Never Leave a Paper Trail

14 miles this morning in an unknown amount of time. I have this thing where I hate to look at my Garmin too often, because really no good can come of it. There are really only two possible outcomes from looking at it:

1. I'll get frustrated at how hard everything seems for a pace of
OR
2. I'll be amazed at how easy this pace is, and decide that I want to negative split the run.

Now, I guess there's a time for both of these reactions, but on just your standard everyday, training run, there is no need for either of them. So to try and avoid them, I simply don't look down. Usually this works out pretty good for me, but today I must have forgotten to hit the start button when I took off, because when I returned home to see the results, the watch relayed the following information for me:

Distance: 0.00
Time: 0:00:00
Pace __:__

So either I imagined the entire run or I forgot to hit the start button. My legs (and appettite) are telling me that it was no imaginary run, so I must have forgotten to start the darn thing. Oh well.

For the most part, I went from feeling nauseous and achy to feeling great, alternating about every half mile or so. The right hip continues to remind me that it's there. Usuallly the first mile and anything over about 12 miles is where I notice it most. I really do think that if I stretch it out for a few days it would just go away, but I have all the discipline of a 5 year old when it comes to stretching, so that is harder than it sounds.

I Wish I Could Bottle It

Last Friday was a tale of two runs. I normally do my long runs on Friday so I don't have to worry about it over the weekend, but I was feeling a little beat up on Thursday so I decided to flip flop Friday and Saturday to give my legs a little break. So Friday called for two runs of 9 and 7 miles. I was actually very surprised that the morning run went by without a hitch. For some reason, there was some spring in my step and I completed the run at a 6:30 pace. However, things came crashing back down to earth in the afternoon for what should have been a very easy 7 miler. To say I struggles on this run would be an understatement. It was pretty humid out, which I've beginning to figure out is my Kryptonite, and the entire run was all about survival. I didn't bring the Garmin with me, so I can't say precisely how ugly it was, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was ugly.

On Saturday I spent the morning painting kids rooms, which always takes longer than I expect it to, and didn't wind up heading out for an 18 miler until about 1:30PM. Luckily, the temps weren't too bad on Saturday, although that humidity always seems to get me, regardless of air temperature. I was cooked by the end and was glad to be done with an overall pace of 6:49. The hamstring and hips really were giving me problems from mile 10 on during this run. I'm hoping it was just from being on my feet all morning painting and then going straight into the run. I'm not used to manual labor, and I'm not proud of that.

Sunday we made a last minute decision to take a day trip out to Michigan City, IN to visit the zoo and the beach. I brought my running shoes but never got a chance to get out for a run during the day. By the time we got home, I was tired, hungry, and in no mood for a run, so I skipped it. So that brought my total for the week to 82 miles in 8 runs. While my mileage is not quite where it was last year, when I was consistently at 100 miles for most of June and July, I feel like I'm putting in more quality miles this time around, so hopefully that tradeoff will work out for me come racing season.

For the week the schedule looked like this:

Mon: 9 miles with 7 @ 5:53
Tues: 14 miles
WedAM: 9 Miles @ 6:37
WedPM: 7 Miles
Thur: 9 miles with 5 @ 5:41
FriAM: 9 Miles @ 6:30
FriPM: 7 Miles (Ugly)
Sat: 18 Miles @ 6:49
Sun: Nothing

Total: 82 Miles in 8 Runs.

Today was 9 miles with 7 of them at a relaxed tempo pace. What I've decided to do this year, is to do a 7-10 mile tempoish run on Monday's where the pace will be somewhere around marathon pace and then a 5 miles tempo run on Thursday's at a faster pace, probably closer to half-marathon pace. Of course these paces are more minimum guidelines. If I were to run slower than this, I would consider the workout a failure.

Today I headed out for 7 miles around marathon pace, but something was just off right from the get-go. Not off in a good way, off in a weird way. Like my legs just wanted to move, and my lungs agreed. I wish I could bottle it and save it for a race day, because I felt like I could have run forever today. The temps were warm when I was out there, mid 80's probably, but there was no humidity in the air, which I'm sure helped the cause. Anyway, when I started out, my main thoughts were to just stay relaxed, and I thought I was, but I came through the first mile in 5:26 and thought for sure I'd be paying the price later. I tried to slow down, but the next mile was an identical 5:26. At this point, I knew that this was way too fast for me to be doing on a Monday so I forced myself to slow down and finally started to find an acceptable pace in the mid to low 5:40s for the rest of the run.

This run just breezed by and I wish I had the answer why. Maybe it was the day off yesterday or maybe it was the break in humidity, or maybe it was a fluke. I'll take it though. Days like this don't come too often so when they do, I'll gladly accept them, no questions asked. For the day I did 9 miles with 7 @ 5:39 and finished feeling fresh. Strange indeed.

The Same, But Different

This is the problem with comparing one run to another from week to week. Last Thursday, I did a 5 mile tempo run ending with an average pace of 5:40. Today, I did the same exact 5 mile tempo run, ending with an average pace of 5:41. So, at first glance, you could say that I'm the most consistent tempo runner in the world and that I have this workout mastered. Of course you'd be wrong.

The devil is in the details and really these were two very different runs. Last week the wind played a big part in the run, with a headwind for the first half of the run and then a tailwind for the second half. If you look at those splits from last week, it really was more of a progression run, with a 5:25 last mile bringing the overall pace down to 5:40.

Today was warm, sunny, and calm with no real wind to speak of. That helped keep things a bit more consistent, with all the splits within 10 seconds of each other (not perfect, but better). I finished feeling strong, although not particularly fluid or anything. Probably due to a late night softball game yesterday, I was pretty stiff for the entire run. The splits for the day were 5:42, 5:46, 5:43, 5:36, 5:40 with 9 miles total.

That’s running on the Chicago lakefront though. You really never know what you're gonna get until you get out there. Some day's the wind feels like it's gonna push you backwards and other days you hardly notice it. Small price to pay for what has to be one of the best running set-ups that any big city can offer.

I guess that's why the pay me

Things have really started to heat up at work lately, so running has definitely been difficult so far this week. Yesterday the plan was to get in a medium distance run and I tried to squeeze it in, but all I could manage was 14 miles at a probably too fast pace of 6:20. Like I said as I was in a huge hurry to get back to work, so I was pushing the pace as much as I comfortably could. For some reason, both of my hamstrings were cramping up pretty badly near the end of the run, but once I stopped and rehydrated, they seemed fine.

This morning was 9 miles at a relaxed 6:40 pace. I had planned to venture out at lunch for another 7 miler, but I've been to busy to do much of anything today so the run will have to wait until (hopefully) later tonight. I'm pretty lucky in that most days at work I have enough to keep me busy, but not too much where it's overwhelming. However, every once in a while, things can get a little hectic. I kind of like it…as long as it doesn't become a habit!

Lake Geneva

This past weekend my wife planned an impromptu family trip up Lake Geneva on Friday, which just so happened to coincide with the day I was planning on knocking out a 20 mile run. My original plan was to try and squeeze it in before driving up there, but after doing some research on the area, I found what appeared to be a perfect alternative. While the details were somewhat sketchy, there were many references to a 21 mile lakeshore walking path that ran along the entire perimeter of Geneva Lake. I couldn't find a map of it or details on what exactly this path consisted of, but it seemed to exist, so I decided to give it a try.

We got there around midday, and soon after that I headed out to find the trail. The path started out innocently enough in downtown Lake Geneva. You start on a sidewalk, which leads you to a paved waterfront path. However, from there, you are completely at the mercy of each individual homeowner as to what the path will be made of. Some used cobblestone to pave their path, some used wood planks, some used nothing at all. The run turned into a 22 mile survival march, with really cool scenery. Since the entire run took place running through people backyards, you did get to see some pretty impressive houses. All I kept thinking was how much it must cost to maintain these places on a monthly basis. I mean landscaping alone must run into the $1000's. Maybe someday. The run definitely wasn't blazing fast, but since I forgot my Garmin at work, I don't really have specifics. It took me about 2:35 to go what was about 22 mile though. I've heard they have what they call a euro marathon that follows this same "path," that is run in the late spring. I might have to give it a go next year.

After the run, my right foot was really hurting me. I have quite a few minor problems with this foot and they all were screaming at me. I think it probably had something to do with the 2 and a half hours of running on uneven surfaces. There was definitely a little more twisting and turning going on down there than usual.

The next day, was filled with swimming, and traveling back home, and then birthday parties, and sadly, no running. On Sunday I did 2 runs of 12 and 7 miles with one set of 10 striders. Both runs were done at a relaxed pace and the foot gave me no problems. For the week I did the following:

Mon: 8 Miles
Tues: 16 Miles @ 6:26
WedAM: 9 Miles @ 6:46
WedPM: 7 Miles relaxed
Thurs: 9 Miles W/5 @ 5:40 Pace
Fri: 22 Miles
Sat: Nothing
SunAM: 12 Miles with 10 strides
SunPM: 7 Miles Relaxed
90 miles for the week

Today I went out with the thought that I would do whatever my legs would let me. I'd like to consistenly run two tempo runs per week along with one medium run and one long run per week. In order to accomplish this, Monday becomes a pretty key day for me. I was hoping they wouldn't feel too beat up from last week today so I could do a longer tempo run (7 Miles) at around race pace (6 min/mile). After a 2 mile warmup, I still wasn't convinced that I'd be able to do anything up-tempo, but decided that I'd give it a shot and see what happens. The legs felt like they were working hard during those first two miles, but my breathing was easy and I had a feeling I wasn't moving nearly as fast as I thought I was. This was confirmed when I finally allowed myself to look down at my pace after 2.5 miles and I saw that my pace was at 6:19. Shortly after that though, something seemed to click into place and I started to find my groove. The pace dropped considerably at that point as the run slowly morphed into a progression run. The splits for the 7 miles were as follows: 6:17, 6:23, 6:03, 5:49, 5:43, 5:51, 5:40.

Turning the Screw

I might have overdone things a bit on Tuesday as the legs were not very happy with me on Wednesday morning. I let myself go as slow as I wanted to on the morning run and ran the first few miles at 7+ but slowly worked the pace down to a 6:46 by the end of the 9 miles. The afternoon run was more of the same with 7 easy miles. The legs and stomach were both knotted up until about mile 4 and then suddenly things started to click. It's been a humid couple of days in Chicago lately, and I think that I might finally be getting used to it. I was really struggling with it earlier in the season.

Today called for a 5 mile tempo run and to say that I was not looking forward to it would be an understatement. I spent the morning trying to talk myself out of it, and almost did on several occasions. However, once lunchtime rolled around, I found myself almost subconsciously, packing up my running stuff and heading over to the gym to change. Things felt sluggish during my two mile warm-up and I still had my doubts about whether I was up for a tempo run today, but finally I talked myself into giving it a go and seeing what happens. Sometimes you just have to force the body to run hard even on days that you don't feel like it. You can't reschedule a race if you don't feel like it.

I intentionally started out a little slower than normal to allow the body to get used to the effort and to try and deal with the humidity, which once again was crazy today. I came through mile 1 in 5:49 and with the wind in my face, I was feeling pretty relaxed. The wind helped keep me somewhat cool, although you couldn't tell it by looking at me as my shoes became squishy somewhere between mile 1 and 2. The wind became more intense as I neared the turnaround point of the run and was howling when I finally reached the turnaround point with a 5:48 overall pace.

Usually there is some relief when I turn around after running into the wind, and while it was nice to not have the wind howling in my face, I quickly realized that these next 2.5 miles were going to get hot. Without the wind to keep me cool, the body started to heat up quickly, however, my I still felt relaxed at the pace I was running and other than being drenched with sweat, things were going good. I finished the run up with my fastest mile of the day, which brought the overall pace for the 5 miles down to 5:40 (5:49, 5:48, 5:47, 5:33, 5:25). It was probably one of the better tempo efforts that I've had this year.

A New Toy

Maybe I haven't been running these 5K right, because after this last one, the legs were really creaky for two straight days. Usually, I don't even feel like I raced the day after a 5K. I think it's easy for the body and mind to kind of go into marathon mode during these races and not let you go too far over the redline in order to save something for later in the race. The problem is that in a 5K, there really is no later. You need to go hard from the gun to the end. I don't think I do a good job of that.

Monday the legs were still very creaky so I did a very easy 8 miler. I think part of the problem was that the race was at 6PM, and the legs didn't really get a good chance to shake out after the race. Normally after a hard effort like that, I have the rest of the day to walk around and get everything back to normal. That didn't happen Saturday night. I slept poorly that night as well because the legs were so stiff.

When I got home from work yesterday I had a "present" (as the kids were calling it) waiting for me. I had a Visa Giftcard burning a hole in my pocket that I got for my birthday a few weeks back and decided that I would see if I could a cheap mp3 player to use occasionally while running. I certainly didn't want to invest a lot of money in this thing as I have tried to run with headphones in the past and have never had much success. They seem to throw off my running rhythm and just generally annoy me. However, technology has come a long way since the days of the walkman, so I figured it might just be worth giving it another try. So off I went to search for a cheap mp3. When I stumbled on the 1Gb sunglasses/mp3 player, I was sold. Even if they were horrible, it was worth the price just to see exactly what 25 bucks plus free shipping would get me. Well, to say this thing came on a slow boat from China really isn't much of an exaggeration. It took almost 3 weeks to get here from Hong Kong.

I must say, I was initial impression when I opened the package was a good one. I guess I was expecting the worst, but the glasses seemed sturdy and pretty light as well. The only thing that seemed odd, was that I couldn't see out of the lenses. I'd put them on, and everything was distorted and fuzzy and dark. I thought to myself (OK, it wasn't to myself, I complained to my wife), the easiest thing to make on this thing had to be the sunglasses. How could they possibly screw that up? Finally I figured out that they had some protective sheets on the lenses to guard them against scratches. Once I peeled those off, all was well with the world. As an added bonus, the mp3 player came preloaded with 2 Britney Spears songs! Whatta deal!

The plan was to try them out today on my 16 miler, so I spent the night loading it up with songs (once I figured out how to "rip" them off of my CDs…I'm telling ya, I'm old school) and charging the battery (and deleting the Britney Spears songs of course). I was still expecting them to be horrible once I tried running with them on, but I must say that the thing performed admirably. They were lightweight, yet didn't move around at all while I was running, which I was kind of afraid of. The sunglasses didn't even fog up much, and it was pretty steamy out when I went for my run. The ear pieces don't actually go all the way in your ears..they just kind of sit next to your ear. I liked that, but that also makes it a little hard to hear if there's a lot of background noise. For the most part, that wasn't really an issue. There's no volume on the things that I can find (although I didn't read the manual, so there might be a way to do it), and there are only 3 buttons: stop/play, forward track, backward track.

Ah yes…the run. It went great. I pretty much just cruised the whole thing. I was surprised to see my pace at 6:29 at the turnaround point and finished with a 6:26 for the 16 miles. I must admit, it was kind of nice during those last few miles to be able to say only 6 more songs and I'm done, instead of counting down the miles (or the steps as it sometimes goes). I don't know if I'm quite a mp3 player convert, but for today, I liked it.

A Tale of Two Races

Since I've last updated this thing, I have pretty much completed my 5K
racing season for the year. While I didn't break 16 minutes this "season" I did lower my PR by a few seconds, which at least shows me that I haven't completely lost my speed. I do still feel that I could break 16 if I were to dedicate myself to it for a few months, but it isn't something that I really enjoy doing so I'll probably skip that. As I mentioned a few times on Saturday before, after, and possibly even
during the race, 5Ks hurt and I hate them. Yeah, I know. Nice attitude.

On the 4th of July I ran my first 5K this year and finished in a disappointing time of 16:46. I did win the race and justified the time with the excuse that there wasn't anyone who really challenged me at all during the race after the first mile. My splits were 5:15, 5:30, and 5:30(ish), so overall it was just a sluggish performance. My legs felt really heavy for about the first mile and I never really felt like I was
running smooth the whole race. I'm not sure why this was surprising to me, as I have done very little fast training lately, but the confidence was still a little shaken, and thoughts of being washed up were slowly creeping into my psyche.

Despite the negative thoughts, I was able to get in a good week of training after the 4th of July race. While I didn't do any runs that would translate to 5k specific training, I did make it a point to incorporate strides into my post run routine a few times during the week. One thing that really stuck with me after the first race was how heavy my legs felt during that first mile. I think it was related to the fact that they just aren't used to running that fast. I wanted to make sure that the same thing wouldn't happen again the next time.

So this past weekend was my town's annual festival where they block off the downtown area and have all the food booths, beer tents, carnival rides, etc. It's a nice little event really. As part of the festivities, they added a Twilight 5K to the mix 4 years ago. Since then I have been able to win it all 3 years with times of 17:56, 16:53, and 16:43. I realize that there is nothing spectacular about any of those times, but it is a small race so that has been good enough for the win each year. For some reason this year, I was expecting a faster crowd and my hunch was quickly confirmed when I arrived at the registration table on race day. There was a local runner who I've raced many times throughout the years in various races throughout the region. While I usually can take him in the longer races he has me in the speed department so I knew that if I wanted to extend the streak I would have my work cut out for me. While I'd like to say that this is a friendly rivalry it really isn't. I've tried to strike up a conversation with this guy a few times in the past, and he wants nothing to do with me. Plus, he has nipple rings. To be honest, that annoys me.

The race starts out on about a half mile downhill slope and I knew that if I wanted any chance of a decent time I would have to go out hard, as this same hill comes into play in the last half mile of the race as well. It was a pack of 3 throughout the first mile, (the guy I knew about, a younger kid, and me) and we came through mile 1 in 5:03. Things felt much better than last week and while my breathing was heavier than I would have liked, the legs felt fine. Since that first mile is almost completely downhill followed by 2 miles of mostly uphill running ("hill" being a relative term of course), 5:00 was just about right on target. Shortly after mile 1, we dropped the high school kid (a nice kid, who wound up finishing 3rd and is on his way to Holy Cross for Cross Country season in a few weeks…I think I'll have to worry about him next year), and the other guy put a surge in and put about 10 yards between him and me.

Things stayed that way through mile 2, which I came through in 10:23 and I was really starting to feel it at this point. The guy in front of me was showing no signs of letting up and I didn't reallydidn ’t think I had another gear to go get him. It was all I could do to just keep the gap at 10 yards and give myself a chance at the end. At about 2 and a quarter miles, we took a turn where we had about a quarter mile of a slight downhill slope. For some reason, coming off of the corner, the leader took a really wide turn, while I cut it hard and I pulled even with him. We ran together until we made the final turn and headed up the biggest hill on the course, that pretty much lasts the entire last half mile. At this point, I figured if I wanted to have a shot at the win, I needed to push now. This guy has about 4 inches on me in the height dept. and I think if it came down to a sprint, he would beat me pretty handily. So I charged up the final hill trying to put as much distance between him as possible.

My legs were hurting in a whole different way during this last half mile. My quads were screaming at me and my lungs were on fire. I just kept thinking that any second now, this guy was gonna come up on my shoulder for one last push before the finish line. Even as I came through the 3 mile mark, I still didn't feel secure that I was going to win. Finally the finish line came and I could look back to see how close the race actually was. Once we made that final turn and headed up the hill, the guy must have just died, because somehow we went from being in a dead heat, to him finishing 28 seconds behind me. My final time according to my watch was 16:18, although the official timer got me at 16:22, a new PR either way.

Due to the course layout, this isn't a particularly fast course and with the late start, temps are never really optimal so it does give me hope that there is still room for improvement. Also, and this is just a gut feel, somehow I think I might have broken through some mental barrier during that last half mile. I was hurting like I never had before in a short race and somehow managed to push through it. My last mile was only a 5:30 or so but since most of that was uphill it was a well-earned 5:30. I'm still not a great 5K runner and I doubt I ever will be. But maybe, just maybe, I'm learning to not hate them anymore. Of course that's easy to say now, since I won't have to run another one for another year or so.

Eating Like a Champ

It seemed like the legs were coming around near the end of last week and there was proof of that as I coasted through 20 miles on Saturday morning at a pace of 6:40. I ran with my friend Dave, who just recently completed The Boston Marathon in 2:48 and change despite the crazy weather they got there this year. It was nice to have company for the 20 miler and it made things really fly by. I think the unbelievable weather that we had on Saturday morning probably helped as well. Temps were in the high 60s to low 70s for the run and the sky was spectacularly clear. Chicago is bidding to become the host of 2016 Olympics and I think if there would have been members of the IOC in town this weekend, we'd be a shoe-in for selection.

On Sunday was an extremely slow 11 miles. The legs just did not snap back like I hoped they would after yesterday's 20 miler, but I'd have to say it was directly related to my post run meals. I might have over-indulged a bit on the junk food on Saturday with meals of hot dogs, with salsa and chips for lunch, and Spicy Buffalo Wings for Dinner…and these weren't exactly small portions either. Not exactly what the dietician would have ordered to replenish those depleted glycogen stores.

For the week I ran 90 miles in 8 sessions with a 14 and a 20 miler. While a lot of the runs were done at a slowish pace I think overall it was a decent week. While I still feel the hamstring scream at me every once in a while, everything else seems to be holding up pretty well.

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson and ate smarter on Sunday but I didn't. Ribs on the grill was the meat of the day and once again I paid the price with a sluggish run of 7 miles on Monday. Actually I was feeling pretty sick all day on Monday so just the fact that I got out there and did anything was a small victory. Hopefully now that I'm back at work, I'll get back into my normal eating patterns and things will return to normal.

This morning I did manage an 8 miler at a 6:07 pace, which was probably a little too aggressive, but it felt comfortable. I'll go out for another short run this afternoon, just to shake the legs out in preparation for my first 5K of the year tomorrow. Last year, I did this race in my PR time of 16:26, so this year I'd like to at least be flirting with 16:00. I have no idea how realistic that is, but I guess I'll be finding out tomorrow.