455 MILES

I currently use this online running log. It’s nice because you can set up a team and see how others are training. I’m on two teams; a group from the hillrunner forum and alumni from my college. One guy from the latter group is running Twin Cities Marathon. He just finished a 455-mile month. That’s “only” 103 miles per week, but it looks like a hell of a lot more when you see each day broken out. I was more impressed with his comments. Nearly every comment spoke of something hurting. I guess that’s a given when you’re running that much. Maybe that’s the difference between “average” and “above average”. The average runner takes the day off; the above average runner pushes through and gets his mileage in.

After reading Self-Made Olympian, I decided to get Daws’ other book, Running Your Best. Last night I read the first couple of chapters. He mentions Ron Hills’ streak of running 20 years in a row without missing a day. Now I hear about “days run in a row” streaks all the time. What makes Hills’ streak even more impressive is that it includes running TWICE a day everyday (except Sunday) for 20 years. I’m sure he wasn’t pain-free for each of those 7,300 runs!

Speaking of books, I’m trying to add to my collection of out-of-print running books. I also bought Clean Pair of Heels and Kiwi’s Can Fly through adebooks. I also picked up Steve Scott the Miler, 26 Miles to Boston, and On the Run From Dogs and People from Half Priced Books. I mainly bought those last 3 because I had a gift certificate from my birthday.

With a race tomorrow, there’s nothing exciting to mention regarding today’s run; 5 easy miles with 3 strides thrown in at the end. I could mention that the weather was stunning, 65-70 and sunny with a dew point less than 45. Alumni weekend is notoriously hot and humid. So it figures that after a summer of bitching about the weather, tomorrow looks like it will be awesome; probably 60-65, overcast and low humidity. I think I can break 31, but would guess that sub-30 is out of the question. Goals: 30:30 and top-3 in my age group.

CHANGES IN PERSPECTIVE

As I mentioned yesterday, I have 2 races this weekend. I wanted to get in some faster work today, yet not leave me tired for the weekend. The solution? The fartlek workout I did last Sunday. This time I did it during the course of an 8 mile run. Two days after my Sunday fartlek, my legs felt good for the 800s, so hopefully they’ll feel good for Saturday’s race.

It’s funny how our perspective changes over time. Yesterday I mentioned my “whopping” 181 miles in August. Last night I was looking through my old logs from college. My best season of cross country came after running 184, 186 and 185 miles in June, July and August. Remember, that’s the key base-building stretch for college runners. Man, that’s only 42 mpw. Not that sub-17 and sub-35 are fast time (by college standards), but how the hell did I ever run that fast on 6 miles a day?

Doesn’t it seem reasonably to think if I double my base mileage, I should be able to run faster – even if it’s 10 years later? I suppose "all else" would have to remain constant for that to really be the case. I have about 25 seconds per mile to drop from my best performances last year. That’s not going to happen this year. Maybe next? I suppose that’s what keeps me going.

MORE REPEATS

I had my fantasy football draft last night. I’m the commissioner of the league and volunteered to have the draft at my house. Since my girls would be in bed, I had the draft in the basement. There’s only one problem, my computer is on the main level. That meant I had to run back and forth after every 2-3 picks in order to load them into the website because I had 3 people drafting online. So 5 trips per round, times 16 rounds equals 80 flights of stair repeats. Luckily I could sit about halfway up, so I only had about 10 stairs to climb. But still, 80 x 10 = 800 stairs after doing 6 x 800s in the morning makes for a long day.

I thought I drafted an awesome team, especially since I was 10th in a 10-team league. I have a Super Secret website that’s better than any magazine you can buy. Of course, the “good stuff” on the Super Secret website is by subscription, but it’s worth it.

With 2 races coming up this weekend (Buckshot (college alumni) 5 miler on Saturday and Victory 10k on Monday and with yesterday’s workouts, I thought today would be a good day to take off. That means I closed out August with a “whopping” 181 miles. In the last 22 months, I’ve only been below that total 3 times. 2 of those were due to marathon tapers/recoveries and the other was after a long summer of racing last year. More disturbing may be the 9 days off I took off.

(NEARLY) DESENDING REPEATS

I did it!!! I made it to the track this morning and completed the workout I had planned, 6 x 800 with 800 jog. I believe the first time I did this workout last year; I averaged just over 3:00 for the 800s. By the end of the season I was averaging in the low 2:50s for 8 repeats – with 2-3 other runners on a synthetic track. Since this morning’s workout was a solo effort on the dirt track at the Minnetonka Junior High, I thought averaging 2:55 would be a very solid workout.

I followed the new strategy of not looking at my watch during the workout. It’s a good thing too, because had I looked, I may have stopped after 2 repeats; 3:08 and 3:01. Maybe it just took me awhile to get going because after that I ran 2:57, 2:54, 2:55, 2:52. So I averaged 2:58 for all 6 and 2:55 for the last 4. My average rest was just under 4:30.

I’m pretty happy with that workout – it gives me something to build off of. Last year I did this workout 3-4 times before bumping it to 8 repeats. This year I’m going to be more aggressive, since my race season is shorter than last year. I think the next time I do a track workout; I’ll add some strides to my warm-up. That should help make the first two reps quicker.

SCAREDY-CAT

It was cool enough this morning that I decided to try and get back into the habit of taking Bailey for a mile run in the morning. If it’s too hot or muggy I just take her for a quick walk. But she loves to eat, so she needs more exercise then she typically gets in the summer. She definitely has to be the biggest scaredy-cat in the world. While we were running I got a bug in my mouth and spit it out. The sounds of me spitting made her take off like the start of a 100 meter dash. After dropping her off at home I managed another 5 miles at a leisurely pace.

If you have a blog, Will had a good post recently regarding things that all bloggers probably think about; who’s reading my blog, is my mom or wife reading, how much traffic am I getting, etc. I particularly like the statements regarding apologizing for not posting.

To apologize for not posting often enough is to say to one's readers, "Ohhhhhh, you've missed me, haven't you? Aren't I important? How could you make it those three days without me?"

If I remember correctly, I almost apologized once. Actually I just said I’d try to do a better job of posting daily – more for me, than for my “vast” readership.

FARTLEK

I forgot to mention yesterday that I felt really good during yesterday’s run, even pushing my kids. I felt strong, even after 100 minutes, and could easily have kept going. Today I felt it in my legs a little, but mentally I was in a good mood about running. Maybe it was due to another day of glorious weather – very similar to yesterday.

Looking back at last year’s log, I noticed that I did a lot of fartleks. Since I haven’t done any this year I thought it’d be a great way to get in some speed (even on tired legs) and still recover in time for a hard Tuesday run. I can’t remember where I got this workout from, maybe it was from one of Joe Rubio’s online post somewhere. Anyway, after warming up I did 4 x 1:00 with 4:00 rest, 4 x :30 with 2:30 rest, 4 x :15 with :45 rest. The entire workout portion lasts 36 minutes, of which 7 minutes are hard. It makes for a great 8 mile day, but I did this as part of a 10 mile loop.

Yesterday’s run gave me 47 miles for the week. I’ve been all over the board, mileage-wise, in the last month (62, 38, 49, 22, 47). As Lydiard would say, once anaerobic workouts begin, training stops. The problem is that I haven’t really been doing many anaerobic workouts. That’s gotta change if I hope to get in some decent races in the next 2 months.

PARTY HEARTY

I suppose I could have called this post Part 3 of my latest “series” but I’ll add a little variety instead. One of my P2 teammates had a party at his house last night. Since he lives about 4 miles away I couldn’t not go, right? The last P2 party I went to lasted until 1 AM. At 8 I joked that we only had 5 hours to go – thinking there was no way I’d make it that long – having gotten up before 5 and possible having to get up at 6 the next day if I wanted to race.

Well, we didn’t make it till 1 AM, but midnight was close enough. Nothing really exciting happened. After the early birds went home, a group of 10 went inside and, as Jim would say, "jawboned". Of course by this time there was no way I’d be getting up at 6 AM (even though I only had 2 beers). That’s alright. If you factor in the entry fee ($20) and gas ($15) it would have been a $35 5K.

Instead of racing I decided to get in a “long” run. My girls wanted to come along in the stroller which was alright with me. I pumped up the tires to decrease the roll resistance (one of those triathlon/biking terms) I pushed Kinsey for an hour before taking Katie out for 40 minutes. Based on effort, rather than pace, I called it 12 miles.

It was a beautiful day, probably 65-70 degrees, low humidity and sunny with a fairly strong breeze. When we got back I left the stroller outside. Later that afternoon, all 3 tires were flat. I went to pump them up and discovered that there as a 4 inch gash in each tube. The recommended pressure is 40-65 psi and I pumped the tires to 60 psi. It wasn’t that hot in the sun, so I’m not sure what caused them ALL to explode like that.

Jim emailed later to say he ran 1:26:49 (including a stop to tie his shoe). Even just reading his email I could tell he was really excited about his race. I believe his goal was 1:27. That’s 4 weekends of racing in a row for him (10k, 15k, 10k, half) yet it doesn’t seem to phase him.

NOT WHAT I HAD PLANNED – PART 2

Like I mentioned yesterday, I pulled myself away from Spidy halfway through the movie (even though I wasn’t that tired) so I could get 7.5 hours of sleep. Yes, I was up at 4:45 and ready to run. I got up, got dressed, got my things ready to go. All that was left was to take Bailey for a quick walk. I get outside and it’s UGLY. Even though it’s still dark out, the skies are DARK – except for the constant lightning. No rain (yet) so I decide to drive across town (into the storm) and see what happens.

Halfway there it starts POURING. Even though the roads aren’t really busy yet, it’s all white-knuckle driving. It takes all my concentration to focus on the car lights in front of me and hope he doesn’t go off the road. After 5 minutes it lets up and I’m able to turn my wipers from super-high to high. Call me a wimp, but there’s no way I’m running in this crap. Give me a snow storm any day.

Basically getting up at 4:45 allowed me to sit and drink coffee for an hour, prep for my fantasy football draft next Tuesday and browse the new Triathlete magazine. I don’t do tris now, but I still like to read the magazine (more than I like Runner’s World). I hate all the gadgets associated with the sport, but man, there are some really fit triathletes.

Anyway, on to Plan B. Why do speed work Friday when you can race Saturday? There’s a 5K in Rochester, MN tomorrow morning that I think I’m going to run. It’s a little further (70 miles) than I’d like to drive, but Jim’s doing the half marathon, so I can cheer him on when I’m done. Besides, Amy is going to a wedding at noon, so I’ll have the girls the rest of the day. I’d better get my “alone time” in before she leaves.

Finally, I had a great 5 mile run over lunch. My legs felt awesome and it made me wish I had done a speed workout. Plus my lungs felt great. You know those runs where you never seem to get tired? Each time you think you're going to start breathing hard, you take a deeper breath and you feel the oxygen throughout your whole body. That's how I felt today.

NOT WHAT I HAD PLANNED

As I mentioned yesterday, tonight I was planning on hitting the track for my first set of 800s this year. By the time the girls were put to bed, it was 7:45. Given that the sun is no longer out till 9:15, I figured there’s no way I’d get my workout in without running in the dark. I have no problem running in the dark (although I’d rather do it in the AM rather than the PM) if it’s just a “normal” run, but I’m not sure if I’d like doing speed work in the dark. I can remember finishing track workouts as the sun sets, but I can’t remember doing any in the dark. As you can guess, I bagged the workout. I made myself feel a little better by promising myself I’d do the workout tomorrow morning.

I had thoughts of just going out for an easy run but I convinced myself to take the day off since I had to get up early (4:45) tomorrow. So instead of running, my wife and I watch Spiderman 2. Actually, I only watched half of it then went to bed at 9:00.

SPAM COMMENTS

I stayed up way too late (10:45) last night watching that awesome Twins’ game, setting up my fantasy football league and figuring out how to post those farmer’s market photos. I tried to sleep-in this morning, however I was awake at 5:20 and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I decided to get up and get in my 5 mile run before work.

About 5 minutes into the run, a guy merged onto the trail about 15 seconds in front of me. He looked like he was moving pretty well and had a nice stride. Now, I really don’t care how “fast” I look when I run, especially in training, but it was nice to run a fairly easy pace while maintaining that 15 second gap. I figured maybe I don’t look as slow as I feel most days.

I ran the first half in exactly 20 minutes. During the second half I threw in five 20-second strides. I was a little surprised to see I ran the second half in 18:30. Granted the pace is much quicker for those 5 strides, but I also slow down a little after in order to recover. I guess the main thing is that I’ve been feeling really good lately. Tomorrow night I’m going to hit the track for my first set of 800s this season.

I have a question for other bloggers. Do you get these “Spam Comments” on your site? For example; “I just love your site, check out mine on [insert totally unrelated topic here].” I’m in the junk mail industry, so I know direct marketing. Response rates are already low for people that WANT our catalogs. What are the response rates for unwanted e-mails, telemarketing and “spam comments”?

5-YEAR REUNION

“Double” is in town on business again this week. This time his hotel is about 5 miles from my office, so tonight we decided to meet right after work. I picked him up and we drove 5 minutes to Bryant Lake Park. I’ve never run there, but I’ve been meaning to check out. While it turned out to be a nice park, it wasn’t my favorite for running, mainly because 95% of the trails were paved. After about 15 minutes in the park we came to a road that leads to one of the paths that I run every morning. We decided just to hop on that and run 45 minutes out and then turn around.

My legs felt pretty good and the 90 minutes flew by. If they all flew by like that, I’d probably have more than 3 or 4 90-minute runs since Grandma’s. Weather was great, low 70s with a dew point around 50.

Double and I “met” about 4 years ago through the hillrunner.com forum. A few months later we met (along with some other guys from the forum) at a race in Madison, before meeting again at the 2002 Boston Marathon. Anyway, during tonight’s run, we were kicking around the idea of having a 5-year hillrunner reunion. Since most of “the gang” is from Wisconsin, Minnesota or Illinois, I thought this 80 mile relay would be perfect. The 2006 race will be in May, the Sunday before Memorial Day. That should give us enough time to work out the logistics.

After the run, I was home in time to help put my girls to bed. After that, I watch the best baseball game I’ve seen in a long time, Twins vs. White Sox, Santana vs. Garcia, 3-hitter vs. 1-hitter. Luckily for the Twins, the 1 hit was a home run in the 8th inning and they won 1-0. Great pitching, great defense (including 3 different outfielders crashing into the fence while making catches), great victory – for Twins fans.

FARMER'S MARKET

In Self-Made Olympian, Daws talks about Ron Clarke (or was it Ron Hill?) training with two other guys under Lydiard. During the base phase they went out for a run at 7:00 pace. After they got in better shape, Ron picked up the pace while the other two guys stayed at 7:00 pace. They all improved, but Ron went on to set a bunch of World Records. The moral: listen to your body. When you get more fit, you pace should naturally come down.

With that said, I pushed the pace a little more than “normal” during my nice 5 mile run over lunch. It wasn’t a tempo run, but rather one of the “comfortably exhausting” workouts. One of the things I have to work on is getting my head around the fact that while the pace feels fast, I’m really not working any harder than when I wasn’t as fit. I have to turn off the “I’m going too fast” switch in my head.

Jim sent me a rebuttal email regarding my Letter to the Blogger post.

JIM: You know, I think runners sometimes confuse standings and statistics as values rather than symbols: symbols are supposed to represent achievement of the values we hold dear; the down side is that symbols are ephemeral and corruptible. I am a satisfied and successful runner, not because of standings, but because of the values that were important getting into this activity and what it has done for me personally: physical conditioning and athleticism, challenging myself to reach higher, opening myself to make friends, peace of mind, getting out of doors, genuine affirmation/validation, etc.

ME: You couldn’t be more right about what running has brought to my life as a whole. And if my blog was about all the benefits I’ve received, people I’ve met (especially the last 2 years), experiences I’ve enjoyed, then it'd be nothing but positives. But I try to focus my blog on the competitive side and obviously that’s not all positive. Maybe the “other stuff” would be a good post for next week – just to remind me and my readers that there’s more to running than the competitive side.

My Guidant race report got so long that I decided not to mention what we did afterwards. My friend Eric was playing with his band at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market. My family and I met Jim there. Eric's wife took a group picture of us, as well as this cute one of Katie (if I do say so myself).

Other photos can be found here. Eric is the bass player and fiddler who’s wearing the Nike Frees.

POST-RACE ANALYSIS

Guidant photos can be found here. Does anyone look more pissed off than Sylvia Mosqueda (#7)?

Congrats to coach Matt who completed the Double (half marathon accent on Saturday, full marathon, accent and decent, on Sunday) at Pikes Peak Marathon. Matt was 37th in the half, 46th in the marathon and 6th overall in the Double (the first non-Colorado runner).

I did a little post-race analysis today. I ran a 5k on Memorial Day last year on the same course as Saturday’s race. That day I ran 18:39 (5:54, 6:04, 6:02, :39) compared to yesterday’s 18:48 (5:55, 6:02, 6:10, :41). You can see the difference is all in the last 1.1 miles. 8 weeks from last year’s race I had one of my best races of the summer 23:22 for 4 miles. Looking at the calendar, I see there are about 10 good weekends of racing before the season winds down. I came up with a list of three 5Ks, three 10Ks and a 5 miler that I’d like to run. I sent an email to Matt, we’ll see what he thinks once he gets back from Colorado.

We had beautiful weather today. Even in the “heat of the day” it was 70 degrees and sunny with a little breeze. In the afternoon I went out for a nice 8 mile trail run. My legs were a little heavy, but everything felt in-tact.

My wife got groceries today. The milk she bought has an expiration date of September 7th. I thought it was really weird seeing “September” written on the carton.

GUIDANT 5K RACE REPORT

After jogging around and watching the women’s 10K this morning (more on that below), my injuries were feeling okay and decided to hop in the 5K. Since the men’s 10K was run as a separate race, I had plenty of time to warm-up. As I was heading back to change into my racing flats, I saw my friend Scott up ahead. Scott and I went to college together and ran very similar times during our 4 years together. In the past we’d get together about once a week and run together. Just over a year ago Scott’s wife had a baby and I haven’t run with him since. He said he’s been running 3-4 days a week and asked what I was shooting for. I said sub-19 or around 6:10 pace. I’d like to break 6:00 pace, but after my recent races, I don’t want to set the bar too high.

Standing on the start line, it’s apparent that “no one” is in the 5k. I see a few guys that look fast, but not more than 5. One of Scott’s co-workers lines up next to us and says he’s going to stay with us as long as possible. My comment was something like “that’s ONE strategy. I don’t know if it’s the BEST strategy.” I hope it didn’t sound cocky. I was just trying to point out sticking with two guys (who you don’t even know how fast they are) might not be the smartest race plan.

Anyway, the gun goes off and 4-5 guys and a couple of gals take off and Scott runs along side me. I should mention that it’s fairly nice weather. While the sunny skies are warming temps up by the 9 AM start time, it’s still probably around 65 degrees with no wind (and a pancake flat course). Scott and I go through the mile in 5:55. Just after a mile, Amy and the girls are cheering. They rarely come and watch me race, so that was a treat. A few seconds after saying “hi” I hear Scott say “hi” too, so I know he’s dropping back a little. It’s also around this point that a guy about 50 meters in front of me steps off the course. I’m still feeling okay after a 2nd mile in 6:02. There’s a guy probably 100 meters ahead of me and he seems to be coming back, but about a quarter mile later I feel myself start to slow down. Now instead of trying to catch him, I’m trying to not get caught by the lead woman (who I passed about half mile into the race) or Scott. Right around the 3 mile mark (6:10) the gal passes me and I have no response. I look back to make sure I have Scott beat and I cross the line in 18:48. My “out of shape” friend crosses about 10 seconds later. I haven’t seen results posted (I’m not even sure if they kept results) but I’d guess I was 5th overall.

Believe it or not, I feel pretty good about this race. And it’s not just because of my “new” positive attitude. Yes, it’s about 15 seconds per mile slower than my best time last year. However, I feel like now I know where I stand. I think I’ve accepted that this is the shape I’m in RIGHT NOW. Even though I ran 37:40 for 10K in APRIL, I’m a 39 10Ker at best RIGHT NOW. I think I was in denial before. What step is “acceptance”?

Alright, enough about me. The main event of the day was the women’s 10K with names like McGregor, DeReuck, Tollefson, Wells, etc. With the 7:30 start time and the course (2 loops around the lake), I was able to jog around and take photos at 4 locations (start, 2M, 4M and finish). Katie McGregor left little doubt as she already had a 50 meter lead by 2 miles. She went on to win in 32:17, beating the Minnesota record (I believe held by Janis Klecker) by 35 seconds and beating Colleen DeReuck by 36 seconds. Other Team Minnesota runners included Jenelle Deatherage 5th, Carrie Tollefson 6th, Sara Wells 8th and Dana Coons 10th. Training partner, Jenna ran a solid race, coming in 13th in 35:31. Complete results can be found here. I should also mention that Jim ran 39-flat in the men’s race.

One last comment; Carrie Tollefson is awesome – not just as a runner, but as a roll model to other runners in her home state. She was cooling down by herself as the men’s leaders were going through their first lap. At the same time, women were finishing the 10K in about an hour. Who do you think Carrie was cheering for? The woman. I just thought that was kind of cool

LETTER TO THE BLOGGER

My friend Jim sent me an email regarding my recent entries. He (along with others like Double, Evan and Peter) had a lot of great insights into the current state of my running. Many of these things I've touched upon recently just I thought his email and my responses would be a great way to put everything in one spot.

JIM: Chad, if I may be so bold as to offer a candid, but probably not so insightful observation, your recent writings have a sort of not-so-positive tone, which I think is notably uncharacteristic of you.

ME: Yeah, it’s easy to be positive when you’re running strong – like I was last summer. Throw in some bad races and it gets tougher to be positive. Add an analytical personality on top of that and it gets worse yet.

JIM: It really sounds like this blah summer has taken its toll, because there is NOTHING wrong with your running, save your injury.

ME: I think it’s the combination of Grandma’s and a hot summer that have given me the blahs. Not having a firm goal for the fall doesn’t help matters either. I wouldn’t say there’s nothing wrong with my running. You don’t miss your marathon goal by 15 minutes or go from running 37:40 to 39:40 for 10k in 3 months without something being wrong.

JIM: You are such a disciplined and controlled runner. Your pace is always strong and measured. Earlier I observed to Eric, that I wondered how you managed not to have those irrational, exuberant moments of poor decision-making that I always seem to have in running.

ME: Well, I’ve been running for nearly 26 years. I’m sure I’ve made a lot of poor decisions during that time.

JIM: My running reveals so much of the “me-of-the-moment”; I reflect my mental attitude upfront--that's how Jared and Norm (Jim’s two arch-nemesis) can know that they will beat me--both are more disciplined.

ME: Now to me, that’s negative. Norm hasn’t beaten you this year and Jared’s only beaten you 2-3 times. Yet you write like they continuously beat you. I bet if I were able to speak to them candidly, they say they were “scared” of you every time they lined up against you.

JIM: You have that uncanny control…is it possible that you sublimate that "go-for-it" compulsion?

ME: Yes, it’s very much possible. It’s probably gets back to my analytical personality. Usually based on my training on my last few races, I “know” what my pace should be and what my finish time should be. So in a race, if I see my splits where they’re supposed to be, am I content to maintain that pace rather than run as hard as possible? I don’t know. I’d like to think I’m going all-out.

JIM: You never seem particularly spent or exhausted at the end of your race; maybe you could afford to run more crazy/emotional/joyful?

ME: I noticed other blogs where the writer is spent after a hard workout. That does seem like something that’s missing from my training and racing. Maybe I need to focus more on running hard as possible rather than focusing on splits. I tried to do that at H-L. I didn’t even take my splits. However, this year they had someone reading them out at every mile marker. Even without paying close attention, I could figure out we were running 6:20+ pace and I let it affect me mentally.

JIM: I also think you generously stay to help me along: Grandma's, H-L, etc.

ME: I wouldn’t say I stayed to help on purpose. Heck, I didn’t even see you at Gma’s till mile 13. Late in the race I thought it’d be easier for both of us to work together. After Lemon Drop I thought I’d seen the last of you. If I were trying to stay with you at H-L I would not have “let” you get 5-10 seconds on me on the hill at mile 4.

JIM: THIS SEASON IS JUST GETTING TO THE FUN PART. There is a lot of Chad yet to be revealed this season.

ME: Again, I agree with you. I think I just need to figure out what my goals are for the next 2 months. There’s no way I’m running a fall marathon. I need to tell coach that so he can adjust my schedule towards 5-10Ks not marathons. Running 7 miles @ 80% on Thursday’s is not going to get it done.

So in summary; 1) I'm going to try and regain my positive outlook, 2) I'm not going to give up on this season - instead I'm going to pick some fall races I want to focus on and 3) I'm going to speak to my coach about gearing the rest of the season towards 5-10Ks rather than a marathon.

FAIR?

Taking the last 2 days off seems to have done “wonders” for my body. I went out for 5 miles over lunch and the only time I felt my pulled muscle was after stopping for a bathroom break. It was a little tender once I started running again, but quickly loosened up. My arch continues to improve. I could feel it a little, but had I not had any prior pain, I wouldn’t even be mentioning it.

Before I forget to mention it for the third time, the worst thing about taking those 3 days off while I was on vacation is that the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Early morning runs WOULD HAVE been run in temps around 55-60 degrees. So after spending all summer complaining about the weather, I failed to take advantage of the best weather yet.

A few months ago the Twin Cities Marathon committee got their asses chewed out for announcing they were going to offer American-only prize money. Due to the pressure, they’ve since back-pedaled from that decision. How then, is it okay for Minneapolis race to offer $31,000 in prize money, of which $27,850 goes to women? As you can guess, there’s going to be some competition for that money. The weather for the 7:30 AM race looks to be ideal too, 60 degrees and overcast. I’m planning on going to watch. If I feel up to it I may run the 5k at 9:00.

BAD BLOGGING

Like anyone else, I have my favorite blogs that I like to read – of course they’re bookmarked. I’ll admit that I’ve bookmarked sites only to remove them later because the blogger failed to update their blog on a regular basis. That’s one of the reasons I try to update my blog daily (okay, at least Monday thru Friday). Anyway, I have not been doing a very good job lately. Part of it’s due to my lack of motivation, my injuries (more on them below), my vacation and the fact that I’ve actually been busy at work since returning from my vacation. Go figure. Enough excuses. I plan on getting back on track.

Tuesday night I met my team for a workout. We had been doing hills followed by mile repeats. However, the last 2 weeks have been hills followed by a tempo run. I continued to struggle on the hills while Aaron and Jim where way ahead of me. Instead I hung back with Sue and Roger. Roger is new to the group and looks like he’ll fit in nicely. He’s 29 and trying to get back in shape after running for our coach, while he was in college. He looked okay on the hills, but I gradually pulled away from him and Sue during the 20 minute tempo run.

About 5 minutes into the tempo run the skies opened up and rain poured down for about 5 minutes. It also caused the temperature to drop. When I drove to practice it was 82, on the way home it was 67. About 18 minutes into the tempo I pulled “something” that’s below my hamstring and above the back of my knee. I immediately had to stop and walk. I’m not sure if it was caused by running “fast” downhill on concrete, the change in temp, taking 3 days off then doing a hard workout or what. After walking up the hill I just came down I was able to jog very slowly for 12 minutes.

I ended up taking Wednesday and Thursday off to rest my pulled muscle as well as my arch, which seems to be gradually getting better. I’ll try running again tomorrow and see if I can finish in one piece.

“WEEKEND” RECAP

Friday: Evan, Debbie and I met around 6:45 AM to explore the trails along the Minnesota River. I drive over the bridge everyday and it finally occurred to me that there are probably trails down there. Leave it to the foreigner (Evan) to know more about Minnesota than the guy “from” Minnesota.

Anyway, the trails were great. At one point we saw 3 bucks about 50 feet from us. We did have to run along Interstate 494 for about a mile, but it wasn’t a big deal. Debbie was feeling great and nearly ran me into the ground. With the quick pace, it was a good thing we decided to run only 90 minutes instead of 2 hours like I had originally planned.

I could still feel some pain in my arch, but it felt a lot better than yesterday.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday: My freshman year of college I went to Mexico on spring break and I can remember taking along a bunch of text books. Of course, I never opened them. This vacation was a lot like that. I brought along my running clothes, but never used them. Yep, 3 days off in a row for no good reason. Sure I can use my arch as an excuse, but I probably could have run if I felt like it.

Is it possible to be unmotivated and motivated at the same time? I’m pretty much unmotivated for the rest of this season. Basically, I want to make it till Labor Day weekend (my alumni meet is September 3rd) and then re-evaluate where I’m at. The biggest running related events during my vacation included reading a biography on Arthur Lydiard (which Evan loaned to me) as well as reading Ron Daws’ Self-Made Olympian. Those 2 books have already got me fired up about next year.

QUICK UPDATE

Just dropped by to say that I've been on vacation and haven't thought about updating my blog - mainly because there's not much to say. I should be back tomorrow with a "complete" recap of the weekend.

4,000 ACHES

Nothing too exciting happened during yesterday’s 5 mile easy run, so I thought I’d just make one entry. Today was another easy 5 miles. Normally this would be a 10-11 mile day with some pace work, however I thought I’d take 2 easy days in a row to help recover from Sunday's race and Tuesday's hills. Besides, we going to be out of town this weekend, so there’s no way I’m going to get in 18 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. Instead, I’m taking tomorrow off from work too, so I can get in a longer run.

Today’s run took about 43 minutes and I figure I average close to 90 steps (per foot) per minute, so that equals nearly 4,000 aches in my left arch. About 2 minutes into the run I had thoughts of turning around. But you know us runners, “I have to get my miles in.” I’ve never had plantar fasciitis and I’m not sure if that’s what I have or if it’s just a bruise. I’ve had success using The Sock in the past for Achilles tendonitis. I may have to strap it on tonight to see if it helps.

FLAT

It should not come as any surprise that I felt totally flat during tonight’s hill workout. I guess I’m getting old and one easy day after a 10k in the heat is not enough time to recover. We did have some thunderstorms pass through during the day which dropped the temps from 80 to 70 (the weather forecast a high of 92). However, it was still very muggy during our run.

Tonight’s run consisted of a 2 mile warm-up, 5 times Davern Hill, 20 minutes steady and a 2 mile cool-down. Davern Hill is probably the top 1-2 toughest hills we run. It’s about a quarter mile long with the first 300 meters being really steep, before leveling off the last 100 meters.

Despite feeling like dog crap, a gal driving up the hill yelled something like “you guys are awesome.” That made me feel good for about a second or two.

The more I run hills the more I think I’m a definite flatlander. I got absolutely destroyed by Jim and Aaron on this workout. There was even one little hill during the 20 minute steady portion of the workout where Jim put a HUGE gap on me. Then again, I couldn’t even hang with him and Aaron during the cool-down.

I just read that this is the hottest, driest summer since 1988. That doesn’t sound that long ago, but it is 17 years.

DOT DOT DOT

Normally I try to post how other friends or people from my training group are doing in their races too. That way you don’t get bored with just reading about me. Anyway, I totally forgot to do this for Sunday’s race. Jenna won the women’s race by 1 second in 35:39. It sounds like she lead the whole way and held off a hard charging gal at the line. Jim, I believe I mentioned was just ahead of me at the line. Mary, who also trains with the group I’m in, ran 48:13. Complete results can be found here.

I did a little analysis comparing our average mile times from Tuesday’s workout to our average pace per mile for the race. Jenna, Mary and I were 12-18 seconds slower per mile during the race. Jim ran the exact same pace. I’m not exactly sure what that means. Maybe I shouldn’t be so “upset” with ending up near Jim given that his pacing didn’t drop off.

As Evan pointed out in the comment section, you can find some photos from the race here. Scroll down a little until you see Hennepin-Lake Classic Coverage, then find the “10k Race – 151 photos”.

To put some faces to the names above, Jenna (bib 5) is in photos 29-30 and 125-127. Jim’s (bib 245) in #52 and I’m (bib 75) in #53 and #54.

I’M FREE

Not much to report regarding today’s run. I tried to sleep in again, but was awake and decided to get in 6 easy miles before work. Once I was up I was glad I didn’t have to run later today, when the temps where 95 with a dew point in the 70s.

My legs actually felt pretty good today, considering I raced yesterday. That makes me a little leery of how my legs are going to feel Tuesday. If they weren’t tired today, they probably will be tomorrow and tomorrow we’re supposed to do hill repeats.

My left arch was a little sore today. I attribute that to doing Thursday night’s workout in a pair of adidas RATS Racers, which are either a heavy flat or a light-weight trainer (I’d lean towards the former). In addition, yesterday I raced in a pair of adidas Cubatos which are extremely light. Usually I try to ease into using them since they tend to trash my calves. However, with yesterday’s “nice” weather and the thoughts of a “fast time” dancing in my head, I decided to break out these “secret weapons”. The good news is my calves feel fine.

I’ve had thoughts of getting a pair of Nike Frees lately. Combining the tenderness in my arch with the $75 gift certificate that was burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to run out over lunch and buy a pair – I even got $2 back. Maybe they work or maybe it’s just marketing hype. I guess I’ll find out. If nothing else, they’re very comfy.

I bought these at the new Run ‘n Fun store in Eden Prairie. Run ‘n Fun’s other store is a little hole in the wall in St. Paul and it has a great atmosphere. However, it’s very popular and it’s hard to get help during their busy times. I can remember being in the store along with a bus load of high school or college runners. The Eden Prairie location doesn’t have the same vibe, at least not yet. But I was the only customer and I had a nice conversation with the (only) guy working. I asked if he raced yesterday and he said no because he’s out of shape. He ran the Lumberjack Days 10 miler and got beat by all his teammates, so he wasn’t racing again until he was in shape. When I got back to the office I did a little digging and found out he ran 56:29. Man, I’d like to be that out of shape.

HENNEPIN LAKES CLASSIC 10K REPORT

The good news is I ran much better than two weeks ago at the Lumberjack Days 10 miler. I was within “striking distance” of people who beat me my 2-3 minutes two weeks ago. The bad news is that’s not saying much. I went through the mile in 6:04 and thought that was right on pace. I didn't take any other splits, but they were reading them off at every mile marker. I was shocked to hear my splits were 6:20-6:30s. I ended up running 19:37/20:02 for 39:39. That's a minute slower than last year and two minutes slower than Get in Gear in April.

I guess more “good news” is that a lot of people ran 45-75 seconds slower than Get in Gear. Granted, it was hot and humid (probably around 70 and sunny at the start – not sure what the dew point was) but I thought it was worse last year.

About the only positive thing I can think of is pushing it during the last quarter mile. Usually if I'm running poorly I don't care where I finish – I just want to be done. But yesterday I was able to pick it up and pass a few people – including Jim. However, he wouldn't let me beat him and he came sprinting back to beat me to the line. At least I had a quicker chip time, since I started a couple of seconds behind him. :)

I’m not really sure what to take away from this race. Am I bummed? Yeah. Part of me wants to throw in the towel for the rest of the season and start over from scratch with some base-building. Part of me wants to do some shorter track stuff over the next few weeks and see if I can’t salvage a good race or two in the fall. The way I’ve run in cooler temps recently has given me some hope that I can run well this fall, so I don’t want to give up just yet.

Under the heading of Pushy Parent: One of the top local masters runner has a 15 year old son who runs a lot of races. Usually, dad will finish his race and then he’ll head back on the course to find his son. He’ll then run along side till the finish and shout words of “encouragement.” It’s a little irritating, especially if you’re running near his son, but I can live with it. Well yesterday dad took it to another level. After my race I cooled down while watching the 5k. I happened to be standing at the water stop as dad and son run by. Dad, who keep in mind has not registered for this race or the 10k, is running stride for stride with his kid, grabs 2 cups of water and dumps them on his head. Then he shouts more “encouragement.” It really made me upset, but I’m not sure what to do about it. It’s interesting, dad runs like 32 minute 10Ks, mom runs like 38 minute 10Ks and their son “only” manages 18-19 minute 5Ks. With those genes it seems like he’d be faster.

KEYS TO 10K

I slept in till 6 this morning since I figured, with the cooler temps, I could get in my easy run during lunch. Like I said before, I only take “30 minutes” for lunch, so I hate to make this a habit. But it sure is nice to get outside during the day when it’s 70-75 and sunny. If I averaged 8:30s yesterday during my morning run, I averaged closer to 8:50s today. I know I was taking it easy, but 44 minutes for 5 miles makes me question the accuracy of my route.

Sunday’s 10k is a fairly popular race in the Twin Cities. Last year there were nearly 700 finishers and my 38:39 placed me 92nd overall. Yesterday my coach sent these keys to my 10k:

1. Your warm-up must end RIGHT before the start of the race. Do not 'cool-down' after your warm-up.

2. START SMART...even pace...and FIND A GROUP that you can draft with.

3. EXPECT TO BE MENTALLY STRONG on MILES 4 & 5...the toughest part of a 10K.

4. UNLEASH A DRIVING LAST MILE…show your passion and desire.

5. KEEP YOUR FEET FAST for 6.2 miles

It seems like good advice. I especially like #3 and #4. Last year I went out too fast, but recovered and found myself with a nice pack of women who were in the top-10. I passed the 5k in 19:00 and decided to pick up the pace. That lasted for about a half mile before the humidity caught up to me. I ended up struggling the last 2 miles and I was unable to “unleash a driving last mile.”

I haven’t really set any time goals. I guess it depends on the weather. If it’s hot and humid again, I’d like to break last year’s time. If the weather isn’t too bad, I’d like to break 37:42, which is my time from a 10k in April. I’m mainly concerned with running a smart race and focusing more on how I feel rather than my splits and the results.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

Thunderstorms passed through last night. I’ll take a little tossing and turning if it means decreased temps and humidity. When I went out for my morning run at 11 AM it was a pleasant 70 degrees with a dew point of 55. I managed an easy 5 miles at roughly 8:30 pace.

This evening it was 78 degrees with a dew point of 50 – very nice. The workout called for 8-9 miles with 4 miles @ 75-80% effort. I find this “75-80%” to be rather vague. I know I want to run at least marathon pace on these days and would not mind running closer to half marathon pace. Anyway, I decided to run to the local high school, do 16 laps on the track and then run home. That’d give me 10 miles.

Given last week’s 3 x 3200 meter (13:07, 12:53, and 12:57) workout I thought 6:30-6:40 pace was likely. My first lap showed I was running 6:32 pace, so I just kept running without looking at any splits. Afterwards I was pleasantly surprised to see I ended up running 25:32 with splits of 6:27, 6:26, 6:23 and 6:16. I felt controlled the whole time and thought I could run that pace for a half marathon (1:24).

Looking at the forecast, it looks like the high temps will remain below 90 for the next few days. I’m hoping the humidity remains low too, especially for Sunday’s race.

MAKING ME LOOK GOOD

I was right. Staying up till 11 last night and getting up at 6 this morning made me really tired. I decided to take the day off because of it and a couple of other reasons;

Today is supposed to be the last hot/humid day for awhile.
I want to make tomorrow’s hard day, hard.
My workouts tend to go well when I run an easy AM run that same day.
So instead of running 5 today and 8-10 tomorrow, I thought I’d take today off and double up tomorrow.

So that’s my reasoning.

My neighbor is a workaholic. He thinks about work more than I think about running. He just took a new job because he wouldn’t have to be on call during the weekends and he’d be on more of a “standard” schedule. I was a little surprised when Amy told me his wife’s upset with him for working too many hours. She said one night he didn’t get home till 9:30 and then he woke up at 3:30 to go back to the office. I guess I don’t feel so bad about spending “so much” time running now. Compared to Todd, I look good.

A DAY LATE

I have wanted to get a copy of Ron Daws’ Self-Made Olympian for awhile now, however it’s out of print and could only find it for about $75. When I ran with Double a couple of weeks I go I mentioned this to him. He told me how much he enjoyed the book, so I decided to splurge and get a copy for my birthday. I was able to get it through the used section of Amazon for $60. The book arrived today, but it may be awhile before I get around to reading it. Right now I’m working on No Bugles, No Drums about Peter Snell.

I wasn’t really looking forward to today’s workout because of the heat (85-90 with a heat index in the mid-90s). We were supposed to do a similar workout to the last two Tuesdays; 20 minutes of hills followed by mile repeats. Two weeks ago we did 2 x 1 mile, last week we did 3 x 1 mile. Today was supposed to be 4 x 1 mile, but due to the heat and this weekend’s 10k, our coach said we’d only do 3.

I know I prefer running on the flats as opposed to the hills, but it was really apparent today. Of course, Jenna lead the way on the hills, but Sue and Jim were also WAY stronger than me on the hills. However, on the track I averaged 6:06 while Jim (6:23) and Sue (6:40) were a ways back. Maybe I’m saving too much during the hills or maybe I’m just a poor hill runner. Overall, I was happy with the workout as I ran each mile repeat faster than the previous; 6:10, 6:06, 6:02.

After practice about 8 of us headed to a bar to grab a bite to eat and watch the last few innings of the Twins. While it was a lot of fun (despite the Twins poor performance – losing their 6th in a row), I didn’t get to bed until 11 PM. I’m going to pay for that tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Yep, I turned 36 today. I’m not big into birthdays (other than my kids), but it is my blog – so happy birthday to me! I wish I had other exciting info to write about, but I really don’t. No big plans. I think we’re going to go out to eat tonight. We had planned on Culver’s, but I think I’m going to suggest Noodles & Company since we just had burgers for Katie’s party. Then maybe we’ll swing by Culver’s for some custard.

Yesterday’s day off must have done the trick because I felt really good this morning. I managed 8 miles with a few strides – nothing fancy because I hope to save some of that freshness for tomorrow night’s workout. The heat is back, so it could be brutal. However, it looks like the heat is going to break after that, so maybe it’ll be cool(er) for this Sunday’s 10k. Last year this race was on my birthday. I could only muster a 38:40 on a muggy day. I’d like to be at least a minute quicker this year.

During the end of my run today I thought about running my age in kilometers or miles on my future birthdays. Hmm, 36K is about 22 miles – that doesn’t really seem worth it. 36 miles is “too far.” Okay, so much for that idea. How about if I try to run my age for a 10k each year for the rest of my life?

DAY, WEEK & MONTH

Since we were having Katie’s birthday party today, I was planning on running by myself, even before I found out my team was meeting on Sunday, instead of their usual Saturday gathering. It worked out even better when Evan suggested we meet at the trails near my house at 6:45. I was able to get my “long” run in and still be able to help get ready for the party.

We ended up running together for about 1:35, plus it took me 9 minutes to run there and home. So I ended up with 1:53 minutes of running, which I called 14 miles. That’s my longest run since Grandma’s. I ended the week with 62 miles, again my most since I started tapering. Since I’m planning on taking tomorrow off, I might as well post my monthly total of 222 miles on 26 days of running. That averages out to 50 mpw. While I’m not looking to run 85 mpw this time around, I’d like to get into the 60-70 mpw range. I’m curious to see if the decrease in mileage leaves my legs a little fresher for more quality workouts and hopefully faster race times.

Katie’s party was fun. She’s still not totally in to presents. She’d open one and want to play with it, even though she still had a bunch left to open. Kinsey, on the other hand, will rip them all open without stopping to appreciate what she got. Since my birthday is right around the corner, I got some cards, gifts, money and a gift certificate to a running store from my mother-in-law. She said when she went to get it the guy said “weren’t you in here last year?”

“STARTLING DISCOVERY”

So I’m getting ready for work today with the news on in the background. They’re doing a story about how drinking milk will help you lose weight. Apparently, if you drink 24 ounces of low fat milk every 24 hours, COMBINED with a reduced calorie diet AND exercise, you’ll lose weight. Wow, I had no idea until I heard their report. Thank you Fox news.

Speaking of weight; I don’t usually concern myself too much with watching my weight, however, I’ve noticed I’m about 4-5 pounds more than I was for Grandma’s. And probably 7-8 pounds more than I was last year when I was racing well. I guess I’d better buy some milk.

I kind of wanted to do a little cross training this morning by going for a short bike ride, yet I didn’t want to set my alarm in order for it to happen. I had my bike in my trunk and I figured if I woke up early enough, I’d go for a short ride. Well, I ended up sleeping in.

I was able to get in a very easy 5 mile run in over lunch. I was thinking I’d have to run on the treadmill due to the heat, but when I checked, the temp was only 70 with a dew point of 56. I mentioned before that there are no good places to run from here. A co-worker suggested the neighborhood just across the street. I checked it out and it was really nice - rolling hills, shaded, quiet streets. The only thing is that the loop was just over 2 miles, so I had to do it twice and still add-on. I saw a fox during this run and I can’t think of any other fox sightings in my 25 years of running. That’s hard to believe, given all the trails I’ve run on during that time.

If you’ve got some time to kill and would like to see what parts of the country would appeal to you, check out this survey. It looks like I’m supposed to live in Wisconsin, Massachusetts or Connecticut. Out of the top 24 results, there wasn’t a single Minnesota city listed. Go figure.

NEW STRATEGY

During my Grandma’s marathon training, Thursday’s usually meant getting up before 5 AM for a solo 10-12 mile run with up to 9 miles at marathon pace. Today’s run was my first hard workout on a Thursday since before Grandma’s, which meant a 4:40 wake up call. Believe it or not, getting up wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be.

My coach mixed things up a little this time. Instead of a straight run at marathon pace he wanted me to run 3 x 2 miles at half marathon pace with a half mile jog in between. I decided to run this on the dirt track near my office. Being my first such workout in awhile, I gave myself a little wiggle room and planned to run somewhere between 6:20 and 6:40 pace. When I saw my first 200 meters took 51 seconds or about 6:50 pace, I decided to try a new strategy. I decided I wasn’t going to look at my splits at all – I’d just run how ever I felt. I didn’t even look at my splits after finishing each rep (pat on the back). I waited until I was at my desk before I checked and I saw 13:07, 12:53 and 12:57 (for 3200 meters). So I basically averaged 6:30 pace or so. Not great, but for a solo effort at 5:30 AM, I’ll take it.

I’m not sure if Debbie runs without a watch or not, but this weekend she talked about focusing on just having fun and training however she wants – rather than focusing on speed, miles, time, etc. Even talking about her 10 mile race she said she doesn’t take her splits at all. Instead, she just focuses on her effort and how she’s feeling. She said even taking her splits, but not looking at them throws her off. For awhile I was at the point where I’d take my splits, but not look at them. Maybe I need to get back into that habit during races again.

SIMPLE PLEASURES

I had an easy 5-6 miles planned for this morning. However, I was wide awake at 5 AM, so I decided to get up and go 8 miles instead. I actually felt pretty good, considering my hard workout was less than 12 hours ago. I kept the pace really easy and tried to soak in the beautiful morning, 57 degrees, sunny, calm. It would have been perfect for a summertime road race. At the end of the run, I threw in a few strides.

With the cooler temps I got to enjoy one of life’s simple pleasures after the run – a hot shower. Lately it’s been so hot and humid; I end up taking a cold shower to help lower my body temp. Cranking the heat felt really good.

Yesterday afternoon the power went out at work. After standing around for a few minutes, I decided to head down to the fitness center and do a quick weight workout. I haven’t lifted in probably 3-4 months, but I’ve been thinking about it. The power outage gave me the perfect opportunity to start again. I just worked on my chest, bis, tris and shoulders with 3 sets of very light weights. I also limited the range of motion on the chest and bi exercises to help reduce the soreness that’s sure to occur in a day or two.

After lifting I returned to my desk only to find out that the power would be out for another hour. Luckily, I have the book Ironwill in my cube. According to the back cover, it’s about “the heart and drive of the Ironman-class triathlete accurately capturing the ultra-endurance philosophy…” It’s one of those books I can pick up where I left off, even if it’s been a few months. One thing that stands out to me is how much guys like Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Scott Tinley, etc. sound like Bill Rodgers, Patti Dillon, Hodgie-san and Malmo from the “1979 vs. today” thread I’ve been mentioning lately.

For example, here’s a quote from Mark Allen.

“I’m sure that there are plenty of people who could be at the top of this sport, or any sport, who aren’t at the top because they haven’t learned to push through the pain.”

I imagine the top athletes of today have similar thoughts about pushing through the pain, but you never seem to read about that kind of stuff.

HAPPY BRRRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to Katie!!! A.K.A., the cutest 2 year old in the world. Man, I can’t believe she’s 2 already. She opened presents from us tonight, but we’re having her party this Saturday.

The Brrr in the title refers to the 20 degree cooler temps than last week’s workout. It’s amazing what those cooler temps (65-70) do to running times. I felt awesome last night – by far the best I’ve felt since Grandma’s. We did a similar workout to last Tuesday, the only difference being three mile repeats instead of two. So we did a 10 minute warm-up, 20 minutes of hill repeats, 10 minutes back to the track and then 3 x 1 mile with about 3 minutes rest. Last week I ran close to 10 mile race pace (6:22 and 6:26). This week I decided to stop “screwing around” and ran 5:58, 5:56 and 5:55. I figure Whistle Stop is 12 weeks away and I need to get serious. I’m not positive I’ll do it, but I know if I don’t get serious, there’s no way I’ll run it.

The "1979 vs. today" thread that I mentioned yesterday also has me fired up. These guys had “no idea” what they were doing, scientifically speaking. They just ran A LOT and they ran HARD. Here’s another “Old School” article on Minnesota studs, Ron Daws and Steve Hoag, if you like that sort of stuff.

INTERESTING ARTICLE

The Lactic Acid Test
New Research on Sports Stars
Reveals Biology Is Destiny;
Mr. Phelps's Flexible Feet
July 22, 2005; Page W1 (Wall Street Journal)

When Lance Armstrong pops off his bike Sunday after completing the final stage of the Tour de France, he'll have a slew of records you already know about and one you probably don't: He's the most poked, prodded, calibrated and medically researched athlete in sports history. Scientists know that his heart is at least 20% larger than a normal person's, he produces one-third less lactic acid than do other top cyclists and delivers oxygen to his legs at a rate higher than all but maybe 100 of his fellow earthlings.

While Mr. Armstrong has a comfortable lead in this department, there's a growing pack behind him. From Sydney to San Francisco, an army of people in lab coats is slowly painting a clearer portrait of what separates the world's most dominant athletes from the merely great ones. And given all the money at stake in sports, the research continues to spread beyond universities to Olympic development centers, private trainers and even shoe companies.

Most of the research done on elite athletes is closely guarded, either for competitive reasons or simple medical privacy. But some of it is beginning to emerge in scientific journals and from trainers who want to compare notes. At a time when athletes are often better known for their steroids infractions, exorbitant incomes and increasingly petulant behavior, these raw measurements offer a new (and blissfully impersonal) way to marvel at them.

So what do we know?

While genetics is only one part of the formula for greatness, scientists agree that in order to be truly dominant, an athlete has to be -- to some degree -- a genetic freak. Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps, for instance, propels himself through the water with a pair of feet that operate like flippers. Not only are they large (size 14), they're so outrageously flexible that the swimmer can lie down flat on his back, legs outstretched and, while doing so, touch the tips of his toes to the floor. "He's not your average bear," says his coach, Bob Bowman.

Andy Roddick, owner of the fastest recorded tennis serve (155 miles an hour), owes much of his power to the unusual flexibility of his ribs and spine. Bob Prichard, president of Somax Sports, a California clinic that works with top athletes, says Mr. Roddick's ability to arch his back increases the effective external rotation of his arm to 130 degrees, 44% better than the average tennis pro. While Mr. Roddick's legs help him generate power, they're not exceptional: Even though he's 6-foot-2, says his coach, Brad Gilbert, "the guy can't dunk a basketball."

Mia Hamm, the now-retired soccer star, may owe some of her famous stamina to a genetic anomaly. In a test run by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, she produced less than one liter of sweat an hour, 25% to 50% less than normal. Bob Murray, the institute's director, says this trait allows Ms. Hamm to perform for longer stretches without having to stop to guzzle fluids.

Piling Up the Data

In some cases, new knowledge about elite athletes doesn't come from elaborate testing, but the simple accumulation of data over time. In the six years since the National Basketball Association began keeping records at its annual camp for likely draft picks, the league has measured the skills of more than 300 players. With a healthy data sample, NBA trainers now know that a typical point guard should be able to finish the league's standard sprint drill, which involves running from a standing start from one baseline to the farthest free throw line (75.2 feet), in about 3.3 seconds.

So when Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs turned in a time of 2.98 during a closed practice session, the coaches on hand knew they were witnessing greatness -- once they made sure their stopwatches weren't broken. "We made him run it again," says Spurs' strength and conditioning coach Mike Brungardt.

One of the longest continuous studies ever done on top athletes involves measuring the reaction times of elite race-car drivers. Over two decades, Jacques Dallaire, founder of a North Carolina company called Human Performance International, has tested the "decision speed" of nearly 600 elite drivers using a relatively simple machine with lights that flash in different sequences.

His findings show that an average human takes about 300 milliseconds to make a reactive decision, while an elite driver (someone like Jeff Gordon or Danica Patrick) can do it in 270 milliseconds. While this 11% difference may not seem significant, Mr. Dallaire says, it's a huge advantage at high speeds. Of all the drivers he's tested, the lowest score belongs to the late Formula One champion Ayrton Senna, whose average reaction time was closer to 240 milliseconds, or 20% better than normal. At top race speeds, Mr. Dallaire says, that's the spatial equivalent of about five car lengths.

A major goal of this research is to distinguish the physical characteristics that can be improved by rigorous training from those an athlete has to be born with. On the far end of the spectrum, scientists are already doing this: Researchers at the U.S. Olympic Training Center have developed a series of four tests for things like "maximal oxygen uptake" and "power output at lactate threshold" that can determine whether someone has the natural ability to be a top endurance athlete.

Arguably, the more precise these tests become, the more tempted overzealous parents and trainers will be to use them to push kids toward sports they are predisposed to succeed at, rather than sports they enjoy. It's also true that to some fans, learning about an athlete's genetic freakishness only diminishes their appreciation for the hours of grueling work that are required to exploit all that potential.

Lately scientists have been chipping away at some of the smaller gradations of performance. Last year, for instance, researchers at Duke University and New York's Hospital for Special Surgery published a study on linemen about to enter the National Football League. Due to the constant pounding these athletes take, nearly a third of them had developed a condition called HEPS (that's hyperconcavity of the endplates of the vertebrae with expansion of the space between disks). As ugly as that sounds, the data showed something surprising: Players who had developed HEPS were also less likely to report having lower back pain. In other words, the condition appears to be desirable.

Nonetheless, it may be a long time before scientists understand any one athlete better than Lance Armstrong. The most extensive study of the defending Tour de France champ was performed in five sessions over seven years by the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Texas, which took Mr. Armstrong's weight and body-fat measurements and analyzed his blood and breathing as he pedaled a stationary bike.

Improved Mechanics

While these tests weren't unique, the study seems to be the first opportunity scientists have had to examine one of the world's greatest athletes repeatedly during his prime years of performance. During the duration of the study (despite being diagnosed and treated for cancer), Mr. Armstrong managed to improve his mechanics and fitness to the point that his pedaling power, relative to his body weight, rose by 18%.

What makes Mr. Armstrong so exceptional, says the study's author, Ed Coyle, isn't one physical factor that's leagues beyond anyone else, but the fact that he has several extraordinary traits, each of which exists in only a few hundred humans. When you add up the odds of all these things being consolidated in one body, Dr. Coyle says, "He's probably one in a billion."

LEVEL OF COMPETITION

I was thinking about my 10 mile “race” some more, along with other races where I don’t go out as fast as I “should.” It’s very apparent that I end up going through the motions. Even if I pick up the pace in the second half, there’s no way to get back that intensity/focus that’s required when you’re trying your best. You know when you start a race and you settle in and you start seeing familiar faces and you think “okay, I’m where I should be” then you can focus in on the task at hand. There was none of that on Saturday. In other sports they call it “playing down to the level of competition.” Ever play team sports where you’re on a dominate team, yet you lose to a bunch of scrubs? I used to play a lot of basketball and it happens all the time. So the moral is, if you’re going to race, race, otherwise save your money.

Part of these feeling probably come from reading this 1979 vs today thread that Double pointed out to me. If you were a running in the late 70s to early 80s and remember names like Bill Rodgers, Patti Dillon, Bob Hodge, Tom Derderian, etc. you may find this thread interesting. The good news is it's 62 pages long. The bad news is it's 62 pages long.

Hey Carl, if you’re reading, a while ago you mentioned getting your hands on some Twin Cities running magazines. Check out this link if you’re still interested.

As for running today, I made it out for a moderate 8 mile run this morning. I beat the rain, just barely. It looks like there’s a cool front coming in just in time for tomorrow’s hard workout. Hopefully, that’ll help me run halfway decent – maybe even gain some confidence.

2001 VS. 2005

In 2001 I ran Grandma’s in 3:02:56 (6:59 pace). My next race was the Lumberjack Days 10 miler where I ran 1:09:06 (6:54 pace). That fall I ran TCM in 3:00:55 (6:55 pace). So I guess I don’t feel so bad for running so slow yesterday. Besides I can name 3 people off the top of my head whose 10 mile pace was within +/- 5 seconds of their Grandma’s pace.

Since yesterday’s race (and wine drinking) took time away from my family, I took Kinsey to see Madagascar this afternoon. She loved it (it was only her second movie in a theater, ever). I thought it was just okay. It was no Toy Story, Shrek or The Incredibles.

After we got back I decided to go for a very easy, short (5 miles) run. The weather seemed a little better than in the morning. I just wanted to get it out of the way rather than wait till this evening. Some times I have a tendency to talk myself out of a run if I wait too long – especially the day after a race.

LUMBERJACK DAYS 10 MILE “RACE” REPORT

The good news is I followed my plan (to go out much easier than normal, 6:30-6:40 range, and just pick people off as they melt into the pavement), the bad news is that it didn’t result in a “fast” time. I ended up running negative splits (34:22/34:06) to finish in 1:08:28. According to the results, I passed 18 people in the last 3.8 miles while no one passed me.

The negative split looks good on paper, but it should be “the norm” on this course, which is mainly downhill 3 of the last 4 miles. This race has a lot of potential to be a quality event, but there are a few minor annoyances;
5 porta potties for 1,100 runners and about 30-45 minutes to use them.
4 water stops didn’t seem like enough – I’m not counting the one they set up .5 miles from the finish line. WTF? Must have been for the 1 mile walkers.
Inaccurate mile markers. I normally pace myself fairly evenly, so when I see 6:41, 6:29, 6:21, 7:36, 7:15, 7:07, 6:30, 7:05, 6:51 and 6:33, something’s not right.
2.5 miles on gravel road.
Shitty weather.

Okay, okay, I’m just bitter because I paid $30 for a banana and a bottle of water. I can pickup my shirt after August 5th – at a store in the town of the race (30 minutes away).

But overall it was a fun day. I picked Debbie up and we drove to the race together. We saw Aaron and Jim before the start. Debbie was 4th woman overall (first in her age group) in 1:04:57, beating her “arch rival” by 9 seconds. Aaron was right behind her in 1:05:05. Jim ran 1:07:22 and beat both his “arch rivals” to win his age group.

After the race, Debbie and I invited ourselves to Jim’s house. Actually, we drove by because Debbie wanted to see it. Jim was outside so we went in and ended up drinking wine and eating shrimp. So I’ve car pooled with Debbie to 2 races this year and we ended up drinking wine after both of them. Hmm. After dropping her off I realized it was our anniversary. I met Debbie at a road race a year ago this weekend.

3 DAYS A WEEK?

A while ago I had an entry about a guy at work who told me that running so much was bad for my knees. This is the same guy that doesn’t run because his knees hurt from playing too much basketball. Anyway, the other day he gave me a copy of a Runner’s World article regarding how to run a marathon on 3 days a week. Links to the program as well as discussions on letsrun and Runner’s World can be found here.

I was a little surprised by how “catty” the Runner’s World responses were. It was almost like I was reading letsrun. One thing that stood out to me in the article that I didn’t see mentioned anywhere is that the participants in the study lost an average of like 8.5% body fat. That’s great, but I don’t have 8.5% body fat to lose. How much of their improvements can be accounted for just because of their weight loss? I’d like to see the same study with, say Boston marathon qualifiers who are fit, lean and have been running for 10 years or more. I'd be willing to bet that the results would be much different.

Since I’m “racing” tomorrow I just hopped on the treadmill over lunch for an easy 5 mile run. I did drop down to 6:40 for the 4th mile. Maybe it was because I felt guilty about not doing a speed workout yesterday.

I put racing in quotes because it looks like we’ll be facing less than ideal conditions. I’m guessing it’ll be at least 75 at the start with dew points in the low-to-mid 60s. Later in the day it’s supposed to get up to 96 with a heat index near 105. My plan is to go out much easier than normal (6:30-6:40 range) and just pick people off as they melt into the pavement.

FRUSTRATED

So I got this email from my coach on Wednesday.

“If you are racing the 10-miler on Saturday plan on 5-6M today, and "just" 3-5M on Friday. After all, all that matters is how fast you run on Saturday, not getting an extra 4-6 miles in this week.”

I took that to mean, take Thursday off.

At 1 PM on Thursday he sent this message.

"Thursday: 9-10 miles. 3M easy warm-up. 3 x 1-mile on flat terrain @ 10-mile race pace effort. Easy 1/2 mile between. 2-3M easy cool-down."

After questioning him on if this was for the people doing the 10 mile race he said drop it down to 6-7 miles with just 2 x 1 mile repeats. I thought that was intersting, since 4 of the 5 people he sent the workout to ARE running the race.

If I did most of my runs in the evening, this wouldn’t be a problem. However, I like to do my main runs in the morning (except on Tuesday’s when I train with the team). Normally, I don’t have much planned in the evenings and I could fit this in. However, tonight Kinsey had a program at church where she sang a few songs then had an ice cream social. I promised her that I’d take her while Amy stayed home with Katie. By the time we got home it was 8:30. I suppose I could have strapped on my shoes after that and still gotten this workout in, but I didn’t.

GREAT EVENING

“Double” spent another day in The Cities for business. Given that the last store he had to visit, along with his hotel, are only 15-20 minutes from my house, it made sense to have him over after work. We were able to grill out, hang out till my girls went to bed, go for an 8 mile trail run and then work on #38 while shooting the breeze on the deck. The beer was cold, there was lots of running talk and the black flies and mosquitoes left us alone. So all in all it was a great evening.

My brother-in-law sent me this article on the best little marathons. It starts by mentioning some of the “must-do” marathons. I don’t know about you, but LA is not on my list of must-dos. Granted, being from Minnesota and having Grandma’s in the spring and TCM in the fall, I’m a little spoiled. But I don’t really need to run a race because it’s the “friendliest” (Richmond), the “extra attention” (God’s Country), or it has the “largest finisher medal in the world” (Little Rock).

"DOUBLE" TROUBLE

I had thoughts of getting up for an easy morning run this morning. However, the Twins game went extra innings last night and I ended up staying up till 10 to watch them lose by 1 run again. I wish I had gone to sleep earlier because it was 60 degrees out this morning. So it would have been perfect for a run. Oh well, as my friend Eric says, “Live and don’t learn.”

While I haven’t mentioned him in my blog, those of you that read the comments will probably recognize “Double.” He’s in town on business for a few days, so I invited him to run with my team tonight. The workout consisted of a 10 minute warm-up to a hill, 20 minutes of hill repeats, 10 minutes back to the track, followed by 2 x 1 mile “at pace” with a 3 minute rest. Since a bunch of us are doing a 10 mile race this weekend, our coach suggesting trying to hold our 10-mile race pace.

It was toasty-warm out, probably 85 and sunny. At least it didn’t seem as humid as last week. I never felt comfortable on the hills. I just tried to maintain my form and never pushed the pace. Meanwhile, Jenna, Daniel and Double looked awesome.

It shouldn’t be surprising that someone (Jenna) on the cusp of qualifying for the Oly Trials is a lot more focused than your average weekend warrior, but for some reason I noticed her intensity more today than normal. Jenna ran her “mile” repeats in 5:29 and 5:31 while I was able to muster 6:22 and 6:26. If I was truly “at pace” that means I’d be able to run a 64 this weekend, which seems reasonable. However, I doubt Jenna will be running a 55. And then there’s Daniel, who recently race a 10k in 37:42 (6:04 pace). He was leading the hill repeats, then was able to run 5:36 and 5:25.

These differences in training methods – even though we have the same coach – make me wonder “Who’s wrong?” I mean am I slacking off too much? Are they training too hard? Is there a right and wrong answer? I should probably just worry about myself; however it’s human nature to compare yourself to those around you.

Speaking of “those around you,” the racing team from Run ‘n Fun (a local retail store) was doing 400s on the track while we were there. Granted these guys are fast (15-flat 5k), but I thought it was really strange that one of the guys had the Olympic Rings tattooed on his shoulder. To me, you should only be “allowed” to do that if you’ve actually competed in the Olympics.

WISHY-WASHY

I woke up to 67 degree temperatures this morning and it felt really good. It was cool enough where I could take Bailey for a mile jog. If it is too hot I just take her for a walk. After driving across town I was able to get in an easy to moderate 6 miles with splits of 24:50 and 22:20. With about 1.5 to 2 miles to go I started throwing in some strides. I figure if I’m not doing any speed work I at least need to start doing strides a few times a week to maintain some sort of leg turnover.

Last week I was leaning towards not running a fall marathon, this week I’m leaning the other way. Or at least I haven’t completely ruled a fall marathon yet. Right now I’m planning on doing a 10 mile race this Saturday and then a 10k on August 7th. After that I’ll probably determine if I’m going to run a fall marathon or not. If I run slow and don’t see my speed where it needs to be for shorter races, I’ll probably run a fall marathon. If my speed is there and I think I can run fast races from 13.1 and down, I’ll probably skip the marathon.

Part of my reasoning comes from being so far behind where I was last year at this time as far as track workouts and racing. Maybe I’m in better racing shape than I feel and I’ll be able to run a decent 5k, 5 mile, 10k and half yet this year. I’d like to be able to break 18, 29:30, 37 and 1:22:30. If I don’t feel I have that kind of speed, I might as well take another crack at 26.2.

NIKE MARKETING

I ended up taking yesterday off, which gave me 51 miles for the week. Right now I’m thinking about doing a 10 mile race on this Saturday, so I’m going to play this week by ear. Maybe I’ll top 51, maybe I won’t. I don’t really have any idea how I’ll run at this race either. It feels like I haven’t done any hard workouts forever.

I really like watching European sporting events in the U.S. – mainly because of the timing. Today I got to flip between the Tour de France and the British Open. Both were over by 10 AM. Okay, the British Open went until noon, but technically it was over by 10 AM. Others would probably say it was over by 10 AM on Thursday – since Tiger already had a lead.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Nike does a fantastic job marketing their products and athletes. Anyone else see the cool Nike commercial? Like I heard someone say, it was more like watching Tiger’s home videos rather than getting beat over the head by Nike.

Today was the 9th (and final) day in a row over 90 degrees. That’s the 3rd longest streak ever for the Twin Cities, behind 14 and 11. Call me a wuss, but that “forced” me back on the treadmill again. I got in an easy 8 miles while watching the Twins lose another 1 run game to the Angels. They’ve lost 6 out of 10 games to the Angels this year – ALL by 1 run.

LTF TRIATHLON OBSERVATIONS

This is the third year in a row that I’ve gone down to watch the Lifetime Fitness triathlon. How could I pass up the chance to watch the best in the world compete 15 minutes from our house? This year I brought Kinsey along with me. I don’t want to be one of those pushy parents that force their kids to participate in certain activities. Of course, I think it’d be cool if she decides to run or do tris. I think exposing her to these events at an early age could lead to her involvement without being pushy. It worked with me.

Anyway, here are my observations;

There are some hot, fit women in the sport. Probably some hot, fit men too – but I didn’t notice.

Triathletes have their age written on their calf, so you know how old these hot, fit women are.

This particular tri starts its athletes in 3 second intervals (rather than in age group waves). I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason to the start order, so it’s very difficult to see who is fast and who is slow.

The weather was brutal, particularly for the age group athletes who started later in the day. While the course is shaded, that doesn’t really help when it’s 97 degrees out. Water temp was 83.

70-80 people needed medical treatment due to the conditions.

I can’t believe no one got run over on this course. The run portion is on the paths around Lake Nokomis. Spectators were just walking across the paths without looking to see if anyone was coming.

There was a water table set up right after the run started. When the first 4-5 runners went by the volunteers just stood there watching. They weren’t holding out any water. Finally, they started to hold it out for the athletes.

Coolest thing I saw; a pro had a flat tire 100 meters onto the bike course. He asked a biker standing nearby if he could swap front wheels with him. The pro basically gave this guy a $500-$600 race wheel in exchange for his training wheel. Granted, it was probably free from his sponsor, but still it was pretty cool.

“Star” sighting for the day (other than the Pro triathletes) included, Olympian Carrie Tollefson, former state 3200 record holder and Stanford runner Shannon Bergstedt, and current state 1600 and 3200 record holder Elizabeth Yetzer.

NO EXPECTATIONS

I decided to sleep in today, thinking I’d be able to get in an easy 5 miles over lunch. Granted, it’d be 90-95 degrees and I’d “have to” do it on the treadmill – but that would be alright. Lunch came and went and I never made it to the fitness center for my run. I almost talked myself into taking the day off. However, I was at 41 miles for the week, I wanted to run more than the 47 I ran last week and I didn’t want it to come down to the last day – especially since I knew I couldn’t run tomorrow morning because I’m going to watch the Lifetime Fitness triathlon and it’s supposed to be 95+ again tomorrow. So I decided I’d better hop on the treadmill at home this evening.

I had no expectations going into this run. Okay, I wanted to run at least 5 miles. That was my only expectation. I started out VERY easy. I’ve mentioned this before, but at 7.1 mph my treadmill goes 8:50 pace, while at 7.2 mph it goes 7:50 pace. I should check into getting the motor tuned, fixed or replaced. Anyway, I did the first 2 miles at 8:50 pace, then gradually picked it up. I was watching the Twins baseball game and the miles were going by quickly. Before I knew it I had run 10 miles in about 77 minutes. I was able to stretch during the last inning as the Twins lost to the Angels by 1 run.

100 THINGS ABOUT ME

The "ever popular" 100 things about me list;

1. I’ve always lived in the Midwest – except while serving the country.
2. I was born in Michigan, grew up in Wisconsin (with one year in Illinois) and now I live in Minnesota.
3. “All” my relatives live in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio or Iowa.
4. I’m not close to any of them.
5. When I was 2 I cracked my head open.
6. My brother (my only sibling), who’s 3 years older than me, was chasing me.
7. I’ve never broken a bone in my body (other than my skull).
8. I’ve had 2 root canals – on the same day.
9. I got an elbow in the mouth while playing basketball.
10. I started running when I was 10 years old.
11. In 6th grade I couldn’t out-sprint anyone in my class.
12. That year, I won the 800 meter “dash” on track & field day.
13. My time was 2:57.
14. Johnny Bench was my first boyhood idol.
15. He was followed by Isiah Thomas.
16. I “met” Isiah once.
17. He declined a photo opportunity with his “biggest fan”.
18. I was pissed, but I still idolized him.
19. The first cassettes I remember owning were Michael Jackson – Thriller and AC/DC – Back in Black.
20. No, I’m not kidding.
21. Kiss used to be my favorite band.
22. Now I prefer Neil Young and Wilco.
23. I collected beer cans when I was a kid.
24. And baseball cards.
25. My high school’s nickname was the Oredockers – due to the iron ore docks located in the bay.
26. I knew a guy in college who knew the nickname of EVERY high school in Wisconsin (even the Trollers, Castleguards, Granite Diggers, etc.).
27. I was in the Navy for 4 years.
28. I was a Cryptologic Technicians Operator – basically, communications.
29. I held a Top Secret security clearance.
30. Places I got to see include; Turkey, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Egypt, Oman and the Philippines.
31. I’ve also been to Canada and Mexico.
32. Australia and New Zealand are at the top of the list of places I'd like to travel to.
33. I love coffee.
34. I learned to drink coffee (with cream and sugar) while in the Navy.
35. Now I drink it black.
36. I’ve never taken illegal drugs (unless you count alcohol before the age of 21).
37. I like beer.
38. I don’t drink nearly enough beer.
39. I was an accounting major – for one semester.
40. I switched to economics.
41. I’ve always loved math and numbers.
42. I should have a second degree in math.
43. I failed my last math class (trigonometry 4) by less than 1%.
44. I had Senioritis and just wanted to graduate.
45. I have an MBA with an emphasis in marketing.
46. I still don’t know why.
47. While in grad school I thought the audio-visual equipment was terrible.
48. Turns out I needed glasses.
49. I met my wife in (undergraduate) college.
50. I was dating her roommate.
51. We just had our 7 year anniversary.
52. We went to Portland, Oregon on our honeymoon.
53. Our trip included stops in Coos Bay and Eugene to learn more about Steve Prefontaine.
54. We’ve been to Boston, New York City, and Seattle too.
55. We have 2 girls, Kinsey (4) and Katherine aka Katie (2).
56. Kinsey is named after the main character in Sue Grafton’s mystery novels.
57. Katie is not named after anyone.
58. I’d like to tell people she’s named after Katie McGregor.
59. Not many people would know who I was talking about – including my wife.
60. We liked Katherine because of the many variations; Kathy, Kate, Kat, Katie.
61. I’ve also been to Washington DC, Baltimore, Charlotte, and Indianapolis
62. Places I’d like to visit in the U.S. include; San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, and the Grand Canyon,
63. I have no desire to go to Las Vegas, Los Angeles or New Orleans.
64. Okay, maybe I’d go to New Orleans.
65. I enjoy yard work.
66. But I don’t believe in watering my lawn.
67. I like wood working.
68. Mainly refinishing furniture, rather than creating things.
69. (I think) I have a small bladder.
70. I’ve been known to stop to pee twice during a 6 mile run, thrice during an 8 mile run.
71. Damn coffee!
72. I’ve always been attracted to blondes.
73. I’ve never dated a blonde.
74. Hmm. I don’t know if that’s funny or sad.
75. I usually drive 5 mph over the speed limit.
76. I’ve never received a speeding ticket.
77. I was pulled over once and got a warning.
78. The officer thought I was late for class. I wasn’t.
79. I’ve never been in a car accident.
80. Happiest day(s) of my life; becoming a father. March 1st and July 26th.
81. Proudest sports accomplishments; finishing Ironman Wisconsin, breaking 3 hours in the marathon, and qualifying for the Boston marathon.
82. Most embarrassing moment; after a class camping trip my senior year of high school I was taking a shower in the boy’s shower/sauna.
83. A bunch of my female classmates walked in.
84. Everyone had a towel on.
85. Except me.
86. “I was in the pool!!! I was in the pool!!!”
87. Where’s George Costanza when you need him?
88. I have no desire to own a motorcycle.
89. I’d rather go for a bike ride.
90. I wish I would have played hockey.
91. I love to skate.
92. I prefer Coca-cola.
93. Fall is my favorite time of the year.
94. I have little interest in politics.
95. Or religion.
96. My pet peeves include people not picking up their dog’s poop.
97. And people throwing cigarette butts out their car window.
98. I’m not musically inclined.
99. Or creative.
100. Or artistic.

WEIRD RATIOS

During the winter, Thursdays were my day to get up 15-20 minutes early and run a little longer and faster than “normal”. I decided I’d start incorporating those workouts back into my schedule. That meant getting up at 4:45 today. I almost talked myself into going back to bed, but I reminded myself that I probably won’t be able to run long on Saturday because I’m going to watch the Lifetime Fitness triathlon.

I felt about 100 times better than yesterday. I was able to make it 10 miles in just under 80 minutes (41:30/38:40). The trails I run on are gravel in one direction, but paved in the other. Normally I run on the gravel section, but in the winter I’d do these runs on the paved section – mainly because it provided better footing. Without really thinking about it, I headed along the paved section. I was really surprised by the number of bicyclist on the trail. I must have seen 30-35 bikers. I probably saw another 10-15 walkers and even 5-6 roller-bladers (after all, Minnesota is the home of the rollerblade). The weird thing is that in 80 minutes of running I only saw one other runner.

There’s a thread on letsrun.com today about the funniest things that have been shouted at you while running. This one actually had me laughing out loud;

While running past a psychiatric hospital one of the residents yelled "Hey, you training for the Olympics?!?"

His buddy yelled "No, call security, he's gettin' away!"

THE OTHER HALF

It was one of those mornings where I was tossing and turning and pretty awake before my alarm went off. However, I stayed in bed and when my alarm finally went off I fell back asleep for another 15 minutes. I nearly talked myself into postponing my run, but I figured I could still get in 5 miles before work – even with “sleeping in.” In these situations, Bailey tends to “suffer” since she only gets about a 2 minute walk. Then again, it’s 75 at 5:30 AM and she’s wearing a thick coat, so I’m sure she doesn’t mind too much.

I felt really sluggish on today’s run. I’m not sure if it’s from the marathon, because of the heat and humidity lately or because of my two runs yesterday. Anyway, I made it 5.5 miles. I “had to” throw in an extra half mile today because of the extra half mile I threw in yesterday.

When I got to work there was an email from my coach regarding a 6-week strength building phase for those running a fall marathon. I sent him an email stating that I’d like to proceed as if I’m NOT going to run a fall marathon. That’s probably a pain in the ass for him since I’ll be the only non-marathoner (besides the triathletes). But I’m pretty low maintenance and he’s pretty smart, so I think we can make it work.

IN LIMBO

I feel like my running is in total limbo lately. I guess that’s normal after a marathon, but that was nearly a month. I was looking at my 2004 log from June till mid-July. During that time I ran 4 races (5 if you count my only tri of the summer) and 5 track workouts ranging from 200s to Ks. During that same stretch this year, I’ve tapered, run a marathon and recovered. I feel like summer is passing me by and I’m not in any kind of racing shape. This feeling has me never wanting to run another spring marathon – at least not one that’s in mid-June – even though I love Grandma’s.

Given my lack of speed work this summer I was pumped to get on the track tonight. However, my coach had other things in mind. While the triathletes did 8-12 x 400 he sent the marathoners off on an 8-10 mile run. There were 4 of us, me Jenna, Jim and some new blood – Aaron. Aaron is in my age group, so while I didn’t know him, I recognized his name. He ran TCM last year in 3:09:08 (2 seconds slower than my Grandma’s race) and Med City this spring in 3:10:30. Actually, I think he’s faster than that at shorter distances – at least he was last night as he kept up with Jenna while Jim and I dropped back. We were able to make it about 8.5 miles in the 85-90 degree heat. Luckily there were 2 water fountains along the route, which allowed for 3 drinks on the out-and-back course along Summit Ave and East River Road.

I also ran an easy 5 miles this morning, mainly to 1) help increase my mileage and 2) to keep me in the habit of running before work.

30 YEARS

I had time for 8 miles this morning but stopped after 7. For some reason I didn’t want to run anymore. It was warm (75-80) for 6 AM but not unbearable. I really have no idea how people in warmer climates deal with the heat. I’ll take the cold any day.

Most evenings lately, after putting the kids to bed, I’ll relax by watching the Minnesota Twins or watching the Tour de France. I usually read a book or magazine at the same time, since neither show requires my full attention. Tonight neither show was on, due to the All Star break and a rest day. Looking through the TV guide I saw Office Space was on. I’ve heard good things about this movie so my wife and I watched it. There were some pretty funny parts but overall all I’d say it was just okay. My wife doesn’t work in that type of environment, so I’m not sure if she appreciated the jokes as much as me.

I wouldn't say I hate my job. I think that’s a little too strong. But sometimes I feel like this guy. I definitely lack passion for my job. For example, yesterday my boss and his boss were rattling off sales numbers over the weekend and talking about how we were ahead of our goal. I sat there thinking I couldn’t care less. Of course I want the company to do well, but I don’t need to analyze sales on a daily basis. Besides, I’m more of a doer. Give me a project to work on – something where I can look back at the end of the day and see I made progress. Sitting around strategizing and thinking about the big picture isn’t for me (unless it’s running).

Sometimes I daydream about other jobs that I think I’d like more; personal trainer/coach, math teacher/coach, or a blue collar job like a mechanic, plumber, handyman, construction, etc. Again, something that would allow me to see what I accomplished during the day. But having a master’s degree and a family make the likelihood of “starting over” highly unlikely.

Only 30 years till retirement.

DUATHLON

I’m not sure if it’s Lance’s “fault” or not, but lately I’ve been itching to go for a bike ride. I’ve even carried my bike in the back of my car for a week, just in case the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, I carried it around for nothing. Last week I emailed my coach to see what the triathletes were doing during the weekend. He said I could join them today as they previewed the Lifetime Fitness course. For those of you not familiar with tris, next weekend the LTF race will offer the largest purse ($500,000) to the top triathletes in the world. This race also features an “Equalizer” format that allows the women to get a head start. Money is then paid out based on what order people cross the finish line overall, meaning there’s no breakout for men and women.

Anyway, I decided that’d be a great opportunity to scratch my itch and go for a ride and follow it up with a run. Triathletes are “interesting” people and I haven’t quite figured out their training habits. I think they like to go all-out on the bike though. Granted I haven’t been on my bike much, but I still think I’m a decent rider (at least aerobically speaking). Well, within the first half of the ride I got dropped by about 4 riders. I’m not bothered by that but I am curious about 1 guy in particular. He was probably biking 23-25 mph, yet he only runs about 9:00 pace. How can he bike so fast, yet run so slow?

I ended up biking about 15 miles. Afterwards I jogged about 2.5 miles with a couple of gals on the team before running 2.5 miles with the guy I mentioned above. Overall, I ran for a little over 46 minutes and just called it 5 miles.