Hang Nine: January 2008

Thursday, January 31, 2008

January, Month End Review, and other thoughts

January was a good month for me. I got in 347 miles on the month. Again, for many, not something worth writing about, but a good step for me. It was a pretty fair bump up from the 262 I did in December (January minutes 2635; December minutes 2170). More importantly, I was able to continue digging into workouts that had an element of speed. I will look to continue this trend in February: a speed workout, a tempo workout, a long run, and fair mileage. If the weather cooperates, I will also look to start to incorporate more hill work, as so far it has been just the occasional easy run.

Post my run today, I felt great mentally. It is always nice to have a big run behind you, particularly when it does not leave you wholly wasted. I was gimping a bit on the lawnmower foot some, but that was mostly tightening up from sitting in a dentist chair for a long time. FWIW, the shot to the roof of the mouth definitely is one of the things I hate the most in physical life.

This mentality of feeling great post a run, or feeling horrible post a run, based on how the workout went is dangerous though. I was outright pissed on Saturday when my long run went south. And I was stoked today when it went well. I need to not let the runs dictate my mood so much. Anyway, I felt good enough today to reward myself with one of the best beers in the universe and it is brewed locally - Dale's Pale Ale. For years I refused to buy this stuff because it was in a can. Then I tried it. It was a nice reward tonight.

From the "don't forget how little you do" department, I visit Lucho's blog. He did a bunch of miles on the treadmill too. Only a lot faster. Lucho is driving (knowingly or not) a good conversation re: training paces on his blog. He recently posted a thread on LT and how to derive it with a HR monitor and power meter for a bike trainer. I am interested in trying to do something like this with a treadmill, and then changing the grade to see how that effects the LT paces. Ah, more reason to run on the treadmill. I am not sure I need that.

Actually, Lucho's blog posting are both crazy intimidating to me (the amount of training he puts his body through) and motivating. How can I call myself a marathoner when I am running 70 miles a week? This guy trains like a marathoner. ChuckieV onced blogged (I can't find it) how we all too often train the least amount to get an expected result. In other words, most of us do the minimum necessary training to reach some goal, some time, some line. What if we trained more to assure that goal? To make it a reality? The marathon rewards more, more than what I am doing.

Recommended unknown artist of the day - Mike E.

Props to PM for a new blog out there. And most of all, congrats to Dave M and his wife Ellen, for the birth of their daughter, Ava. Dave - everything changes now.

Eats for Thursday, 01312008

Eats – breakfast: blonde brownie,w/PB
Lunch, post run 3 eggs, piece of toast, with some avocado, tom, onion, pep
PBJ sandwich
Drank four h20 bottles on run
Drank not nearly enough over the afternoon. This is mostly because someone’s hands were in my mouth.
Dinner – Spag, w/ sauce, sausage, salad and a Dale’s Pale Ale (all very much YUM)

Thursday, 01312008, 20 miles, treadmill

I have a dental appointment this afternoon that I am expecting to take a couple of hours, and to leave me a bit sore. Additionally, I might sneak to ABC (altitude base camp) this weekend with the kids to do some skiing. So, all that said, I wanted to get my long run in before I had the excuse of being at 10000 feet, and a sore jaw. There is fresh snow outside, so I decided to get on the mill for this workout. While I do feel I need to do a good long run outside (the mill is just different), being on the mill did allow me the opportunity to manage the hydration, the pace and watch HR through the run.

I ate a litte for breakfast before this run - a blonde brownie and some PB. Okay, yeah, that is crap for a diet, but the "cookie" aspect seems to work well for me. I digest it well, it gets me some sugars, and it tastes good.

I got on the mill with the intent of keeping it all very relaxed for the first half of the run, and then building on the effort (and hence the pace) throughout the run. Initially, I had thought I do 18, but then I figured 20 would be a "nicer" number to post in the log. I made sure to take water every five or so minutes. I started at 8.1 (7:24) pace and kept it there for the first five miles, and then began to slowly ratchet the pace up. Over the last five miles, I upped it much more aggressively (as the splits show below). I was fine from an effort perspective the first fifteen. It all felt very easy, and I entertained myself by watching a movie on the DVD. My HR hovered in the sub 150 to 150 range for the first ten, it climbed to the 155 area through 15 and then it was pushing north of 160, to 170 over the last five. The last five were not super hard, but did require some focus.

1.) 7:27
2.) 7:24 (14:51)
3.) 7:25 (21:26)
4.) 7:24 (29:40)
5.) 7:25 (37:04)
6.) 7:18 (44:23)
7.) 7:20 (51:43)
8.) 7:19 (59:02)
9.) 7:17 (1:06:19)
10.) 7:13 (1:13:32)
11.) 7:11 (1:20:44)
12.) 7:08 (1:27:52)
13.) 7:03 (1:34:56)
14.) 7:03 (1:41:59)
15.) 6:58 (1:48:57)
16.) 6:57 (1:55:54)
17.) 6:45 (2:02:39)
18.) 6:38 (2:09:17)
19.) 6:25 (2:15:42)
20.) 6:02 (2:21:44)

At no time did I ever go over the top in the run.

More later. I have been having a conversation with Lucho re: HR, LT, etc. But now I need to go get numbed up in the mouth.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Wednesday 01302008, 8 easy

I got out for an easy eight on the Davidson Mesa today. By the time I had got out, a little snow had begun to fall. At the end of my run, it was really flying. I tried to run easy, but at the same time at an honest pace.

I had thoughts of going long tomorrow - and I will still look to do that. But with a bunch of new white stuff down, I am probably going to look to do it on the treadmill. While I don't mind running in the snow, I don't want to deal with any unnecessary risk on a long run. A couple of years ago, I was running in the snow, slipped off the edge of the sidewalk lip and my grizzle sang loud. I thought I may have actually popped that old tendon that keeps the back of the foot moving. Oh well, at least being inside will make sure that I manage the hydration well.

But I do want to get off the mill. I know it is getting me to train, focus, and I am getting some benefit from it. But I also realize that mill running is different and until I do some of these workouts outside, it just is showing that I can run nowhere in my basement.

My mind was all over the place in my run today on my training. I am about two months back into digging into my training. I am wanting to see more results, but I also know that it takes about three months of anything to really see results. I feel more focused than I have been in a long time, but that also shows me where I am lacking (core exercise for example, but hey - the gut muscle felt a bit better today). I feel like I am doing what I need to for success later this year, but then I feel I am hardly doing enough (particularly when I consider Lucho's log - that is true marathon training). I wonder if I will be able to get back into a fair semblance of fitness (for me). And if I can't then do I still say screw it, and chase it more (because I don't want to give up, give in, ever) or do I resign to wondering why I did not attack it more when I was younger? I won't give up, because there is no damn good reason for me to. As long as I can do this, I will. Even if I am slower. I am training hard for me ... but I want more. I get up from my chair at work, and I gimp. People ask me what the hell is wrong with me and I give my standard answer: "Put your foot in a lawnmower once and you'll never walk straight again." That is part of it, but I would not be walking this way if I was not running this way. But I run this way so that I can run this way.

Tomorrow, we get out there. The farther you go, the farther you go.

Eats for Wednesday 01302008

AM 3 cups of coffee (thru the AM), bowl of cream of wheat

Grapefruit

Homemade burrito with chicken (sliced), avocado, cuke, tom, onion (yum) and pep. Good stuff.

4 Mck of H20

Dinner was a six inch tuna on wheat from Subway, loaded with veggies, and one of Tracy's blonde brownies smeared with PB.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tuesday, 012909, 11 miles, 2 runs, with 2nd as a tempo.

AM - real easy four miles with Lucy. Just a little shakeout, wake up, get the dog out.

PM - pressed for time after work, and before heading out ... wanted to get a workout in, and it was pretty windy out again today (30 mph gusts). Hit the mill. I did not feel great, so I decided to tempo it, and the thought that bubbled up was 7 in 45 with the warm up. I hit the first in 7, three in 20, four in 26:0x, five in 32:0x, and then seven in 43:40. Again, I can get into the mill a bit easier than I can outdoors right now, but I can't seem to tap in as deep to make myself hurt there. In some regards, this was good for not feeling great ... I hit the last four under 23:40, when four on the mill was a struggle a few weeks ago. Here's the trick - crank the mill to faster speeds (5:20 for example) for like a minute and then back it off. The overall pace, obviously, is better, and then you can manage the slower pace (at least initially) more effectively.

Easy tomorrow, long on Thursday is the plan.

Eats for Tuesday, 012908

AM - 2 pcs. toast, 3 eggs, hashbrowns (from leftover mashed potato), 2 cups of coffee (milk, sugar)
Mid day - 2 cliff bars. And yes, I was hungry as all heck.
Dinner (late) 3/4 of apple, toast with PB, pasta with chicken

Got four "Mck" of water today.

Reposting after the fact. Before bed, I had a snack of vanilla yogurt with a bunch of Oat Squares tossed in. Probably a LOT of calories here, but it felt good, and sure tasted good.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Monday 01282008, 11 miles

I still feel a bit off today - mostly it seems like I am a bit achey and sore, like in the connective tissue - and that mostly in my gimp foot tendons. Nonetheless, the weather was nice, so I had to take advantage. I did an easy 11 miles out to Boulder and back from the office. There was a slight headwind out, and hills back, so it was nearly even on the splits (near 7:30 m/mile).

I got my Skull Candy ear buds today. They are great. I have long had the classic IPOD buds falling out of my ears and so I have reverted to hats, head warmers, t-shirt sleeves, etc to get buds that would stay in. After I read about these on a local tri guy's blog, I was sold. They actually perform better than the regular buds in terms of sound. Since they are in my ears better, I don't have to crank up some of the softer dubbed podcasts to hear the interviews over traffic.

I will look to do something hard tomorrow, and then come back for the long run on Thursday. I am having dental work done Thursday afternoon and so I am doubtful that I will get a ton of great work done in the weekend when my jaw is aching.

The Duel in the Sun.

This is one of the most amazing races ever.

Eats for Monday, 01282008

AM - 2 cups of coffee, with sugar, milk

2 pcs. of toast plain, 2 fried (olive oil) eggs w/pep.

Mid day - 2 oatmeal raisin cookies (hungry)

Drank three "Mck" containers of H2O by 2PM

Dinner - serving of sweet potatoes, steak, baked potato, salad. Filled myself up pretty good here.
2 glasses of diluted OJ

This exercise, that is recording what I am eating, is interesting. Knowing that I will record it forces me to think about it before I put it in my mouth. Is this the fuel that I want? Do I want those three people to know that I ate that? At the same time, I don't want to get to freaked out about the diet seven months out. I have this feeling that diet is controlled for most of the year and then managed as you closed in on competition. Perhaps a subtle difference. But nonetheless, the objective now is to be careful with what I eat, and see what correlation there is to performance based on what I eat.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Mapmyrun versus Sunnto X9i GPS

Here are the GPS results of this morning's run and the mapmyrun results. It is pretty obvious why the GPS comes out long.

Sunday 012708, 13 + miles

My long run came unravelled today. I had thoughts of going 18+ with it being a building effort. It turned out to be 13+ with the effort slowing over the run.

I been down this road enough that I know when a workout is going to go south before it actually does. Some might say with thoughts like that I am setting up for a frame of mind that is not geared for success. There might be some truth to that, but it might also be true that I just know myself in this arena. I tried to get around it - had the gear laid out, the water bottles all set, and heck, the weather was even good. But once the legs started moving down the road, I could smell the burning oil. But even then, I told myself not to sweat it - see how it felt after two miles. Well, see how it feels after the first loop. Well, just run two hours. Finally, I think better judgment kicked in I decided to not do battle today, because I wasn't going to win anything anyway. No need for a morale victory here.

The weather was beautiful though. I had hoped to hit three loops of 6+, with each loop being a bit quicker than the last. The advantage of hitting it in a loop fashion would be that I'd be able to water up, and maybe even get some nutrition on each leg. After I finished the first leg in 50, I knew I was not doing great. Nonetheless, I gimped out for the second leg (I took some Nuun on the break, I held that down okay), throughout it thinking how maybe I just do 2 hours and call it a day. But at 80 minutes, I was pretty waxed and knew I needed to call it a day. The second loop proved it - it was at 51 and it felt harder than that.

All is not lost though. This serves as an opportunity for me to consider what went wrong and what went right. On whole, I had a pretty decent training week (call it a B-), with two solid runs at the front end of the week, a good speed workout on Thursday and fair mileage (73). I have been a bit off all week though on little things: my diet has not been bad but has not had the same degree of focus as prior weeks, my abdominal wall hurts, and I have not done any core in a bit (in part because of the gut). Soooo, to address that, I will - I need to - keep a food log next week. I have avoided this because of the tedium associated with it, but I need to see if there is a relationship between specific things I eat and performance. I mean, I know there is, but I need to track it at that more detailed level. I will schedule a physical (with lab work) re: general health, but also to address the ab issue. And I will do some core anyway, but stuff that does not strain the lower abs.

Other side notes ... I reparied my Suunto x9i watch USB cable (with pieces of paper clips) and so was able to charge it. The GPS read on this run was 7 miles plus per loop (twice, for each loop). I have suspected this run to be close to seven miles but mapmyrun puts it at 6.74 miles. Okay, maybe I am being anal about a quarter mile here or there but ... well, it makes a difference, doesn't it? I guess that means that even though I was feeling like crud, I was still running 7:30s (vs. the 8s I was doing last month on easy runs where I felt good). I like the Suunto, since it has a GPS, a compass, a barometer, and a thermometer (and it tells time), but it is a bit of a hassle to get the sats synched in before the run.

Next week ... I am going to make the long run the event of the week. I want to come back and put this particular run to bed. Nonetheless, I will continue to focus on getting speed back and so will also look to get to the track to do quarters. Additionally, I need to get some striders in ... I have been skipping that a bit too much.

I was at the park with my son today and he did some running with our dog. I was watching him ... poor guy has no knee lift (reminds me of an ugly guy related and living in the same house as him). But he has that explosiveness that we have when we are that age. It is neat to see him in that Spring of his life, with a set of gifts he does know he has and hence does not really appreciate. And why should he? When it is spring, we don't think about the dog days of summer, or the winter that is coming later in the year. Instead, we enjoy those flowers right then and there. Me, I am in the Indian Summer. Or I am trying to be ... staving off the Autumnal equinox for as long as I can ...

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Saturday, 012608, 11 miles easy - 2 runs

I got out early with Lucy and got in an easy six (46). The winds were pretty strong still. Later in the evening, I got onto the mill and did an easy five (36:30).

It looks like the winds have passed now. That being the case, I will look to do a long run tomorrow. I have been playing with the thought of doing a good portion of it on the mill so that I can keep the hydration under control. If I get the opportunity, however, I will head outside and do loops that let me get to water periodically. Ideally, I will build the pace through the run.

In Boulder today, there was a pretty good race, particularly when you consider the nuttiness of the wind. It was good to see Lucho do pretty well against that field. Several of the FF guys (Pliska, Ames, Funke) ran well in the masters division. Props to TWK for a good long run today too.

This interesting list (top 1000+ marathon times in 2007, US, Men) were posted today.

Friday, January 25, 2008

It ain't over until the skinny lady with the headband sings

If you have not seen this, you need to (women's finish, Chicago Marathon 2007). Remember, the victory lap is for after the race.

Friday, 012508, 12 miles (2 x 6 mile runs) easy

The winds are back. Those snow eatin' Chinook winds made their return to the Front Range today. I am glad it was an easy day. I got a sixer in easy (46+ minutes) up on the Davidson Mesa (the winds here were really strong - a few gusts did that thing to me where you are just stood up, are swinging your arms like are running but you are not really moving) and then joined MK for six a bit later. I was not sore from yesterday, but a touch stiff. Tomorrow will be easy as well ... with the goal of a long building run on Sunday.

Why

Last night, after I finished my workout, I returned to the office to wrap some things up before heading out for the day. A co-worker asked me how far I ran, and what I was training for. Then came the question, her brow all furrowed in that inquisitive sort of way: "Pikes? Didn't you do that last year? Why are you doing it again?"

This is a hard question for me to answer. And an easy one too. There are a lot of reasons. I am doing it because I can and someday I may not be able to. I am doing it because I want to see if I can improve on what I did last year. I am doing it because of the entirety of the human experience there. I am doing it because it scares the living daylights out of me (when I see that mountain from 100 miles away on 287 on the way into work). I am doing it because I have unfinished business there. I am doing it because I have to prove to myself that I can put it all together over a year, and be disciplined to make the choices to make me be successful on my own personal level there. I am doing it because it will break me, leave me raw, and in a spiritual way make me a more whole human being. I am doing it because it is ruthlessly and beautifully epic. I am doing it for all these reasons, and more.

But typically, when most people ask you these sorts of things they don't want that namby pampy I am trying to connect with a greater force in the universe sort of thing. Or maybe they do. But typically when you begin to wade into those waters, they get this glaze in their eyes, and you get the feeling they ought to be somewhere else. I don't know what good answer to give to this question to people in this context. Any of the three (yes, I am informed I am now up to three) who read this blog would probably love this conversation and want to dig into it more. I think most folks are actually interested, and we all connect in some regard in this level ... I just have not figured out how to relate the topic appropriately.

So I try in stating in terms that I am trying to improve. I mean, ultimately, isn't that all what it is about? To be something more than what we currently are? Regardless if you are running Pikes to win or are you are trying to bust your first 200 yards down the street to your mailbox, aren't you really looking to improve? The reasons why you are might be different, but I think that is a commonality for all of us. We want to be better, more than what we are today. Running is a physical way to do that, and one that can tap deeply into our mental, emotional, and spiritual sides. I want to capture this running thing and share it with people. It is a ridiculously simply way to capture, cling on to, reflect upon, and reveal our humanity.

Was it fate that then led me and JV to then go and see Spirit of the Marathon last night? This movie looks into capturing that spirit as it tracks both elite and common man runner through their preparation and racing of the 2005 Chicago Marathon. I'd love to create a movie like that for Pikes, tracking the race between the champions, the stays at Barr Camp, people doing 3-2-1's in the weeks leading up to the race, Carpenter winning, Mackey chasing him down, the last person busting their rump down Ruxton to break 10, the humanity of it all. Lisa G chasing the record for the women, CC overcoming testicular cancer to run a PR in the Ascent, JV doing battle on the mountain, Elliot ripping himself into monster shape by doing Bear 100 times in a row, the fast road racer attacking the race and getting wrecked at treeline, the science of the air getting thinner, people in the med tents with skin ripped to shreds from falling on their faces. It would be a full on war flick. I'd love to do that ... but for now I will be a husband, a father, and train for my own journey. Maybe in retirement ... By the way, if you missed this flick, there is talk that it will do an encore sometime in February.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Thursday 012408, 10 miles, track workout

There are days in winter when you can smell spring coming. You know it is still winter, but somewhere under there, you can smell, hear, feel spring. And it feels good. You know there still be days where the wind bites and your fingers feel like they are going to fall off, but ... it is coming. Today was one of those days. Temps hit the 40s in the afternoon, and for once, with little wind.
And in my own regard, I could smell my own spring coming. While I am still significantly slower in speed than I was a few years ago, I could feel, smell and hear some "spring" coming out.

I did the 200-200-400 workout (200 on, 200 recovery, 200 on, 200 recovery, 400 on, 400 recovery ... each set is a mile and I did five sets). I last did this workout in December. I decided early to not worry about the rests at all, and instead to focus on the turnover of the workout - and the speed in the repeats. My abdominal pain had subsided a bit today (let's say yesterday it was a 5, today it was a 2). I could feel it a bit in my gut when I was on the repeat, but it was not greatly hindering me. When I last did a track speed workout, I was doing 36 on the 200s and 75s on the 400s. Today, I managed 34s-35s on the 200s and 71 mid on the 400s. I tried to focus on turnover, running tall, moving well but not straining. I could smell a bit of the speed coming back (for me). I certainly have work to still do in this area but this is nice progress. I did a few stride counts during a couple of the quarters and it was coming in at or near 50 (significantly different than slower runs!).

Full run was 10 over 80 minutes (2.5 warmup, 2.5 warm down)

Post Wednesday observations

There were a couple of other thoughts I had on my easy run yesterday that I wanted to get down ... in my charting this experiment of one.

First, on this easy run, with significant climbing, my stride rate went way down (like 75). I am less concerned about my stride rate on my easy easy runs but I can see how this sort of work makes that a habit - it contributes to a lower stride rate all the time if I do this alot. I will want to make sure that when I go after this run hard that I keep the rate quick. It is funny how dense I have been on this topic. Hill climbing specialist SE tried to tell me this while doing Lindens last year. Master miler PH has often told me that I need "to get them down." Mentally I thought about this a little. It was not until Lucho said, "dude, your stride sucks!" that I actually took the concept to heart.

Second, I am not sure what strained my abdominal - but I am pretty nervous about it: is it a hernia?! It seems a little better today but I need to keep an eye (?!) on that.

Finally, it was good to get off the mill yesterday. The mill is a good tool but it is a drill on my head. When I am on it, I am consistently playing the game of upping the speed, and then downing it. This is good on some accounts (7:20s feel hard? crank the pace to 6:00 for a bit, then bring it back to 7:08 and that feels good), but when you run nowhere (literally), it is a bit like water boarding. Kerrie told me I need to get outside after my workout on Tuesday ... she was right.

If it is warm enough today, I am going to try to get over to a track.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Wednesday 012308, 7 miles, Green

Went real easy up and down Green today. It was a bit chilly, but not as cold as it has been for the past couple of days. Round trip is seven miles. I went real slow, just enjoying being out. The snow - ice - crunchy - slippery conditions kept me slow as well. It was fun getting out ... in the woods, on the hill ... unfortunately there was that big old brown cloud to look at when I got to the summit. I am a bit concerned about this abdominal pain I have been having. Not sure what it is, but am hoping it disapates in the next day or two. Definitely felt it more on the way down today.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Gunslinger worship: Tom Sobal

Leader of the snowpack ... Burro racer (I have a whole series of blog entries I can do about that sometime), Pikes racer (with a bunch of sub fours in the marathon) ran a marathon in 3:06 SNOWSHOES, ran a half mile in 2:32 in SNOWSHOES. Tom is a regular bad ass. I hope I am still chasing it like he is when I am 50. Of course if he sees that I wrote that, he might take it as a negative statement about his age, chase me down and beat the crap out of me.

Check out the old school sun glasses.

Tuesday 012208, 10 miles, mill, 15 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off

I felt off today. And this sort of ticked me off. I wanted to feel good. I did not want to feel off because that might mean that I was off because of the effort yesterday. Really, I did not want to have a "tweener" workout yesterday that in turn compromised my effort today. This is a bit of a trap I need to be careful of ... instead of keeping easy days, easy - and hard days hard, the trap is to run all the days in between ... and hard days are not so hard and easy days are not so easy. That does not lend to getting better. And so, I knew in part that my effort was not super hard yesterday and it was not super easy. So I had compromised what I could do today. But I did not want to admit it. Nonetheless, I was hesistant to get out because I knew I'd have to face this reality that I was off because I pushed yesterday but not enough.

But I felt off in other ways, not just from the run. I am dealing with a stomach muscle pain that is slowing me down. I slept like crud. It was cold out. And windy. So I had the excuses lined up in addition to my tactical error from yesterday. I hit the mill again in the afternoon. This too played into my mental state. I did not want to run on the mill again.

But, as things are, as I dug into the mill and the run a bit I stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided to make something of it. I knew I was not fully able to attack this run, but I was not going to just run easy. Maybe this was a tactical mistake too - but mentally, I needed to do something to keep driving progress in my head. So after a four mile warm up (7:15s), I jumped into a classic Carpenter interval workout - 1 minute on, 1 minute off. I did 15 of these at 5 minute per mile pace (I really need to determine how I can crank the mill into kilometer paces) and the rests at 8 minute per mile. The initial intervals brought my HR up to about 160 and then the rest would teeter down to 147. Towards the end, the HR would climb to 168, and then the rest would come in at 150-155. I did not feel strained on any of these, but I knew I was not on top of my game. I did some pace counts for 30 second on the repeats, and these came in at 45-46 (or 90-92 on the minute).

I finished the 10 with a mile cool down, for total time in 66:40.

This is certainly not as good as the workout I did last week with the 800s at 5 minute pace, but it was something. And it worked the turn over a bit. Tommorow I will rest (easy mileage) to get back into a smarter groove.

Advice from a young sage

I got this advice last year on Pikes prep from a guy who has done pretty well there.

High volume - 14 to 15 hours per week usually - except when i was injured, which was a lot! For a race like Pikes, i think volume is extremely effective. 1.5 hour morning runs from my house were my bread and butter day in and day out, with 0.5 to 0.75 hour runs in the evening for recovery. Tuesdays and thursdays were a little different when i did my workouts. Many of those hours were easy runs in the hills. I'm a strong proponent of EASY recovery runs. That is esp. true with Pikes Peak where you are running 10 to 14 minute miles at the top! I think your body actually has to learn how to run that slow and not freak out (i.e. do it efficiently). I'm not suggesting you do your easy runs at 14 min pace, but i laugh at people who think my 8 to 8.5 minute pace recovery runs are slow. All of that is dependent of course on doing your workouts really hard. I generally did a tempo run on tuesday and hill intervals on thursday. My tempo runs were generally flat to rolling while my intervals were all on hills. If i were to do it over again and had all year to train for it, i would alternate my tempo run between flat and uphill, and same with the intervals (i.e. flat tempo and hill intervals one week, and uphill tempo and track work the next). I was doing my flat tempo runs on the Switzerland trail in the summer and really liked that. I think the linden intervals really helped. Long run of 2 hours building up to 3.5 hours in the spring/summer. Always in the hills. The more hilly it is, the less i cared about pace. Training for Pikes, the longs runs are all about building strength, toughness and time on your feet. More vertical the better. Higher altitude the better. Use those long runs to train how you will drink and eat on race day. Starting in June, i went to Pikes every weekend until race weekend. One two occasions, i doubled (i.e. summited saturday and sunday from the bottom). That was incredibly valuable and i highly recommend it when you're ready for it. I recommend getting down there as much as possible and GET TO KNOW that course. By race day, feeling at home on the course is priceless. If you can't get to Pikes, do as many of your long runs at altitude as possible in the summer. I did barefoot striders in the grass a couple times per week, with drills when i had time.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Monday 01212007, 10 on the treadmill, steady

I had visions of doing Green today as a good easy effort. I know it sounds a bit contradictory to say that a 2500 foot climb to 8000 feet is easy, but they can be. Just gear back and grind a long slow climb. But the snow and the cold (teens) chased the idea out of my head.

I landed on doing something on the mill. I did not feel ready for a strong interval effort and geared into the idea of a longer run where I just upped the ante of my pace. I'd hesitate to call this a tempo (although by some definitions it might be ... as my heart rate stuck in the 160-170 for the latter portions of it) - rather this run was just a mid distance run where I wanted to run a stead state, and push the pace a bit to become more comfortable in that range. After a bit of a warmup for 3 miles (7:26, 7:15 {14:41}, 6:55 {21:36}), I began to gear down a bit to see how it felt. 6:03 {27:40}, 6:17 {33:56}, 6:15 {40:12}, 6:07 {46:20}, 6:09 {52:28}, 5:57 {58:25}, and 5:53 {64:18}. The effort felt all controlled - never was I anywhere near redlining, all just somewhere about comfort pace.

I realize this ain't much, but it represents some progress to me - and I will take it. I'd like to generally see the overall pace of my runs increase. I need to be careful to balance these sorts of efforts between easy days and hard days (as this is a bit of tweener). I am walking away from this one though thinking I am fully capable of coming back hard tomorrow. We'll see!

Props to PM for his 10 miler yesterday. Good work man - you are progressing. Tough conditions and it is January!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The week in review and plans for next week. 209 to go.

I have been going back and forth on how happy I am with this past week's training. On the positive side, I got in a fair long run, and two hard effort sessions. There is no real big negative, it is just that I did not get as much positive out of this week as I like. I know I am doing some good work, as I can feel it (being tired!), but I want to be able to dig a bit more. A good desire to have at this point ... I know that I am putting training in the bank to dig deeper in the weeks and months to come.

80 miles on the week. 591 minutes on the week (so just shy of 10 hours):

Mon - 7E, 5E

Tues - 10 with 8 x 800m, all on the mill

Wed - 8E

Thurs - 12E

Fri - 11 on the mill, with 4 miles at tempo (23min)

Sat - 17 miles with half of that on the mill, building

Sun 10E

I was having a conversation with my wife today on a lot of topics, but mostly about some of the craziness we see around us ... divorces, affairs, people cutting themselves in half by driving on McCaslin at 100mph (I have run right by that pole easily 500 times), child abusers, ... more and more I am convinced that I want to lead an extraordinary life by being ordinary and being monotnous ...

There are 209 days until Pikes. I have mixed feelings on that ... like that is plenty of time to get ready, while

at the same time thinking I hardly have enought time to get ready. There is this wonderful mix of wanting to engage on the journey, but fearing it, being anxious to live this life, and being concerned on how it will humble me, on doing something I have never done before versus wondering if I have the courage to do it in all the choices I make. Seven months. An infinite number of choices to make. This is the beauty of this bugger. I'd have it no other way.

This next week, I would like to get a good jaunt up some mountain to get some vertical, and, if the weather permits, a good run at the 200s-200s-400s workout. I am a bit ahead of where I planned to be from a long run perspective, and so I'd like to get a 2:15 run this weekend if I can - with emphasis on building in the run and working the hydration angle as much as possible. If that means I need to mill it, I will.

Sunday 012008, easy 10

Not suprisingly, I felt stale this AM. I did an easy 10 (80 minutes). And yup, it is cold enough that the facial hair (it is not a beard, it ain't a mustache) was frosted over. I tried to focus a bit on turnover ... still coming in at 88.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Saturday, 011908, 17 miles

I wanted to get my long run done and so did it today rather than waiting until tomorrow. I started outside - mostly to get the dogs out. After 8.5 outside, easy, (64 minutes), I came in, quickly changed and hit the mill. I had the mill all set to go - even with several water bottles (with a little lemonade mix in it) and tried to build into this effort. The thought here was to have a good long run, and build slightly, in effort and speed towards the end. I did 8.6 (I wanted to be sure I had 17) in just over an hour (total time 2:04:39). I was not flying at the end obviously, but pushing enough to get my HR up over 160 (and was under sevens).

... various thoughts and commentary ...

I think having the hydration readily available for the second half was helpful. I worked through two 16 ounce bottles pretty quickly, as I had made it an objective to take some drink every five minutes whether I wanted it or not. I felt good throughout this effort. My legs are not super springy, in fact - I can feel that they are a bit worked but I am not "under my training."
I think I ought to be able to get my mileage to near 80 this week. Over the last seven days, it is now 87 (the bookend long runs help). This is good - I want this level of consistency with mileage, but I need to be careful not to chase mileage for mileage sake. The importance is in the workouts, particularly the long run ...
Once I get re-acclimated to the length of time of the long run, I want these efforts to be building, and pushing towards the end. Reference this McMillan article regarding this. I will look for help on some of these efforts ... running the first hour easy, and then enlisting help to get a good long push for the second hour plus, as the spring progresses.
I was thinking on my run today that a good deal of this blog may come across as "complaining" about training. I have certainly been complaining about the cold. And then I complain about having to run on the mill. Really - when it comes down to it, I know that I am blessed that I can engage on this journey. I have a gift to move significant distances under my own power, and I will look to exploit that gift to its greatest depths. I love that I can do that.
Many religions teach, you must walk your own path. The principles in the faith are the same, but it is your path to find your way. Running has principles, each of us has to find our own path to whatever we want to accomplish with that. It is your path to determine to what lengths you will sacrifice, what goals you will set, what talents you have, what balance you acheive ... worrying about that this person runs 8 minutes per mile when training versus 6 minutes per mile ... well, there may be a place for that, but only if it is something you put in your path.
The greater mileage and slight more attention to detail regarding my diet are having an effect. I am down at least 10 pounds since returning from Hawaii. Of course, I gained nine pounds when I was there! I am not going to worry too much about my weight, but instead take a focus on fitness, health, and smart consideration of how those are factors in weight and its effect on performance.
I played with MapMyRun a bit this AM. The bad news is my seven mile loop from work is about .05 short. The good news is my eleven mile out and back is about .9 long. My 3 mile out and back is .04 short. Give a little, get a little. I am actually surprised I was as close in guessing as I thought. Very cool tool.
I am also cross posting my training to georgezack.fastrunningblog.com. Not sure if I will continue to use this, but I am a technology geek, so love playing with this sort of stuff.
Props to TWK - who nailed a good long run today.
Good luck to PM who is racing tomorrow.

Catching up on training logs from "one year ago today ..." It is pretty clear I was definitely more hill focused. That was not bad. I just think that being less hill focused for me right now (not excluding hills though) is better this year. It is also clear that January is historically a cold month. :-)

Sunday January 14, 2007 13.3 miles (will count as 13) in 2:34 (hit 13 in 2:32). Cold and snowy out so got on the mill and watched “House of the Flying Daggers.” Set it at 11.5% (miles 1 and 8 were at 12 percent, last two miles were at 11%) Splits were 12:59, 12:58, 12:21, 12:01, 13:03, 12:01, 11:48, 10:51, 11:46, 11:27, 10:40, 10:13, 9:47 (and then 2:00 for the last .3). Felt easy, nice slow burn throughout but no straining. This also represents over 7800 feet of climbing in a run.

Comment from today - interesting! I was thinking about this very workout. It is an emulation workout that I do - emulating Pikes! I altered this workout later in the year to be more like Pikes in that I altered the grades at different points to be more Pikes like. I do want to do this workout again - but not at this time. It is a dang good workout, but, as you can see, it does not promote speed. It promotes hill climbing. I want the speed and will combine that with the hill climbing as the spring progresses.

Saturday January 13 2007 It is freaking cold out – zero. In the AM got out with Lucy for 30 and then tacked on another 45. Kept the pace upbeat to assure this was 10 over 75.
Friday January 12 2007 AM, 28 minutes, 4 miles on the mill. Pretty cold out.
PM cold enough to freeze my beard. Did 35 minutes solo and then 45 minutes with MK in Boulder real easy. 81 minutes but calling it only 10 because of conditions.
Thursday January 11, 2007 early PM, very cold out so I stuck to the mill. Did a 1.5 mile warm up in 10 minutes then 3 x 1 mile with increases in pace on the minutes in the miles with a 3 minute/ .25 mile rest in between. Warmed down with 2.25 miles for 7 total in 50 minutes.
Wednesday January 10 2007 – 88 minutes, 8 miles. Got out with JV up Bear via Shannahan Ridge and Fern trail. Lots of sloppy snow towards the bottom. It hardened up near the top but then the wind was really blowing above the saddle. The top was gorgeous all encrusted in snow and like a stairway to heaven. 55 minutes up and 33 minutes down (although I kept falling down and I took the longer route down towards the end!)
Tuesday January 9 2007 After a lousy night sleep and a long day in the office with out of town visitors, got on to the mill. Did a two mile warm up in 13:30 with four striders to loosen up. Then did 5 x 3 min on with a 2 min break. Started at 10.8mph on the first and would up it a tenth every minute, and also start at the next higher (10.9 for example) on the next one. Rests were real slow (12 m/mi). So these started at 5:33, and got down to 5:10 towards the end. On the fifth I upped the pace every 30 seconds versus every minute. Warmed down with 1.5 miles at the end to get a total of seven in 49 minutes Mileage is a bit behind this week (only 12) but I am okay with that. I need a bit of rest and a bit of turn over and weeks where I do that a bit more than just miles and climbing have be okay in my head.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Friday, 011808, 11 miles with tempo, treadmill

Snow was spitting this afternoon and I did not want to deal with it. I got on the mill with the objective of getting a tempo run in. After a 4 mile warm up (7:30, 7:17, 7:08, 6:32 - strides in the last to get used to the faster paces to come), I moved into a four mile tempo (5:50, 5:55, 5:35, 5:37). I closed up with a 3 mile cool down (20:20). (all told 11 miles, just under 73 minutes).

The treadmill is an interesting device. Mentally, there are days that I find it ... challenging. You are not outright physically sufferring but you are working, and, umm ... not going anywhere. And you keep seeing the clock. And the miles. Tick. Tick. Physically, I think in some regards it is easier because - as TG has often said to me - you just need to keep up with the thing. But you sweat like you are in a sauna. Obviously, nothing is as good as getting out there and getting after it - but there are days, like today that the control of the mill is the better of the alternatives (freezing your tootsy off in the snow).

Today was a workout that went, well, okay. I find that I don't walk away from the treadmill thinking, "YEAH, I killed that S**T!" I get decent workouts, but it is not over the top. My HR gets up, I sweat a lot, I get something accomplished, but it is more a workout of mental focus versus physical. Quarters on the track are probably at the other end of the spectrum. You don't need to think too hard - they are only one lap each! But physically, they sap you after two thirds into the workout.

I had a conversation with TWK about nutrition

today. He is prepping for a two hour run and was considering what to take on the run. We discussed a bit how Lucho was in my kitchen last week about being in shorts and only having a sixteen ounce water bottle. I hardly profess to have the hydration and the nutrition thing down but I think I am trying to work in this direction: for runs on cooler days, I probably won't take anything if the run is less than ninety minutes. For efforts longer than that, and on hotter days, I will look to adjust accordingly. This will also probably be true of gel consumption but I want to talk to some folks about this. The LetsRun crowd scoffs at triathletes and ultrarunners - which is plain stupid. The folks know the nutrition - hydration thing where typical runners don't (and don't need to if you are running a 10k or shorter under 50 minutes). I am also aiming to get a gallon of water in me a day. I am increasingly convinced that I am chronically dehydrated. Even when I get hydrated, two hours later I am looking at a yellow stream. And hell, I don't want a kidney stone. Oh yeah, I do also like to eat a little something on the morning of long runs ... but it does mean I get up earlier than 20 minutes before the run. I like to have a piece of toast, cup of coffee ... maybe a bananna. Again - I hardly have this nutrition thing figured out. And as long as I am talking in a paragraph with no clear direction, I will also look to play with some sort of electrolyte tab, like s-caps, on some of my longer runs.

Feedback always welcome.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Thursday 011708, 12 miles

12 easy miles. 90 minutes. It is cold. And a bit windy. And the wind has a good bite. I have mixed thoughts while running on days like these. There are the thoughts of, "mighst all critey ... it is cold and windy out here. This stinks. I rather be sitting next to a fire having a beer." And then there are thoughts of "7 months to go. And at least I am out here. There are folks that who want to be and can't."

I have felt a bit behind the eight ball the last two days. Behind in my running, behind in my thinking, behind in my sleep, behind in my hydration, behind in my eating (which means I am probably ahead), just behind ... I am not really. But in a regard I am.

We went to the National Western Stock Show last night and we caught the bull riding show. All I can say is that folks who think running up Pikes is stupid must think these folks are truly whackey. And crazy tough. And I complain about running being tough? Hardly.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Wednesday, 01162008, 8 miles

Went easy in the cold (teens, and yes I wore pants) ... 8 miles, 63 minutes up on the Davidson Mesa.

More on stride rate

I subscribe to a variety of podcasts, some technology, some running, some music. I heard this one today that seemed timely given my recent focus on stride rate and work on the treadmill. The concepts discussed in the first four minutes of this 'cast are exactly what I have been thinking about.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Real Sports

In 2007 we saw the prosecution of a pro-quaterback who had dogs kill each other, and then he killed them when they did not perform to his standards. A referee was caught in a betting scandal in the NBA. Baseball continued its grapple with steriods, with one of its most hallowed records falling to a near convicted cheater, and then a commision finding identifying several of the top players as users of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Track and field, of course, had its Olympic darling, Marion Jones, provide a tearful apology for using such substances, and she was recently sent to the slammer for six months.

In short, I struggle with good reasons to follow any pro-sports anymore. I have grown increasingly disenchanted with the thuggery, the cheating, the scandals, the lies ... and the whole dang soap opera aspect of it all. (As a side note, on the topics of PEDs - One of the most interesting articles I have ever read about them is from Outside Magazine. Check out what they can do.)

I think this reached its culmination for me a few summers ago when I watched Morrocan miler (who has not been convicted of use of anything mind you) El G win the World Championship 1500. He ran away from the field, with that field being the best assembled milers in the world at that time. He did it in a time that was ridiculously fast. And in the final stretch he was blowing kisses to the crowd. Not quite the same image I was used to of milers crossing the line ...

This image was clear in my head when later that summer I watched a local Boulder Road Runner all comer's track meet. In this race, a relay was being run. The last leg of this relay was a mile. Andrew Crook took the baton into this leg 30 yards down from the leader. And that leader was a close match of Andrew's abilities, and probalby 15 years his younger. 30 yards in a mile? Seemed like an impossible distance to make up. But, as you have already guessed, Andrew did. But he was not blowing any kisses in the final stretch. In that last stretch, I had the rare opportunity to see Andrew's face as he caught his competitor (see I was typically behind him and I did not get to see his face). It was anguished with pain, dripping with lactic acid, screaming with desire to win, grimacing to not give an inch. He was making his teeth sweat.

Hmm. Let's see. Pro sports: drugs, cheats, and guys don't seem to really race. And I don't really know the people. Local sports: unlikely that folks are doing drugs (we can't afford it) and true competition. Hmm. I think I will cheer for the folks I know. If you are elite, great. If you are not, great. We are on the same journey. I am interested in your journey more than El G's.

I know I should know better: pro sports are entertainment really and its athletes are entertainers. These days when I watch a pro sporting event it is really no different than watching some movie. It is entertainment. I really don't have high expectations of the actors in the movie to be model citizens. I guess I should not have high expectations of those athletes who are entertainers either. I want to though because they are engaged in the nobility of sport. But, well, if wishes were horses ... I have let my subscription to Track and Field News expire and now I read Colorado Runner. I will try to watch our movies (my family, yours, mine) rather than those without us. Yeah, I will still check out, but our movies and sports are better. They are real.

Tuesday, 10 miles, half mile repeats, adventures on the dreadmill

Ah yes. Write up about motivation on Monday ... you are certain to give yourself the whammy on Tuesday. It was one of those days where I felt a bit off from the bell. I woke up and this snot was coming out of my head. My stomach hurt a bit, and my head felt thick. In the old days, I'd call this a hangover. Unfortunately, I did not engage in any activity Monday night that would give me such an excuse.

I had hoped to engage in the 200-200-400 workout today to get good turnover. I wanted to get it done today, well, to get it done and because we are expecting snow tomorrow. As is often the case, however, before our Front Range snow storms we get a day of warmer temps (50s) and a stiff wind. From my desk, I could see trees bending in the wind. The wind gnawed at my motivation. The woozy feeling in my head gnawed at my motivation. This becomes a bit of a downward spiral typically. To not worry about my upcoming run, I try to focus on my work, but then I let my work become my event and suddenly I am too busy to run and then that further gnaws at my motivation. I don't feel good. It is really windy out. You have a lot of work to do.

After seeing big pieces of trash roll by in the lot across the street from the office, I decided that I would run on the treadmill. At least there I'd not have the wind for an excuse. But even after getting home it took me a bit to get to it ... check email, long time to lace up the shoes, check email again (I do have a lot of work to do you see), take a phone call, feed the dog ... all avoiding getting on the dang T5i.

I had a good chat with a co-worker (TWK), including some conversation about his running. I am really enjoying digging into what other folks are doing for running. I am trying to take special care in listening to what they are doing simply because a.) typically as a runner you are thinking a lot about what you are doing and b.) while I think a lot about what I am doing I really don't know what the hell I am doing and I probably can learn something from listening rather than telling folks what I am doing. It was this conversation and the entire thought that the three folks (well, okay 2) that read this blog would have some possible interest in how this workout went. And I did not want to write that I felt like ass and called it all off. So the blog, at least today, helped.

But even once on the mill, I delayed. I took a longer warm-up (3 miles, 21 minutes, first mile in 7:30, last mile with some striders to get HR up and used to the faster pace) - delaying the workout itself. I was not dreading working hard, as much as I was dreading results of working hard and not getting through it well. I decided to do half mile repeats. I can't really do 200s or 400s at the pace I want to on the mill, so I decided I do halves at 5 minutes per mile pace (2:30 for the half) and take a real easy quarter rest. In the spirit of focusing on the turnover, I decided to worry more about the repeat and not push the interval of rest (taking there whatever I needed).

I did 8 of the 800s - all at 5 minute pace (2:30) with the rest being anywhere from 2:00 minutes (8 m/mile) to 3 minutes (12 m/mile). HR for the latter repeats was near 175. None of these felt particularly hard or strained - I felt in control and on top of the workout the entire top - which suprised me considering how negative my attitude was coming in! I feel I could have rolled more with anyone interval or even done a couple more. The effort was solid. I know it is a treadmill and that is not the same thing as doing it on the track but it was good nonetheless. Things are coming through. I did some cadence counts during the repeats, and then later my daughter did some. They came in at 88-90. The higher cadence felt much more natural in the repeat on the treadmill than it did on the easy run yesterday. I finished out the run in 68 minutes and decided it was okay to reward myself with a glass of Merlot with dinner.

So, not the workout I wanted to do ... but a good effort in light of how I felt, and the weather.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Monday, 011408, 12 miles

Mid day I got out with co-worker DB and did an easy seven (55 minutes). At the close of the day I got out for an other five (36:40). Purpose of these runs was a.) to recover and go easy, b.) play with my stride rate.

I did a few stride rate counts and they all came in around 88 strides a minute (single leg). And this was with me thinking about it, meaning it was up. I would occasionally let it slip to what I was more atuned to and comfortable with and that was much slower. The pace on whole would not change (I think) but the stride length would open up. I am going to keep on working on getting the legs turned over. I think TL mentioned it should be north of 90 strides a minute. It does not physically hurt to increase the cadence, but it feels different. It is funny, SE mentioned to me about a year ago that I needed to not have such a loping stride. We did Lindens and I remember matching my stride to his to work on this but then I let it go. I guess I respond better to feedback like Lucho's: "dude, no offense but your stride SUCKS." Yeah, I am a little dense.

I felt a little flat today, but overall good, particularly in light of the fact I raced Saturday, and then went long yesterday. I am hoping to jump the track tomorrow to get 200-200-400 workout in - as snow is expected on Wednesday.

Quote of the day came from co-worker PM today, "....after about 7 or 8 hours out there on course...everything is stripped away...there's nothing to hide behide any more, no ego, no cockyness, no pride, no work problems, or relationship things...it's all gone and all that is left is you. It's scary, too scary for a lot of folks. But that's also the reward. You experience every emotion out there." There is a lot of things I love about endurance sports: the training, the race, the competition, but ultimately what I love most is the rawness of the humanity it presents. As William Wallace says, "we all die. few of us live."

Motivation

I have been reading a lot of posts about motivation lately. Motivation in races, motivation in daily training, motivation in diet choices folks make with every bite ... Maybe we are all talking about this because it is because it is January, it is cold, the days are short and the days of glory seem so far away? Anyway ... a few links and reads on motivation that say it much better than I can.

Wes Hobson's account of Pikes Peak Ascent ... excerpt - "The mental aspect of racing separates those from justthe physically talented athletes that excel intraining, but falter on race day, from those athleteswho combine athletic ability with mental tenacity,finding true satisfaction at the end of an event."

A post by triathlete, Alex Couzens called "The Ultimate Success Formula for Triathletes" - excerpt - "“The only secret of those of us training at Caulfield and Ferny Creek was the consistency of our training. None of us ever missed a day. As a result, all of us were improving. Although each of our sessions would physically stretch us, we never finished a day so exhausted that we were unable to train to the same standard the following day.”- Ron Clarke (18 time World Record Holder in Distance Running) ... Tony Robbins has to be one of the most well-known success gurus of this century. I am a big fan of his in general, but one of my favourite Tony Robbins’ principles is something that he calls the “Ultimate Success Formula”. The thing that I really love about this formula is it’s simplicity. Basically (paraphrasing), it goes something like; there are 4 key steps to success in any endeavour:1. Define your outcome2. Model the behaviour of those who have achieved your outcome3. Take MASSIVE ACTION4. Develop the sensory acuity to know the results you are getting"and modify your actions accordingly."

Chuckie V: excerpt "motivation is the second most important aspect to your level of success (as it relates to competing against others) behind the crapshoot that is genetics. If you're truly motivated, as Lucho clearly is in his goal to be the fastest marathoner he can be, you can control many of the other pieces of the puzzle. If you are not---no matter how much God-given talent you've been blessed with---you will only go so far on your assumed wishful success quest.

Lucho: On days when you don't want to go out the door.. think that there will come a day when someone will go by you and you will either wish you could catch them.. or you will go ahead and finish your Powerbar and KNOW that you will still catch them.

From Once a Runner by John Parker, "What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that?""

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Plans for next week

Oh yeah - parts of the run this AM were motivated by one of my favorite hair bands from the 80s (see below). Revolution Calling seems to have more bearing to me today then it did even then. "Who can you trust when everyone is a crook?"

This next week ... I will look to jump back to the 200s and 400s workout (either Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how I bounce back from this race and today's long run). I will follow up with a tempo where I look to "up the ante" and finally a long run near 18. I like mileage to be in the 80 range, with nearly all the runs being singles (there may be a day or two where I double up).

Sunday, 011308, 17 miles and the week in review

I agreed to meet Lucho this AM. He was doing 20 something (22 I think) and I wanted to build up my long run (15 last week) - so we agreed to share some miles. I think I get a bit more of benefit out of this run than he does - as it pushes me to run 5-15 seconds a mile faster than I normally would, and it helps me through the miles. We met on 287 and headed north as the sun rose. It was cold - there were icicles on Lucho's beard.

Lucho did not hesistate to "get in my face" this AM. He immediately was asking me about my half tights (in 20 degrees), and my water. Within half a mile of running together he was asking me why I carrying water, what fuel, and essentially - what the hell I was thinking.

He is right. I do a lot of stuff without thinking it through. And some of that I think is okay. Just run damn it. And I think in my 20s and for 10Ks I probably could away with that to some degree. But I am now doing a marathon, and by some definitions an ultra. Hydration is important. Nutrition is important. Thinking is important. Sure, maybe running in half tights is okay but I probably need to carry more water on these runs (and hence a camel back even it feels stupid). All said, I am getting more benefit out of these runs than I think TL is from me. I appreciate his questioning of what I am doing - because I need to consider and reconsider what I am doing so that I drive to maximum efficiency.

I slowed up on the second half of the run, as my heart rate climbed (lack of water perhaps Zack?!). But it was a good effort of 17 miles (or so) over 2:08. I felt pretty good throughout, just slightly tired in the last half an hour.

It was a good week. I will give it a B.
Mon - 10 miles easy
Tues - 9 miles with 2 x 200, 8 x 400, 2 X 200
Wed - easy 8 miles
Thurs - 11 miles - 20 minute tempo on Sanitas
Fri - easy 7 miles
Sat - 12 miles, 5K Oatmeal Fest - 17:44
Sun - 17 miles - long run
74 miles on the week, with 4 fair workouts. On whole I think fitness progressed.

Playing with map my run ... here is the run ...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Thoughts on talent

I have long thought that the statement, "such and such is so talented" is actually not a nice thing to say. Usually the comment is directed towards a person who has had some degree of success in their particular endeavor. At face value, it seems like a nice thing to say but there is a hidden meaning in this statement. It says you have a gift, something that others don't.

Of course, there are talented people. That is, they have some genetic ability or insight that is pretty rare. So yes, they have a gift. But we really don't admire their talent do we? In fact, we really admire their ability to access that talent. And typically we scorn those who we can see have this gift and fail to exercise it.

Recent research has shown that complimenting children, telling them that they are smart, can actually have adverse effects. See, when you do this, they end up thinking they have this gift. And when they are then challenged, they think that gift, that talent has failed them. And they become demotivated, thinking that if they can't do it with this talent, they can't do it at all. However, children who are told they are hard workers don't have this talent crutch. They beleive their talent is to bust their asses. And so they do. When they hit an obstacle, they know that hard work is rewarded and so they work hard.

Don't we all know that? It seems easy at the end of the race to look up and think about who was more talented in the results. Or maybe you think about what your limits are based on your talents. Turn that thinking around. Think about what could you could accomplish if looked at who finished ahead of you and thought, "those folks all worked harder then me."

Yeah, I know. Talent exists. It can't all be overcome by hard work. But what good does focusing on that talent part of the equation matter? It is something totally out of your control. It was done before you showed up here - determined by your parents and radioactivity from the planet Krypton. So why worry about it? Does it make a difference that there are guys who run 26 miles in a row faster than you can run one mile? I mean - really - how does that focus change your life at all? Instead focus on what you can do. And yes, that needs to be considered in light of all the factors in your life, but chances are you can work harder then you do now.

Peter Strudwick, pictured above ... some could say he was born without talent, or in fact a detriment. I think it would be fair to say Peter got dealt one less card then the rest of us since he was born without hands or feet. For some reason, that did not prevent him from running the PPM four times. Think he really gave a hoot about talent? Fact of the matter is that we all have talents, we all have gifts. It comes down to what we want to do with them and how we share them. At the end of it all, I don't think any of us want to be remembered as talented people. We want to be remembered on how we squeezed every iota out of that talent and left the sponge dry.

Oatmeal Festival 5K

Short story: 17:44. Longer story ... This is about as local of a race as I can get. Yes, of course, there is the Eeire Erie but that is actually farther away than this race. I had contemplated jogging over to the race as a warm-up, but brought the car to have a place to stow gear.

It was a cool morning (high twenties) but with cash on the line, this race still brought out a good number of local folks, including Clint Wells, Pete Remien, etc. I was treated with visits from JV, PM from the office, and my family - all who came out to watch the race. I always have a goofy feeling about folks watching races. I wonder why they want to do that. They see a start of a race, then they see folks return some time later lathered up with sweat, slobber, feelings of anguish painted across their face. Why would anyone want to watch that? Then again, I am guy who was super stoked to sit at 14000 feet and watch folks finish the Pikes Peak ascent. It is great to have family and friends out there.

I warmed up for two miles with a couple of strides at the start. I did not feel super hot but I did not feel bad either. We got out a bit quick. Isn't that always the case? I mentally tried to get myself to settle about a minute in as we climbed up to the west. I tried to settle in, focus on picking up people, and moving through those that blasted out that should not have. At this time, , not even a quater mile in, fellow Fleet Feet racer, Hans F, went by me. I had no idea what kind of shape he was in so I let him go. We did a little leg to the south with a downhill and he built the gap on me. As we turned onto the west bound street to head out to Waneka Lake, I could see people begining to come back to me. I picked up a couple. Through the climb though, I could tell I was not really having a great day. The plan was to go out relaxed, pick it up and then push. I felt like I had been pushing from 3 minutes in. At the top of Waneka Lake, Doug Bell passed me. He was running really great and I think he went on to catch and beat Hans. He really dug through those last miles. Coming out of Waneka Lake, I noticed a 3K sign my watch was at 10:44 at that point (so that is about 3:35 pace per kilo). We began the long downhill, and while I enjoyed picking up folks, and reeling them in, the opposite held true here. A younger guy I was near pulled away significantly. I managed 7 minutes for the last 2 kilos, and it was a bit of a struggle in the last couple of minutes. All this landed me 14th, and a supposed 4th in the 30-39 age division.

Okay, so what does all this mean? I remember that MK once told me that the difference between a bad and a good 5K was 15 seconds. Hmm. I wanted 17:30 today and got 17:44. Okay, so I did not feel great and I had an off day. Still I have improved from a month ago. Not nearly as much as I would have liked to at this baseline, but it is forward progress nonetheless. As of today, I am 17:44. I may not like it, I may not understand totally how I got here, but I know where I am and where I want to be. That will be the driver. Right now I wear the tatoo of 17:44.

I took a seven mile warm down (11 on the day) and thought about this for a bit. I probably took being in sub 17 shape for granted too much. It was not easy for me to get there and I think once I did, I was able to ride some maintenance work that let me stay there for a bit. The training I did over the past year though shifted all that, and I have lost it. For me to get it back will require a consistent shift to drive to that position.

To that end, I think one of the keys to getting there was doing something like this nearly every week. Back when I was running in the late 90s with the BRR, every Sunday's supposed tempo run was really a deep gut check. You could call it a race, and in fact, I joked when we hit the diagonal, you could almost here a gun crack. Not every week was an all out effort, but more were close to going to the well than not. My tempo's today rarely are like that. Again, I am not advocating that I race, or simulate a race every weekend, but I need to get to a spot with my tempos that are more often going deep than just hitting that 90 percent mark. Today served that purpose. It left me worked and hence in better condition then before the race. I need to do that more.

At this point, with this new baseline data, the training will revolve around three core pieces - the long run, the tempo run (see above) and speedwork (faster than 5K work). I am willing to step away from the mountain work in part for a bit to get this element to a place where I feel more satisfied with it. So, all in all ... good. Progress even though I feel bad. New baseline. Clearer insight. Good gut check. Work to be done. Some other highlights from the day:

We are all sitting at the start ready to go. Everyone has that nervous twitch. The announcer says it is going to be about two minutes to the start. So, everyone strides out. I jog over to my family to say hello. My son freaks out - "DAD! GO! THEY ARE ALL GOING!"

Jogging with Lucho after the race. Discussing stride cadence he says to me, "No offense but dude, your stride sucks." He has a point. His turnover goes around 190 a minute. Mine is nearer to 170. I am not sure this is a silver bullet in getting me a minute faster on the 5K, but I will definitely work it.

Lucho is definitely a student of the sport. He and I traded memory stories of various track and field world championships during the warm down.

JV located materials for a wobble board he wants to build while he ran with me during my warm up. And yes, he went and did Green when this was over.

PM had a Geico Caveman visor.

Lucho saying, "I won today more for third place then I did for 13th at Kona." I don't care who you are, that is jacked up.

Results are up.

Oh yeah ... diet for today ...
AM breakfast - bananna, 2 cups of coffee w/ milk and no cal sweetner
Post race -some juice (about 16oz), and an Odwalla bar
Lunch - about 4 small handfuls of almonds, a small salad w/advocado and it. dressing. Cup of tea. I guess I could skour the internet"s" to find out how many cals that is but ... it is tedious.