Just not willing to put in the effort for a clever title.

            It’s been awhile, but I’m back on the blog! A quick mental break from revising my dissertation needed to be in the cards for the night, so here I am. I don’t even remember the last time I posted on here, so here’s a bit of a summary (I’m probably not going to take the time to proof read this, so sorry for the typos):

Because life has been a bit overwhelming, running has had to take a bit of a back seat. When I moved to Minneapolis this past summer, I was coming off of a 1:07:26 half marathon (easily the best race of my spring season) and my legs were finally showing signs of coming back from the sacral fracture from the previous fall and my fractured knee cap that I suffered in the spring season. Running was finally on the upswing, but transitioning from being a graduate student to taking a new job at 3M left me a little pressed for time. Did I mention that I also bought a house and am still revising my dissertation? Through this transition, running was going absolutely great and I am pretty sure I was the most fit that I’ve ever been. However, I wasn’t exactly taking care of myself and I neglected somewhat useful things such as sleeping, core work, stretching, massaging, etc. I started to get a “tight” hip right before my first race in Minnesota, the Lumberjack 10 miler. I entered the race and 3 miles in I knew something was definitely wrong with my hip. As it turns out, I finished the race and I had yet another sacral stress fracture. This was my second sacral stress fracture in a year which left me a bit bummed and erased my goal of hitting the Olympic Trials time standard for the marathon. My time that I ran at the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon was 1:50 slow (I ran 2:20:50 and needed to run 2:19). In an effort to not lose all of my fitness and get outside, I took up cycling and before I knew it, I went on 100 mile ride. Shortly there after, I ended up piling my bike and breaking my collar. I must say, I really did not understand just how much I use my dominant arm until I couldn’t use it. Even sleeping became difficult because moving at night would pleasantly awake me with a jolt of pain. Sleeping on my back also took a little getting used to. 7 weeks after suffering my sacral stress fracture and 17 days after breaking my collar bone, it was September 11^th, and I ran 4 miles. I had to stabilize my right arm, but I was at least able to get outside and get my heart rate up. Before long, I committed to running Club Nationals with the running group that I have been running with in Minneapolis, Run N Fun. At that point, I thought I could run sub 32 at Club Nationals on December 10^th. Training did not go well. I felt border-line injured after completing any workout and my body did not respond well to anything. I hopped in a couple xc races prior to club nationals and they did not go well.

October 22^nd, Jack’s Race – 6k – 20:04 (5:23 pace)

November 12^th, Minnesota State Champ – 7.5k – 25:14 (5:25 pace)

To put these to races in perspective, I averaged 5:22 per mile at the Twin Cities marathon with falling apart the last 5 miles. I wish I could say training went well between November 12^th and December 10^th, but it really did not. I ended up having to take 2 days off and everything really was a struggle. 10 mile runs were becoming easy, but any workout essentially left me crippled. I ran a 21.5 mile run (which was followed by one of my days off) and I did everything that I could to get ready to run an xc 10k in Seattle. The great thing about running team races is you have to race to help the team. In my mind, I thought I still might be able to break 32 minutes and finish somewhere around 100^th despite the fact that no workout or race had indicated that I should be able to. As race day approached, I had been having an issue with my left foot. Unfortunately, it flared up right before the warm up. Remembering the 10 mile race back in July, I was honestly considering not toeing the line. Honestly, walking in my trainers was not even feeling ok. I talked myself into at least putting on my spikes and running a few strides. As it turns out, the spikes that I had with me didn’t really allow my foot to move and it made the foot fairly tolerable. Before I knew it, the gun went off and the race had begun. I started a couple rows back from the start line which left me a lot further back than I would have liked to start. The foot was responding fairly well and at the mile mark, I believe we had a group of 4 former La Crosse runners all within 10 meters of each other (Bill W. Cory H., Jimmy P, and myself). At this point, I could tell that I was definitely well outside of the top 100 so I decided to try to move through the field. From the mile to the 5k, I passed quite a few runners and was moving toward the top 100 or so. Right before the 5k, I stepped in a hole caught myself, but my hamstring cramped up. Disbelief went through my mind as well as a million additional thoughts. My lack of fitness and core strength really began to shine. At this point in the race, I was a scoring runner for our team and I really had no idea how well the other guys were running. I backed off for about 100 meters and my hamstring fell back into place and I was able to resume racing. I think I came through 5k in about 15:58. The second half of the race was somewhat uneventful. I held my position within the field for the most part. Maybe I passed a few more runners and was also passed by a couple. I honestly thought I was fading pretty badly, but I ended up crossing the line in 32:10, 109^th place (5:11 pace). While this isn’t even close to my PR, I was very happy with the performance since I had only been “running” for 3 months and I really struggled through training. The trip to Seattle was a lot of fun and a much needed mental break.

            In the aftermath of the race, my legs were extremely beat up and my foot was extremely sore. While the foot injury could be the beginnings of a stress fracture, I’m somewhat optimistic that it’s not yet. In the 6 days after club nationals, I have now run twice. I wasn’t planning on taking any days off originally, but my body definitely needed it. I’m hoping to get back to running every day and building a solid aerobic base from here on out. Until my thesis is completed, I’m somewhat restricted by the time that I can spend training and doing my normal recovery exercises. For the time being I’m just going to focus on being consistent, getting out the door, and enjoying being outside. While the last year of running has not been kind to me, I’m definitely not ready to give up competitive running, and I am focusing on getting better over the next 4 years. For me, that starts with getting healthy.

            It was extremely weird to not being racing at Club Nationals in a Playmakers uniform, but I am very fortunate to have another great shoe store/running club in Minneapolis in Run N Fun. I really have been lucky to land in areas with great running communities. I honestly don’t think I really would have gotten back into competitive running had it not been for Playmakers. I definitely will always be grateful to the store and people affiliated with it. It was great seeing some of the Playmakers guys out in Seattle, and I’m looking forward to my first trip back to Michigan (TBD). My plans for the spring racing season are completely up in the air, but I’ll post as things become a little clearer.

Barefoot running and weekly update

            As my one poll would indicate, I am interested on people’s perception regarding minimalist running. Growing up, I always thought that more cushion would protect your body and help fend off injury. Recently, barefoot running and the famous Vibram 5 Fingers have become very popular. The question is, how beneficial is barefoot running? The simple answer is, it’s great. It strengthens your arches, promotes forefoot striking, and really just overall helps your running mechanics. On the other hand, the lack of arch support can lead to shin/calf problems since muscles such as the soleus attach run from your calf muscle and attach at your arch. For me, I love the feeling of running in minimalist shoes, but there is a risk/reward issue where I’m not sure if the gains out weigh the injury risk. I am still somewhat undecided on my opinion on barefoot running, but for the time being, I’ll probably stick with arch support. For those interested, check out the link below, featured on Flotrack. If the link wouldn’t work, search Thirsty Thursdays and there should be a talk with Jack Daniels. It’s really a great piece that spurs thought. I really enjoy listening to Jack Daniels because he really does consider most possibilities and he encourages runners to think about what they’re doing vs pushing the latest fads.

  

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/234673-Saucony-Thirsty-Thursdays-with-Jack-Daniels/video/335086-4-Barefoot-Running-Thirsty-Thursday

As for my training, this week was a little rough. My body is struggling to adapt to the heat and dehydration has been an issue which I believe has lead to some unwanted muscle spasming. I think I probably need to cut out some of my morning coffee since I seem to be drinking a ridiculous amount these days and really focus on taking in fluids. My workouts are not eye-popping, but I think they’ll continue to help me build toward my marathon goals. I still have approximately 4 months of training, so I’m trying to keep myself reserved. I am certainly in the base building stage and my workouts designed to break up the week and have a little fun without pushing my body to the edge. Additionally, I’m officially in my last week as a Michigan resident. While I’m extraordinarily excited to move closer to home and live in another great area for running, Minneapolis, I really will miss the people in Michigan. Deciding to pursue graduate school at MSU really was one of the best decisions that I’ve made in my life. I’ll definitely look forward to my future visits back to Michigan.

Workouts

Sun May 29^th – 20 easy.

Mon – 11 easy

Tues – 9 mile cut down. Goal: 6:30-5:10. Actual: 6:14, 6:14, 6:01, 5:57, 5:48, 5:36, 5:30, 5:24, 5:17. I didn’t do a very good job at controlling the pace early. The last 3 miles didn’t feel very good. My bum muscles were spasming which I think was due to dehydration. My body is struggling to get adjusted to running in the heat.

Wed – 10 easy with Strides at the end

Thurs – Goal: 3 x 2 mile at MGP (5:11), 2 mile warm up transition straight in, 1 mile brisk recovery. Actual 2 warm up (12:34), 2 miles 10:24 (5:15, 5:09), 1 mile 6:04, 2 mile 10:22 (5:10, 5:12), stopped workout due to booty muscles spasming. I could have run the 3^rd set, but I really didn’t feel great about my form and the point of the workout was really to work on stride efficiency vs pushing my body to its limit. Even after the 2^nd interval, I felt 100% recovered after a mile, but I really didn’t like how my muscles were responding on the 2^nd interval. I ended up just running a brisk pace in and doing strides at the end instead. Didn’t run the workout precisely how I wanted, but accomplished something without suffering setbacks.

Fri – 10 miles easy

Sat – 10 miles easy, strides

85 mile week. I’m planning on hitting 85 and maybe upwards of 90 for the up and coming week. However, given that I struggled a little bit this week, I’ll likely hold the miles down to 85.

Back to the Basics: Training to my Strengths

            I know that I just posted a blog, but as I’m sitting here not racing on the weekend that I typically dedicate to the Bayshore half marathon, I’m more excited than ever to run and race. For the first time in quite some time, I set out with a moderately difficult training week and was actually able to complete it. Since my last post, I ran two workouts.

May 26^th-Thurs- 9 mile cut-down (6:22, 6:20, 6:04, 5:54, 5:46, 5:38, 5:26, 5:21, 5:06) 3 mile cool down

May 27^th-Fri- 2 mile warm up straight into 6 mile Marathon Goal Pace 31:09 (5:10, 5:13, 5:03, 5:14, 5:15, 5:14). I was shooting for 31:06, but my form broke down a little the last mile and a half. I probably could’ve struggled through some more miles or run the last one a little faster, but that wasn’t the point of the workout.

All in all, after today’s 10 mile run, I will hit 85 miles with my best workout week in quite some time. That being said, the workouts that I ran this week were all strength based which just so happens to be my strength. 2:16 for the marathon is a pretty lofty goal, but I have over 4 more months to train and I certainly didn’t go into my last marathon prepared or healthy to say the least (which was entirely my fault). My coach, Jim Robinson (the coach of Playmakers Racing), is there reminding me that I need to keep up on my ancillary work as well as incorporating strides. Speed is really my weakness, but I’m planning on primarily training to my strengths for this training cycle. I think this will allow for faster recovery which should also allow for me to get my mileage up down the road. I’ve never really consistently trained above 90-95 mpw so I’m hoping to train somewhere in the 95-105 mpw this summer. Over the years, I’ve found that my body responds better to quality over quantity, but continued slow progression in higher training volumes is needed to reach my goals. That being said, I do have 4 months to work toward my marathon goal, so I do need to not get carried away so that I can get to the start line healthy this year. While I’m highly anticipating my next race, I don’t know when my next focal race will actually be. I’ve really over raced my body the last couple years so I’m really resisting the temptation to race and backing off a little bit for now. While this is completely up in the air at this point, my speculative race schedule may be Bix 7, Hood to Coast, Twin Cities Marathon, but that being said, I may add a race or two into in the mix and I haven’t committed to a marathon yet. While the workouts that I’ve run to this point are not eye-popping, 2 weeks before Indy, I ran 2 x 3 mile in 15:31 and 15:56 which was a near all out if not all out effort for me at the time. Needless to say, I was pretty scared going into Indy, but couldn’t be more happy with the progression that I’ve made in the past month. In this past week’s workouts, I really have felt like I have more to give at the end of each workout if needed, and that’s a good sign that I’m not over doing it and that I should be able to continue to progress.

May 25th Update

            My blog updates have been a bit less frequent these days. To summarize, I’m in the process of finishing up my Ph.D. in chemistry at MSU, getting ready to start a job at 3M, and recently bought a house in the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis. Did I mention that the house is 4 houses away from my sister Dawn!? Needless to say, there are a lot of big changes going on in my life right now, but I’m taking the time to enjoy them. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I have been lucky to have good people involved in my life which has made and will make the up and coming transitions much easier than they could be. So thank you to everyone that has helped me along the way.

            As far as running is going, running is actually going great. My knee has been a little bit bothersome, but I’m finally able to run normally without taking an anti-inflammatory. My workouts and races really were horrendous leading up to the Indy Mini Marathon, but I believe that I raced to the best of my fitness level at Indy and really did execute a near perfect race for the fitness that I was in. I just took 2 weeks where I ran workouts, but I wasn’t concerned about the mileage that I was hitting (I believe I hit 80 and 62 miles the last 2 weeks). I’ve been true to my goal of running workouts to get in shape rather than to show I’m in shape. I plan to do a lot of training at or near marathon goal pace (5:11’s) and incorporate more cut down runs into my training where the workouts will be on the roads. Here’s a quick summary of the workouts I’ve run post-Indy

Tues May 10^th - 4 miles in 20:42.

Sun May 15^th – Was fortunate enough to meet up with a former college teammate John Heitzman. We ran 20 miles where we took 10 minutes of recovery running (at or little under 6:00 pace) between each interval 2 x 1 min at 5:08ish pace, 1 x 15 min (5:06, 5:09, 5:08), 2 x 1 min at 5:08ish pace, 1 x 5 min (5:05). It was a great run on a great day. I believe John is ready to set a nice PR at Grandmas Marathon this spring.

Thurs May 20^th – 12 miles with a 9 mile cut-down segment (6:29, 6:17, 6:09, 5:57, 5:46, 5:38, 5:27, 5:25, 5:10).

Sun May 22^nd – 20 miles slow in the heat.

Tues May 24^th – 3 miles 15:23 (5:11, 5:07, 5:05), 0.5 mile rest (6:30 pace), 2 miles 10:16 (5:06, 5:10), 0.5 mile rest (6:40 pace), 1 mile 4:58.

My last workout was really the best workout that I’ve run in quite some time and I’m beginning to actually feel good on workouts where I feel that I could’ve run more intervals. It’s great to have that feeling back again. I plan to continue to run workouts that challenge my body, but workouts that allow my body to recover on a week to week basis. I’m planning to race significantly less than I have over the past 2 years, but I’m sure I’ll still hop in an occasional race here or there. The end goal is to run 2:16 (give or take a minute) this fall. That obviously can not happen if I have setbacks this summer, but I’ve really gained a lot of experience over the last couple years and think that I have the perfect training plan for me to run fast in the fall. I’ll continue to update my workouts in future blogs, but I plan to keep my mileage between 85-90 miles for the next couple weeks. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.

Endurance 5k and Indy Mini Marathon

            As most people that have run with me know, running really has not gone well this spring. Looking back on the calendar, I took a spill and fractured my knee cap 8 weeks ago. While I’ve been able to run, I’ve really had a lot of trouble with the knee which has affected my stride a bit and caused some pain. Because of the difficulties that I was having, I decided to back off my mileage and replace track workouts with tempo runs. While I was seriously considering backing out of the two races that I had already committed to, I decided to go ahead and run them any way so here are the summaries:

Endurance 5k

            In the 5 years that I’ve lived in Michigan, I believe this was actually my first trip to Ann Arbor. The Huron Hills Church puts on a very nice little 5k, and Nick Willis took it upon himself to organize a fast field. It really was a pretty cool race that I would highly recommend. It’s just two loops around a river in a pretty flat area. The first race was composed of 11 guys where the sole purpose was to try to run fast. Given that I haven’t successfully completed too many workouts this spring (I believe one since I fractured my knee cap), I really didn’t expect too much out of myself this race, and I was right. I came through the mile in 4:42, but things didn’t go very well from there. I really just progressively faded and ended up running a 15:21. The poor time was a result of my lack of 5k fitness and had absolutely nothing to do with the course. Despite not running particularly well, I really did have a good time and the race was put on well. Nick Willis has a lot of class and really did a great job helping out with the race. It also was pretty cool that he had his Silver medal from the Olympics along with him. I really do highly recommend this race.

Indy Mini 500

            Again, I really didn’t know what to expect out of myself in this race. My PR in the half is 1:06:36, but I knew that I hadn’t put in the work to run a PR time. I honestly thought that if things went well, I might have a chance to break 1:08:00, but I really didn’t know. I ended up running the entire race pretty much by myself. After 3 miles I really was thinking about dropping out. It’s really difficult to block out negative thoughts during races when a season just hasn’t taken too many positive turns. Needless to say, I decided that I just needed to make it to mile 6. I could hear Jerome’s trademark cough through about 5 miles, but I actually ended up running pretty well. My splits were as follows: 

5:06, 5:02, 5:08, 5:03, 5:09 (25:30 5 mile split…actually 2 seconds faster than my Shamrock Shuffle 8k), 5:05, 5:12, 5:11, 5:10, 5:11 (51:21 10 mile split), 5:08, 5:14, 5:14, :27 which put me at 1:07:26.

With about 4 miles to go, I really thought I was going to start negative splitting, but my foot began to cramp and my lack of workouts began to show. I really did struggle a bit coming in, but I managed to get through it. I really didn’t have too much more to give today, but I’m very happy with the result. While it wasn’t a PR, it really was about as good as I could have run at this point. I think it should be a good stepping stone as I look toward running a fall marathon. The Indy Mini 500 half marathon is a fast course, and it’s run extremely well. The night before the race was pretty cool and we had the opportunity to eat dinner with Frank Shorter. Again, he’s a great guy, and it was great to hear him talk, especially about running. While this may not be what he said to the exact word, he brought up a very good point regarding workouts.

There are workouts to show that you’re in shape and workouts to get you in shape.

It’s easy to try to run workouts to show you’re in shape, but the reality is, workouts are meant to get you in shape. Once you’re in shape, you’ll show it in races. In my view, workouts are meant to break your body down, but you also need to be running workouts that you can recover from both physically and mentally. I often run workouts to compare my fitness from previous years, and I really do need to stop doing this. While it’s ok to do it occasionally, I tend to do this on a weekly basis which definitely gets me in trouble. Frank Shorter did have a lot more interesting things to say, but I guess I’ll cut this blog entry off here since it’s getting pretty long. I’m pretty sure my spring racing season is over and I’m really looking forward to enjoying some pressure free base building training. It’s time to start building toward the fall marathon. I’m not sure which one I’m going to run yet, but I really think that I’m on my way to a nice PR.

Arpil 17th: Fatigue and Twin Cities

Wow, coming back from a 3 month layoff from a hip injury has been quite interesting. While it’s been frustrating at times, it’s probably good to take a step back and look at what’s happened:

End of June: Hip pain really began to affect my running.

June-September: Had a few good workouts, missed a lot of workouts, raced 3 relays and 3 half marathons with very mixed results.

Oct 2^nd: Ran Twin Cities Marathon which was followed by not being able to walk a week later due to a fractured sacrum.

Oct-Jan: 3 months of primarily pool workouts. Was up to 12 hours of cross training per week in the pool with some biking mixed in. I was feeling pretty burnt out.

Feb: Transitioned back into running

March: By the end of March, I was running 100 mile weeks

Now: Racing like junk and not able to complete workouts.

            I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out what went wrong, why it went wrong, and why everything is still going wrong. Being as competitive as I am, it’s hard to resist doing more work when running is not shaping out the way you want it. However, when things are going poorly, sometimes it’s best to step back and look at the situation. A few weeks back, I ran 20 miles at 5:38 pace so I can’t be completely out of shape and I really think that my body is just fatigued at this point. As a result, I didn’t run any workouts this week and only ran 68.5 miles with a day off. Honestly, it felt great and I have no regrets. I think I’m going to resume training at 85-90 mpw and see where the season takes me. As I often say, last spring I ran a 15:30ish 5k on tired legs and ran 30:28 for 10k a couple weeks later. This past fall I ran a 1:10+change for a half marathon and then ran a 2:20:50 a few weeks later. As evident by 20 mile long run at 5:38 pace, my aerobic fitness is pretty high and I really just need to sharpen up. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do leading up to the Indy half marathon, but hopefully I’ll get things figured out by then.

            In other more exciting news, I received a job offer from 3M and will be moving to the Twin Cities area sometime this summer. Lansing has been a great area that has rejuvenated my running for the past few years and I am really grateful to everyone that has been involved in my life here. Events such as the Great Lakes Relay (still don’t know our team name…I think it’s something Latin…Ask Ken) and the Playmakers store/owners/training partners/coach and various members of the running community have helped me maintain a healthier lifestyle and countless great memories. I’ll definitely look forward to the trips back to Michigan. However, I am really excited to be a little closer to family and really look forward getting to once again attend all of the family events. It’s crazy how things work out, but 9 years of school later, it somehow did. It’s going to be a couple hectic months coming up, but I’m really looking forward to the transition for the next phase of life.

Shamrock Shuffle 8k Recap

            The Shamrock Shuffle 8k started out absolutely perfectly. It’s was about 70 degrees outside which is in complete contrast to the last 2 races where it was in the upper 30’s maybe lower 40’s. After a down week, my legs felt great, recovered, and I thought ready to race. We started the race out with a decent wind at our back, and I breezed through the first mile smooth as can be in 4:50 which probably put me somewhere around 15^th to maybe 20^th place. My stride felt great and I thought I was well on my way to having a good race. We turned the corner shortly after the mile split, and that’s where things started to go wrong. As you’ve probably read in my past blogs, I am really having a problem with over-striding. I think I hit 5:00ish, maybe 5:02 (I don’t remember) for the 2^nd mile. I split 15:39 for 5k (pretty much an identical split to the Meteor 10k) and was slowly fading back through the field. It was really hard to stay mentally in it when my stride felt as awful as it did, and I wasn’t racing up to my standards. On the positive side, I did fight, but with every surge and move that I tried to make, my legs just locked up. I remember seeing a 5:13 mile split on my watch, and really couldn’t fathom how I couldn’t run any faster since I can get down to that pace on training runs, but my stride just wasn’t in sync. The Shamrock Shuffle was a team race and I was a scoring runner so I really did push through to the finish. I ended up running a very disappointing 25:32, and I believe I was 32^nd overall. Our team ended up in 4^th place, and we were 22 seconds out of 2^nd (the race was scored based upon net time). Needless to say, I didn’t feel great about the fact that I cost our team $1,000 and a second place finish, but at the same time, had I not run, we probably would have taken 5^th place.

            On the positive side, the forefoot on my left foot is sore which probably indicates that I am striking correctly with my left leg while my right heel is pretty sore which is indicative of over-striding with my right leg. It’s at least encouraging that I know precisely what I’m doing wrong. If I can retrain my right leg to run efficiently, I think I am aerobically fit and things will eventually fall into place. I guess that’s what training is for.

Meteor 10k Recap

            I really don’t know what to take away from today’s race. While I didn’t push my body to the edge today, I did put out an honest effort and my time doesn’t reflect it. On the first note, the Meteor 10k is a great race with a flat and fast route. I highly recommend this race to anyone that’s looking to run a fast 10k on the road. My 10k PR is from this course last year where I ran a 30:28. I’m actually not sure what I ran today. After crossing the line, without thinking I hit stop and cleared the watch. I saw the finishing line clock coming in and I think I might’ve been a smidge over 31:30, but that’s completely a guess. I went out with the lead group and came through the first mile in 4:59, but I really don’t have the mental edge just yet, and I let the group slowly pull away. I’m not saying that I should have held on to the leaders and been with them to the finish, but I do think that I should’ve held on for a bit longer to give myself a chance of having a better race, but that’s part of racing. I came through the 5k in 15:40ish and was a bit discouraged, but I thought that I might still have a chance to make a charge to put myself in the top 5 since I negative split the race the prior year and actually wasn’t through 5k that much slower. Unfortunately, that charge never came; in the last 2 races and last few workouts, I’m really just landing with my foot out too far in front of me and my stride just hasn’t been efficient. I think the 2 contributing factors to this were the fall I took 3.5 weeks ago on an easy a.m. run where I think I fractured my knee cap (I still can’t kneel on it) and the speed work from last week that tore up my calves. I understand that setbacks are typical with running and tearing up my calf muscles are part of building them up for better performances in the future, but the competitive side of me can’t help but wonder exactly what’s going on right now. So the question that I’m trying to figure out am I (a) not fit (b) tired from the miles that I’m running (c) really just in my building phase since I’m coming off of a fractured hip and lack the winter running (d) just not race sharp yet (e) stressed out. In my opinion, it’s probably a little of column (b), (c), (d), and maybe even some of (a) and (e). I keep trying to compare myself to last spring and I do get excited when I run a workout that matches or is faster than what I ran this time last year. However, I’m not consistent with my workouts and my mileage is the highest it’s been since college (100 mile weeks) despite the fact that I’m coming off of a three month layoff from running. No matter how hard I cross trained, cross training isn’t quite the same as running. It helps, but it takes a little while to get the running shape back as my current weight indicates (142-143 compared to 135-138 last fall). I think today was a good little wakeup call to reality. I wasn’t even close to my PR; however, I do need to keep the big picture in mind and to achieve my goals. I do have to weather the lumps along the way. It’s easy to train when everything is going perfectly, as it really has the last couple years, but I realize that I’m going to have to take a few more licks along the way so I can hopefully slap reality back in the face. So while I have every reason to be a little discouraged right now, I’m hoping to weather this, keep the mileage up, and hopefully get the legs back before too long. I have a down week scheduled for the up and coming week; with a little good fortune, maybe the Shamrock Shuffle can be a step in the right direction. I’ve actually been able to sleep well at night lately, so I’m definitely tired from the mileage. I think it’s just a matter of waiting for my body to adjust.

On other notes, if you ever get a chance to watch "professional wrestling" in the front row, do it. It was an absolute blast and Hillarious at times. I even got high 5's from Ray Mysterio and Christian!!! Seriously, though, it was a ton of fun. Props to Stuber on that one. Also, people should vote on what type of cushioning they prefer. I'm somewhat curious whether or not my perception of what people like is completely wrong or not.

March 26th: Training the Mind

            It’s really quite amazing just how much our mind controls our ability to run and perform. For most runners, this is one of the most interesting times of the year. Living in the Midwest, it’s the time of year where you can run without a shirt one day and debate whether you should wear 2 or 3 layers the next. It’s also that time of year where you’re in between racing seasons and you have likely put in a lot of hard work the last few weeks; in some cases, you probably don’t even realize just how fast you have been running. With the weather gradually warming, our muscles began to loosen up, and we’ve been more excited to get outside to run and enjoy the weather which has lead to a lot of faster runs. The cold weather front that has hit us this past week combined with a couple weeks of “over training” has a lot of us are feeling a bit more tired than normal. The good news is warmer weather is on its way, and it only takes a couple days or even one great run to become rejuvenated so hang in there. Don’t over think your training and have confidence in your plan. It’s perfectly normal to have ups and downs in training. It’s good to make subtle adjustments in training to compensate for how we’re feeling, but keep the big picture in sight and get through the lows. While it’s critical to physically train our bodies to perform better, it’s equally, if not more important to train our minds.

Training Summary:

            My goals going into the week were to hit 95-100 miles, work on my mental toughness, and get in some key speed work. After my disappointment with my performance at the Irish Jig, I followed up the next day with a 20 miler where I averaged 5:38’s. It was really a challenging run because I ran an out and back where the wind was predominantly at my back for the first 10 miles and I split a 55:40. The second half of my run was against the wind which presented great physical and mental challenges, but I really did enjoy it. A 5:38 pace 20 miler ties my fastest 20 mile training run ever which encourages me for the up and coming months. We had a minor speed workout on Tuesday and I ran 8 x 200, 200 rest on Wednesday. I threw on my spikes to work on form and calf strength and I really paid for it. Despite only running in the 30-31 second range, this workout destroyed my calf muscles and was much harder on my legs than my 20 miler. The 200’s also put me in oxygen debut and really made me work on dealing with the unfamiliar pain that comes with sprinting. Keep in mind, I’m a marathoner and I haven’t really done speed work since last spring. I ran the same workout on Friday, but wore flats instead. This was much easier on my legs and everything felt easier. Assuming I get my second run in today, I should hit 100 miles this week with one 2-a-day. All in all, I felt tired going into this week, but I set realistic and challenging goals for the week that I was able to achieve which I feel great about.

            On another note, I’m interested to see what people’s preference is regarding training in minimally cushioned training vs heavily cushioned shoes and made a poll to see what everyone thinks.

I Guess it Happens

         Today was the first real race back, and I must say I’m a bit disappointed with how everything went. I took a fall and banged up my knee a week and a half ago and it really has affected my running the last week and a half. The stress of finishing grad school, the job search, not running for 3 days, and other things really have been adding up. I ended up running a 15:09 at the Irish Jig this year which is only one second slower than last year. However, the conditions were much better this year and I didn’t get out there and compete. I felt very sluggish and tired going into the race. Given that I’m coming off of a 3 month layoff due to a stress fracture in my hip, I would’ve been happy with a 15:09 six weeks ago. However, as a runner, things just weren’t clicking today, and I really ran poorly. My stride was extremely inefficient, and I was landing with my heel out in front of me rather than underneath me. All in all, today was a pretty disappointing day. I really didn’t get out there and compete. Hopefully I can use this as motivation, get back on the training horse and have some better days.

            Moving forward, it really is just time to put in the work. I’ve felt that I’m ahead of where I was at this point last year, but I really need to start cranking out the long runs and put in the work so I stay ahead and perform better down the road. I have to remember that I opened up with a 15:08, 15:30 at the Irish Jig and London Downtown 5k last year and still managed to run a 30:28 at the Meteor 10k a couple weeks later. I rarely open up the spring season with great performances so I’m trying to keep everything in perspective.

            On another note, I am excited for the Wisconsin game and the UFC title fight. I’m taking Wisconsin in the game and “Bones” Jones in the fight tonight. I think he’s the next Anderson Silvia which probably isn’t good news for him because I don’t seem to ever be right about the fights. Should be fun to watch.

1st Race Back

            With the Irish Jig next weekend, I decided to head over to Jerome’s home town and run a little tune up at the Leprechaun Loop 5k. Racing longer distance races requires a completely different mindset and pain tolerance than racing 5k. My fall racing schedule consisted of 3 half marathons, a marathon, and 8k so I really wanted to race a shorter distance to knock a little rust off. As Jerome and I were driving to Port Huron, Jerome went on to tell me that Port Huron had gotten 4-5 inches of snow. I honestly didn’t really believe him, but sure enough, we arrived at his mom’s house with snow all around.

The next morning we viewed the course which was simply an out and back that was primarily run on the “board walk” (essentially a sidewalk that’s twice as wide as a normal sidewalk). Jerome and I warmed up on the course to see what the conditions would be like and the boardwalk was plowed, but it was covered in ice. Being as I took a spill on a morning run earlier in the week and I already had a sore knee, I was less than thrilled and contemplated not running the race. I really didn’t know much about the competition other than there was a 1:49 800 runner in the field. The first ¾ mile was on street and sidewalk where I thought I’d be able to open up my stride and really try to run fast. I took the first mile out pretty hard with a couple guys running for the Elite Feet Team. After about 600 meters I took the lead completely and came through the mile in 4:49. The last ¼ mile of the first mile was extremely slow. To put it in perspective, Jerome was running the 10k and he was running 4:57 pace at the ¾ mile mark, but once he hit the snow and then boardwalk, he ended up hitting the mile in 5:10. I’m not sure what type of pace I was running the first ¾ miles in, but I would guess somewhere around 4:40? The second mile was a 5:22 and I really was just trying to stay upright while maintaining a lead. I almost took a digger shortly after the turn around. The race was simply wild after the turnaround. While the icy boardwalk made it challenging to run, the race did have a couple hundred people in it and everyone was looking down and watching their footing. Needless to say, that made coming back against traffic in the opposite direction very interesting. Fortunately, major collisions were avoided, but I definitely had a lot of stop and go running. Coming off the boardwalk, the guy in second place was making a surge and I believe he caught me and was right on my heels. At that point in the race, I was pretty tired and completely out of rhythm so I just focused on reestablishing the pace and was able to hold him off. I believe my last mile split was a 5:10. While I was a little down that this mile wasn’t a little faster, I do have to keep reminding myself that there were a few sections on it where I essentially had to slow down to near stops to avoid collisions. I think my final time was around 16:01, but the race was good tune up for me. It really makes you appreciate how great of a job the people running the Playmakers races do. This race was definitely memorable and actually ended up being a lot of fun. The pub crawl afterwards was a pretty good cap to the weekend and the mental break was definitely needed. All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend.

March 5th Post

            As seasons change, there is one important question that needs to be asked. Is this the season that we once again back down or is this the season that we get after it and really go for it? Yes, you know what I’m talking about. I’m sick of those red-winged black birds and I’m sick of backing down. They’re the size of my fist, but yet they think that they can just buzz around my head while flapping their wings and pecking at my head. So what are we going to do about it this year? A lot of ideas have been tossed around. Do we do nothing? Maybe we should write a letter to the city and petition to allow for their extermination? Should we run with rocks in our hands? Tennis racquets? Should we organize group runs with the MSU tennis team? I understand the birds do not want people within x feet of their nest, but why don’t they just build them in places away from sidewalks or paths? Does anyone have any more good ideas here?

            On other notes, I posted my racing schedule. If you’re going to be at a race that I’m at, you should let me know so I can keep an eye out for you. I also posted a poll asking what people consider to be an elite time for both male and female US marathoners. I think it’s really interesting to see what people perceive as elite for both sexes and I hope people respond.

Summary of my training week:

            I have finished my 7^th week back from running and every workout to this point has indicated to me that I’m in at least as good of shape as I was at this point last year or maybe even better. The workout that I ran this week was identical to the workout that I ran this week last year. It was the Mt. Hope Cemetery fartleck workout. Lansing is a pretty flat area and one of the better places to incorporate hills into a workout is actually a cemetery. The workout is quite simple. On flat stretches or uphill segments, you run hard while you recover on the downhill segments. It’s really a taxing workout. To my astonishment, we had 11 guys from Team Playmakers Racing show up for the workout. It was absolutely awesome. It was my first workout with the team in quite some time. I was overly excited for the workout and I went out too hard. I hadn’t run any hill workouts this year, while I was running hill farlecks every week last winter. Despite the lack of hill training this year, I ended up finishing workout 38 seconds faster. It seemed that most of the guys at the workout also made the most of the day and ran quite well. Needless to say, I was pretty excited for both myself and the team. It was pretty cool to see a group of guys just getting after it.

My legs are starting to feel a little sore/tired from the process of getting back to running. My main focus this past week was to make the average pace of each run faster than the prior weeks while running about the same mileage as last week. I’m getting to the point where my easy runs are in the 5:50-6:15 range which is a good sign for me. Everyone has different strengths as a runner, and I believe mine is to run efficiently at faster paces while my body recovers. I hit 87 miles this week with two 5.5 mile a.m. runs. I really don’t have a mileage plan or workout plan mapped out and really am enjoying the process of running how I feel.

Spring is almost here!

Whew! It really just occurred to me that I’ve only been running for 6 weeks after a 3 month injury. However, to my amazement, my workouts are indicating that I’m in at least as good of shape as I was at the end of last February. My workout this week consisted of 5 x mile repeats with 0.26 mile recovery. Due to the footing this week, this was an ideal workout because our apartment complex does an excellent job plowing and salting the parking lot. I have a 0.5 mile loop where I measured out a mile consisting of close to 2 laps. I really didn’t know what to expect going into this workout. The weather was around 30, not much wind and good footing. I ran the first repeat in 4:54 and really didn’t feel very good, but I was able to hit 4:56, 4:56, 4:55, 4:56 for the last four repeats. I really thought I struggled through this workout but the repeats seemed to get easier as I went on which is a good sign. For the sake of curiosity, after the workout I checked the variation on the resting time and to my surprise it ranged from 1:54-1:56. While I’m very happy with the workout, my muscles are very imbalanced and my stride feels extraordinarily awkward. Swimming was instrumental in maintaining my aerobic fitness during my injury, but I have decided that I need to give it up for now and replace the swimming with morning runs and core work to help get my weight down, improve running efficiency, and balance my muscle strength. Hobbling around for 3 months really did not help my athleticism, balance, and balance of muscle strength. All and all, I really can’t complain and I’m really just enjoying being outside.

This past week consisted of mostly easy running where I implemented 2 two-a-days and ended up hitting 84 miles. The next weeks should really indicate where my current fitness level is as I’m going to repeat a workout that I ran at this time last year and also hop in my first post injury race (5k). The Twin Cities Marathon was my last race and I missed the time that I was shooting for, but I’m the most motivated that I’ve ever been. The next few weeks of training should be a lot of fun to see where I’m at and get back running with some of the guys on our club team. It’s snowing outside today, but it’s getting to be that time of year where the weather should start warming up a bit. Here’s to enjoying the transition. Hope training is going well for everyone else. Looking forward to seeing people out this spring. It's been too long.

Great to feel like spring: 2nd workout back

            With the weather warming up this past week, running has been great. I’m sure that the temperature will cool back down and there will be more snow to come, but the great footing this week has shown me that my cross training has paid dividends. The last 4 days were a 10.5 miler where I averaged just over 6 minute pace, an easy 5 x mile repeat workout slightly slower than marathon pace, a 10 miler at 5:54 pace, and the week was capped off with an 8 x 800 workout. It was extraordinarily windy out yesterday and I ran the 800s through our parking lot with my roommate Kyle Johnson. Since I haven’t run workouts in quite some time, I actually wanted to lead to get back to pacing and Kyle stuck on me for every repeat. Our rest was consistent and was just under 0.25 miles in 1:41-1:45. I really didn’t know what to expect from this workout, but we hoped to run 2:20-2:25 and that was before we knew that we were going to be running in the wind. I was somewhat surprised by how well we were able to run as we split 2:16, 2:21, 2:20, 2:22, 2:21, 2:20, 2:21, 2:17. I never once even thought of my hip/back pain throughout the workout which is a great sign that my hip is 100% healed. I really didn’t know what to expect from this spring season, but I think running PR’s should be a realistic goal. On a side note, if Kyle can stay healthy this spring, I do think we’ll see some substantial PR’s. My race schedule is beginning to take shape and I will post it in the near future. Happy running!

Massage Therapy: Taking my lumps and getting them out

How about those Buckeyes! Wisconsin sports are having an “ok” month. I’m finally starting to feel like a runner again. I had my first workout this week, my long runs are progressing, and I also ran my first run that I would categorize as “brisk to semi-hard” effort. Needless to say, it’s been an interesting week of running which is highlighted by the “brisk” run. On this particular day, I really just wanted to open up my stride a bit. The roads aren’t completely clear, so I tried not to worry about the consistency of the mile splits. On a 9.5 mile run, I ran the 2^nd mile in 5:44 and thought that this run was going to be flawless. Well, needless to say it wasn’t. At about 2.7 miles, I was cruising and slowed down to take a corner. Unfortunately, not enough and I bit it. As every runner knows, this happened in slow motion and all I could think is “get the knees, hands, and arms out…protect the hip”. Needless to say, that hurt. I hobbled for about a quarter mile and then got back to it. Somewhere in the middle of the run I had a 5:40 mile and the run was gaining some momentum. As I turned to head home down Okemos road, I was feeling a little tired, but had a great sense of accomplishment. The run had gone pretty well, and then I got hit by a car. Now I realize that a lot of drivers do not stop before the cross walk (which I do not condone), but I guess I take it for granted that they’re actually going to stop. Now I didn’t get the best look, but from my point of view, it wasn’t completely the driver’s fault. To the driver’s defense, he was driving his wife and kid somewhere while talking on his cell phone and taking a drink. I completely understand how he didn’t see me in my Brooks night life jacket in broad daylight or that big red stop sign. I jumped up, got hit, slammed my hand on the hood (not intentionally), and actually landed on my feet without falling. It still hurt, but not too badly. All and all, I ran a slower first mile, fell, got hit by a car, and actually managed to recover from it all and have my first post injury sub-6 minute mile run. My hip survived and I hope I can keep building momentum.

            All and all, I am being fairly aggressive with my post injury build up which is definitely causing some unwanted knee, shin, and muscle pain. I hate to say it, but I actually have missed this pain. In my 2 year injury free stint, one thing that I really began doing is massage therapy. It all started with a half marathon in Columbus. I had been running for the summer and like always, began to develop an injury. This time it was terrible knee pain. I thought I was pretty fit and I thought my injury was going to cut my season short so I decided to hope for a PR and run the half marathon anyway. I was experiencing pain in my hamstring and really thought that was the root of my problem. The day before the race, there was free massage therapy so I decided to go ahead and see if they could help me. I warned the massage therapist that I was having knee pain and to be gentle with my hamstrings. She complied, but rubbed out knots in my calves. I had been experiencing no pain in my calves so I was in utter amazement that she was barely pressing on them and I really couldn’t tolerate the pain. I let her keep going and I could hardly walk the next morning. Needless to say, I ran absolutely terribly at this race, but it really was a changing point in my running career. I went back home and decided that I to rub out my calve muscles. About a week later, the knee pain was gone and I didn’t miss a beat training. I couldn’t believe it. I ended up dropping my half marathon time that season by 3.5 minutes. It’s amazing what consistency in training can do. I am certainly no expert in massage therapy, but it’s pretty easy to imagine that if you have a large knot in your muscle, your muscle is much shorter than it should be which can lead to a lot of extra strain on your tendons leading to joint pain. By getting the knots out, your muscle goes back to the proper length and your joint pain can subside. Aside from resolving injuries, it stimulates blood flow to damaged muscle tissue which allows for faster recover from harder runs. Massage therapy really has helped me stay healthy. Like any profession, there are good massage therapists and not so good massage therapists. In my opinion, a good massage therapist understands the mechanics of the body, isn’t afraid to get into the muscles, and focuses on the individual athlete rather than having preconceived thoughts. Susan Henderson is an excellent massage therapist and has helped me get through a lot of injuries. I really can’t thank her enough.

Getting Back

            Go Pack Go! I had to throw that out there. It’s great to have back to back quarterbacks with super bowl rings! However, I do have one confession to make. I didn’t watch every game this year and I am a bit of poser. Back in week 12 of the regular season, I missed the first quarter of the Packers/Falcons game because I was getting a workout in at the pool and only caught the last 3 quarters. While I guess I didn’t see the entire season this year, it’s great to see Woodson and Driver with rings and the trophy back in Green Bay.

            Running is coming around. I ran my first workout of the year at tempo pace and discovered that it’s going to take awhile to get the lungs acclimated to the winter weather since I’m used to my hard efforts being in a 70 degree humid atmosphere (i.e. a pool). My legs felt pretty good during the workout, but I can’t say the same for my lungs and stomach. I guess that should be expected since my last hard effort on the roads was over 4 months ago. I am very surprised with how easy running is coming back, but I guess the time that I’ve put in the pool and on the bike are paying off. I do thank everyone that has helped keep me sane over this time period. Now I'm reducing my cross training a bit and trying to get my body to recommit to running. I ended up hitting 51 miles last week with 5 hours and 10 minutes of cross training which brings me to my last point. Have you ever watched “How I met your mother”? If you haven’t, you don’t know what you’re missing. I actually don’t mind sitting on a stationary bike while watching a season.

New Season

For the first time since the dreaded run on October 9^th, I ran 10 miles. Needless to say, this run went much better. It was great to get outside and enjoy the nice day. My legs seem to be responding to running better every run. It’s really quite amazing how no amount of cross training can really simulate the pounding that our muscles endure while running. While I’m confident that I’ve maintained and maybe even improved my aerobic fitness over the last 3+ months, I am a bit nervous for the up and coming season. It occurred to me on the run today that it has been over 2 years since I’ve had a season where I didn’t PR. As far as running goes, I ran 35 miles this past week and am heading in the right direction, but am obviously not running anywhere near the amount of mileage that I would like to be. As physically debilitating as injuries are, they are equally challenging mentally. With the stresses that are associated with coming off of a major injury, finishing up graduate school, writing my thesis, and finding a job, I am nervous for the up and coming season. I hope things can come together, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough. My first post-injury debut is in 6 weeks at the Irish Jig in Grand Rapids. I think I’m ready for anything, but I am excited to be getting back at it.

Beginning

With as much as I follow distance running, I guess it’s finally time for me to start up a blog. When talking about running, I don’t even know where to start. I didn’t have a lot of success running in college. I was constantly battling injuries and really didn’t understand what I was doing. After a stress fracture disabled me during my last season of track, I vowed to quit running competitively and become a jogger. I think most of us think this at some point in our life. During my second year of graduate school, the competitive juices began to start flowing and with the support of the Playmakers shoe store and Brooks, we rounded up a team and ran at USAtf Cross Country Club Nationals. While we didn’t expect to beat some of the professional teams, we thought we had a chance of doing well, and to say the least, we didn’t live up to our expectations. While I’ve had disappointing results, I was truly embarrassed, but this event was probably the turning point for me as a runner. I really do have the store owners at Playmakers to thank for this.

I’ve altered my training over the last 2 years to allow myself more flexibility with training. I have a crude training plan with workouts, but I really just run how I feel every day. While I’ve lowered my times, I recently have disappeared from the running scene due to a stress fracture in my hip. I was a little overzealous with my racing schedule this fall and went into my marathon having hip issues and the marathon essentially finished me off. I initially thought that my injury would just be a simple 6-8 week recovery process, but it’s been 3 months and I’m finally able to start getting back into running. It turns out that the break was a bit worse than I initially thought and the fracture is in an area that really isn’t easy to immobilize. I have been cross training pretty hard for these past three months. I don’t know whether that slowed the healing process down, but I think the aqua jogging, swimming, and biking will make me stronger for the up and coming spring season. This injury has definitely been my worst injury, but a lot of positive things have come from it. As most runners can relate, I am an absolutely awful swimmer. When I first began swimming in mid October, I could hardly swim 50 yards and really just struggled to breath in the water. It literally took weeks for me to get any better. It was one of the most humiliating and humbling experiences of my life. To sustain any sort of “swimming” workout, I could only swim 50 yard intervals with a 25 yard recovery kickboard in between. While I’m still not a good swimmer today, through a combination of persistence and a little help from a friend, I can now essentially swim for a long as I want. I think the longest that I’ve gone is 3200 yards, but I’m sure I miscounted laps somewhere in there. Swimming has helped my posture and core strength so it should be interesting to see whether this benefits my spring season. I guess only time will tell. As of now, I don’t have my full spring racing schedule composed, but I think it will emphasize getting faster at 5k-half marathon.