this big circle at the other end of this long sheet of ice. That's as simply as I can describe it. There is a great deal of finesse and strategy involved, which is what caught my attention. I could hardly believe that I was cheering after about twenty minutes of watching this stuff!

Ice skating still sucks, though.

Trial of Miles

2006-02-16T20:36:00.000-06:00

Okay, that title is a bit presumptive as I have only been doing the trial of miles for 14 weeks. It's a good start, anyway. Mike was interested in seeing a log and some graphs, and I think everyone can appreciate a graphical representation many hours and miles of effort.

Click on the graphics for a closer look.

Zeke's Paradox

2006-02-10T18:51:00.000-06:00

Zeke posted a question to his blog today regarding the issue of using devices such as heart rate monitors and gps in training and racing. Specifically, he was trolling for examples of the positive benefits of using those devices. From the tone of the entry, I would say he is skeptical of the benefits and tends to be more the 'listen to your body' type. Here's my answer.

How can you listen to what your body is telling you if it is speaking a language you don't understand? Well, you can employ a translator, like a heart rate monitor, or you can spend a lot of time (without question time well spent) learning the language. I've done both, and had good results.

I've been using hrms off and on since high school. My first hrm experience was in Pueblo, Colorado during a set of three 1.5 mile repeats. The idea was to run the repeat, then recover to a heart rate of 120 and go on the next repeat, and then, er...repeat. It was the first hrm I had ever used. Pretty simple to operate. Just place your index finger over your opposite wrist right underneath your thumb, then count the number of beats you feel in fifteen seconds. Did it help me somehow? Well, that's debatable. I thought the idea of measuring my physical response and reacting to that measurement was cool. It struck me as very logical. Also, I suppose I had a positive reaction to this heart rate training concept because it was a kick ass workout. I'm sure the course was short, but as a young kid, I believed I had run three 1.5 mile repeats in 7:35 with a 1.5 to 2 minute recovery at 4600 feet of altitude.

Another time I used an hrm extensively was the summer before my final collegiate season of cross country. Almost all of my base training was done at 140-150 bpm, and the hrm really did keep me from going too fast on a lot of my runs. The payoff of the hrm was I could run 80+ miles a week without getting overly tired, and I didn't get injured. I was able to race very well that season and qualified for the NCAA II meet. Maybe if I had been using an hrm during the 12x400 workout I did ten days before nationals, I would have realized that my body was telling me I was an idiot for doing a 12x400 workout ten days before nationals.

Now I'm using a combo gps/hrm on all of my runs for the benefit of knowing how far I have gone and what kind of relative effort I have put in. Also, with the gps, I get hr data that corresponds exactly with the course that I ran. This can range from simply interesting in the case of an easy run to somewhat useful for something like a time trial or a test set, especially if you're comparing repeated courses over time. While I understand the value of listening to what my body and mind are telling me, I like the objective data that I get from the tools. That, and I'm a gadget freak. And I like pretty graphs.

IFFF!

2006-02-10T07:23:00.000-06:00

It's Finally Friday is the headline, but I've included an expletive for your reading enjoyment. I do enjoy my weekends.

Eighteen miles this morning, starting before 5am, finally. I am a very pokey person in the morning. I was out of bed at 4am, dithering over some blogs and looking up some info on the Winnipeg Marathon. Then I spent some time gassing up the engine with some tasty Froot Loops--the variety with 1/3 less sugar. Very highly recommended for the over 30 palate. These are not your children's Froot Loops. Much more sophisticated.

Anyway, I was finally able to get on the treadmill at 4:45 and get started. I've been struggling the past couple of weeks with improving my training pace. I've been reading about Hadd training and its analogue, Low Heart Rate training. Both basically say when you are in your base training phase don't let your HR go over about 150 (there's a formula), but try to keep it close to there for a lot of your training. The idea behind this is that most people are poorly aerobically trained, and maxing at a HR of 150 tends to slow these people down. Say your normal runs are 7:30 pace. You may find, if you are not aerobically fit, your HR is in the 155-160 range during these runs. Hadd training would suggest you slow down to a pace that may seem uncomfortably slow in order to achieve a training HR of 140-145, which, over a period of time would address the aerobic imbalance. Eventually, you would be back to running faster than the original 7:30 pace at a lower HR, and have a more balanced system.

I probably butchered the whole concept, but that's what I got out of it. Well, I tried it myself, and found that I needed to run about 6:30-6:40 pace for every run in order to achieve an HR of 145-150. That's way too fast as indicated by my legs after two days of doing LHR training. Hopefully that tells me I'm way too aerobically fit and I'm ready to do some speed.

Having abandoned that method, I needed to find a way to speed up my daily training, and I think I've found it. Since moving up to higher mileage over the past 13 weeks, I have found myself running at 7:25-7:30 pace. For a while, it was the only way to maintain the mileage without getting to tired or inviting injury. Now that I am handling the miles, and should be more fit, I still find that 7:30 pace feels *gasp* fast more days of the week than I would like. So, I've started running the first mile really slow 8-8:30 pace, then down to 7:30 over the next mile, and then down to the paces that I think I should be running, anywhere from 7:15 on down to 6:30 by the end of the runs. This way I'm getting my average pace down without hitting myself over the head at 5am with an uncomfortable early pace, becoming frustrated with how I'm feeling, and bagging the run for a comfy 7:30 pace jog.

I'm almost done with the week. Ninety-three miles down and one run to go. Happy Friday, everyone!

Fueling

2006-02-08T08:57:00.000-06:00

I have been using Gatorade Endurance Formula over the past week or so. It's pretty good stuff compared to my old routine of 2:1 water to Gatorade. The 'formula' is triple the potassium and double the sodium of the regular stuff. It's a great alternative to eating bananas or using spendy supplements for potassium.

It has made a huge difference in my long runs. For example, I was able to do my 25 miler on Sunday with absolutely no residual soreness, cramping, or tiredness. Previously, following even a 22 miler, I would need a nap and a few bananas to keep the charlie horses away, and I could count on feeling better on Tuesday. It's only one run, but it seems to do the trick. I'm a pragmatist.

So far I've logged 63 miles in my first four runs of the week. Three to go. Quick post...I'm off to work.

2006-02-07T04:20:00.000-06:00

Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: "Are you ready?" --Johnny Carson

Ok...it's 8:30 p.m. and I need to be in bed so I can get up at 4:00 a.m. for a 2+ hour run. Which explains why I am writing a long overdue entry and eating Doritos in the kitchen.

Anyway, I haven't missed a day of running since November 10 or so, and I've logged 1168 miles since then. There are six weeks over 100 miles in there, with a seven day high of 124, and nine weeks over 90 miles. This is by far the most I have run since I started training in earnest 17 years ago.

So, what the hell am I doing all of this running for?

I'm planning to run my first official marathon this fall at the Twin Cities Marathon. As far as specific time goals, I don't really know yet what is realistic. I am not yet again a 32 minute 10k runner, and I don't expect to be by October, so sub 2:30 is likely a longer term goal. But, given the amount of effort I am putting into training now and over the next 235 days, sub-2:40 is a foregone conclusion.

What happens after TCM depends somewhat on the result. More about that another day.

2006-01-11T21:02:00.000-06:00

I am the world's worst blogger. But, I am doing alright with the running. Since my last post, I have put in the following mileage:

12/11-12/17 :: 92 (7 runs)
12/18-12/24 :: 105 (8 runs)
12/25-12/31 :: 63 (7 runs)
1/1-1/7 :: 111 (9 runs)

The Christmas week was interesting. I ended up with a sore instep/ankle due to slipping on the icy roads the previous week. It started hurting pretty badly on Saturday and took until the following Wednesday to get somewhat under control. Since then, I have run almost exclusively on the treadmill. Yes, 111 miles in seven days on a treadmill. Surprisingly, it's not that bad. I imagine it's like being in prison. Once you realize you don't have a choice, you begin to cope with it.

That week was also notable in that on 12/30 my son was born! Pretty cool. We now have one of each, which is great. My daughter loves her little brother, often too much and too roughly, but they get along great so far. Here's a picture...

Lucky for him, he got his mother's...well, everything.

Alright, I promise I will get better at blogging regularly. Ah, promises...

Wait for it...

2005-12-12T19:43:00.000-06:00

Another week, another record mileage total. Cool. I'm going to back off just a bit for a week now. My legs have felt good, but my feet were feeling almost arthritic. Just some stiffness in my big toe and the ball of both feet, but it was continuous throughout the day regardless of the distance. Anyway, I cut my 25 mile Sunday run down to 10, and my Monday from 12 to 9, and my feet already feel totally recovered. Surprisingly, however, my legs feel like crap. Surely there is a reason for this. If anyone has an insight into this phenomenon, please leave a comment.

I was reading Zeke's blog on Friday about how he is doing a cut-back week, and that sounded like a good idea given the way my feet had been feeling and the way that I had built up in the first place (65-94-102-104), but I am having second thoughts now having re-read some Lydiard and thinking about the physical experiences of the past two days. One of Lydiard's big ideas is 'keep up the pressure'. I think it is meant to apply to both to daily runs as well as in the continuity over time of the daily runs, or consistency. I have the impression Mr. Lydiard would prefer the time of the run stay the same, but the pace be adjusted upward to achieve the desired recovery. Physically, I can sense that this is what my legs and mind would have preferred, because my legs feel tired and stiff after two days of cut-back, my resting pulse is actually up to 51 and 50 where it was 48 for the four days preceeding the cut-back, and I'm finding myself worried that I've reached a couple of goals, become somewhat satisfied with myself, and I'm subconsciously wussing out.

I think identifying that possibility here is probably going to help me get through it without sacrificing any of the work I've done over the last several weeks and months by taking a cut-back and turning it into a few (or more than a few) days off. One of the stated purposes of this blog is to hold me accountable to my plan, however undefined and loose it may be. The plan is basically this...I know I was a fairly good runner ten years ago, and I'm confident I didn't reach my potential then, so if I'm going to try to reach it, I need to do it now. I can't do anything about the ten prime years that went by, but I can try to make good use of the ten or so that I have left*.

Alright, that's a lot of blubbering, but there are some defining details in there about me the person and what I'm trying to achieve with these efforts. Maybe interesting, maybe not. So let's recap the week:

Sunday: 25 miles
Monday: 10 miles
Tuesday: 17 miles
Wednesday: 11 miles
Thursday: 17 miles
Friday: 12 miles
Saturday: 12 miles
Total: 104 miles in 7 sessions

I think my cut-back week is over. I'm feeling better overall doing what I was doing the last few weeks, so I'm going to stick with that, knowing that I can adjust my intensity in order to recover if needed. Also I need to be more liberal with the ice and ibuprofen, probably moreso with the ice. Plenty of that here in North Dakota. Cheers!

_________________________________
*Not to say that running performance falls off a cliff and dies at 42, just noting that it is a pretty good bet it will be very tough to improve on the results I would be able to achieve at, say age 36 or 38 after several years of Lydiard training.

Less Than Zero...

2005-12-04T19:53:00.000-06:00

Okay, not quite less than zero. It was just zero, as in degrees, when I ran this morning. Nonetheless, I put one foot in front of the other for three hours and got the job done. Today was the toughest of the three three-hour runs I have done. I'm sure the temperature had something to do with it. Even with the technical gear, everything gets wet, then cold, then frozen. Anyway, the sun was shining and there was very little wind, which made for a psychological lift. It felt like a great day for a long run.

Ah, time for the week in review. It was a great week! I knocked out another of my longtime goals, which was to run 100 miles in a week. High mileage was not something that was encouraged by my coach during my college days, so the closest I ever got was 86, and that was during the summer build-up. Winter weather makes it a bit more difficult to do 100 mile weeks, which I guess make it an even better goal. I hit 102 miles for the seven day period on Wednesday of last week, and finished with 102 for the official week total (Sunday to Saturday). So, yay me. Even cooler is that I did it in seven runs. That is one aspect of the 100 mile week goal that I never anticipated. I had run enough 70-80 mile weeks in 10 sessions that I always thought 100 was going to include 3-4 two run days and some seriously sore legs. Also, I had expected a long build up starting at 50 and hitting 100 in maybe 6-8 weeks, if I didn't get injured first. Two things that completely changed my perpective are 1) Run first thing in the morning, and 2) Slow down. Running in the morning has been invaluable as a strategy. There is just no way I could (nor would I likely want to) do this volume of running after working all day. I'm a morning person now. Slowing down the pace, even by 20-30 seconds per mile has made a huge difference in the way my legs feel. I can easily recover from any of my runs in time for the next day. Even the three-hour runs. Prior to this, I would often run 6:30 to 6:40 per mile for less than an hour, and usually feel beat up for the next run. Two-hour runs would wipe me out for most of the rest of the day. That just doesn't happen anymore. It's very cool.

Sunday :: 24 in 2:56:12
Monday :: 11 in 1:21:44
Tuesday :: 16 in 2:00:12
Wednesday :: 12 in 1:26:08
Thursday :: 16 in 1:56:20
Friday :: 11 in 1:20:27
Saturday :: 12 in 1:23:11
Total :: 102 in 12:24:14 (7:18 pace)

Legs still feel good, but the cold sometimes leaves my knees a bit creaky feeling. The heavy feeling has gone now. On to week four...

A Pain In The Neck

2005-11-27T19:27:00.000-06:00

For the last year or so, I have been having some awful pain in my upper back. It flares up, sometimes as often as every few weeks, and takes up to a week to go away. Usually, I get trigger point massage and it clears up in a few days. This episode is particularly bad, and the massage hasn't worked. Running with it isn't that bad, but it definitely takes my focus away from the run. The pain tends to put a negative spin on the run no matter how well it might be going. Each run is more suffering than satisfaction.

One day at a time, I will get through it. Just like this past week. Ninety-four miles in 7 runs, a new one-week record for me. I've been focusing on keeping the pace reasonable and simply getting the time and miles on my legs. I think that's how Lydiard puts it. I've noticed a kind of heaviness or pressure in my legs on the longer runs that I don't remember from my previous long runs. After about ninety minutes, I get a sensation almost like DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) without the pain, and it goes away within a minute or two after the run. It's an interesting sensation.

Here is the week in review:

Sunday :: 26.2 in 3:06:11
Monday :: 8 in 1:00:37
Tuesday :: 14 in 1:41:32
Wednesday :: 10 in 1:12:30
Thursday :: 13 in 1:33:42
Friday :: 13 in 1:31:52
Saturday :: 10 in 1:12:15
Total :: 94.2 in 11:18:39 (7:12 pace)

My legs have been feeling really good, which is surprising. It's early still, but it's definitely a positive sign. I'm not sure if I will go for 100 yet this week. I did a three-hour long run this morning, so I have a shot at it, provided I keep feeling strong.

Marathon Man

2005-11-20T19:54:00.000-06:00

Today's 26.2 mile run was notable for a couple of reasons. My previous longest run was 23 miles and I had never done a three hour run before. I was feeling pretty good after an hour or so, and had planned on 2:15 to 2:30 anyway. It was a nice day, about 30 degrees, and the sun was shining, so I took the opportunity to do my first unofficial marathon. Overall, it went pretty well. I'm a little bit stiff, but I would have expected that anyway since my last two hour run was a couple of months ago.

Also, I saw a good size whitetail buck out on a golf course while I was out. Just a 3x3, but pretty thick through the body. I was as close as 60-70 meters, which is about as close as I care to get without a gun. Those things are unpredictable, powerful, and stupid. Kind of like the idiot chasing it around on the golf course.

26.2 miles in 3:06:11 (7:06 pace)

The Hardest Part

2005-11-18T20:25:00.000-06:00

So far, the most challenging part of this has been the blogging. The running is going great. The last seven days totaled 65 miles, and my legs feel as good as they did when I was running 30. But what is worth writing about? What do other people want to read? What do I want to remember from this time? What do I record for my kids? Why am I putting so much pressure on myself to be relevant? I don't know?

Okay, so my legs feel fine, but my brain is obviously suffering. Let's just do a weekly log today and see where things go.

	TIME	PACE	MILES
Nov 12	1:32:02	7:05	13
Nov 13	1:04:02	7:07	9
Nov 14	45:13	6:57	6.5
Nov 15	1:04:12	7:07	9
Nov 16	45:08	6:56	6.5
Nov 17	1:26:37	7:12	12
Nov 18	1:04:38	7:10	9
Totals	7:41:52	7:06	65

Up again at 5:00 for 90 minutes tomorrow morning, and it's getting late (almost 9:15!), so more blogging tomorrow...

That's More Like It

2005-11-12T19:12:00.000-06:00

Today is officially my first day of winter. The weather made a turn for average, and I did my 13 miles in blustery, overcast, sub-40 degree conditions. Not that it was bad...it has certainly been worse. Today just reminded me that it will inevitably get 'leave with two, return with one" cold.

I expect to hold back the pace a bit for the first 5-6 weeks and get right up to 100 miles. You guys with more experience can probably give me some guidance here. I've been running 6:30-6:40 pace for pretty much everything the last couple of months, so, for example, I held back to 7:00 to 7:15 miles today, and averaged about 7:05 for 13. Ten hours after my run I feel very fresh, even after racing yesterday. Would it be reasonable to push right up to 100 in 3-4 weeks? According to Lydiard's book, this should be okay, provided the individual tolerates the stress and is conservative regarding his response to aches and pains. Maybe I'm asking, and maybe I'm just convincing myself that it's okay to try it.

My biggest week in the last couple of months has been just over 50 miles (6 sessions), so I think this week I will shoot for 65-70, then add ten a week up to 100. Time will tell how it works out. I could find myself on the couch with a Corona by Wednesday!

Also, thanks for the comments and the welcome! I'll look forward to conversing with you all more as days go by.

The Veteran's Day 8k

2005-11-12T00:04:00.000-06:00

Today's race was, first and foremost, a lot of fun. The weather was phenomenal...62 degrees and just a few clouds, which, on November 11 in North Dakota, is a once-a-decade occurrence. A great day for a great race. I was able to reach my goal, to break 30 minutes on the course (29:52), which is a nice bonus. Thank you High School Kid for going out too hard and dying at the end. It's always easier to run through the pain when you're catching and not being caught. I ran out of room and ended up in third place by a stride. The spectators were pretty amped up over the whole Race For Second Place, so that was cool. I wish I could have seen it.

Spikes on rocks? This should be interesting...

So, with that in the books, tomorrow is the first day of the Experience. Speaking of books, I received today, via the good people at Amazon.com, two books that should better inform my plan for the next several months, possibly years: Running With Lydiard and Daniels' Running Formula. I can tell already the Daniels book is going to be a tedious, if logical, read, although I'm sure parts of it will be useful. Lydiard, on the other end of the spectrum, is very abstract in his descriptions. What is a quarter effort for me? Anyway, I've just given the books a glance at this point, and I'm sure with time I will come to understand it all better.

Just one more race, then I can get started...

2005-11-09T13:19:00.000-06:00

I'm starting this blog, as titled, as an exercise in utility. The idea is to see if being accountable to an audience (real or imagined) will positively influence my motivation and help me reach my goals. I'll write about my goals at some point in the near future...just not now.

Now I am focusing on finishing my race calendar for 2005. I have been training relatively consistently since July, and have had some decent results. Nowhere near my college times, or my high school times for that matter. But, I never raced ten milers or half marathons back then either, so, really, why make the comparison?

Where was I? Finishing my race calendar. Every Veterans' Day we have a *fantastic* race here. It's billed as an 8k european-style cross country run, which means it runs like a golf course on a bombing range. Part of the course follows the Red River of the North, which means logs, brush, mud, steep embankments, and generally poor footing. All in all, it makes for a bit of fun. The Veteran's Day race is probably my last until March or April 2006. Until then, I plan to experiment with the Lydiard Method of training and see where it takes me. Here are a few stats, just so everyone knows where I'm starting from...

Personal Records

400 meters :: :57 (1995)
800 meters :: 2:04 (1995)
1500 meters :: 4:07 (1995)
Mile Run :: 4:26 (1995)
3000 meters :: 8:57 (1995)
3200 meters :: 9:51 (1990)
5000 meters :: 15:26 (1995)
8k XC :: 24:52 (Oct. 1995)
10000 meters :: 31:48 (May 1995)
10k XC :: 31:55 (Oct. 1995)
10 Miles :: 59:48 (Sep. 2005)
Half Marathon :: 1:23:10 (2003)
Longest Run :: 26.2 mi - 3:06:11 (Nov. 2005)
Highest Miles In A 7 Day Period :: 124 (Jan. 2006)