On the Eve of Winter

It has been a while since I have last updated my blog, but fear not I am still here. I have been happily logging pretty consistent miles. between 30-35 miles per week is about as much time as I have at this point but I am happy with that. I am looking forward to winter break when I can finally focus on doing some serious training.

Just yesterday I did my first race since the Thorpewood Trail 10K back in September. It was the Byron 15K located right here on the Mount Saint Mary's University Campus and the surrounding mountainside. I won last year's race so I was hoping to be able to replicate that feat but also realizing that it would be nice to run faster than last year considering I may or may not be in as fine shape as last year at this time. The race started out about as I expected, I ended up in the lead with someone whose footsteps I could hear over my shoulder right behind me. I didn't know who it was since I like to follow a strict "never look over your shoulder" policy most of the time but I felt comfortable through the rolling first 2 miles. Then we turn onto Eylers Valley Road and head up College Mountain for about 2.3 miles. It was around this point my pursuer caught up and started pressing on my shoulder. I tried to be relatively aggressive in responding to his surges as soon as he made them but at the same time taking note of how my legs were feeling and making sure to notice if it was time to back off a bit. It is unlikely you can win the race in this uphill 2.3 mile stretch, but you certainly can loose the race here...

Eventually with about 3/4 of a mile left to go he surged and I could feel the lactic acid building in my legs and decided to conserve my energy for the downhill portion. Around the time I crested the mountain the third place runner passed me, and he was flying on the rolling section at the top of the mountain. I was pressing pretty hard to catch up to him so we could work together to catch #1 but to no avail. I think I passed the 5 mile mark in 34:41 which was much faster than last year. Unfortunately everything went downhill from there. Literally and metaphorically. I was about 150m and 300m back off the #1 and #2 runners when I turned onto Crystal Grotto Road. From here it is essentially 1.5miles downhill and then 1.5 miles rolling/slightly uphill to the finish. I started to feel cramps coming on here so I focused on deep breathes but still tried to push, to no avail.

I ended up a pretty safe 3rd place in 1h:03:00, slower than last year. My average time tells me I definately ran the last 4.3 miles much slower than last year after going through 5mi in 34:41. I was all alone on the downhill so while I think running with someone could have shaved ~30 seconds off It wouldn't have gotten me 1st or 2nd place (~1h:01) but I am OK with that. I was aggressive within reason, I backed off when I realized I couldn't quite handle the heat, and I pushed to catch back up when the opportunity presented itself. Compared to last year I am much less sore so I am looking forward to a good week of training coming up and I will check this off as a nice tempo run sort of a workout. A few pictures courtesy of Mike OGrady (blue/white singlet):




With the Byron 15K behind me that should be the last race of 2011. It has been a pretty good year overall, but I will save that for a different reflection post. For now, let us hope this mild winter weather sticks around *knock on wood* and we don't see snow for a while. Winter break here we come!

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. That surrender, even the smallest act of giving up, stays with me. So when I feel like quitting, I ask myself, which would I rather live with?” ― Lance Armstrong

Ruminations

I suppose it has been a while since I have posted, but not a whole lot has happened so I'll recap, look towards the future, and ramble on about a few things.

Running wise, post-ankle injury I was clicking off 30 mile weeks with 12 mile long runs for about 4 weeks straight with an average of 1.5 days off per week (average...). I was content at that mileage since I can still feel myself adjusting to the more minimal shoes I run in now (New Balance MT101 and Asics Hyperspeed 4) and I have been too busy with school work to run much more. It is somewhat refreshing to sit in class all day, go out for a quick afternoon run, and then sit back down in the lab or the library and get some more work done. I suppose most people who studied as much as I do would feel overloaded and stressed out but I feel like I am adapting or something like that... Either way Thanksgiving/Winter break is rapidly approaching. As my mom said, "Only a few more weeks until Thanksgiving and then a few more weeks until Winter Break!" Where has the semester gone? I'll never know but that is one of those mysteries of life I suppose.

I did have a brief setback or perhaps a blessing in that this past Sunday I walked the Mount 20 in my Vibram Five Fingers. I should probably mention what exactly the Mount 100 series is. The director if intramural sports and the outdoor adventure club had this crazy idea over the summer for an endurance-hiking event on the wonderful trails around the University. In the end they decided to have 10mi, 20mi, 30mi, and 40mi "events". I ran the 10 mile event (I'm sure everyone thought I was crazy but that's ok). It was in the Catoctin Mountain/State Park system nearby and it took me about 2 hours. In reality the distance was about 10.5 mile, and because I was actually ahead of the aid stations/course marshals I missed several turns and got lost a few times so I probably averaged 10 minute miles. Considering the vertical gain on the course I am happy with that. The Mount 20 I didn't really feel like running. It takes place on the C&O canal, a pancake-flat "trail" running along the Potomac River. Instead I decided to wear my VFFs...

In hindsight this was a poor decision. I have previously walked around all day in my VFFs so I figured I would be ok but I was grossly mistaken. Where I could have run this easily, hiking it was actually quite challenging. My hiking muscles are atrophied and I could feel it from mile 4 onwards. The bottoms of my feet also took a beating. I don't recall the Canal having as many pebbles as it does... In the end I have been unable to run until to day (4 days off) because my upper-inner calf muscles were so incredibly sore. Today they were not as sore and since the running muscles are different from hiking I managed to do all right in an easy 3 miles. I'm looking forward to enjoying what is left of this beautiful fall weather and training some more.

Given all the free time running I have to ponder things I have definitely considered this ultramarathon running thing a good bit. I know I plan to do some 50K trail races in the spring/summer with a plan to peak for the CAT 50K but what else? 50K is only about 32 miles, not really much further than a regular marathon. How about 50 miles? 100 miles? The latter of those is the most intriguing. Can you even begin to fathom running 100 miles? Something about the distance seems so alluring to me that I can't shake it. I've heard that 100 miles is not twice as hard as running 50 miles, it is about three times as hard. I have also heard that you don't really discover who you are until you run a 100 mile race. Maybe some day, we'll see. Until later, train well!

Quote of the Day:

"Man imposes his own limitations, don't set any" -Anthony Bailey

20:48

That is how fast I managed to run from the Manor Area to the cliffs today. At over a minute faster than my previous best, it makes me happy to see that my fitness at least as far as climbing is getting much better. I've settled into a nice rhythm of running from the Manor Area up to the cliffs on Tuesdays and Thursdays (roughly 4.5mi round trip I believe), doing an easy ~3 mile around the "trails" on campus Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and a longish run on Saturdays. Sundays are mandatory rest days for the time being because I want to ease back into training, something perhaps I didn't do as well following the V.A. Beach Marathon as I should have.

Occasionally I will have some soreness in my Achilles post-run, but usually it wears off as the evening goes on and in the mornings (when Achilles tendinitis makes itself known) I never have any issues. That combined with that fact that the "pinch test" doesn't yield any more pain than the non-hurting Achilles makes me think it is due to MT101 heel-ridge rubbing action. When I run in socks it seems like it helps (although that's not as comfortable for my feet!) so there is some evidence in that respect to support that hypothesis. Either way my legs feel strong and I feel fit for the first time in a while.

On thing I know I have been enjoying has been the wonderful fall weather (most of the time). While there was one week during which the remnants of hurricane Lee decided to pour on us for the entirety of the week (not exaggerating) most days are mildly humid with lows in the upper 50's and highs in the low to mid 70's. As I look up and begin to see the fall colors on the trees I can't help but be glad to be able to run in such beautiful weather.

As I said previously, a future plans section was in the works and here is is. I'll start off with a general calendar of important races that I plan to run with the ones in bold as the most important ones.

- Goodloe Byron 15K - December '11

- Lewis 10 Miler - January '12

- Hashawha Hills 50 km Trail Run - February 25, 2012

- RRCA 10 Mile Challenge February 26, 2012 (if I am not incredibly sore from the HH50K the previous day)

- Seneca Creek Greenway Trail 50K - March '12

- HAT 50K Trail Run - March 24, 2012

- Frederick Half Marathon - May '12

- Catoctin 50k Trail Run - July 28, 2012

- Steamtown Marathon - October '12

And beyond that it is too early to predict. Of note is also the increased race distances (50K) and lack of small local 5K's and such. I am going to try and avoid those small races more than I have in the past. Not because I don't enjoy them, because they are almost always fun events, but because I don't recover very quickly from shorter race efforts (10K and 5K) and it is unnecessary to have a 5K the previous day make me unable to get in a quality run for several days following that.

With the next serious race not coming up until late July next summer, I am planning on trying some new things with regards to my training. First and foremost I am trying to stay off of the roads as much as possible. The MT101's are not ideally designed for road running in the first place and I feel like running trails is healthier for my legs anyway. I also want to make hill running a more important part of my running. With two climbs per week up to the cliffs and back, I think I will really benefit from the increased strength that will be useful as hill training in and of itself but also as a way of building leg strength for the longer 50K distances I want to start racing.

As the various races approach I will probably have to change my weekly MWF/TH/Sat running schedule mentioned above but I feel like based on how my body has adapted to training in the recent weeks that might be the best fit for me. As road races such as the Byron 15K and Lewis 10 miler get closer I expect I will have to incorporate some road running into the training plan to build road-strength in mt legs. Interestingly enough, I think the Bryon 15K course will be a perfect workout for that, with the multiple miles of downhill pounding being just about as tough on the legs as you can find around here.

Quote of the Day:

"There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be." ~George Sheehan

Change of Plans

Well as I sit at my laptop now I am certainly not in a position I would have imagined myself two months ago. The Steamtown marathon is less than one month ago but alas I will no longer be toeing the ling on October 8th with some of the best runners around seeking a Boston Qualifier. Following my 4:56 miles race (something that I am still excited about) I had a strange pain on the top-lateral area of my foot somewhat close to the ankle. I wrote this injury off as due to my unfamiliarity with the spikes I wore but in hindsight that was probably unwise.

I took a day off since I have always followed the philosophy that taking rest days when you need them or even if you might not is always better than paying for it later. Then my foot felt pretty good so I set out for an easy trail run. I decided I would start at Gathland State Park and head towards Weverton Overlook realizing I could always turn around anytime. I did feel some lingering soreness after maybe 15 minutes of running so I stretched it out and ran easy back to my car for maybe 3 miles. The foot actually felt better at that point and did a stride analysis video here since I was curious how my form had developed with a mix of VFF running and MT101 trail running.

The following day I went out and did a relatively easy 11 miler with Chad A. into the Valley from Hamburg Rd. but not all the way up to the tea room. I worked the hills and felt good. Again the foot was somewhat sore but it warmed up and after the run it didn't feel too bad either. A nice long ice bath after the run had me feeling pretty good the next morning. And that's when I decided to go out and run 18 miles with Chad C. and Joe B. on the canal. This was apparently an unwise decision because the following day my foot felt worse than after the mile race. But as was uncharacteristic of me I still went out and ran 4 mile the next day on it. Perhaps I was nostalgic about the opportunity to run with the old BHS group one last time. No matter what the reason thenext day I could hardly walk and the pain was no longer in my foot, it was obviously my ankle.

To make a long story short, two weeks later my ankle was feeling about 95%. It had felt about 95% for a number of days so I ran an easy 2 miles and as I suspected that light exercise helped to heal it completely. *knock on wood* Since then I've had a relaxing and slow return to running. I did defer my Steamtown registration until next year which will allow me to shift my focus for the meantime. The shift in focus is best addressed in its own post which will be forthcoming however the important thing is I will be doing less racing and when I do race it will probably be longer than before.

Workout wise I did do a fun run today of running from the Manor Area to the cliffs and back, timing my self on the "ascent" and "descent" portions. There is something quite exhillarating about charging up the mountain without abandon through burning and painful legs only to reach the summit and feel a great sense of accomplishment and a tangible reward of a nice overlook. The first time I ran it which was shortly after coming back from the ankle injury I ran the ascent in 22:48 and the descent in 16:53. Today I shaved off almost a minute for 21:51 on the ascent but only 17:12 on the descent. My goal is under 20 minutes, which is no small order since that would mean maintaining around 9min/mi pace the entire way up, which is no small order. But since I enjoy that run so much I think it's very possible. If I could do that then during the CAT50K race I should have no trouble running the ascent in 25-26 minutes at a more moderate effort level. A pace like that should help me gain a few minutes on anyone near me but at the same time due to my training on the mountain I would hopefully not be dead for the rest of the race.

Looking forward in the immediate future I am excited to be running in my favorite season (fall) without the pressure of a major race coming up. In this way I will be able to enjoy the best weather of the year in a stress-free environment where I am free to go out and enjoy running for the pure intrinsic sake of it and not because I want to be in shape for a certain race. I feel like this mental recharging of my batteries will be good and can hopefully lead to a much improved outlook in 2012.

Quote of the day:

"And I will find strength in pain" - Mumford and Sons

What Happened To Summer/MT 101 Review

Looking up at the date on my computer right now gave me an appropriate topic to ramble on about before the good part of this post (the shoe review). It is essentially August at this point in time and I feel like I just took the ACS Organic Chemistry Exam last week to finish up my Sophomore year. In these past two months I've taken two summer classes, done countless hours of research, and ran many many miles. Not all of the above items were fun, but on the whole I think I can look back on this summer and be happy with how it's gone.

My running mileage has been inconsistent week to week at best, but on the days I did run I feel like I have gotten in a lot of quality workouts. Just yesterday I ran a 10:13 3000m race with the Steeplechasers, and I felt pretty good the whole time. My pacing was consistent and I was able to finish with a strong kick for the win. When I look back on this past summer of racing events like this I have to marvel at the gift I have been given when it comes to some sort of natural speed. I haven't done an interval workout on my own since high school yet during the Summer Decathlon series so far I have PR's in just about every distance I have ran. For the record, here is the final tally:

1600m: 5:06
800m: 2:11
2 Mile: 11:24 (went out way too fast here)
1000m: 2:57
600m: 1:33
1500m: 4:38 (my favorite race this far)
400m: 57.1x
200m: 26.3x
3000m: 10:13

Overall my win-loss record is 2-7, so I guess that's not too bad. :)

Hopefully I can keep the speed I have shown to have in these events and be able to continue building endurance for the Steamtown Marathon on October 9th. Training for that has been going quite well. I have gotten in 2 x 22mi runs and one 20miler. Where endurance was my problem in the spring in Virginia Beach, I hope I am on the right track to correcting that. Looking forward it looks like the peak mileage I can hit without developing nagging injuries is 70 miles per week so I will try to get a close to that on a consistent basis as I can.

New Balance MT 101 Review

I have to say when I got these shoes (Running Warehouse!) I had very high expectations. Of the reviews I saw, there were only a few negative responses, mostly from people complaining about mundane things such as a the shoe not being wide enough (if you know you need widths why would you buy a shoe without them...), the shoe not being minimalist enough, or the pinky toe rubbing a seam on the outside of the toe box while barefoot (socks anyone?). Naysayers aside the majority of the reviews conveyed enthusiasm, and a sense of pure joy that the reviewers got from wearing these shoes that I couldn't help but to absorb. Some people even went so far as to say these shoes changed their lives! Needless to say I was ready to be wowed, and I was not let down!

The first thing when I got these shoes was their design. I could recognize that the MT101's are an incredible piece of engineering even before I put them on my feet. Most of the shoe is covered by a kind of soft, strong, and very breathable fabric covered on the outside of the shoe by a larger net/mesh covering. The result is a light and breathable shoe that doesn't sacrifice the quality of the upper. The few overlays are not in particularly important areas for drainage so they don't detract from this at all.

Upon putting the shoes on barefoot I instantly noticed how comfortable the were. The toe box seemed plenty spacious enough, I didn't notice any annoying seam that could rub my pinky toe, and I seemed to have no difficulty tying the shoes up to give the perfect mix of tight/loose fit across the top of my foot and also give zero slippage in the heel.

Fast forward to today, and I did a quick 4 mile recovery run in them. About 3 miles was on "trails" that were really dirt roads with gravel mixed here and there and half a mile each way was getting to that trail. I decided to go barefoot the first time around to see how it went and that was a very good decision. Right from the start of the run I felt great. I have been working on my form for the past two months or so by doing barefoot strides and running relatively pain/soreness free in my VFF Bikila's so I felt like I could jump right into these guys which was right.

A few things to note. Sock-less seems like it will work for some people but maybe not so much for others. During my run I had absolutely no issue with the pinky toe rubbing as some people complained, and absolutely no blisters. For comparison over 3 miles in the VFF's leads to blisters. The tread is excellent on all surfaces. The ROCKSTOP technology in the forefoot allowed me to run over the sharp rocks even my old trainer (Mizuno Alchemy) would force me to slow down for and when moving onto the roads the lugs on the outsole don't feel awkward at all.

At the end of the day I think I'm a convert to these shoes for trail running. Tomorrow I want to try running on the AT in these guys to give them a real test drive, but I have a feeling they will only continue to get better with time. I can wholeheartedly say these shoes deserve a 5/5.

Until next time,

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character." - Alan Armstrong

running to him was real

So says John L. Parker in his classic novel Once A Runner. If you haven't read it, then you are really missing out on one of if not the greatest piece of running literature ever written, and certainly the greatest piece of fiction running literature. I am realizing now that in recent months I have had an awakening to the world of running and I think for the first time I understand what John L. Parker is talking about. While I realize Once A Runner has to be taken with a grain of salt, and I will not be doing 60 x 400m anytime soon, Previously I always enjoyed running, but now I can really say it is definitely one of the realist things I know.

I would say it started a short while back when I was experiencing unfortunate nagging injuries in my calves that kept me from training as much as I would have liked to. Once those finally healed I experienced a renewed strength that I don't remember ever feeling in my legs. That combined with the weekly Decathlon races with the Steeplechasers has be legs feeling fantastic. It is the type of feeling where at just about any point during the day I feel as if I could just go out and run 8 mile and it would be a breeze. And when I am running, I feel like I can go on forever and ever, alone with my thoughts pounding the pavement for mile after mile.

Interestingly enough within the past few weeks I have found a new love interest: trail running. I was once told that the day you start running trails you will never go back to the roads. Unfortunately I don't live close enough to trails to have this as a possibility but I can certainly empathize with anyone who would say that. When I run on the roads I often find myself staring off into the distance in a type of meditative thought salad. Unless I have a song stuck in my head I could never tell you exactly what I was thinking about for the hours of road running, but I know it was something. On top of that you get to see and witness a lot of the world around you. This is certainly a benefit of road running. You have no worries except the possible oncoming traffic and you are free to look around. The rolling farmlands, grain silos, cow pastures, and beautiful sunsets, running on the roads gives a great opportunity to witness lots that this wide and beautiful world has to offer, but it can also be pretty boring.

Running on the trails is an entirely different experience. I recall very well my first real trail run about a month and a half ago. It was on the Appalachian trail from Gathland State Park outside of Burkitsville to Weverton Cliffs, probably my favorite overlook in the area. It only took me a few miles and a nosedive to the ground how trail running works: the observant will not fare well. You have to constantly be aware of your surroundings, the root here, the sharp arrangement of rocks over there, the big puddle up ahead, and a dead stump right infront of me, woah! It is very true that trail running requires much more concentration and work then any other type of running. Your focus has to be sharp as the edge of a razor blade or you will fall. Your footfalls must be as light as a gazelle, or you will fall.

Despite all of this I have found a serene reality to trail running I have not previously known to be true. Why you do not have a change to observe everything around you, you are still highly in tune with nature is an way I could have never thought possible. As you let your self become completely focused on the trail you also become free, entertained with nature as you have to be to avoid falling ten million times per run. It is this sensation that I have come to love, and it is this sensations that has set me free more than I ever thought possible. Yet still I return to the roads on a mainly daily basis. There are not enough easily accesible trails around Mount Saint Mary's for me to run on. At the same time I have to stay focuses on the goal I have set for myself: qualify for Boston on October 9th in Scranton, PA.

Onto that subject, training finally seems to be picking up. As of today I have 14 weeks (I think) until Steamtown, so it is time to get to work. The past week weeks have been littered with minor yet nagging enough injuries to keep me from training at 100%. For a while I had achilles problems. I would initially think that this was due to my VFFs, but after considering it a bit I think the more likely cause is my old pair of shoes which easily had over 1000 miles on them. Once I finally did get new shoes, I mistakenly thought I could go down a size and paid for it with some nasty blisters. Those are now about 95% healed and today I managed to get my first long run in leading up to the Steamtown marathon.

I ran around 20 miles on the blue trail which the CAT 50K will be on later this month and the blisters proved to be no problem. My nutrition was also not a problem. I stuck to gatorade and water, plus a few pretzels/fig newtons at the halfway point. I feel like the knowledge I am gaining from these 4 hour+ runs will be important for me learning to manage my electrolyte and fluid levels during my marathon, which was my downfall this past spring. Following the trail portion I did another 2 miles at a bit of a pickup pace with a local ultrarunner and a nice guy on a business trip from France named Vincent.

Looking back I think this was one of my best runs to date and my 52 miles this week (in 5 days) is the most since the winter. The plan at this rate is to keep up the 22 milers on the weekends, and start picking and choosing some key workouts from Jack Daniels' elite marathon plan to incorporate into my schedule. My confidence is good and my legs are finally feeling great so I can't wait to see how the next few weeks go.

Quote of the day:

"Running is life. Everything else is just waiting" - Myself, although I think I may have seen this elsewhere.

And I was Running

It has been a while since the last post, and while I am not sure I have attracted any sort of prodigious audience in my several posts up to this point, alas I continue. When you spend hours upon hours out running all over this great country, there is no way to possibly chronicle the mind of a runner during those times, but at least with this blog I can begin to record a few thoughts here or there specifically worth remembering from the thought salad that emerges as my legs take stride after stride...

On the subject of my training, it is finally going well again and I am back on track to be training at the level I would like to be at for the Steamtown Marathon. My weekly milage going from the week of 5/16/2011 — 5/22/2011 was 24.5, 24.5, 26.4, 30.5, and finally this week was 47.5. I haven't done any long runs of marathon-caliber length yet but the fact that I am consistently putting in milage day after day and not having to deal with nagging problems is a blessing in and of itself. The fast times in shorts distances also shows I still have speed (1600: 5:06; Downhill mile: 4:42; 800m: 2:11; 2mile: 11:24) which is something that I was worried about.

Looking forward I am excited to start doing a bit more trail running in my schedule. I ran today 11 miles near Gambrill Road and I can safely say it was one of my best runs ever. Running on trails is just such a different experience compared to road running. When you run on trails it is just you and nature, alone (or with friends) out there enjoying a serene type of bliss that I have rarely experienced. Your awareness is heightened, and every step is critical, or it might be your last. Root here, stump there, sharp rock here, fallen tree hurdle there...

I once read in Runners World (which I have learned all to well to take with a grain of sand) that once you start running trails you will never go back to the roads. I can certainly feel why someone would say this, although I am not quite ready to give up following a painted line on asphalt while dodging cars quite yet. I have unfinished business on the roads, and it involves a certain race which occurs on the third monday of April every year. After that, who knows what the future holds? I can say that as trail running grows on me so too will the prospect of trying to go to Boulder, CO for a grad program there at the University of Colorado. Initially I really wanted to limit my choices to top ten schools (current top choices are Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, and UCSF) but I have since then expanded my choices to "Well, if I can't get in to those places where would I like to go?" schools. These schools essentially boil down to places that it seems like I would absolutely love to live in with not Top 10 but still strong Biochemistry PhD programs. Other than the aforementioned, University of Washington is on that list.

A random thought: is there really something so strange about running shirtless? I don't get it often, but especially from non-runners I get a skeptical-scowl look. Really? It's hot out and wearing a shirt feels like wearing a sweaty 30 pound straight jacket. Sorry, but the shirt will remain off.

On another note living here at the Mount during the summer has enlightened me more than before to that fact that is pretty much sucks to not have anyone to run with most of the time. I guess during the year when the track/cross country team is on campus there is at least this sense that there are some other like-minder runners around, even if I rarely run with them. But with hardly anyone on campus at all that is certainly not the case. It's not so much that I don't enjoy running by myself, because that is not true. I have come to love it. But still it would be nice to have someone to share the amazing experience of running with, and connect to them on such a special level. Now I'm getting all sentimental, a very uncharacteristic side for me so I'll stop there.

That aside I am very much so looking forward to the rest of the summer. More trail running, more running in general, more fast races at the steeplechasers Wednesday night races, and maybe a Boston Qualifier in October if I can manage to train and prepare myself well enough.

Quote of the day:

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." - William Faulkner"

Not Quite a Summer of Smiles

Well, where should I start. I suppose I will first mention that is has been a while since I've posted, but that is probably because you haven't missed much.

I have begun recording my runs here, and I think it is publicly viewable.

http://www.runningahead.com/logs/3637a16857134adea64960e5c867570c

When I last left off I was optimistic and enthusiastic about starting summer training, but everything has gone very poorly since then and I am now in quite a rut. I was between 45-50 miles per week and feeling pretty comfortable through a 5K race I did on May 14th. I finished with s dismal time of 20 flat or so, but my pacing throughout the race was very good and I finished strong so I can look at that race as a good workout and move on. I did notice on my few cool-down miles (I almost got lost in Middletown, oops...) that my right calf was a little tight/sore. This was nothing new, as it has happened quite frequently in the past so I did what I always did and iced it up and looked to the future.

The following day I did and easy 5 miles and much to my surprise my calf felt even worse. I even had to stop and stretch it out halfway through which is a rare occurrence. I remained optimistic however and iced it up as usual, excited about the run I had planned for the next day: a tempo run with former HS teammate and ex-state champion Sara Fisher. When I woke up that morning my calf was a bit sore, but it felt better than yesterday and after some stretching/using "The Stick" I decided it could probably hold up for a 4 mile tempo run: I was wrong.

The run went alright. I am reminded that I definitely no longer have 17:54 5K speed from back in December of 2010, because I could only handle 1 mile out at her 6:15 pace and then 1 mile back before cooling down. I somewhat expected that though but then the calf problems felt worse than before, and I knew I needed to take some time off to rehab it, so that I did.

Three days of icing and stretching later and I felt really good on my easy 3 mile return run, so I went on my first trail run ever. This is the one positive note that has happened since then: I had a blast.

Trail running is a lot different than running on the roads and it was a welcome change of pace. When you are running on roads or the Canal you easily "check out" and kind of let your mind wander as you legs pound out mile after mile. It's that time of wandering of the mind that I truly love sometimes, but with trail-running it is a different experience. You have to stay focused every second of every mile, plan each footstep carefully, decide if you will run to the left of that big puddle ahead, or the right... And if you don't then you will find yourself facedown in the dirt, or worse: facedown on a rock. Fortunately I only fell once and there were no rocks around.

Beyond that the experience itself it so exhilarating it is difficult to describe and the only thing I can suggest if to have you try it out yourself. There is a great sense of freedom as you run through the forrest, nature all around you. I can really begin to understand some of the things that I read in Born to Run and I am a believer more every day that we as humans are born to run. It was a great experience overall and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I will definitely be doing some more trail running this summer, that's for certain.

The following day I did some 800's which proved to be a pretty good workout also. My goal was 3:00 and my splits were

2:56
2:58
2:56
2:48

With a lot left in the tank after the last one.

Since then things have gotten pretty bad though. I have developed some time of strange persistent headache. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was initially a 3, but then about three days ago I got a brief bad fever overnight and now it is a persistent 6. Don't worry, I did go see a doctor after the fever since I was concerned it might be something serious and he says I am fine. While maybe I'm medically fine my running is not fine. All of my runs since I've come down with this are dismally small as a time when I should be getting close to 60 miler per week. On top of that today was my worst run ever. I ran about 1 mile before I developed a strong nauseating feeling and I had to slow job the rest to prevent throwing up.

I don't know what is wrong with me but I need to get it sorted out soon, or my Marathon preparation for the fall is going to be in serious jeopardy. I've got a few hypotheses. I think the main one is an abnormal schedule/diet. Here at home I don't have any of the foods I was used to eating at the Mount and as a result I am probably not getting the nutrition I need.

Despite all of this I am trying to be optimistic. This can't go on forever, right? So I'll keep getting up everyday hoping I will feel better and look forward to the day when I will be once again pounding out miles and getting ready to qualify for Boston.

Quote of the Day:

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher

Half-Marathon & Summer

When I last left off I had just started getting back into the swing of things, and my Half-Marathon was on the horizon. Well, the training has been going well. I managed 44 miles the week of the last post, 49.6 miles the following week, and 33.6 miles last week. Last week had me taking off one day early in the week to fix a sore IT band, and then I voluntarily took off the Sunday after my Half, so that week is lower with good reason...

The half went about as well as I could have hoped for. I set out with the goal of breaking 1:30. In a worst case scenario I hoped to at least PR (1:31.high) and under best case scenario I hoped to run under 1:28, maybe getting close to the theoretical 1:25 I could run based on my fitness a few months back. To go for these goals I decided I would start out pretty conservatively, (6:4x min/min) and see how I felt from there. I did just that, and my splits went as follows:

6:38

6:40

6:32

6:37

6:50

6:38

6:46

6:47

6:35

6:53

7:14

7:15

6:58

0:54 (.16mi)

1:29:15

So I definitely died a bit towards the end, and if it hadn't been for Steve Dobson coming up beside be with around 400m to go I probably would have finished 15-20 seconds slower. But I did meet my intermediate goal, and I am happy with the race. I was hardly sore at all, save the bottoms of my feet (I ran in Lunaracers).

Coming off the race I feel as strong as ever, I took Sunday off because the bottoms of my feet were too sore to run, although my legs felt fine. Yesterday I set out to do an easy 6, but I ended up feeling great so I did around 7.7. I also felt great today and so I used my lack of a final to get in an easy 11mi run.

This run was interesting because it's the first long-ish run I have done in the heat and I brought my new running water bottle along. The water bottle was alright, but it will take some getting used to. The heat was pretty bad though (73 and sunny, no shade). The next few days will be busy so I'm glad I got a lot of milage in already this week and I am looking forward to summer, so overall I am feeling good and optimistic! Steamtown Marathon here we come!

Quote of the day:

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot

Back to Training

Well it has been just over one month since my first marathon, and I am finally starting to feel in decent shape again. Long term there have not really been any serious injuries I have sustained from the marathon, except for this one, but that is a battle scar I can handle.

Just today I ran 10 miles, which while it is not all that much, is the most I have ran since my marathon on March 20th. Most importantly, I felt great and my legs felt strong. The average pace was slower than I would have liked (8:24min/mi) but I intentionally took it pretty easy and ended up progressively getting faster through most of the run as a "warmed up" I guess you could say.

That run today puts me at 39 miles on the week (5 days), which is again the most miles in a week since the marathon so I am confident I am on the right track. Next week will hopefully be close to 50 miles but I will take it by feel and back off if necessary. I am also thinking I will try for a hard tempo run on Tuesday, which would be the first run of that type since the marathon too. My goal in that workout being to asess my fitness for the upcoming Frederick Half-Marathon.

The RRCA 10 miler on February 27th (I think) would predict I can run 1:24-25 but I need to see if I still have that fitness or how far off that fitness I am now...

So looking forward I've got a few 5Ks coming up and the Frederick Half-Marathon but other than that I am beginning to look forward to my summer base training phase. If I decide to go with the Daniels' Running Formula schedule again I'll have to start the 18 week Marathon training on June 12th-ish. I think I am capable of 80 mile weeks at the highest part of the training phase so going in I should be around 60 miles per week which is something I think I am definitely capable of.

Quote of the day:

"If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon." - Emil Zatopek

Marathon Summary

Well I will start out with a few observations prior to the race.

1. Virginia Beach is a lot further than I recall it being in conversation from other people... (5.5 hours)
2. Virginia Beach is a huge city (the largest in VA). I expected it to be like OC, MD and it would be relatively abandoned at this time of the year but that was certainly not the case.

I arrived at in VA Beach around 7PM and picked up my packet and stuffs from the expo right away. There was lots of good deals on old shirts but the lines were atrocious so I had to forgo those deals. I did stop by some of the individual vendors however and I picked up some BodyGlide and found a nice deal on a waterproof bright neon yellow jacket for the super cold winter days.

I got back to the hotel and checked in and then tried to find somewhere to eat. There was a subway half a mile away so I couldn't resist heading there. Not much else happened that night. The next morning I went for an easy shakeout 4mi run in the AM and felt pretty good considering the wear and tear that had accumulated over the past year. The rest of the day consisted of hunting for a Walmart and then relaxing with a nap and otherwise fueling up with carbs and potassium. I should add though, not sodium...

I actually slept pretty well that night despite the people partying upstairs (I felt like I was back at college!) and woke up at 4AM to get in a solid breakfast of a bagel and a half, two pop-tarts, a banana, and some orange juice. I got to the parking lot across from the finish line around 6am and just spent the next hour and a half drinking water and listening to my "pump up" playlist.

About half an hour before the race I went down to the bag check and had a hard time deciding if I should take my arm warmers and gloves but I decided to leave them behind and that was a good choice. Other than the half an hour I was freezing before the race started I felt good once the gun (or rather air horn) went off.

My first mile was 7:07. Fast, but considering how I expected to be much faster that was ok. I think I clicked off 7:10's for the next three miles or so. Then I found a nice group of guys that I would stick with for the next 10 or so miles. They were all quite friendly and were also aiming for a 3:10 BQ time. Maybe it was being in a nice group of people that made me relax a bit too much because before I knew it I was clicking off 6:59's and 6:58's pretty regularly and my average pace was down to 7:05. I knew this was too fast but I felt great so I decided to try and "bank" some time for a possible latter-half of the race crash.

I stayed around 7:07 average through the half (1:34:0x) and until around 15 miles. At that point I could feel that my legs were getting a bit tired, but I still felt decent so I dropped to 7:15ish pace to try and recover a bit. All went well until mile 18. I didn't "hit the wall", but around that point I all of a sudden started to experience painful cramps through most of my leg muscles. If you think of having a charlie horse and then imagine that in your entire leg, that is what it felt like. I stopped and stretched/massaged it a bit and then tried running but after a few strides the cramps came back and it was physically impossible to keep up running.

The remainder of the race was spend walking when the cramps occurred and then trying to jog for a while (10:30 pace) before they would come back again. I think the longest stretch I ran continuously in those last 8 miles was the last mile, and I think that was only fueled by adrenaline.

I finished in 3:35 and change, splitting 2:00+ for my last half. A very disappointing finish. At first I thought I would never run another marathon when I finished. Why go through all the training for months and months when even the best preparation might still not be enough on race day? After some consideration I realized the cramps probably occurred because my diet in the past 48 hours consisted of almost no sodium. This helped my ego a bit to know that without the cramps I might have had a good chance of finishing in under 3:20.

Now at the end of my week long break I think I might give the marathon one more try. My last race was not a good indication of my fitness or my potential as a runner, so in many ways I deserve to myself to give it at least one more try. Possible fall marathons are Baltimore and Steamtown in PA. I'll have to decide by April 1st which one I want to do so I will have some thinking to do.

Quote of the day:

"A: Knock knock?

B: Whos there?

A: The guy who finished second.
B: The guy who finished second who?
A: Exactly." - Second Place

The Long and Winding Road

The time is fast approaching for me to see exactly what the past few months of training will culminate in for me. One week from today I will toe the line (or likely not) in Virginia Beach for my first Marathon. My goal? Qualify for Boston by running 3:10:59 or better. What will really happen? Only time will tell.

The journey to this point has been a long one and looking back I have a nice combination of sweet and bitter memories to trace my path to this point. I would say this particular journey began last year around the time I did the 2010 Frederick Half-Marathon on May 2nd. I was trying to think about what pace I wanted to run the race and I decided "Hey, I'd be cool to qualify for Boston someday, I'll stick with the 3:10 pace group... 7:15 pace can't be that hard, right?"

I ended up going with that plan. Unfortunately for me the first half of the course was much easier than the second half so the pacers ran at 7 minute mile pace for at least 6 miles, because that is where I dropped off the pack and ran my own race to finish with a dismal time of 1:44:25 (7:58min/mi). At that point I don't exactly remember what I thought. I think half of me really really wanted to still qualify for Boston but another part of my had serious doubts.

I ended up taking some time off and then started into the good old summer base training routine. During that last week of May and through August I managed to tally up around 650 miles. For a below average high school runner (2:12/5:17/20:40 for 800m/1600m/3mi) that was a pretty big achievement for me. I would say it is about that time that I decided to look into this whole Boston Qualifier thing again.

I started to slowly increase my weekly milage but mainly my long run. I started out one day planning to go for a 10 miler, but I missed the 5 mile turn around so I ended up doing 12. Surprisingly I felt pretty good. To weeks later I tried 14, then later 16, and one late summer day I set out and did 4x5 mile loops through my neighborhood. What was this? I felt pretty damn good!

It would be a while before I did another 20 miler, and in fact I only did two more. One in Early December and one in Early January. So looking forward to the real subject of this post (my first Marathon) I know my endurance will be a problem, but I'll have to deal with it. Other than that I certainly can't be disappointed with my progress along the way.

I took my 3 mile PR of 20:40 in high school and in my first serious race after the summer training ran 18:54. Then I ran 19:10 a short while later. I knew at least I was getting a little faster I could tell, even though I did no speed work other than tempo runs. Then I went to the Summers Farm 5K in October and ended up winning with a 17:59. A few things were significant about this race. For one, 17:59 is a pretty decent 5K time. I'm not going to win any championships with that time, but it also seemed like I wasn't just "one of the crowd" anymore, I was starting to be a decent runner for once, something I was not used to. Secondly, it was my first real race victory ever, if you don't count those JV race victories in high school.

With that said the course was measured with a guy to be way short, as I expected since I felt pretty relaxed the whole time. But it was still happy with it. So going into the Frederick Waystation Turkey Trot I knew I had something to prove to myself: I could run under 18 on a course I could be relatively certain was really 5 kilometers.

Check on that, I ran 17:58. A few weeks later I ran 17:54 (5:45min/mile) on another legitimate course. Fast forward to February 27th, and I ran 1:04:13 for RRCA 10 miler. Woah!!! That's 6:25min/mile less than a year after I considered 7:00min/mile impossible to keep up for 13 miles. I could safely say that speed would not be a problem anymore. So what might be? Endurance.

December was actually a pretty decent month for training. I got in a 20 miler and averaged 55 miles per week with 2 weeks at or over 60 miles. Since then however I have ran ~410 miles, with some weeks unaccounted for on some days for an average of 37 miles per week. And only one 20 miler. I can chalk this up to various nagging minor injuries that I took time off to allow to heal before they became serious or some type of seasonal affective running disorder where the winter months make me hate running most days. No matter what excuses I make it doesn't change what will happen on race day though. I will either have it around mile 18 or I will not. And after the race then that will be the time to see what I can improve on. But for now, I'll just have to hope Emil Zátopek is looking down from way up there and when he sees things getting tough for me he can help me to remember that "It's at the border of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys" and I can be able to find that last gear.