Week 4 and 5 … Go!

I'n starting to feel good about things again. Starting to adapt to the stress of the slightly higher intensity and moving towards the halfway point at the end of this week. Last Saturday I knocked out a 19:23 5k in 20 mile per hour wind and 19 degree temperatures. Im about 2 minutes off where I should be right now, but seriously in late November who is really focused on time. It was hilarious to run hard in those temps. I was thoroughly warmed up and ready to go but after running the first 2 miles in sub 6 minute mile pace my body just couldn't deal with the icy cold wind to continue on at that pace. It was fun and good enough for 21st place.. After a day off I started my week of 7s. Mostly I ran different variations on the seven miler. One where I ran 3 of the 7 at 10k pace, one where I ran one mile of 7 @ 5k pace and the other two just my normal pace 2 easy running. I topped of my feeling great week with a silly post thanksgiving 19 miler that is bound to leave me a bit sore on Monday morning. Going to take a couple hard days off and start up again on Wednesday with a hard 10k. The fun continues.

Charleston Week 3

Its time to get this right. I have learned my lesson in these last two weeks. When you are exhausted you need take a rest day. This seems like an easy lesson to learn, but grinding yourself into the dirt is a difficult habit to break. I am a grinder. I enjoy working myself into a puddle and reaping the fitness benefit weeks later. Last night I ran a nice 10k in the dark with a friend from Striders, and a random ultra marathoner visiting on business. We comfortably talked about our training plans as we clipped off mile after mile at around 7:18 pace. It was nice. I need to build up my confidence to go out with the lead pack and just stick with them, but for now my focus is about getting back into really good shape and slowly getting faster. For my 6x800 meters I took to the roads for half of them and finished the last 3 on the track. Not much to say here. I tend to feel like crap running on day 2 of any week. My 800s were run @ 6 mpm or slightly under. 2 mile wo / 2 mile cd Day Three - Took Friday off. Hip Flexor was a little tight and there is no reason to not try a day off here. Day 4 wo/cd 2 miles 4.5 miles @ 7:20 pace Day 5 am easy 4 miles shakeout pm Im starting to realize how much better I feel running 90 percent of my mileage around my marathon pace or faster. Im not running a bunch of easy junk miles and then burning myself out by running everything else at my 2 mile pace. Starting to become accustomed to running consistently harder. Skipping the tempo run this week to just get a nice healthy week done without grinding myself into the ground. Racing on Saturday will be enough stress on my body.

Charleston Week 2

Day One: 6 miles @ 7:19 pace nice and relaxed minus my shin splint in my right leg. Hopefully its just that Im ramping up the mileage and will disappear in a couple of weeks as I get stronger. Day 10 without a day off is a new thing for me. I will see how Im adapting to all this new stress at the end of the week. Day Two: Hall Street Hills 11 200m hard walk/jog back down 1.6 mile wo / 1 mile cd. Short on the cd and should be around 15 repeats Day Three: Rest Day (shin) Tight calf is the cause here. I am working the crap out of it.. Day Four: 6 miles @ pace 1, 2 Nice and easy 8:07 pace Calf is still tight, shins can suck it Day Five: Got to do what you got to do. Easy 2 mile wo 3 miles at tempo pace 1 mile cd My weekly mileage is going to be lower from my day off but Im not going to skip a wo. Day Six: 8 miles (calf don't fail me now.) Still kind of tight.. Just working through it. Going to get new shoes. I changed up the model of NBs that Ive been running in for the last 2 years. I have a feeling that there is something different with this model. I have never had shin splints before.. Oh well I run, and sometimes I hurt. Day Seven: No long run Day Eight and Nine Rest

Charleston Half Marathon Week One

I started training for my goal race this week. Originally I was going to run the Charleston Marathon in January, but after my last training cycle I have decided the smart move is to sharpen myself up and race a strong half marathon. I never really felt like I've put in the work to run fast. Whether an injury has interrupted my training plan or I have burned out halfway through my cycle I have yet to go into a race feeling 100% ready to run. Something inside of me tells me that now is the time to push. Being a tweeker, I am constantly experimenting with my body. I take my training seriously, and am becoming more aware of myself as I get older, sometimes getting the tweaks just right. This cycle, I am going to just go for it. I have decided to give the next 12 weeks of training everything I've got and just go for it. How? That is the question. I have chosen to follow an advanced 10k plan from Hansons Running to frame out my training cycle. Coming off of almost 25 weeks of strength/core and conditioning I feel that the speed work / tempo work / and faster than normal easy runs of an advanced 10k plan will chisel my body down into a well honed machine. Its always and experiment, and I am ready for the challenge. Week One : 57 Miles Day one : 10k @ 7:34 pace.. Its hard for me to pace easy runs faster and not push at the same time. Should have been between 7:38-8:30 pace. I need to find that pace or I will not be able to survive. Day two: 12x400 meters @ 5k pace wo/cd - Kind of boring.. The recovery of 400m made this feel like the wo was taking forever. Stride is choppy @ 6:00 mpm felt like going faster.. but Im doing what the plan says. Ran 2 mile wo and 1 mile cd for 9. Not the greatest workout. I normally run my repeats much faster, and do a standing rest. The rest 400m of this workout just felt a little too long.. But, I have committed to this plan and will stick to it. Day three: 10k @ 7:36 pace.. I just tried to be comfortable here.. I guess Im going to hard.. Im sure we will find out when we tempo tomorrow.. Felt good.. Don't know how Im going to run like this until January but… you know. Day Four: 2 mile wo / 3 miles @ hmp 2 mile cd total of 7.. Felt a little forced and my stride felt off.. Its going to take some time before I can string together days like this and feel like running hard.. 6:45 pace Day Five: 8 miles @ 7:43 in the rain.. Felt pretty good.. My legs are tired. Will try to slow down for the scheduled 8 for tomorrow. Day Six: 8 Miles @ 8:00 Trying to conserve a little energy and take it easy on this run. Im feeling a little worn out which was to be expected upping the pace of all my easy runs. I have slight calf tightness in my right leg which is giving me a bit of a shin splint. I got tired at 5 miles, and realize that Im just not eating enough to compensate for the amount of calories I have been burning this week. Vitamins and rest are my best friends. I normally run 7 days and then take 2 days off, this is my 8th day of running without a break, and if I can figure out how to relax on these medium and longer runs I might not have to take rest days at all. As of right now all I want to do is not run. After next week we will see what sort of adaptation happens. I might have to include rest days. Day 7 12 miles 8:12 pace lots of traffic stops and a few stops to work out my calf tightness.. Shin splints went away after 3.5 miles. Tired as shit but tried to work hard on the hills and keep my form.. Glad to have made it to the second week.

The Perfect Race

I am not sure what it means to run the perfect race. On Sunday October 20th I think I ran my smartest race possible. I did not run my fastest time and frankly I did not even seem to be racing at all. My plan going in was to stay relaxed and comfortable and test out how my body feels. Normally I fall into every trap imaginable on race day. I tend to go out to fast, race someone faster than me in the middle miles and wind up dying in the last few miles. This time was completely different. I went out and hit my first mile at 5% slower than my race pace and then slowly eased myself into a comfortably hard pace for the remaining miles. Here is what I need to work on.. At mile 11 I started to feel tired. My left hip started to get a small cramp. Easy enough to fix. My long runs were sporadic and I need to up my mileage a little bit. My plan for the next cycle is to run my easy runs at a faster pace than normal and slow my tempo and speed workouts down a bit. I feel that I have been racing my track workouts and just going too slow on my easy days.

Taper Capers

Every running cycle comes to an end. This last cycle of mine is 8 days away from completion. On the 20th of October, after a long and grueling year since breaking myself at the Chicago Marathon, I am ready to toe the line and put in a good effort. The last few months have not been easy, but I have learned how to take care of my aging body on my road to healing and growing stronger. Am I ready to race? Sure. Am I just happy to be able to run again? Exactly. I have one more cycle to go this year before I take some real time off. After I race on Sunday I am going to take a few days off from the intensity of my interval sessions and then after I feel fully recovered I am going to start the 12 week build up to the Charleston Marathon in January. The next 12 weeks will be fun. I have a training plan in mind that will hopefully keep me motivated through the cold dark days of Nov, Dec, and January. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Almost Half Way There

2013 has been a very strange year for me. I did not start running again until April of this year. I spent April and May jogging and doing core work. 4 mile runs at 10 minutes per mile just to get my body back into dealing with the stress of running. I spent the next couple of months losing the 10 extra pounds that I gained wallowing around all winter with a feed bag attached to my head. As July came my legs started to feel like being a runner again and the 7:30 miles started to comfortably come from me again. August came and went. I spent the month just head down running through the hot and humid days and night. September, Now September always surprises me like a bi polar girl friend. The first crisp and cool days of September come and my body wants to go fast. Mile repeats start at sub 5k pace for the first time all year, 400 meter sprints feel effortless and then... You have an awful shitty run and you lose all confidence in your training. I should be aware of this cycle by now, but even though I know that this is what motivates me to work harder, I still crash hard every single time I string together a couple of bad days. Am I ready? Exactly one month from now I will run my first race since my Chicago marathon debacle. I have spent many months doing physical therapy, and slowly, carefully, and methodically I have been getting myself back into shape. I am still not 100% injury free, and I'm about 2 months, 5 long runs and 8 track work outs away from being back in half way decent shape. My mind has played tricks on me since last October and I seriously have contemplated calling it quits after this year buying a new mountain bike and just letting go of these insane ideas of being a runner. The funny thing about this is that no matter what I do, and how damaged and broken I feel I can not let go. Last Wednesday night I did a mile time trial on the track at the end of a 1600/800/400/400 meter workout and started to feel the snappiness that fills my soul with hope. I have good days and I have bad days. Last night after 7 long, tight and crooked miles I wanted to light my shoes on fire and just give up. Tonight, I am sure I will feel the same, but I am willing to push through. Is it all about just pushing through the low points? We will find out soon.