THE LATEST

Another quick update; yesterday I ran two easy 5 mile recovery runs. This morning I did another hill workout; 10 miles, including 2 sets of 4 repeats.

Here’s my latest interview.

Since that’s all I have time for, here’s the latest article I wrote regarding the series of runners I’ve been following this year.

Reality Runners by Chad Austin

This is part three in a four part series where we’ve been following seven local runners. Each issue we feature one or two of the runners and give brief updates on the others. In this issue we’re featuring Angie Voight as she sets her sites on qualifying for the Olympic Trials Marathon and Kerry Rosane who discovering what it’s like to compete again after giving birth to her first child.

When we first met Angie Voight, she had just run a 2:58 marathon PR and was setting her sites on the women’s Olympic Trials standard of 2:47. With the women’s race scheduled for next April in Boston; that meant she basically had one year to drop 11 minutes. Last we heard from Angie, she was preparing to run Grandma’s Marathon after setting a bunch of PRs at shorter distances during the spring.

When asked about her Grandma’s Marathon performance, she said, “I thought it went okay. Not great, but okay.” On a day where temperatures were 65 at the start, under bright blue skies, it’s no surprise that many runners struggled. Angie was smart enough to realize early on that she wouldn’t be able to run as fast as she wanted to. Instead of forcing things, she focused on staying relaxed and running even splits. She was rewarded with a PR of 2:54:54.

Angie’s long-term plan has been to slowly chip away at the Olympic Trials standard. And while she’s happy to have done that during her last two marathons, she realizes that she needs something more, saying “I’m chipping away at a slower rate than I would like. I have to have a breakthrough performance if I’m going to be at the trials.” To help get that breakthrough, she’s been focusing on the workouts that have been the hardest for her in the past; long workouts at tempo and marathon pace. Luckily, Angie is able to train with other runners that are also shooting for the Olympic Trials, which helps her train harder than she could by herself.

Next on Angie’s schedule is the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, followed by a winter marathon on “a fast course.” In order to continue her improvement, she’ll have to figure out the transition from medical school to residency, as she graduated in May and started her “real job” two days after Grandma’s Marathon. Currently, being on overnight call seems to be Angie’s biggest challenge. As she puts it, “I like my sleep. I like my own bed.” Originally, she thought she could just not run the days after she was on-call. However, she realized, that alone would mean 70 days of missed training during the year.
Instead, she says, “I’ve decided that this year I’ll run when I can, sleep when I can, eat when I can and see what happens.”

Part of Angie’s motivation comes from Carrie Tollefson’s Running Camp, where she was a camp counselor earlier this year. The theme of the camp was “get after it” and that’s become Angie’s theme for the year too. She says, “I'm going to get after it in my training, no matter how hard it is or how tired I feel after a long night of being on call. My goal is to do everything I possibly can to see if I can make it to the Olympic Trials in April.”
In our final installment, we’ll check back in with Angie to see how close she is to achieving her goal.

The day Kerry Rosane found out she pregnant she bought The Complete Book of Running for Women by Claire Kowalchik because it contained a chapter dedicated to running during pregnancy. With advice from this book, along with the okay from her doctor, Kerry ran through her entire pregnancy. While pregnant, she also made a promise to herself to keep running as a priority after her son, Jamison, was born.

Kerry has been able to keep that promise by being flexible, planning ahead, and continuously looking for new ways to make it work. Knowing how important running is to Kerry, her mom bought her a Baby Jogger. This particular model had a car-seat bar, which allows for younger babies to ride along. So within a couple of weeks of giving birth, Kerry had already returned to walking and jogging a couple of miles at a time.

As temperatures cooled down, Kerry and Jamison moved inside. At first Jamison was satisfied with sitting in his swing and watching Kerry run on the treadmill. However, as Jamison aged, Kerry had to become even more flexible and creative with her workouts since he was becoming more active, still not napping for long stretches, and still did not have a very predictable schedule. They added an exersaucer, bouncer, and playpen into the mix. In addition, childcare services at the Rochester Athletic Club allowed Kerry to cross train by spinning and swimming and also allowed Jamison to get used to other caregivers.

When spring arrived, Kerry’s biggest challenge became finding time to bike outside. Kerry’s husband, James, is also a triathlete and they were able to bike together a few times, when we had childcare for Jamison. Otherwise, they had to take turns. Whatever she was doing seemed to be working. She said, “I knew my training was going well because I had set PRs in the 10K and half-marathon and had a decent showing at my first ever bike time trial.”

While those results were reassuring, Kerry’s first ever half Ironman was fast approaching, and to be honest, she found the distance to be a little intimidating. Even with a solid base of aerobic activity, Kerry’s longest ride was 50 miles, without running afterwards. For her race, she’d have to bike 56 miles and run a half marathon afterwards – not to mention the 1.2-mile swim prior to the bike ride. She told people her goal was just to finish, but secretly she wanted to break 6 hours.

The night before the race was her first night away from her son. While that was hard, Kerry actually found it very relaxing and it made the logistics of the race much easier. As you can probably imagine, with a race last 6 hours, things don’t always go as planned. During the swim a buoy broke loose causing Kerry to swim a little further than she planned. The bike course was windy and full of rolling hills. However, Kerry felt strong, so strong that at mile 45, she found her herself passing her husband, even though he started five minutes before her.

Unlike running races, which start in the early morning hours, long-course triathletes tend to start the run portion of their race in the heat of the day. Kerry started her run around noon and temperatures were already in the low 80s. To make matters more challenging, the run course also covered hilly terrain. Like most runners, Kerry hates to walk during any race, but her outlook quickly changed. “My goal became to run between each water station and then walk through those. This strategy lasted until about mile 10 when I remember having the thought that I would rather be going through labor again than finish the race because I was so fatigued! I started walking every couple of minutes,” she said.

Despite the walking, Kerry held on for 10th overall female and first in her age group, as she smashed her goal by 31 minutes and finished in 5:29. Oh yeah, she also beat her husband by 35 minutes, which she “only occasionally rubs in.”

In our last issue, we featured Marc Windahl who shed more than 90 pounds while training for his first marathon. Finishing the Fargo Marathon was definitely the highlight of his first year of running. However, running has been a struggle since then. In addition to the normal soreness following such an event, Marc has had to deal with allergy and hive issues on his feet and ankles. The raw and broken skin associated with these issues caused him to miss some training time. The missed training time led to decreased fitness, which left Marc frustrated with his inability to run similar distances and paces as prior to the marathon.

What better way to break out of those post-marathon blues than by setting a goal to run another marathon? Marc now plans to run the Outterbanks Marathon in November. Although he had to adjust the early part of his training schedule, he’s confident his fitness and motivation will soon turn around.

Following Amanda Bowman for this project has been like riding a roller coaster. I had no sooner finished the last article stating that she would not be running Grandma’s Marathon due to injuries, when she told me she was feeling better and going to give the race a shot. With a lot of bike riding under her belt and a month of running leading up to the race, Amanda was able to finish in 4:05. “I'm so happy with my achievements and how well my legs have recovered. Since May, I've been able to run without pain and my confidence has gone through the roof,” she said.

More importantly, for the first time in a long time, she no longer spends her runs thinking about where the pain is going to come from first. Instead she focuses on her "to do" list and how great it feels to be outside. And even though her running has improved, she’s very careful not to over-train, saying “I still like to hop on my bike two or three times a week and ride for 60-80 miles.” In addition, she continues to build strength in her core, glutes and hamstrings to help prevent re-injury.

Amanda has registered for the MDRA Fall Marathon Training program and has set her sites on the Twin Cities Marathon. “I feel really confident and strong. In fact, I’m going to try to beat my 3:49 PR,” she said.

While Karen Spandl says recovering from the Boston Marathon took longer than normal, it hasn’t seemed to affect her recent racing. After the marathon, she took two weeks off to help her recuperate. Two weeks after that, she PRd at the Fargo Half Marathon by running 1:46:23. June was a lighter training month for Karen. Then she decided to run her first 10K in over 20 years. While her 7:30 first mile felt “too fast”, Karen was able to hold the pace and finish in 46:25. She now has plans to run the Dick Beardsley Half Marathon in September and the Disney World Marathon in January.

It’s probably no surprise that someone training for an Ironman triathlon has to deal with some minor nagging injuries along the way. Luckily for Braden Beam, he’s been able to keep them manageable. It’s not surprising either when Braden says, “I’m constantly tired because all I do is train, eat and try to get enough sleep. Although it’s never enough sleep, I still somehow manage my job and my life.” And while he enjoys the training while he’s doing it, he resents the amount of time it has taken away from his life.

Braden has been in the thick of his racing season too, which has included a handful of sprint, Olympic distance and half Ironman triathlons, in addition to the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. The good news is that while he hasn’t tapered for any of these races, he finds himself finishing faster than last year.

Early in the year, Braden was geared up to run a fast fall marathon after completing his Ironman. Now he’s not so sure, saying, “When I'm done with this Ironman, I'm taking a few weeks off to figure out if I really want to run another hard marathon. I'm sort of burned out from all of the years of endurance events.”

In our final part of this series we’ll be featuring Braden, including a report on his Ironman race. In addition, we’ll check back in with our other runners, including Keenan Robbins, who has been AWOL since we featured him in our last issue.

EARLY MARCH

I have a few other things I’m working on, so I’ll (try to) keep this brief.

I’m back to building my mileage – or at least getting back to 70 miles, like I was before my cutback week. Monday I doubled up with two easy runs; 6 in the morning and 8 in the evening.

Last night I jumped on the treadmill for a marathon-paced workout. Rather than progressively dropping the pace (like the last time I did an MP workout) after my 2-mile warm-up, I went right to 6:40 pace. This was one of those workouts where after about 2 miles at MP I started to question how long I could hold the pace. I really didn’t think I could go the 7-8 miles that I wanted. I think the doubts have more to do with the sound of the treadmill than anything else. It’s not like my legs were tired or that I was breathing hard. It’s just that the sound of the treadmill makes it feel like I’m really hauling ass. Anyway, having run 3 miles at 6:15 pace the week before, I told myself I had to at least make it 6 miles. Once I got 5 miles in at MP, my doubts went away. I dropped the pace another tenth of a miles to 6:35 and ran two more miles. Add in a mile cool-down and I had 10 miles total, including 7 at 6:39 pace.

This morning I was trying to figure out where that kind of workout fit into my Grandma’s buildup. In early March I was at the end of my hill phase and ran 10 miles with 7 at 6:43 pace. That makes me think I’m in pretty good shape for TCM. While I don’t have 3 months till TCM, my upcoming phases are going to be more condensed than they were leading up to Grandma’s. Besides, 2 months after that March MP workout, I ran my best half marathon in 11 years.

Alright, this is already getting too long. I’ll close with Brad Lowery’s latest journal entry.

Oh yeah, and here’s a photo of what I’d like to look like when I’m in my 60s – hell I’d like to look like that now. (Left to right; Norm, Paul and Jim)

Quote of the day;

“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” – Lewis Carroll

WEEKEND RECAP

With the girls at Grandma’s (not the marathon) for a sleep-over, I was able to sneak out of work a little early and meet my wife at the movie theater. We watch the “Boren” Ultimatum. Great stuff. If you like the first two, you’ll like this one too.

After being concerned with the pace of last week’s group run, Kim and I decided to meet 30 minutes early on Saturday, in order to get in a warm-up. It definitely helped as the pace was even quicker than last week, but overall the run felt easier. I managed to get in 18 miles at about 7:20 pace.

My latest interviewee joined us for this run. That was nice because it was the most I’ve ever talked to him. Anyway, this run gave me 54 miles for my cutback week.

On my way home I stopped at the library and happened to come across this article on a guy that graduated from UW-EC the year before I got there. You don’t see that every day.

Warning: the next sentence has two words that should never appear together. Yesterday I spent about 5 hours hunched over a pressure washer as I stripped my mother-in-law’s deck. The work is not that hard, but I was pretty tired once I got home and I ended up not running. That’s not really what I had in mind for the start of a week where I hope to build my 70 miles from two weeks ago. But that’s alright. Remember, life doesn’t always fit into nice little 7-day buckets called "weeks". I’ll do what I can.

Quote of the day;

“Back then, we figured once you hit thirty, it was time to hang it up. I trained hard and quick. I didn’t really enjoy running, like most people today do. Training runs were just another entry in my logbook.” – Perry Bach

IRONIC

It’s kind of ironic that during my drive to work on Wednesday, comedian Doug Stanhope was talking about how the media likes to sensationalize everything. Usually people say that and then follow it up by saying it’s because fear sells. Doug follows it up saying it’s because people realize their lives are boring; we’re not going to get caught in the middle of a gang shoot out or killed by terrorism, etc. His basic argument is people want to believe that something sensational will happen to their boring lives – rather than believe that they really have a much greater chance of dying without anything of significance happening to them.

Of course, that evening the 35W Bridge collapsed. While I wasn’t directly affected, it still hits a little too close to home. It hit even closer to home when one of the first people reported dead was a father of 6 and 4-year-olds. That’s how old my kids are. Damn! I can’t even imagine.

Talking about my running seems a little strange when my thoughts are with the people affected by this terrible event, so I’ll just give a brief update.

Yesterday I ran 8 miles, including 6 hill repeats up Bush Lake Road. Overnight the dew point dropped and I had a really nice 10-mile trail run this morning.

Quote of the day;

“It’s just developing the attitude that nothing can stop you.” – Ron Hill

FRESH LEGS

A day off on Sunday followed by an easy 5 miles on Monday equals fresh legs on Tuesday. Fresh legs equal a solid tempo run; 3 mile warm-up, 3 miles at 6:15 pace (started at 6:20 and dropped to 6:07), 2 mile cool-down. I’ll take it.

This run gave me 253 miles for July, not bad considering I only had 34 miles after the first week. I ran 28 days and had 2 doubles. No races.

Today I started my 38th year with an easy 5 mile run. I was going to push this back till tonight, however, I was wide awake at 5:15, so I decided to just get the run over with.

A few weeks ago I talked about an email offer I received from someone at Accelerade. The deal was basically, “We’ll send you a 30-day supply for free if you agree to talk as much or as little as you’d like in our online community.” I signed up and received 30 ready-to-drink bottles. I thought that was a little surprising, given how much it cost to ship them. Sending the powder mix would make more sense, but I guess they wanted to give exposure to more flavors.

If I’m not drinking water during workouts, I’ll usually take Gatorade or Powerade – they’re both the same to me. After workouts/races I’ve also used Endurox, because of its 4:1 carb to protein ratio. My understanding of Accelerade is that, while it also boasts this 4:1 ratio, it’s more geared towards using during workouts/races. With that in mind, I have used it during some of my harder tempo runs lately – with no ill G.I. affects.

All of the favors (Fruit Punch, Mountain Berry, Peach Mango and Citrus Grapefruit) I’ve tried are pretty good. I’d say I like the taste better than Endurox, but not as good as Gatorade or Powerade.

Now I have no idea whether or not the drink, as the label hypes, “significantly extended my exercise endurance, sped muscle recovery and improved rehydration” as compared to other sports drinks. I wish I had that kind of connection with my body, but I don’t. That doesn’t mean I didn’t find it helpful, it just means I think I’d get a better sense of its effectiveness over longer, harder workouts/races. Overall, I do think I’ve had more success with gels than with sports drinks, so I’m interested in trying their gels, which also have protein in them.

The company seems to be spending huge money on advertising lately, which seems to be paying off based on conversations I’ve had with a few running store employees. Their biggest obstacle will be getting their product onto race courses. Seriously, it doesn’t really matter how great your product is, if I can't get it during the race, what good does it do me? My hope it that they can get their foot in the door with Grandma’s Marathon, seeing how they offer Ultima on the course – something that couldn’t even be given away at a local running store.

Quote of the day;

“If we can’t beat this guy on his honeymoon, we never will.” – Cary Weisiger, on Peter Snell’s California tour in 1963

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

My last post asked some somewhat rhetorical questions about adding more tempo runs into mix since I seem to respond very well to them. As usual, Gregg gave some good advice, basically stating that I should mix up a longer MP with a shorter, more intense, LT workout – and make sure that my easy days are truly easy. This is kind of the way I was leaning when I posed the questions. I need a little more variety than just a bunch of longer runs at 6:50 pace. Plus, I need to think about adding in a short, but important hill phase.

Seeing how I didn’t think I’d get much response here, I posted the same questions on this somewhat regional forum.

Friday I was looking at my training leading up to Grandma’s, focusing on the number of workouts per week. I labeled any thing that was either tempo, hills, MP, race or over 18 miles as a workout. Based on those criteria, during the months of December – May, I averaged 1.7 workouts per week. 1.7 workouts per week over a 6 month stretch!!! That doesn’t sound like a hard/easy schedule to me. It’s more like hard/easy/easy/easy. It seems like there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Saturday’s run had me thinking about this a little more too. I joined a group and ended up running 16 miles. Based on the criteria above, this wouldn’t qualify as a hard day – even though the 7:05 miles in the middle of the run had me feeling different. So that raises more questions, should I 1) slow down and add more miles, 2) drop the pace or 3) change my criteria, to make this a hard day? 1 and 2 are difficult during a group run. I thought about either getting to the group runs early to add-on a warm-up or getting my long runs in by myself. We’ll see...

Anyway, Saturday’s run gave me 70 miles for the second consecutive week. After weeks of 66, 70 and 70, I’m going to cut back to 50-55 this week. To help accomplish that, I took yesterday off. It was my first day off in 24 days.

Dang, this is getting to be a long post. If you’re interested in Team USA Minnesota at all, check out this article. Also, this article on Brad Lowery fell through the cracks.

Quote of the day;

“In this sport, there's a fine line between running great and not running at all. Brad is finding out that when you get in really good shape, it's important that you don't go over the edge.

You could end up not being able to compete at all, or not being able to run your best. We're working on getting him to do good solid workouts instead of trying for great ones all the time.” - Team USA Minnesota coach Dennis Barker.

HAPPY 4TH!

I have a whole bunch of things to get to today, let’s see how many actually make it into this post.

First off, Happy 4th Birthday to my daughter Katie. She’s so funny. You know how kids like to say they're either, for example, 3 or 3 ½? Well I’m pretty sure that even yesterday Katie thought she was 3 ½. She’s a day away from turning 4 and still claiming to be 3 ½. I thought that was cute, but I’m biased.

During my last training cycle, I think it started to sink in that I respond pretty well to long tempo and marathon-paced workouts. That got me wondering if more is better – can I add another such workout into my weekly mix and make better gains? How many similar workouts can I mix in? Would I be better off with a longer MP workout and a shorter, harder tempo effort? Of course, given TCM’s hills during the last 10K, I need to start working those back into the mix. If I do all those things, I’d be basically following a hard/easy routine with less emphasis on speedwork this time around.

Anyway, with all this in mind, I decided to run another long tempo run on the treadmill last night. I managed 12 miles with 8 of them at 6:50 pace. I think I should probably call these "progression" runs, instead of "tempo" runs. After a 2 mile warmup, I started out at 7:00 pace and gradually dropped down to 6:35 pace, by the end of the run.

While I was on the treadmill I was watching le tour. There’s nothing like watching the top-4 riders in the race, including the yellow jersey, duke it out on the final hill of the race – only to see a “Breaking News” scroll across the bottom of the screen saying that the guy wearing the yellow jersey has been kicked off his team. But what I find most annoying is listening to the announcers talk about the shame Vinokourov brought to himself and his team in one sentence and then in the very next sentence they say something like, “It's too bad because he's one of the all-time greats.” It's like they think this is an isolated incident when in reality, I highly doubt it was his first time trying something like that. These guys don’t just wake up one day when there 28-years-old and say, “Boy, this tour is making me tired. I think I’ll blood-dope today.”

Yesterday I ripped on the Twins. The responded by giving up 11 runs – IN THE 6TH INNING!!! As someone on the radio said, if you take away the 6th inning they would’ve only lost 2-1. Talk about a silver lining. In their 101 games, they’ve scored 2 or less runs 28 times. I mean, 28 times!!!

Bart asked if I’d heard anything about the Pan Am Games being televised. No, I haven’t. And this morning I realized that the 16-day Games have been going on for 13 days already. Nearly 2 weeks in and the only thing I know about the Games is that a bunch of Minnesotans did very well in the junior competition.

Alright, enough negativity. I’ll end with a link to my latest interview. If you’ve ever wondered what happens to young stud runners as they age, check it out. Hint: they become old stud runners.

Quote of the day;

“I get amused when young runners talk about “burnout” because I can say that I don't feel I have ever really had burnout in all my years of running – maybe just some injury ‘delays’” – Bruce Mortenson.

PLEASE EXPLAIN

Let me just say that while I enjoy watching the Tour de France, I do so under the assumption that all the riders are dirty. That way, when I see articles like this, I just think it’s par for the course.

Last night I ventured outside for my run since the Tour had a day off and the Twins aren’t worth watching. [Someone please explain to me how a team with a reigning Cy Young winner, league MVP, batting champ and Golden Glove center fielder (who’s in a contract year) can only play .500 ball]. I headed out for my run not knowing if I’d go 5 miles or 10 miles. Seeing how I immediately felt tired (either from the previous day’s tempo or the hot and muggy conditions – or a combination), I opted for the mere 5 miles.

About a mile and a half into the run, I bumped into Jen, whom I first met about 4 years ago when I was doing triathlons. Now I like to give triathletes crap as much as the next person, but Jen is cool. She’s one of those people that would make a great training partner, especially since she lives about a half mile from me and has like a 3:11 marathon PR, which she set a month after an Ironman – so she’s tough. However, our work and run schedules don’t match at all. I had to settle for just turning around and running back with her, before adding on a couple of miles in my neighborhood.

Here’s a story from my vacation that I keep forgetting to tell. I’m at the eye doctor’s office and he’s got a poster up from the reality TV show Grease. It turns out his daughter is the gal that won the competition and now she’s in NYC preparing for Broadway. I thought that was pretty neat - it's something you don't come across every day.

Finally, check out Chris Lundstrom’s latest journal entry as he prepares to run the marathon at the Pan Am Games.

Quote of the day;

“As much as I love to run, there are days when the second 10 mile run of the day has very little appeal, whereas the couch and spacing out to re-runs of Seinfeld look really great. I rarely give in to those urges to slack off, and while there are more talented runners than me out there, I always feel confident in the work that I have put in. It will be very exciting to see how I can stack up against the other marathoners of the Americas.” – Chris Lundstrom

LONGER TEMPO

Last week I mentioned this Nutritional Survey that my neighbor’s sister is conducting. My neighbor was kind enough to drop off a 6-pack yesterday for “all my efforts.” Even though he’s a mountain biker, he’s pretty cool that way. I thought if I hyped "his" bike company, maybe I’d get a case of beer out of the deal. Just kidding. But if you’re in the market for a new bike, go check them out.

Maybe I’m the only one, or maybe my neighbor is the exception, but I kind of find it odd that he’s not into “The Tour”. Are bike riders so niche that mountain bikers don’t care about road bikers – and neither of them care about triathletes? Is that like road runners not caring about track or cross-country runners? Or maybe it’s like marathoners not caring about ultra marathoners. Who knows?

Anyway, I jumped on the treadmill for 11 miles last night, including 6 at 6:57 pace. Not spectacular, but given that it was my first longer tempo since Grandma’s, I was happy with the result.

Plus, I know the results would have been better if I hadn’t eaten one of these in the afternoon. Apparently, they give me the shits. I guess that’s good to know - at least for me (maybe not you). I’ll keep that info in my own Nutritional Survey.

I’m also back to adding some strengthening exercises to my routine. In addition to some core work, I’ve added some wall squats with a fitness ball behind my back. I’ve also added lunges onto one of these stability pads. The squats and lunges will hopefully help with the knee pain I’ve been having, off-and-on, for several months.

Quote of the day;

“Road racing is rock ‘n roll; track is Carnegie Hall.” – Marty Liquori

BACK TO THE GRIND

Vacation is over. Back to the grind. It was a typical vacation. Things moved slowly the first day or two, then before I knew it, it was time to head back to work. I got most of my odd jobs finished and was able to hang out with the kids some too. However, the deck is still not finished, so now I’ll have to figure out when I can get that taken care of.

I’m happy to report that I was able to get in 8 miles on Saturday. Seeing how we were at my brother’s house, I wasn’t sure what my training would end up looking like. That run gave me a nice, even, 70 miles for the week on 8 runs. Yesterday I managed 5 miles before leaving Madison and another 5 on the treadmill in the evening.

This week I’ve decided to switch my runs to the evening because 1) the Tour de France is getting exciting and if I watch it at night, I end up staying up till 10 PM. That’s too late if I want to get up at 5 AM or earlier, 2) it’s going to get hot and muggy, even at 5 AM, so I don’t mind being on the treadmill and 3) I’m going to work on adding in some longer tempo runs. Running them on the treadmill in the winter worked, so I’ll try that approach in the summer too.

Finally, congrats to Matt Gabrielson for his recent 5K PR. Here’s his entertaining post race interview.

Quote of the day;

“I have been waiting for three years for a personal best in the 5000. It has been a little bit of a rough road on the track for me but the lesson learned is to just keep plugging away.” – Matt Gabrielson

HELP WANTED

Just a quick post to ask for everyone's help. My neighbor's sister is a runner and nutritionist. She's co-authoring a nutrition book for marathoners and half-marathoners and trying to get as many runners as possible to complete a survey to learn more about what runners are doing in terms of nutrition before, during and after the race. If you have 10-15 minutes, please help her out by completing the online survey. Thanks.

I had a great 16 mile run yesterday. The weather broke just in time - while it was still 68 at 7AM the dew point was down to 58. I met up with Eric and Jim (it's nice to have retired friends) and we basically ran the Get in Gear loop multiple times (2 with Jim and all 3 with Eric). According to PR's mile markers we were running 7:50 at the start, dropped as low as 7:18, before backing off to 7:30s towards the end.

This morning I thought I'd be a little tired, but I got in a nice 10 mile run in Lebanon Hills. I'm not sure if it's the cooler temps or what, but there wasn't a black fly to be found. Hard to believe given that we're in the 3rd week of July.

Sorry no quote of the day today. Gotta run.

KEEPING ME HONEST

If nothing else, blogging keeps me honest. Monday afternoon I posted about wanting to build my mileage. Monday evening I was sitting on the couch with only 6 miles for the day. I really just wanted to veg, but thought back to my post and dragged my ass out for another 5 miles.

Yesterday was another challenge. I'm trying to re-finish my deck. The problem is you can't do it above like 85 degrees. So I have to work in the morning and early afternoon before the sun comes around the house. So I postponed yesterday's run until the evening, so that I could work on stripping my deck.

After all that manual labor, I was a little leery about having to hop on the treadmill at 8 PM. However, it was one of those runs that within 3 steps I knew was going to be a good one. My legs felt really good and I managed 10 quicker miles in 76 minutes.

Now I sit here at 5 PM without any miles for the day, yet, and a 7 AM 16 miler planned for tomorrow. It might just be an easy 5 or 6 tonight. We'll see.

Since I'm watching the Tour de France, I'll use one of my favorites for the quote of the day;

"It doesn't get easier, you just go faster." - Greg Lemond

BUILDING MILEAGE

I'm on vacation this week, so if my blogging is sporatic, you'll know why. I don't really have any plans for the week, just running, hanging out with the kids and doing a bunch of odd jobs around the house. I'm mainly taking the week off because I have 4 weeks of Paid Time Off and so far I've only used 4 days.

Not much to report running-wise, as I'm still just building my base. I ran 8 miles on Friday. Saturday I joined Jenna, Kim and Kevin for a "long" run. I was thinking at least 12, but I actually ended up with 15, by far my longest run since Grandma's. The hardest part of the run was finding a parking place, as we met down by Lake Nokomis so we'd be able to watch the Life Time Fitness triathlon. I still enjoy watching that sport but am content to just be a runner.

Anyway, I'm still feeling good during my runs and I ended up with 66 miles for the week on 7 runs. I'll take it! This week I'm hoping for a little more although we'll be on the road Friday-Sunday as we travel to Madison, WI.

Yesterday I jumped on the treadmill for an easy 10 miles. The newpaper said there was a track meet on TV, but they were showing auto racing instead. No worries as the Hy-Vee triathlon was on TV, as well as the Twins.

The building up of mileage finally reared it's ugly head this morning, as my legs were tired. I was thinking about 10 miles, but decided to cut it to 6 miles with the hopes of jumping on the treadmill tonight. Ideally, I'd like to build my mileage in singles, but right now I'm just concerned with building my mileage. Period.

Quote of the day;

"My only “training philosophy” is consistent, year-round running. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to keep racing frequently and stay injury-free." - Jim Ramacier

GOOD QUESTION

Yesterday’s post led to an good question by Bart;

Do you think the miles you’ve run over the last three weeks are important for your recovery and preparation for a fall marathon or whatever is next on your schedule?

After reading his question I immediately thought of a couple of things that I’ve read in the past. First, with this sport you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. Second, it takes twice as long to re-gain what you lost.

I know it’s important to recover from my last marathon before jumping into training for my next marathon. However, it’s hard to imagine taking 3 weeks completely off between a spring and fall marathon, especially if you believe that it’d take 6 weeks to get your fitness back to where it was. Doing that would only leave me 7 weeks until TCM.

I’d be much more inclined to take 3 weeks off after a fall marathon because my next marathon would be at least 5-6 months away and 8 months away if I were doing the ever-popular TCM/Grandma’s combination.

With all that said, I was basing my Grandma’s recovery off of my Chicago recovery. Last fall I took 5 days completely off and then bumped my weekly mileage from 40 to 80 in 4 weeks. I’m not sure why that strategy didn’t work this time, maybe it was the heat or maybe I beat my legs up a little more.

So to answer Bart’s question, I don’t know if those miles (or lack of) will be important for TCM or not. I’d guess that if I put together 12 more solid weeks of training, I won’t care what I did the 3 weeks immediately following Grandma’s. However, if I’m fatigued and sore the rest of the summer, I’ll be kicking myself for not waiting until I was fully recovered before beginning to train again.

Anyway, based on how I'm feeling this week (another, quicker 7 miles this morning), I'm pretty confident about the 12 more solid weeks of training.

Today’s quote of the day may be my new all-time favorite;

“Speed is relative, effort is universal.” – Paul Giannobile

NIGHT & DAY

The difference between running this week and the previous 3 weeks is like night and day. I’d venture a guess that the first 3 weeks post-marathon are a lot like what people who don’t enjoy running experience every time they do run. You’re tired and achy all the time and none of the runs are very fulfilling. It’s no wonder they hate running. They never make it to that euphoric 4th week.

After putting in 74 miles in 3 weeks, I’m on-pace for over 60 miles this week. A lot of that has to do with having a leg that doesn’t hurt like hell. Note to self: don’t wait 3 weeks to make an appointment with Jenna in the future. I guess the good news about waiting 3 weeks is that it “forced” me to get in a nice recovery period.

Besides my leg feeling better, I just feel like I have a lot more energy. Yesterday I ran 8 miles and today I ran 10. I’m sure the cooler temps help too, as during today’s run it was 58 degrees – in mid-July!!! During the run I was wishing I could get in a nice 2-hour mid-week run, but I don’t think I’m ready for those yet.

Here’s another interview for those that are interested.

Quote of the day;

“No, I didn’t study running very much. I started running to lose weight. The science part of running doesn’t really interest me. I enjoy competition and being outside. I think I improved because I raced a lot and added mileage.” – Jim Ramacier

20 YEARS...AND COUNTING

I was, in fact, able to completely pull my head out of my ass last week. Gregg’s advice of waiting 3 weeks after Grandma’s to finally feel recovered was right on.

Friday I felt great and managed 9 miles in Lebanon Hills. That afternoon I stopped by Jenna’s office. After awhile I didn’t think she was going to find anything wrong with my leg – but then she found it – a very tight knot just at the very top of my calf muscles. I’d tell you the real name of the muscles, but I missed Anatomy class that day. Jenna also showed me a couple of exercises I’m going to try to incorporate to strengthen my knees/legs.

Saturday, after closing the bars at 2 AM, I was just happy to get in 6 very hot miles. You’re probably wondering why a finely tuned runner such as myself would be closing the bars – or at least why I’d get up 5 hours later for a run. Well, it was all part of my 20th high school reunion. That’s right, I’ve been out of school longer than it took me to get through school. While I didn’t go to any of the “formal” activities, I’m happy to report that it was a pretty fun weekend – with a smattering of awkward conversations mixed in just for good measure.

Sunday I jumped on the treadmill for the first time in a long time. I was flipping back and forth between the Tour de France and the men’s finals at Wimbledon – next thing I knew, I had run 10 miles. Nice.

This morning I managed 8 miles. Right now I’m just trying to wrap my mind around the whole concept of base-building again. When I base-build in the winter I just kind of get in a zone and am just content to run mileage – even in crappy weather. I’m sure we’ll have crappy weather in the next 6 weeks too, just the opposite kind of crap.

Quote of the day;

“It’s an unvicious cycle; when I am happy I am running well and when I’m running well I am happy…It is the Platonic idea of knowing thyself. Running is getting to know yourself to an extreme degree.” – Ian Thompson

POP

That sound you hear is me (hopefully) pulling my head out of my ass.

You know something is wrong when your wife asks, “When are you going to start running again?” and you’ve been running for the last 2 weeks.

I take it she’s either 1) getting sick of having me around because I’m not running as much, 2) she senses my frustration recently and wants me out of the house more or 3) she’s amazed by all the projects I’ve completed (or at least plan to complete) around the house lately.

Yesterday was a reminded that if I want to run from home, I have to do it early in the morning – especially on holidays. I kept telling myself I’d go later, but never made it out the door. Maybe that had something to do with my leg feeling pretty good this morning. I made it 6 relatively pain-free miles. I could still feel my leg, but it wasn’t painful. I still don’t have a lot of confidence in it, so I’m planning on visiting the doctor tomorrow. I think I’ll have her look at my knee too and see if she notices anything. It hasn’t been bothering me lately, but it’s the one that acts up every time I bump my training load.

Question for other bloggers; Did anyone else get an email from Accelerade about getting some free product for agreeing to write about it on your blog? I’m sure it was a form letter; Dear (enter name here), I’ve been reading (enter blog name here) and it’s really great… Anyway, I was curious if anyone had any experience with this. Even given the form letter, it looked pretty interesting. I may take them up on their offer.

Here’s another interview if you’re interested.

Quote of the day;

“I am huge believer of the Lydiard system. I really feel mileage is the key to successful marathoning and Lydiard is a huge proponent of this. I think sometimes people think there is a magic pill or track session that will produce results but a lot of it lies in the mileage, while throwing in some of the quicker stuff to spice it up from time to time.” - Chris Grossinger

SO LAME

I think I’m onto the post-marathon depression stage; 1) I’m tired on nearly every run and 2) my leg continues to bother me. Both of which make it very hard to get motivated.

This is the third week post-marathon, so I need to start getting my act together soon. To help “fix” #1, I think I need to get back into a routine of going to bed at 9 PM, eating better, hydrating better and adding back in some core strength work. To help “fix” #2, I think I need to see the doc or get a massage.

Since my recent "training" is so lame and I don’t have anything enlightening to write about, go check out my two latest interviews.

Quote of the day;

“Running changed my life. I became a different person when I became a runner. Growing up and as a young adult I was so painfully shy. I held myself back in so many ways because I was afraid to try things. For some reason, running never intimidated me. I would walk up to total strangers and ask about their training. I would meet people I didn’t know and do workouts with them on the track. I traveled to races constantly. I always felt very confident and comfortable with myself when I was around other runners.”- Kelly Keeler-Ramacier

RUNNING IN CIRCLES

Well it feels like I’m coming around a little more every day. Yesterday I ran a very easy 6 miles. This morning was supposed to be 5 easy miles without a watch. Once I got going I found myself moving pretty well. I decided to time a mile just to see how fast I was moving. I ended up with a 7:40, that’s a about MP + 60 seconds, which is pretty good for me on a solo run.

My right leg felt awesome. The back of my left leg feels about 80%. So I was running around in circles. Just kidding. The left leg hurts the most when I go up hill, so I’ve really been backing off on the hills. I’m thinking about running on the treadmill for a few days in a row to see if that helps speed up the healing process.

Focusing on Grandma’s Marathon did set back my interviewing schedule a little. Now I have a bunch in the works, so I should be posting quite a few in the near future. I think today’s interview is great. If you’re curious about what it takes to drop your 5K time from sub-27 to sub-17 in “less than 2 years”, you may want to check it out.

Quote of the day;

“My times did improve rapidly but it wasn’t because I was “gifted” or “naturally talented.” I was very dedicated from the get-go. I started reading about training, talking to people, and working out my own training schedules almost from that very first run. I worked very hard at improving and developing what ability I had to the highest level.” - Kelly Keeler-Ramacier

9 YEARS

Here was the conversation last night as we put the girls to bed – keep in mind that my daughter Kinsey is all about princesses and falling in love.

Kinsey (in her best princess voice): I’m so excited for tomorrow.

Amy (my wife): Why?

Kinsey: Because it’s your anniversary.

Amy: Oh.

I’m missed the rest of the conversation because I stepped out of the room. When I returned, I asked Kinsey if mom was excited about tomorrow.

Kinsey (now sounding extremely disappointed): Not really.

Sorry to burst her bubble, but if it were up to her (and Disney) she’d be married this weekend. Anyway, Happy 9th Anniversary to my wonderful wife. It’s hard to believe anyone would stick with me for that long.

Does anyone else find it weird when other people send you anniversary cards for your anniversary? Or father’s day cards from someone other than your kids (or wife)? Send me a birthday card or Christmas card – that’s fine. But the other holidays seem a little more personal.

Back to running. I think I’m making progress. I managed to run an easy 7 miles this morning. The legs were feeling pretty good. I could still feel the pain behind my knee, but it was more of a nuisance, especially when I was going up hills.

Quote of the day;

“As we become increasingly involved in technology, science, and business, we should not lose that instinct, that feeling for the earth. Running is a very beautiful way to bring out those healthy feelings.” – Bill Rodgers

OVER THE TOP

A day later my legs feel way better. Of course, not running this morning probably has something to do with that. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Awhile ago I posted an interview I did for Twin Cities Sports. Here’s the edited version that made it into the publication (and online).

Note: I didn’t write the “Find everything there is to know about the Twin Cities running scene at a new blog” quote. That’s way over the top.

Locally, Down the Backstretch does a much better job covering the entire local scene. I’m curious if any other bloggers, from other states, have anything similar out there? There definitely has to be a market out there for real-time coverage of other local and regional areas.

Thanks to DtB for pointing me towards a brief chat with Katie McGregor. I thought a couple of the questions were interesting, or should I say odd. For example, “Can you see a situation in which you and Kara Goucher might train with each other, that she might say ‘why don’t you come out to Oregon and train with me in preparation for Osaka?’” Let’s see, Osaka is 8 weeks away, Kara trains with the Oregon Project, Katie trains with Team USA Minnesota, they have different coaches, different workouts, different philosophies, etc. I mean it’s not like they’re both running by themselves and just training together would just lead to better results.

Quote of the day;

“Yeah, you know…I don’t know. I mean, I guess you never know. I’m not too sure…” – Katie McGregor, doing her best to respond to the question above

MIND AND BODY

The last time I ran Grandma’s and TCM in the same year I ended up setting PRs each time. Let hope that trend continues. Right now we’re 15 weeks ‘til TCM and mind and body are NOT one. When I’m sitting around day dreaming, I’m eager to get back to training and take another crack at the marathon. When I actually hit the roads I feel like crap. My legs are still heavy and a pain I had in the back of my leg, where the knee bends, after the race still bothers me a little when I run.

Friday I ran a very easy 5 miles. Saturday I did a small group run for 6 miles. Drinking coffee afterwards took longer than the actual run. Yesterday was an easy hour with Evan. And this morning was 4 very easy miles. No real goal for the week, but I’m thinking 30-40 miles.

I spent part of the weekend watching/reading about the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on TV as well as through the web with sites such as, Down the Backstretch and Flotrack. Good stuff. Lots of athletes with Minnesota ties performed really well. Congrats to them.

That’s all I have – the marathon sucked me dry.

Quote of the day;

“The first thing the TV interviewer asked him when he won was ‘Who are you?’ He wore his MSU jersey and everybody wanted to know where Mankato, Minn. was.” – coach Mark Schuck referring to Jim Dilling’s upset win in the high jump

STILL TIRED

My legs are finally pain-free, but they’re still tired. Still no running, but I managed to mountain bike for 40 minutes this morning.

I forgot to mention that I finished 168th out of 6,998. Based on history, I thought top-100 might be realistic. However, that wasn’t taking into account the number of top runners that come to Duluth to try and qualify for the Trials.

Thought I’d congratulate a few of the people I’ve interviewed recently.

Angie continues to run well. She finished as the 17th woman in 2:54:49 and knocked 3:24 off her PR.

Jenna overcame a heel injury that forced her to cross-train for three weeks and still managed a 7th place 2:47:44 – making her $2,500 richer.

“Race of the Day” goes to Melissa who finished 8th in 2:47:59. Given that her PR is 2:45:55, that might not sound that impressive. However, keep in mind she was “only” racing 1:22 – 1:23 half marathons 4 and 5 weeks before the race.

Other people I've interviewed ran too, but they probably don't want me calling any attention to their race results.

Speaking of interviews; I spent last night compiling all the interviews I’ve conducted into one document. I’m wondering if there’s a cheap way to get them published. I know my wife has created a book of photos using My Publisher. I need to do a little more research to see if it’s feasible and to see if people would even be interested in purchasing such a book. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know.

Quote of the day;

“Passion/Drive/Determination/High Energy Level/Spirited: I do really well in longer events and have the drive to follow-through with my goals.” – Melissa Gacek describing her strengths

GRANDMA'S PHOTOS

Imagine what I would've looked like if I wasn't feeling good. These were all taken between mile 24 and mile 26. Thanks to Derek for the first two and Amy for the second two. The last one is of Katie and Kinsey icing down in Lake Superior after a tough day - notice the clear blue skies.

A DAY LATE

If you’ve been following along, you probably realize that I run a race, write a report and then end up writing 2-3 more posts about the race throughout the week. I’m sure this race will be the same.

So when someone basically writes that they don't see any way that they won’t run 2:55 and then they go out and run 2:57, they must be pissed. Right?

Wrong.

After reflecting on this race some more, I’m happier with my performance than if I had run 2:55 on an ideal day. I definitely learned more about myself on Saturday than I did when I ran my PR when it was 40 degrees out.

Of course, now the problem becomes I don’t have an excuse for not running well in the heat.

The more I read about the race the more I try to figure out how the hell I ran so well. I’m sure fitness played a huge role. The pack through 17 helped a ton too. Another thing was I was pouring 2-3 cups of water over my head at every water stop. I can’t remember the last time I did that in a race. And once I got past 20 miles, I started seeing familiar faces out cheering; Pat, Heather, Evan, Tracy, Derek, Kevin, Jim, Ed, my family, etc. Even the people I didn’t see, I knew they were out there.

Anyone else notice the weather in Duluth on Sunday? At 9 AM (what would’ve been 90 minutes into the race it was 55 degrees, cloudy, with a strong wind out of the North (i.e. tailwind). A day late!

Bonus: while it’s always nice to meet new people at an event, I was able to meet 2 people whose names I knew only through the results, Mike and Tom. I also met a guy whose face I knew, but not his name, Steve.

Overall it was a great weekend. On to TCM! No running this week, until maybe Saturday. I’m using the time to focus on doing some more interviews. I got a lot of positive feedback over the weekend (and realized that there are about a zillion other great Minnesota runners out there), so I want to keep the momentum going.

Quote of the day;

“I'm scared for those guys.” - Chad Johnson, commenting on the heat the marathoners would be facing, after winning the half marathon

GRANDMA'S MARATHON RACE REPORT

Oh man, where to start? As with most marathon race reports it’s not about the 4:30 AM wakeup calls, hill repeats in the dark on slippery paths, 2 hour runs in minus 30 wind chills, weekly mileage, etc. It’s about the weather on race day.

Let me just say right now, if I EVER look at the weather forecast prior to Grandma’s Marathon again, someone please come and give me a smack alongside the head. I swore I wouldn’t look until Wednesday or Thursday, but caught myself sneaking a peak on Tuesday; low 60 and high 80 – I started to worry. Wednesday it was 58 and 75 – a little better. Thursday it was a little better yet. Pretty soon the forecast was almost perfect; 55-60 degrees at the start, cloudy, 30% - 40% chance of rain and a tailwind.

I went from Plan A (thoughts of sub-2:55 and possibly sub-2:52 on an ideal day) to Plan B (running conservatively and trying to pick off as much carnage as possible without worrying about my time) and back to Plan A.

Riding the bus to the start, I knew perfect conditions were not in the cards. It was probably already 60 degrees 90 minutes before the start and what few clouds we had were burning off quickly.

To get a better sense of what was to come, I’ll just share a few sentences from today’s paper;

A race that has built an international reputation for speed and cool conditions was on the burner for a second-straight year. It was 66 degrees, sunny and humid at the start and 74 at the finish for the winner. At the 4-hour mark, it was 84 degrees. The warmest run in Grandma’s Marathon history probably was the inaugural race in 1977 when it started at 11 AM. This year’s race may rank second.

I hate to spend too much time talking about the weather (I know, it’s too late.), but the reason I bring it up is because I don’t run well in the heat. So at the start, I’m still not really sure what my plan was. I knew Plan A was highly unlikely, but the conditions didn’t seem bad enough to switch to Plan B. I guess Plan C would be the way to go - wing it.

Miles 1-3
Before I get started, let me set the stage by saying that I happened to be sitting in front of Jason, a guy who finished about 30 seconds in front of me at a recent half marathon. We were talking pacing and I said I'd like to go out around 6:50-7:00 and work down from there. I’d rather be “too slow” than “too fast” during the first 2-3 miles.

As usual, during the first mile I’m looking around for familiar faces, seeing who I can use to gauge my pace. About 5 seconds ahead of me I see Sonya, Heather and Laurie. These women are steadily around 3-hours, give or take two minutes. I figure they’ll go through the mile around 6:50. So I stay where I’m at and come across mile 1 in 6:34. Yikes! That turned out to be my third fastest split of the day – not how I typically start my marathons.

Luckily I’m able to slow to a 6:50 second mile and end up going through 3 miles in 20:02.

Miles 4-6
The course provides little shade and the road curves a lot, so the question arises; Do I run the tangents or do I stay to the left of the road and run in as much shade as possible? I opt for the shade. At mile 5 I take my first gel and learn a valuable lesson; Do not put gel in your mouth unless you have a cup of water in your hand to wash it down. We’re less than 20% into the race and I nearly gagged myself to death.

During this stretch I’m still within 5-10 seconds of Sonya, Heather and Laurie (and the pack of men that are following closely behind them). After seeing my first three splits bounce around, I finally settled in a little and ran 20:25 for this stretch. Somewhere around this time Kyran and another UW-EC graduate pull up alongside me for a few miles.

Miles 7-9
While headwinds are not normally wished for during a marathon, we have a slight headwind that actually provides a little relief from the heat. Add in a little shade and water over my head every two miles and I wasn’t feeling too discouraged about the weather.

I finally moved up into a group of about 6-8, including Sonya, Heather, Paul and Kevin. I know Sonya, know of Heather, and “met” Paul and Kevin during the race. These three miles turn out to be a tad quicker; 20:19.

Miles 10-12
While my miles have all be 6:51 or under I really have no idea what pace I’m running. I’m eager to get to mile 10, so I can do the math and figure out where I’m at. I pass by in 1:07:18 and am happy with the 6:44 pace. That’s not far from my original goal of 6:40 pace.

At mile 11 I take my second gel and tell myself to get to the half and see how I feel. With the help of a downhill 10th mile (6:33) I run these three miles even faster; 20:08.

Miles 13-15
Originally my goal was to pass the half in 1:27 +/- 30 seconds. I roll through in 1:28:19. Rather than being bummed out, I tell myself that that’s only 50 seconds from goal. Come to think about it, I believe that is fastest I’ve ever run for any half of a marathon.

At this point I’m still with the pack of 6-8 that I mentioned earlier. In addition, Jason, from the bus, has now joined us. I’m not sure what happened next, but the 14th mile turned out to be my fastest of the day, 6:27. That led to my fastest 3-mile stretch of the day; 19:51.

Miles 16-18
During mile 16 I’m thinking to myself, man this pack is really solid. We have a nice number in the pack, we’re consistently hitting 6:40-6:50, there’s some friendly banter going on, etc.

Next thing I know we go through the mile 17 aid station and the pack disintegrates. I took my third gel here and when I came out the other side it was just Kevin, Jason and me. Kevin looked around a little and asked if we had picked up the pace or something. None of us thought we did and our time of 20:20 for these miles shows we’re staying around 6:45 pace.

Miles 19-21
Up until this point the aid stations have been at the odd mile markers. I tell myself just to make it to mile 19 because that’s when they start providing aid at every mile marker. During this mile it’s starting to feel hard. I’m still with Kevin and Jason, but it’s starting to hurt. I feel a little better when I noticed we ran a 6:41. I back off and let them go.

As I approach mile 20 I still remember my 10-mile split of 1:07:18. I'm curious to see what my second 10-mile split is for two reasons; 1) I want the feedback on my pace and 2) the ability to still solve math problems at this stage of the race provides feedback on my mental state. I hit 20 in 2:14:40 and math couldn’t get much easier; 1:07:22.

I’m not exactly sure when I pulled away from Kyran but it had to be prior to the half. I was surprised, but happy when he came by me again. He got about 10 feet ahead of me and I just stayed right there. I run these three miles in 20:25.

Miles 22-24
Mile 22 is at the base of Lemon Drop Hill. I’m happy to see Evan standing right where we cheered together last year. This is where I take my fourth/last gel. It’s also where I see my third consecutive 6:5X split. The goal now becomes; Keep them under 7:00.

Lemon Drop is no Heartbreak, but it’s still a hill. So getting to mile 23 in 6:56 is a victory. In the process I passed Kyran. Now, as they say, “It’s all down hill from here.” The course is a gradual downhill for most of the next 2 miles and if you’re quads aren’t shot, you can take advantage of it. My quads were okay and I took advantage of the terrain, as well as the crowd support, by running a 6:53 24th mile. While 20:39 for that stretch makes it my slowest such 3-mile stretch of the day, it’s miles 22-24 for god sake.

The finish
Prior to mile 24 I thought about calculating what I thought I needed to run for the last 2.2 miles in order to PR, but decided against it. As I approached mile 25 I needed to know how close I was to PRing. I gave myself a conservative 9 minutes for the last 1.2 miles. Given that my PR is 2:58:10, I told myself that I needed to be under 2:49. As I passed mile 25 in 6:49 I saw 2:48:58. Unless the wheels completely fell off, I’d have a PR.

For me, the hardest part of this course is just after mile 25. You go down a short steep hill, up an overpass and down another hill. Then at 25.5 you can practically see the finish line. However, you have to loop away from it and back again.

Just before mile 26 I see my family and I’m able to wave and smile at them. Maybe that’s what caused me to miss my goal of keeping my splits under 7:00, as I hit mile 26 in 7:01. I soak in the tremendous atmosphere during the last .2 miles and cross the line in 2:57:29 – a PR by 41 seconds. Not bad for someone that doesn’t run well in the heat.

SCATTERED THINKING

It’s probably no surprise that just the hint of warm weather on the day of a marathon can lead to some scattered thinking. I already mentioned coming up with a Plan B and buying new shorts (although not really weather related). I’ve also had thoughts of changing shoes – going with trainers if I’m going to be running slower than I originally planned. Today I’ve decided to go with my original shorts and shoes. If it’s warm/hot on race morning, I’ll just go with Plan B at that point – shorts and shoes be damned.

Just an easy 3 miles this morning and it felt pretty good. I probably won't run tomorrow, but I may do some walking/jogging after I get to town, seeing that I'll have to spend about 4 hours in the car getting to my parent's house and then another hour to get to Duluth.

Since I don’t have anything else to say, I thought I’d share an article written by Coach Matt. I trained with Matt and his training group for the last 2 years. Although I’m not training with them right now, I attribute much of my success this spring to Matt and his training group and the year-over-year training we did together.


BREAKING FREE FROM THE CHIP by coach Matt Haugen

I LOVE TO RACE, and I LOVE TO WATCH THE RACES of athletes that I coach. Each race has a unique appeal, whether it be the splendor of the venue, the challenges of the race course, or the chance to witness athletes reveal their skills and desire. I have learned to appreciate races as a performing art, where an arena defined by a measured distance becomes a showcase for the freedom of expression, the exhibition of inspirational feats, and the display of passion.

BUT LET’S GET TO THE NITTY GRITTY; we all race to attain a degree of personal fulfillment and satisfaction for our efforts and our results. After all, we train for hours each week to race well, and we race with a mindset that hopes for a personal best time or an acceptable ranking within our division. As performing artists, we love to chase the internal and external prizes that await us at the finish line.

IT CAN BE TOO EASY to transform into an athlete who measures their race efforts and level of success by a results page that lists the facts: finish time, race splits, and finish place. I know from both racing and coaching that the higher you climb on the results page, the easier it becomes to narrow your definition of acceptable results to personal best times, trips to the top of the awards podium, and the appearance of your name in the media.

I THINK WE EASILY BECOME PRISONERS to the timing chip and the finish line clock when we race in endurance sports. A focus on finish time, average speed, and race splits can distract us from not only enjoying the race, but from unleashing our personal best performance. Too often I hear athletes focus on finish time and place, when they should take pride in their ability to push themselves to a challenging level of discomfort for the duration of their event.

THE MOST EFFECTIVE RACE FOCUS is not on the finish time and place – it is on the present moment on the race course. Athletes who do their very best minute-by-minute are those who get absorbed in a flow state that adds up to a personal best effort. They are successful because they direct 100% of their focus to overcoming the current challenge that the race presents, which helps them to climb higher on the results page.

EVERY ATHLETE FINISHES IN 2 PLACES at the end of each race: on the results page, and in the venue. Remember to savor both to fully enjoy the racing experience that includes pre-event training, fellow competitors, supportive companions, race day challenges, the pride associated with pushing your mind and muscles to new levels of discomfort, and the post-race festivities.

Don’t be a prisoner to the timing chip or the finish line clock. When you finish your race, ask yourself, “Did I give my best effort for the entire distance? Did I meet or surpass my standards for race day mental toughness? Did I overcome in-race challenges by remaining persistent? And did I maintain a positive mental focus?”

As you approach or reflect upon your next race, realize that in the end, we are all fortunate to still be “doing it.” Sport competitions are, after all, a celebration of fitness, desire, and good old head-to-head competition. Always give thanks for the opportunity to toe the line as you chase your next goal – before and after you scan the race results page.

PLAN B

It's kind of weird, my legs have felt a little sluggish running lately, but they feel really good just walking around the office. Ran an easy 4 miles today.

Still busy at work. Gotta be careful and make sure I at least stop to eat. Actually, I'm more of a "grazer", especially in the afternoon. I munch on carrots, pretzels, fig newtons, apples, etc. all afteroon. Lately I've been so busy that I end up bringing some of my food back home. Not a big deal unless you have a marathon in 3 or 4 days. Oh wait...

I did manage to make it to the running store over lunch. I ended up buying a new pair of shorts and am considering racing in them. I know, I know...don't try anything new on race day. But they have a pocket in the back that would allow me to carry my gels in a flask - rather than pin them to my bib number. Decisions, decisions...

No surprise - after being nice here all spring, it has decided to heat up. For us that means upper 80s to low 90s for the highs. The last few mornings have been around 70 degrees. At least the dew points have been low. Of course, who knows what that means for Duluth. We're 150 miles south of there. And let's not forget the big body of water next to Duluth that tends to cool things off.

Anyway, this wave of hot air has me thinking that I should have a Plan B in place in case it's hot during the race. I don't run well in the heat, so the possibility of running sub-2:55 if it gets above let's say 65 degrees are slim to none. So do I set another goal of something like sub-3? Or do I just make it a race and try to place as high as possible, like top-100? Whatever I decide, it'll be run off a much more conservative first half pace. Going out at goal pace on a hot day because you didn't realize it was hot until mile 8 doesn't work. I tried that at TCM in 1997 and I still remember it. A goal of sub-3 turned into 3:26.

In any case, today's quote of the day gives me some hope;

“Less-than-ideal conditions are always less of a factor when you are feeling strong.” - Mike Reneau

SWAMPED

I suppose being swamped at work the week leading up to a marathon is a good thing. There’s no time to check the weather, read other blogs, stop by the running store over lunch, etc.

This morning was my last “hard” run. It was 7 miles with 4 x 4:00 at tempo pace with a 2:00 jog in between. I felt alright. My legs were a little heavy, which is normal for me at this stage. Come Saturday, I’ll be fine.

Since I don’t have any time, I’ll just take this opportunity to post my latest article for the MDRA magazine.


LESSONS I HAVE (FINALLY) LEARNED – by Chad Austin

My friend Eric Paulson has a motto that probably applies to most of us, at least at one point or another; “Live and don’t learn.” Unfortunately, this motto applies to my running more often than not. However, after 27 years in this sport, believe it or not, some things have actually sunk in. This article describes eight lessons I’ve (finally) learned, when it comes to running.

One of the first running lessons I ever learned was “Your results may vary.” It’s been over 20 years but I still remember his name. Keith Franzen. Keith and I were the same age, but we didn’t go to the same school and we weren’t even in the same conference. Yet I remember his story. Keith started running the summer before his sophomore year and he decided to go out for cross country. He achieved immediate success and missed qualifying for State that year by just one place. Having already been a runner for five years and not having nearly the success as Keith, it was right then that I realized that all runners are not created equal. While it’s nice to be able to compare our performances to our peers, at some point we need to realize that running is about competing against ourselves.

If, like me, you’re not fortunate enough to have similar results as Keith, take solace that we have our own axiom, “Patience is a virtue.” In a Minnesota Running & Track interview, Dennis Barker, coach of Team USA Minnesota, talked about the importance of patience saying, “People are too impatient. Running this year isn’t just about this year. It’s about last year. It’s about the last four years.” Barker went on to say, “People want to be good – right now. They think, ‘Well gee, I trained hard during the summer for three months. I should run a great Twin Cities Marathon.’” That reminds me of another guy I know. Whenever someone runs a good marathon, he’ll ask, “How many miles did you run in the 12 weeks prior to the marathon?” It’s like he thinks it okay to sit around all winter, as long has he has 12 solid weeks of training before his goal race. He’s from Wisconsin, so I’ll cut him a little slack.

While patience is very important when it comes to distance running, it’s even more valuable when it’s mixed with consistency. Whenever someone asks me for advice on how to improve their running, my answer is almost always, “Be more consistent.” That doesn’t mean having to run every day, never cutting back your weekly mileage or never taking any downtime. Those things are key components in any program. Even with those components mixed into your training plan, my guess is that most runners could find ways to improve their consistency.

Consistency also ties in nicely with another lesson I’ve learned; “It’s easier to stay in shape than get in shape.” Since every runner has probably missed or skipped out on running at one point or another, we’re all probably aware of this lesson. Of course, sometimes maintaining consistent training can be a difficult task. However, if you’re able to mix consistency with patience, you will amaze yourself by how much you are able to improve.

Keep in mind that consistency can also be a double-edged sword. Being a math guy, running appeals to my love of numbers; miles per week, month and year, number of days in a row, pace, splits, intervals, etc. It’s very easy to quantify this sport, which makes it easy to think that more is better. As a result, “Gotta get my miles in.” has probably hurt more runners than it’s helped. Sure this is a great slogan when you’re feeling good and everything is flowing smoothly. However, it’s not so great when you have an ache or pain or when you know something is not right or when you’re just dog-tired and you continue to press on just to make your logbook look good. Now that I think about it, I can’t remember showing my logbook to anyone – EVER. And it’s not because it’s top secret. It’s because no one cares. Think about that the next time your body is telling you to get some rest, but your mind is telling you to be consistent and get your miles in.

I love hills. I don’t actually love running up hills, but I love what they do for my running. I’m not talking about developing strong leg muscles or mental toughness. The main reason I love hills is because I’m a head-case and as Frank Shorter said, “Hills are speedwork in disguise.” When I run speedwork on the track, I always end up comparing one workout to the next. As soon as I get home, split after split is compared to the previous workout. That’s great if you’re constantly improving or if other factors like weather, diet, sleep, stress, etc. don’t factor in. But they do. Hill running allows me to get in quality running without worrying about my splits. Instead, I’m able to focus on effort without all the mental baggage.

The one lesson that I wish I had learned when I first started running is the “10% rule”. This is the “rule” that states that you shouldn’t increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% from week to week. It goes hand-in-hand with having patience. But while this rule of thumb comes in handy for beginning runners, I feel it needs to be amended for more experienced runners; “If you’ve been there before, you can get there again – quicker.” By this I mean, if you’ve been at a certain mileage level recently and then back off for awhile, you can build back up to your previous mileage more quickly than by adding 10% per week.

One final lesson was actually taught to me by a basketball coach, but it applies to running just as well; “Always be happy but never satisfied.” I think of this lesson any time I hear someone say, “I ran a PR, but…” But nothing, be happy, but don’t be satisfied. Maybe their statement hits home with me because I can remember back to my best year of running. I was setting personal records at every race, yet still disappointed because I wanted to run faster. Unfortunately, an injury ended my season much too soon. I went from being disappointed with a PR to being happy because I could run pain-free for 20 minutes. It took me two years to regain enough fitness and confidence to set another PR.

I’m sure after all these years in this sport, I’ve forgotten more than I know. At least I’ve remembered eight key lessons along the way. Your results may vary. Get fit by being patient. Stay fit by being consistent. More experience allows you to ramp up your mileage quicker, but beware of just making your logbook look good. Head for the hills. Be happy. And, your results may vary or as Dr. George Sheehan would say, “We’re all an experiment of one.”

BIO Over the years, Chad Austin’s patient, consistent, hilly mileage has allowed him to get fit, stay fit and even run fast enough to make him happy. But he’s not satisfied, so he continues to seek out new lessons, which is usually forgets.

6 DAYS

Not a whole lot going on, which is probably a good thing, since I’m 6 days from the race. Friday was an easy 6 miles with strides. Saturday was 13 mile around the lakes. It was a nice morning, so everyone and their brother were at the lakes. That gave me 44 miles for the week. Yesterday was a day off.

This morning I ran an easy 5 miles. My legs were a little sore – probably from running alongside my daughter while she learns/learned to bike. When I ran with her last weekend, it was a slow jog. This weekend I was basically doing strides to keep up. Anyway, the good news is she can practically ride by herself now and my legs feel great just walking around the office.

Normally, I get stir-crazy during the taper and I end up starting all these manual labor projects around the house. This time around I’ve been good, limiting myself to pruning some bushes and taping off a room that we’ll paint next week.

Other than that, I’ve been resisting the urge to check the weather in Duluth. I did happen to see the local news this morning and although the high is going to be in the mid-80s here today, it’s only going to be in the mid-60s in Duluth. Let’s hope that trend continues.

Quote of the day;

“You can actually suffer a little bit more going slowly than when you’re going really fast. A faster marathon might even be easier than a slow one, in terms of what it takes out of you mentally.” – Frank Shorter

KICKING IN

The taper seems to be “kicking in” as my first phantom injury appeared after yesterday’s run. My right knee was sore as hell, but luckily it only lasted about an hour. This is the same knee that’s been aching off-and-on lately, but this was a different kind of pain. No problems with it since.

This morning’s run was brutally sluggish, especially the first half of my whopping 4-mile run. I’m sure having a thunder storm (with warning sirens) and hail at 2:00 AM didn’t help my sluggishness. Hopefully none of that will occur next week.

Not much else to report, so I thought I’d post the latest update on the 7 runners I’ve been tracking for the MDRA.

Reality Runners by Chad Austin

This is part two in an ongoing series where we’re following a group of seven runners during the year. In each issue we feature one or two of the runners and give brief updates on the others. This issue focuses on two runners on opposite ends of the running spectrum. Keenan Robbins walked onto the University of Colorado’s cross country team and has since taken a job with Nike. Marc Windahl weighed as much as 335 pounds before discovering running. While they’re different in many ways, they both share the same passion for our sport.

Although Keenan Robbins had been running for a couple of years, he didn’t get serious until the summer before his sophomore year in high school. That was the summer he attended a running camp in Eugene, Oregon. The camp was put on by Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams and was held in conjunction with the U.S. national track and field meet. It was during this camp that he really opened his eyes to the wider world of distance running. “Surrounded by other athletes that were excited about training hard and running fast gave me a new perspective on what it took to get to the next level. Simply put, I caught fire,” he said.

After graduating from high school, Keenan headed West to the University of Colorado where he walked onto the cross country team. In 2005, after a couple of injury plagued seasons, he took a job with Nike’s Long Hauling program where he drove around the Midwest and talked with high school kids about distance running. He said, “Being on the road that fall crystallized my focus and made it clear what I want to do. All I want to do is run and help the sport. I love this sport and will be involved with it forever.”

After touring the country, Keenan returned home to Mankato and made an attempt to finish up school. However, his heart wasn’t in it, so he took a job with Nike and moved back to Oregon. He stated, “Moving the sport forward and celebrating just how cool it is to be part of a really close team that sweats together, suffers together, lives together. Things have truly come full circle as I’m back in Eugene, except hopefully this time I’ll be the one helping a few kids find the fire.”

Keenan went on to talk about his passion for running and his job at Nike, “When I’m on the road, all I want to do is get kids excited about cross country. It’s as simple as that. It’s hard to realize that while you may be on the lunatic fringe of your high school or town, you’re actually part of this huge brotherhood of distance runners all over the country and the world. What these kids do is so hardcore and so real, it’s incredible and it deserves to be celebrated. They’re passionate about taking themselves, their team, and their sport to the next level. It’s all about progression, evolution and constant improvement. There are great things happening in our sport right now. These kids are part of it and these kids will be the ones to perpetuate it ten years down the line. They are the future of our sport. They need to know that and get fired up about it. Even more important than talking to the high school thinclads is listening to them. Helping the sport, helping the athletes, that’s the goal. The people that truly know the sport are on the roads, they’re doing long runs in the rain, they’re staying late after practice to do drills and sitting in the ice bath, they’re keeping it real. The athletes are the ones that need to determine what comes next for the sport. Believing in high school cross country ensures that this happens.”

As for his own running, it’ll have to take a backseat until after Nike Team Nationals in December. But he says, “Part of the job is to run and you can’t help the sport if you don’t know the sport, and you can’t know the sport if you haven’t trained your ass off at some point. You have to know what it’s like.” As summer approaches, there’s been talk of running around the rim of Mt. Hood or Mt. St. Helens and running the Hood to Coast Relay. Long term, Keenan still really enjoys running and plans on finding out how good he can be. Why? “Because I like the process and I have to know,” he says.

When Marc Windahl was three years old his father died of leukemia at age 39. When Marc turned 39, he also had a three-year-old son. Needless to say, it was a very emotional summer for him. It didn’t help that Marc weighed 335 pounds. He knew he needed to change, but he didn’t know how.

That spring the seed was planted at the first Scheels Fargo Marathon, when Marc listened to Dick Beardsley speak, watched the runners, and took pictures of the joy and emotions at the finish. However, it was another year before he actually started to workout, usually lifting weights, biking or walking. In July of 2006 Marc completed his first 5K. He says, “I ran some of it, walked most of it, and finished. I was hooked.” He attacked running like he does everything. He read books, searched the Internet, and studied everything else he could find. That fall he ran his first 5K. Next up, the marathon.

While Marc originally thought of running a fall marathon this year, he changed his mind and decided to run the Scheels Fargo Marathon this spring. It’s probably not surprising that his training was interesting, starting with blood in his urine. Given his family history, the unspoken worry was cancer. After a tense month of waiting for test results, it turned out to be kidney stones, which caused some minor cutting and the bleeding.

Two weeks after passing a stone, the blood came back. Through his own research, Marc discovered Exercise Hematuria, where the walls of an empty bladder rub together, causing abrasions and blood in the urine. The weight Marc was carrying in the front of his abdomen didn’t help matters either. Research showed that better hydration would alleviate this problem.

While the problem was “solved”, the setback did not help Marc’s confidence as he had missed some training. To make matters worse, he bonked on his first 16-mile run. However, Marc realized that, given his weight, he needed more energy than “normal” runners. With new hydration and nutrition plans in place he was able to complete a 21-mile run.

Like most first time marathoners, Marc was a basket of nerves leading up to the race. Every muscle twitch and small ache caused a huge panic. While he hoped to finish in less than six hours, he simply wanted to finish. He used his GPS watch to help slow him down and stay within himself. He was also able to follow his hydration and nutrition plans, for the most part. And although his feet and thighs started to ache by mile twenty-two, thoughts of the things he wanted to do with his son, that he never got to do with his dad, kept him going to a 5:46 finish. At the finish someone hung the medal around his neck and he was filled with emotions. He hugged his family, kissed his wife, called friends and sent emails to family and friends with the news of his finish. Marc sums it up simply by stating, “It is something I will never forget.”

Braden Beam is currently training for his first Ironman, which will be in Louisville in August. He continues to focus on building his cycling base, having completed his first century (100 miles) ride in mid-May. While the ride wiped him out, it also taught him a valuable lesson; pay attention to your nutrition, which is the fourth discipline in triathlons. It’s no surprise that nutrition, along with injury avoidance, remains his biggest concerns.

As for running, Braden completed the very hilly Trail Mix 25K in 2:12 and ran 14 miles while traveling to Tampa Bay, Florida. The humid conditions in Tampa Bay will most likely come in handy in Louisville. He plans to add in some track and hill work with the Minnesota R.E.D. club soon.

While Braden is looking forward to getting out of the pool and into the open water, he doesn’t focus on his swimming too much. He’s been a competitive swimmer all his life and the intense training needed to significantly improve his time isn’t worth it. That time can be used to improve his biking and running, which make up the bulk of an Ironman.

When Kerry Rosane contacted me about this project she stated that she felt in better shape than ever, despite giving birth to her first child, Jamison, just 6 months before. She seems to have backed up that statement by chopping nearly two minutes from her 10K PR. Her time of 43:20 was the first time she’d run sub-seven minute pace for a race of any distance.

Kerry is also a triathlete, training for two half Ironmans. She says the hardest part is finding time to bike. Fortunately, she’s usually been able to get outside once a week for a long ride. She also tries to manage her time by training before Jamison gets up, while he naps or even taking him along in the jogging stroller. Kerry’s husband James is also an athlete, and they manage to take turns working out and doing races. That’s great, but they miss being able to do those things together.

The last time we checked in with Angie Voight she was dealing with some knee pain, yet she still managed to run a marathon PR of 2:58 in January. Since then, Angie has been busy, having just finished up medical school in the spring. Before starting her residency, she has her sites set on dropping her PR even further at Grandma’s Marathon.

Angie’s knee pain seems to be behind her and she’s been able to get in some high mileage weeks, which for Angie means about 80 miles per week. Whatever she’s doing seems to be working so far this spring as she’s run PRs at 10K (36:54) and the half marathon (1:21:47). Needless to say, those performances have her excited about Grandma’s Marathon as she works towards her long-term goal of running 2:47 and qualifying for the Olympic Trials Marathon. Next time we’ll be featuring Angie to find out how she did.

In our last issue, we featured Karen Spandl prior to her first Boston Marathon. Of course, we left you hanging regarding how she did and what she thought of the experience. Let’s see, cancelled flight, wind that turned her umbrella inside out, standing 45 minutes in the rain to get bussed to the start only to sit around for two hours before the start of the race. Any one of these things is hard enough to prepare for, let alone all of them happening in the span of one day. Yet Karen did not let any of these things dampen her enthusiasm.

While the weather did not cooperate, the crowd support and the excitement of running Boston were enough to help overcome the conditions. One of the most amazing things was seeing the road in front of her full of runners for miles and miles. Karen was actually on her goal pace through the half marathon. However, the multiple hills between miles 15 and 21 soon took their toll. Karen stated, “This was the worst I had ever felt in a marathon.” She hung tough and although she missed her goal by four minutes, she finished in 3:51:47, which is good enough to qualify for next year’s Boston Marathon.

We also featured Amanda Bowman in our last issue. After sitting out all of the 2006 racing season due to a multitude of injuries, Amanda seemed to be on the road to recovery two months ago. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case. While Active Release Technique (ART) sessions improved her right quadricep and iliotibial band within two weeks, her left knee began to hurt. Doing her own research, Amanda figured she has patellofemoral pain syndrome or patellar tendonitis. Changing from a neutral shoe to a stability shoe helped a little as Amanda was able to run seven miles. But as any marathoner will tell you, that’s a long way from 26.2 miles.

Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for herself, Amanda has become a more serious bike rider. She has averaged around 150 miles a week and even done a couple of races, including a century ride. While it’s not running, biking has saved her sanity. However, she’s not ready to give up on running yet, saying “I've registered for TCM so I'm in for the long haul."

Check back in our next issue as we feature two more runners and give updates on the others.

SLUGGISH AND UNGAINLY

Right after posting yesterday’s entry, it occurred to me that it’s more of a lack of doubt. Of course, there’s doubt surrounding what the weather will be like, how my legs will feel on race day, how my stomach will handle breakfast, what my nerves will be like, etc. However, right now, there’s no doubt that I can handle 6:40 pace. Again, at Chicago I wanted to run 6:40 pace, but I had doubts. So when I ran 6:50 pace, I basically said, “See you were right all along. You can’t handle 6:40 pace.”

Now whether or not I run 6:40 pace on June 16th is a different story. But at least I won’t go in doubting that I can run that pace.

I forgot to mention that yesterday was an easy 6 miles with some strides. This morning I ran another tempo workout. When I started the workout, I was planning on running 3 x 2 miles around 6:15-6:20 pace with 2:00 rest, similar to last Thursday’s workout. However, I wasn’t feeling it. Right before crossing the first mile split, I changed the workout to 6 x 1 mile with 1:00 rest. I figured the way I felt, it’d be easier to focus for 1 mile than 2 miles. The workout turned out to be a ladder and not the kind I prefer to run, as my times got faster and then slower; 6:26, 6:20, 6:17, 6:19, 6:22, 6:32. I will admit I lost focus the last two repeats.

This workout had me wondering if this is an area that I could work on. It was suppose to be at tempo pace. Given that I’ve raced 10K at 6:05 pace and a half marathon at 6:15 pace, my tempo pace should be around 6:10. Yet I can’t even run mile repeats at 6:20 pace.

Quote of the day;

“You’re bound to have days when everything seems sluggish and ungainly and you’d just as soon not be training at all. That’s a good time to persist.” – James Fixx

HARD TO EXPLAIN

I usually don’t have an agenda for topics I want to blog about. Usually whatever pops into my head during my morning run makes it here during my lunch hour. Being 12 days out from my goal race, you can imagine what most of my thoughts have been about lately. As a result, some of the topics lately may be rehashed over and over. And while that may bore my readers to tears, it’s important for me to write what I’m thinking during these last few weeks so that in the future I can look back and say, “Yeah, that’s the feeling I’m looking for. That’s the level of confidence I need in order to run a great race.”

I’ve mentioned all factors are pointing to a sub-2:55. Sure I’ve listed all the workouts, races, times, etc. Those things are easy to quantify. But explaining this level of confidence is very hard. Sure a lot of the confidence stems from all those things mentioned above. It’s like the “chicken and the egg” question. Am I confident because of my training/racing or am I training/racing well because of my confidence? I imagine they go hand-in-hand and feed off of one another.

I’ve had decent marathon training in the past. I’ve written 2:55 down where I could see it every day – and I’ve come up short every time. So what’s different this time? Why the confidence? I don’t know the answer. All I can do is compare it to past races. In 2001 and 2002 I ran 3 marathons between 3:00:55 and 3:03:15. Then in my fourth marathon during those years I had a similar level of confidence and ran a still-standing PR of 2:58:10.

Last year at Chicago was a lot like that string of 3:01 – 3:03s. I thought I could run 2:55 but I just didn’t have the confidence. So when I was running 6:50s instead of 6:40s I just accepted it and was content to run 2:58:57. Now I find myself in a similar situation as prior to my PR; calm, confident and looking forward to race morning.

Alright, enough about me. If you have a chance, check out my most requested interviewee.

Quote of the day;

“I usually train on a treadmill at a decent pace, and the only speed work I do is the race itself. I run what I feel like doing for that week. If I am feeling good, I run a little more than if I’m feeling sore. I also mix in a bit of biking. Some may think it sounds like a weird way to train, but it keeps running enjoyable.” - Amy Lyons

YEAR-TO-DATE

I guess I’ll be doing a 2 week taper this time around, seeing how I finished the week with 58 miles. I ended the week with a nice 17 mile group run, which started at Ft. Snelling and included lots of trails, including Pike Island. Our weather has been pretty amazing this spring. I can only think of a couple of hot days and that's because I waited till after work to run. And I think the dew point has only been over 60 once. Can it hold out 2 more weeks?

Yesterday was an off day, but I actually ended up putting in 2-3 unplanned/unlogged miles as I ran alongside my daughter while she learns to bike. Our neighbors loaned us one of those bars that attaches to the back of the bike and allows you to hang on without having to bend way over. I was wearing some Nike Frees at the time. Normally this kind of stuff this close to a marathon would get me all worked up, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. You gotta live life and if she’s ready to learn to ride, I’m willing to help her.

This morning was another no watch 5 miler.

This is kind of ironic. I’ve mentioned before that last year started out really well with a lot of miles, but then I got hurt in mid-April and ended up missing Grandma’s. This year I was more conservative, but more consistent. Well this morning I added up my year-to-date mileage. In 2006 I’d run 1,416 miles and this year I’m at 1,409.

Recently I mentioned that our new manager is a triathlete. She’s trying to find places to do some open water swimming. I couldn’t help but send her this link. Now whenever she goes swimming outdoors, she’ll have something to think about.

Finally, congrats to Evan for defending his dissertation last Friday. I assume he passed. The only problem is now we have to ship his ass back to New Zealand.

Quote of the day;

“I leave my watch at home. Otherwise, it’s a lost cause.” – Todd Williams on what it takes for him to have an easy day