Milestone Week!

I haven't done much in terms of recapping my training recently because it has been a pretty non-eventful activity.  My coach has me slowing down my easy runs and making my hard workouts brutal which I guess is the way you are supposed to train. I think it makes sense and I am buying into it because your easy miles are really there to maintain/build endurance and allow you to recover to focus on logging miles near race paces.

I had a huge milestone last week in that I logged my first ever 100+ mile week. I never really thought I would get there, nor did I ever think I would feel as good doing it. It did mean 10+ mile recovery days and hard workouts are crammed in the middle of 13-15 mile runs but hey its all in good fun. Here is a recap of the week including 2 pretty hard workouts:

Monday:		AM: 10.5M V. Easy [7:50] PM: 6M Easy [7:22]
Tuesday:		AM: 12.5M Easy [7:30] PM: 6M V. Easy [7:50]
Wednesday:		10.5M V. Easy [7:40]
Thursday:		AM: 15M w/ 12 x 250m @ 5K [5:37] PM: 6.5M Easy [7:32]
Friday:		12.5M V. Easy [7:40]
Saturday:		Rest
Sunday:		22M Easy - At 18 miles, 10 x 100m @ 5K [5:54]
Total		101.5

The most brutal part of the week definitely was the 22 miler at the end given how much mileage I had already logged, that the 5K pickups were at mile 18 of a long run and the fact that I hadn't a 22 miler since marathon training in October.

So for those that were wondering this is what a 100+ mile week looks like and yes I am crazy.  The trick now is to see how many of these I can string together to really start getting some progress rolling in my training.

Is my coach smoking crack...

Just a quick note, my workout for today was prescribed as follows:

15 miles w/ 12 x 60s repeats at 5K pace

Does he realize that he just had me basically do a long run with 2/3 of a 5K race in the middle of it? And hey lets throw in a 6 mile recovery run this afternoon too...

Best part of the story, that's not even my long run this week, I have a 22 miler scheduled for Sunday....

Holliston 10K Road Race

As part of my coaching, I am supposed to run a race every month either as a fitness check or workout to get used to racing so I am not as nervous and it takes a lot of the pressure away of only racing a few times a year.  The only race I could find that would fit in the schedule was a small local 10K which I had high hopes for.  However leading up to the race I was really struggling with some knee issues from running a hard time trial on the track which left me with tightness and general pain in my right knee. My coach and I had talked about just running it as a tempo workout and I good with that but I felt pretty good that morning so it turned into a little bit of a mixed run.

The race went out right around my 10K pace which is what caught me off guard slightly as I didn't expect to be in the lead pack, so we ran together for about 2 miles and then two guys broke off and just straight had a gear I didn't. After that I let off the gas a little and was going to settle back into tempo pace which I did for a mile, then I realized it was just 2 of us left in the chase pack for some reason so I picked it up as I was feeling good.  I was back on 10K pace in mile 5 until we hit a hill that everyone failed to mention which was like 6% grade for about 1/3 of a mile. I felt strong though in the hill and ended up dropping the other chaser and cruised home. I was surprised as to how strong I felt in that last mile and it helped my confidence a ton. I definitely think I could carry 6:00-6:10 pace for the entire 10K next time.

I ended up finishing 3rd overall in 39:08 (6:02, 6:10, 6:37, 6:20, 6:30, 6:02), slightly off my 10K equivalent time (38:12) but I was pretty happy overall as it was a relatively hilly course (in addition to the one big hill) and it was 70-75 degrees outside. I certainly could have run faster in the middle sections of the race had I not slowed down to tempo pace for a little bit. This was the first race in a long time where I felt fresh and strong so I am quite optimistic about the direction my training is headed.

Brooklyn Half Marathon

Hey for once you guys get to hear about someone other than myself!

This post is dedicated to Brandon Schubert who completed his first ever half marathon recently. Needless to say I know the type of commitment and effort that goes into training for one of these. He has come a long way since he started running and more than anything I think its awesome that he has stuck with it as not many people do. Running is one of those things that grows and grows on you to the point where people look at you when you tell them that you went for a run yesterday and they ask how far and you say oh just an easy 20 miles.

You can see from the sign below that I was there in spirit thanks to Lindsay. Although I am sure everyone was thinking "What the heck does a Japanese lunch box have to do with being fast?", I am sure her support helped him get through some of the tough parts in the race.

Not sure what the future will hold for Mr. Schubert, I know he has expressed some interest in Club 26.2 and if he decides to commit to it I'll help in anyway he needs me to. But no matter what he decides, I hope that Brandon realizes accomplishments like this are huge and define you as a person...deep down you realize that there really is nothing you can't do if you work hard at it.

"The only place you will find success before work is the dictionary..."

Perspective...

I am always trying to push myself and typically am not happy unless I am making quick progress but running it turns out is one of those things that can take years to reach your potential.

The human body is capable of some pretty insane things. To see what I mean check this out:

Maynard 5K 2010 - 39:45
Holliston Newcomers 10K 2012 - 39:10

I guess maybe that puts things a little more in perspective for me.

My New Coach....

As part of my birthday present to myself I decided it was time to begin working with a coach since I was starting to run myself into the ground when I tried to start running more speed work.  I wasn't sleeping well at night and constantly struggling through workouts so I knew I was doing something run but I just didn't know how to get better and stay healthy.

I randomly came upon a coach named Tom Schwartz who is a writer for Runners World and has been coaching for the better part of 30+ years. He has a pretty good track record of fixing runners not performing up to their true potential and fitness level. In addition he has coached a number of Olypmic marathoners and since my long term insane goal is to qualify to run in the Olympic trials I thought he might be a good choice.

First thing he has me doing, running slower LOL....I guess I had been running too hard on easy days and not hard enough on hard days to see real performance gains.  I guess its common and it is basically a trap of constantly running moderate but never forcing your body to adapt to run faster.  He also has me upping my mileage so I am sure I'll be well north of 100 mpw this summer on a regular basis.

I hope he can help me improve and reach some of my potential.

Groton 5K & 10K Road Race

For some reason, I always feel obligated to run races I have run in previous years and this one I really enjoyed last year so it was a no-brainer.  In addition, it was my last race in the 20-29 year old age bracket, which sucks because the 30-39 bracket is much more competitive for some reason. I think all the college runners decide to start running after they get out of shape when they leave college but thats just a guess.

I decided this year to run the double which not many people do but its a good way to get mileage in and since I am already there I figured why not.  I couldn't decide which race I would run as my primary but I felt like I had unfinished business in the 5K since I definitely could have run faster than I did in the BAA 5K.  I decided to target the 5K as my primary race to get a new PR. The race went out pretty fast as expected since there are usually decent runners at the event and I threw down a 5:41 first mile which scared the living crap out of me. I was in new territory with paces that fast so I slowed down which in retrospect I don't think I necessarily needed to. My splits were 5:41, 5:59, 5:53 for a final of 18:21, a shiny new PR just two weeks after my last and 10th place overall in a pretty competitive race. I guess the training was working as I dropped my 5K by well over a minute in about 6 months on just base mileage. Even now I really think I could have run even faster because I backed way far off when I saw that 5:41 and my legs were definitely banged up and fatigued as I was coming off an 80+ mile week. 

The 10K was going to be just a tempo run for me so I started out around 6:50 a mile and was feeling good so I just ended up running a progression run with my last mile coming in around 6:20 which isn't half bad.  What is crazy is a I ran a huge PR just as a tempo run of 41:23 which I was very happy with.

It also turned out that I ended up winning my age group in the 5K and got an Amazon.com gift card in the mail a week later.  This was a pretty cool feeling since up until now I only ever really won trophy's which are nice but its always good to win some money even if it didn't cover the cost of the race entry itself.

Boston Marathon Volunteering

As I am sure everyone knows the Boston Marathon was a complete disaster this year because of a heat wave that hit.  I volunteered as a clockwatcher at mile 16 which is in Newton Lower Falls and I have never seen so many people hurting that early in a marathon ever.  At one point, the water station we were near had 8 people passed out on the group awaiting medical attention. There was one guy who came off the course threw up, passed out and we had called an ambulance for him, but while we were waiting for it to come he got up and continued running on.  I have no idea if he finished or not but it was pretty insane.

It was hot just standing there in the shade, so much so that I had to do my Bear Grylls impersonation:

Luckily I didn't have to drink my own urine as there was a Starbucks about 100 yards away from where I was.  I also picked up a cool souvenir as Geoffrey Mutai chucked his water bottle at me and it has his name hand written on it with his seed #1.  I really enjoy volunteering for these events as it is cool to cheer on everyone who is trying to do something that only 1% of the population will ever accomplish.

BAA 5K

My first race coming out of base building and although I hadn't done any speedwork I was optimistic about improving my 5K PR.  The race was pretty insane given that they crammed 6,000 people onto Bolyston street.  I was lined up in the 5:30 pace corral despite knowing I wasn't that fit, but how can I not when theres a guy dressed up as a hamburger in the same corral.

The start of the race was an absolute shit show where I had to jump over a lady who got trampled and was face down on the pavement because obviously she can't run a sub-6:00 mile.  After the crazy start it opened up a little bit and we came around the commons to a big hill which definitely slowed me down. On the downhill portion I saw a guy get his foot suck in a rut in the road proceed to break his ankle and smash his face which was slightly concerning and made me overly aware of my foot placement for the rest of the race. Overall I was holding back in this race as I had no idea what pace I could hold.  I ran a crazy negative split with 6:19, 5:59, 5:53 for an 18:45 5K which was a PR by 45 seconds over my previous from September.

Base trainng is the real deal...

I haven't had much to blog about since my last post as its just been a grind of miles each and every week. I have tested the limits of my body and pushed beyond what I really thought would ever be possible.  If you had told me even after the marathon that I would be capable of running 90-100 miles a week I would have thought you were crazy.

I now have a much better understanding of the physiology of running and the adaptations of the human body to training.  I know that my training will take time and the key is patience because I don't have the years of aerobic conditioning that many fast runners have from high school and college.  That being said I am confident that I can get there eventually. There are two great quotes that really have been sticking with me lately as something I have learned about not only training but life in general:

"The dictionary is the only place where success will come before work."

"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-rendering 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?" 

This was my first real introduction to aerobic conditioning and base building; I find it humorous now when I hear people say that Lydiard training is all about long, slow distance as this period of training was the hardest I have done and yet the most rewarding.

The end result...with no speed or specific training I have taken my easy aerobic pace from 7:45 to 7:00 and I ran my first fast-finish long run where I was able to close in 6:58, 6:58, 6:50, 6:47, 6:38. I ran a freaking 6:38 for mile 20 and felt like I could have kept going.

I am starting the anaerobic phase of Lydiard training to try and exploit my aerobic base and see just how fast I can get during this round of training.  I think a sub-18:00 5K and sub-40:00 10K are realistic goals and just maybe I'll even surprise myself.

Been a little while...

I know I have been slacking a little in the blogging department, but I am sure my four followers will cut me some slack!

There is not much going on in terms of running lately, just really grinding out miles as much as I can each week.  Last week I came down with Bronchitis which was finally diagnosed after running about 50 miles during the week.  The doc put me on antibiotics and an inhaler which helps but really just time will clear this up.  My doctor said that as long as I didn't have a fever there was no reason I couldn't still run, but everything I read online has said that its not a good idea so I took 2 days off including missing a long run over the weekend.

I know most people won't understand but getting faster and fitter is all about consistency and even missing a single run makes me feel like I set myself back slightly.  I have been sticking to a pretty rigid schedule which gets stressful so I am taking a new approach until my racing starts in April which is to plan on running within a given range for a week.

I have done quite a bit of research lately on training theory and programs and most of the really top level coaches focus on theories developed by Arthur Lydiard.  His premise was to break training out into cycles for base building, strength, speed and sharpening.  Right now I am focusing on base building which is the foundation for his whole program. The general premise is everyone's performance has a limit which is based on their aerobic conditioning so the idea is to run as many possible miles each week at easy aerobic effort in order to set your ceiling as high as possible.  My initial thought was 70 miles or so would be sufficient for my baseline but Lydiard recommends around 100 miles a week as the best range for optimum performance.  I don't think I can get there this year but I am at least going to push my limits and try to get up to between 80 - 90 miles a week.

In order to do this, I started extending all of my non-recovery runs to a minimum of 10 miles.  The first week straight up sucked and I was hurting badly.  However, my body is starting to adapt and a 10 mile run feels like my 6 mile runs used to where no matter how I was feeling I could bang one out at an easy pace.  My goal is going to be to add a mile or two to each of the non-double 10 milers each week to get to the point where if I am running a double it will be 10 in the AM and 6 in the PM and if it is a single day it will be between 13-15 miles. The only downside is right now I can only run two hard efforts each week, a long run and a threshold run, where as I would try to run two threshold runs (one aerobic and one anaerobic) previously.

I am pretty happy so far with what I am seeing in terms of results so far even in just a short period of time because my easy pace has been drifting down into the 7:00-7:30 range where as it was previously 7:30-8:00 and the runs are typically longer.

That is the boring update on running...

As for anything else interesting, I did spend a week out in Redwood City, CA for a leadership council which was interesting.  I couldn't believe how weird the weather is out there because I would run in the mornings and it would feel like New England (30-40 degrees) and then later in the day I'd go out for my second run and it would 60+ degrees.  Not sure people how can deal with those swings.

I did see a ton of people running out there which makes me jealous because the city is really designed around people being active. There are tons of running trails/parks and the street lights are actually on when they need to be so you can run before sunrise or after sunset and the lights are at regular intervals.

I hate to admit it but one of my runs out there turned out to be a disaster.  I have a normal route that I run from the hotel to the bay that is about a 4 mile loop. I typically run it clockwise and have never had any issues but for some reason this time I decided to run counter-clockwise and proceeded to miss an important turn that brings me back to the hotel.  Because of this I spent about 30 minutes running around in circles in a small community that literally only had a single exit.  It was full of side roads and circles and it all began to look the same and I was running towards what I thought was the hotel only to find out that I was running in circles. I probably should have known when I passed the same group of kids waiting at the bus stop for the 3rd time. Oh well I guess, at least I eventually got back to the hotel...

Who Get's Lost on a Single Lane Dirt Trail...

I haven't been running on the local trail much because it was giving me weird toe pain/cramps and yesterday I decided to give it a go again.  The run itself was great, I had no toe pain and it didn't seem to aggravate the knee pain I have been having and to top it off it gave me a great story for my blog.

So I am running on the trail and I hear a car coming up behind me like they occasionally do since it is used by the DPW and local residents.  However, unlike when they usually just drive by and wave, this guy slows down and rolls down his window. Needless to say I have my headphones on blaring and I'm running at a decent clip like 7:00, so I take my headphone off and try my best to ask him what's up in between breaths. On a side note, the only reason I ever have an urge to run with anyone else is to see if I can actually hold a conversation at my easy pace since supposedly that can improve fitness. As I am running the guy tells me he is lost, mind you this is a one lane dirt trail with only one entrance and exit and its only about a mile long.

In my head I'm thinking, is this guy a freaking moron or what.  I refuse to slow down or stop to talk so I keep running and give the guy directions on how to get out to Rt. 117 and as he is driving off I see what appears to be a camera mounted to the dash with a red record light on.

In addition, to not being able to find his way out of a paper bag, this guy was creating a record of his stupidity. Makes me wonder what the heck he was filming for...

Runner Problems...

I am really beginning to like these "motivational" posters from Runners World. I prefer to avoid this situation whenever possible...

New Year's Resolutions...

If you are a gym regular, you certainly can relate to what I am about tell you. I hate the first week of the new year. Everyone and their mother decides to come to the gym to work on their new year's resolutions. Now I am all for improving yourself and know all too well what type of commitment it takes. But here are some statistics on why I think new year's resolutions are stupid:

• 62% of Americans set new year resolutions
• 8% of people are always successful in achieving their resolutions.
• 19% achieve their resolutions every other year.  
• 49% have infrequent success.  
• 24% never succeed and have failed on every resolution every year. 

I am not sure what it is about the New Year that people think is magical but as you can see over half the population sets resolutions and a quarter of them have never actually accomplished them.

I give it 2 weeks until the gym is back to normal and I don't have to wait for a treadmill or the restroom and until then maybe the people will provide some comedic relief for me.

Why do dogs hate me so much...

So I can't remember if I posted previously about the pack of cocker spaniels that chase me around the back roads of Stowe occasionally, but there are 4 or 5 of them that will follow me for about half a mile from their house.  They tend not to really cause me any issues so I don't mind them so much. 

However, apparently this isn't an isolated incident.  This week I was running an easy shake-out after a sick fast finish long run so my legs were pretty toasted and because of some pains I've been having in my toe I couldn't run on the trails.  This meant I had to extend my usual 6 mile route to include an extra mile so I decided to run down around the Clocktower place parking lot.  As I am turning around, out of no where a Chihuahua starts chasing me and I figured he would just chill out and follow me for a few and back off, but not this dog.  He decided to continue chasing me and nipping at my ankles, which normally wouldn't be an issue because I could just drop to a lower gear and out run him but my legs were wiped and so I was trying as hard as I could get away but I had nothing.  His owner just stood there watching as if enjoying the situation and eventually called him back.

So I ask....why do dogs want to chase me so badly!

Welcome to Winter Training in New England!

Winter Base Building

I am currently going to be shifting my focus to really building my aerobic base for the spring. I am still on the fence on whether I will run a spring marathon or if I am going to solely focus on getting faster.  My goal of sub-2:55:00 is very aggressive and is probably going to take me multiple training cycles to get through. Next year I have two primary goals, qualify for NYC 2013 and Boston 2013.  The NYC qualifying is going to be a half marathon which has to be a sub-1:23:00 which I may attempt in the spring.

I will most likely not be posting too many training logs from here until I decide on my race for the spring and start specific training but here is what my general log will look like.  My goal is to make 72 miles feel like a normal week so the next time I do marathon training I will be able to ramp up over 90 miles per week.

In the interim, if the weeks start getting too easy, I am going to start lowering my interval times. I need to get Thursdays mile repeats down to about 5:55 to be in NYC qualifying shape so I have some work to do. In addition, I'd like to get the speed intervals down so I am running [800@5:50; 400@5:30; 400@5:20; 1200@6:00]. 

Standard Training Week: 72 miles.

Monday:		7 miles
Tuesday:		AM: 3x[800@6:11; 400@5:52; 400@5:39; 1200@6:40]. 11 miles PM: 6 miles
Wednesday:		6 miles
Thursday:		AM: 5x1M@6:40. 10 miles PM: 6 miles
Friday:		6 miles
Saturday:		Rest
Sunday:		20 miles

Recovery Weeks 4, 5 & 6

It looks like the experts are right that it takes about twice the time taken off  to get back up to pre-injury fitness level. I have finished 6 weeks of recovery and am just about back up to where I was during marathon training. I haven't really had any pain or even the "niggles" that they say last for a while after an injury which is a good sign that it has healed well.

Week 4 Total: 52 miles.

Monday:		6 miles
Tuesday:		8 miles
Wednesday:		6 miles
Thursday:		10 miles
Friday:		2x[800@6:30; 400@5:54; 400@5:39; 1200@6:49]. 6 miles
Saturday:		Rest
Sunday:		16 miles

Week 5 Total: 56 miles.

Monday:		6 miles
Tuesday:		6 miles
Wednesday:		AM: 2x[800@6:11; 400@5:54; 400@5:39; 1200@6:49]. 8 miles PM: 4 miles
Thursday:		10 miles
Friday:		6 miles
Saturday:		Rest
Sunday:		16 miles

Week 6 Total: 66 miles.

Monday:		7 miles
Tuesday:		2.75x[800@6:11; 400@5:52; 400@5:39; 1200@6:44]. 10 miles
Wednesday:		6 miles
Thursday:		AM: 6 miles PM: 6 miles
Friday:		10 miles
Saturday:		Rest
Sunday:		17 miles