Running Times, Online

Well, it’s obviously been a really long time sine I last posted a blog entry.  Before the marathon I got so busy and preoccupied with other things and I kept putting it off.  Well, here we are on November 3rd and I’m finally doing it.

I moved back to Tempe, Arizona after living in Eugene for a few months and I am so incredibly happy.  It’s so unbelievably beautiful here and right now the weather is sunny and 80’s everyday.  I got out of the 108+ degree days of July, August and September and loved the summer weather in Eugene.  I slept in most days and I could run pretty much any time of the day.  As the months went on I missed my family, friends, support network and the brother of my two dogs (my brother’s dog) in Arizona.  I knew it would be best for me to move back and in my favorite state in the country (no bias or anything, haha )

Since the marathon I have been in a little bit of a funk.  I know it’s normal after a marathon (especially my sub-par performance) to feel totally ready for a break and have those post-race blues.  I think it’s because you work so hard for so long and then the big day comes and it’s over before you know it.  You have to go back to the drawing board and start all over again with new goals, training, etc. and it can feel overwhelming.  Usually I take my week or two completely off and I am raring to go.  This time after my vacation in Mexico and another week of lap swimming in Eugene, I still didn’t feel ready to run.  I kinda wanted to but not really, haha.  I ran a few days and then it was time to pack up the moving truck and drive back to AZ.  I didn’t run during this because about 100 trips (no joke) up and down 3 flights of stairs is hard enough..forget running for a couple days!!

Well, after a week back in AZ, my motivation is gradually coming back, but it’s harder than it’s ever been.  I am attributing it to everything I have to do (unpacking, settling in) and getting relaxed again in AZ.  I have gone out to breakfast, lunch and dinner with so many friends and extended family members in town, that I’ve hardly had time to do more than unpack a couple boxes.  My room is a mess!! haha  I think when I settle in and I’m not surrounded by boxes, I’ll be able to focus on my training even more.  I guess I need to be grateful for the distractions I have, because sometimes we need them to stop thinking, eating and breathing everything “running” day in and day out.

So here’s to today: my goal is to get completely unpacked and organize my stuff…which will hopefully result in getting my spunk back and out of this funk

Monday AM mostly trail 1:45:22, tot. 15++

PM 41:16 easy then exercises for strength (17:20), tot. 5++

XT stretching, exercises for strength (7×10 jump squats, 7×20 jumping jacks, 7×10 each leg high knee single leg hops, 30s rest after all)

Tuesday AM 1 mile warm up, 10 miles 54:17 on road, splits (5k-16:59.3, 10k-33:44.8(16:45.6), 15K- 50:47.2(17:02.4)) very easy aerobically but working hard to hold good form to protect/fix hammy. 1.7 mile cool down, 11:55, tot. 12++

PM 39:16 to fields, exercises for running technique 3×100m each with jog back rests- 28:24, bit under a mile back to house 6:39 tot. 7

XT stretching, Butts, exercises for running technique (springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping- felt very flat on these)

Wednesday AM Holt hill 9+ easy, 1:01:45 tot. 9+

PM 43:15 easy then 10×200m hill sprints with jog down rest, then 4:10 jog back to house, VERY tired, it was cold and raining and dark out, one of the more unpleasant sessions I have had. tot. 8++

XT stretching, mika warm up, walking lunges focusing on glutes, butts

Thursday AM 3+ warm up to track, 23:28, VERY tired didn’t want to do workout, couple strides with jog back rest, light stretch 20min tempo on track goal 3:06 per K, splits 1k-3:03.7, 2K-6:10.1(3:06.4), 3K-9:16.6(3:06.6), 4k-12:22.9(3:06.3), 5K-15:28.8(3:06.0), 6k-18:33.6(3:04.8), 4 miles-19:48.3 stopped at 20:00.7.  This Felt very good! nice and relaxed and more to the point I was still comfortable holding form as compared to the last couple weeks when I was really struggling by the end to hold it.  light stretch then 3+ cool down, 22:01 tot. 11

PM 5.6 easy, 41:40, solo on road, tot. 5++

XT stretching, mika warm up, lunge walk focusing on glutes, butts

Friday AM 1 mile warm up, 7:53, light stretch, 13.1 mile tempo-1:12:20, Very easy aerobic effort, much better time holding form, still struggling by the end but muscles starting to do  there jobs better. splits 5k-17:11.2, 10K-34:23.0(17:11.9) 15k- 51:28.6(17:05.6), 20K-1:08:34(17:06.4), 2 mile cool down 14:38 tot.16+

PM 40:30 easy to fields, then 10 mins diagonals- did 16 sprints and 15 jogs, smaller field than last week because there was a game on my usual soccer field. mile plus back to house, 7:59 tot. 8+

XT stetching, mika warm up, lunge walk focusing on glutes, butts

Saturday AM VERY tired, didn’t want to run, 3 warm up, 21:52, structured fartlek around Phillips fields, soft VERY windy 25mph, 3minutes hard and 3 minutes easy for 48 minutes.  Went much faster then I have been able to before on this session and I was covering more then a full loop of the fields-1800m- each lap, ended up at 8 full loops at 47:08- so 5:16 flat mile pace with the rest included.  Little under 4 mile cool down 26mins tot. 16

PM 6.2 solo easy, 45:50 tot. 6+

XT stretching, lunge walk focusing on glutes

Sunday AM watch manchester marathon

EARLY PM watch replay of NYC marathon on TV- Totally awesome!  GO MEB! GO USA!!!!

4PM 30:24 warm up, 4×1200m Hill repeats (Porter Hill) with jog down rests, 4:11.2(5:22.4), 4:09.4(5:27.4), 4:09.1(5:33.6), 4:04.6-new best time (old best 4:07) (5:36.3) Best session yet on hills total time for 4 reps 13.1 seconds better then previous best session.  Still I haven’t done long hills or medium hills with any consistency in the last couple of years I kinda expected more improvement from week to week in this area.  I’m not disappointed or worried as I feel I’m running these very well, just a little surprised my first session went as well as it did I guess.  I still really want to break 4mins on this hill, getting closer though.  12:47 cool down. tot. 12

8PM 5 miles easy, 39:11 tot. 5

XT stretching

Summary 137 miles for the week- 5 or 6 workouts for the week- depending on if you call the 200m hills a workout or a short hill session.  3 tempos, 1 fartlek/interval session, 2 hill sessions.  Also a good set of diagonals and 2 circuits.  This was a very good week and I really feel I’m rounding into shape.  I’m tired but the performances don’t lie, I’m running these workouts on the same course as I have been and I’m getting much faster and increasing distance and volume.  I really feel I’m coming right after a long while of running like shit.  The 20min tempo was particularly nice 2 weeks ago I struggled at 3:12 per K and this week I felt very controlled and relaxed at under 3:06 per K.   Really this was just a damn fine week of training.  Two very easy and solid longer tempos.  Nothing to write home about except I haven’t been able to do tempos of that distance in a couple years.  In fact the 13.1 is the longest tempo I have done without stopping since before the Olympic trials in ‘07.  The 20min tempo isn’t a barnburner either but the effort was very easy and that is the key in threshold training.  If you go over the line and go hard you are using different systems and you don’t tax the threshold well and it doesn’t improve.  It is the one system you don’t really want to overwhelm so much as push it just a little, tickle it if you will.  A great fartlek session that had me averaging 5:16 pace for over 9 miles on very soft muddy ground in some crazy wind, a huge improvement on the first few sessions and a solid step forward on the long hill reps as well.

Instead of a quote I’m just going to send my congrats to all the USA men at NYC  today.  Great Job.  Obviously Meb but also Hall- only BR, Ken Martin, Meb, Al Sal have run faster at NYC for Americans.  But 6 in the top 10, particularly with the field that was assembled there today is just HUGE.  Only 3 americans finished in the top 10 from 1990 to 2003 with none from ‘94 to ‘02 and 6 did it today after 4 last year.  I particularly want to give huge shout outs to Nick Arciniaga a big 2:13:47 PR and his second top 10 at a major!  Jason Lehmkuhle- a 2nd straight top 10 at NYC!  A welcome to the marathon in a big way to Jorge Torress, 2:13 for debut at NYC is nothing to laugh at, heck ritz ran 2:14!  A welcome back to Peter Gilmore-2:15:22 at NYC is worth 2:13 or 2:12 at Cal international which was probably his other option for the fall and is a solid marathon after a long struggle for him. (yes I know he has run 2:18 this year, but this is still big)

What a year for the USA- a medal at world half champs, 2 sub 13 5k’s, the overall performance of the men and women from 800m to 10k at worlds on the track was just awesome!!  3rd at boston, 1st, 4th and 6 in the top 10 at NYC, top 10’s at chicago, and despite some tougher race courses a pretty decent top 10 for marathon times this year with 2:09, 2:09, 2:10, 2:12, 2:13, 2:13 and a bunch of 2:14’s and 2:15’s.  Very nice to see.  Now I just got to get my ass out there helping the cause.

nate

Monday AM 14, 1:33:25, holt hill, tot. 14

PM 7 shakeout with Melissa, road and fields, 58:41 tot. 7

XT stretching, mika warm up-still don’t have real names, sorry.

Tuesday AM 1 mile warm up- 7:51- light stretch, 15k light tempo- 50:39.7.  splits 5k-16:58.9, 10k -33:57.0(16:58.1), 50:39.7(16:42.8)- this is very easy running but it is hard work to hold leg in correct position so hammy doesn’t go.  1 mile cool down- 6:46 tot. 11+

PM 6 easy, solo, loops around phillips fields, 42:18 tot. 6

XT stretching, Mika warm up, butts, walking lunge focusing on glutes

Wednesday AM Holt hill 9++, 1:00:32, tot. 9++

PM 53:38 with Melissa easy shakeout, 6++

XT stretching, mika warm up, butts, walking lunge focusing on glutes

Thursday AM 3+ warm up, 21:54, light stretch, few strides- felt like 10lbs of shit in a 5lb bag. 20min tempo run aim 3:08 per K pace- actual 6400m/4miles in 20:00.6, splits 1k-3:06.6, 2k- 6:14.7(3:08.1), 3k-9:22.3(3:07.6), 4k-12:30.6(3:08.4), 5k- 15:38.9(3:08.4), 6k-18:47.1(3:08.2) last 400m in 73.5.  No wind today.  pretty easy effort but definitely still work to hold form, but easier than last week.  3+ cool down, 21:41 tot. 11

PM 41:17 on roads solo easy, 5.7 miles, tot. 5++

XT stretching, lunge walk focusing on glutes, butts, mika warm up

Friday AM Holt hill 10+, 1:10:54, easy, tot. 10+

Noon mika for treatment and adjustments

PM 40:03 easy, 10mins diagonals, 10mins jog back to house, tot. 8

XT stretching, lunge walk focusing on glutes

Saturday Noon 6+ solo shakeout, 48:48, tot. 6+

PM 6+ solo shakeout, 44:05 tot. 6+

XT stretching, mika warm up

Sunday 11AM 3 warm up-23mins, bunch of strides including one 1minute effort, race Mayors Cup 8k at Franklin Park.  very muddy.  12th place 24:48. 3mile cool down, 23 mins.  I was really hoping for more here I guess I shouldn’t be too pissed given that after splitting 24:48 for 5 at cow harbor I thought my goal should be just to run that time or better at franklin park if the course was in fast shape and it wasn’t but I really feel my fitness is coming around and I felt like I should have been in the lead group.  I raced pretty smart and pretty hard, not great in either case but not bad either.  I’m just not quite where i hoped to be yet.  Certainly moving in the right direction, just not as fast as I would like, is it ever? tot. 12

5PM 10+ miles easy, started with Melissa, then solo, 1:18:56, mix of road and trails, tot. 10+

XT stretching

Summary 123 miles for week, 2 tempos, 1 race.  I cut a lot of the quality and all of the circuit work this week to try and give my legs a chance in the race.  It didn’t really pay off like I hoped.  But it was worth a shot.  Back to work now.  I had been planning on the USATF-NE xc champs in 2 weeks but I may skip it.  I’m not real sure. I may do it but try and do all the extra work that week anyway.  Which could be a total shit show.  Again I got to look at things and think about what I want to do.  Overall not a bad week, not a bad race, not what I’m looking for but another small step in the right direction.  I hope you had a good week.

Quote of the Week “Many of the great accomplishments of the world were achieved by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.” -unknown

Monday AM 1:15:00 easy, solo.  road and trail mix, tot. 11

PM 40:02 easy mostly loops around Phillips fields, exercises for strength(17:41), jog back to house long way, 10:17, tot. 6++

XT exercises for strength- jump squats 6×10, jumping jacks 6×20, high knee single leg hops 6×10 each leg, 30 seconds rest after each. stretching

Tuesday AM Holt Hill 8+ solo medium, 46:00, first mile 6;03, last mile 5:12, tot. 8+

PM 40:01 to and around Phillips fields, exercises for running technique with jog back rests (25:28) mile plus back to house, 9:54, tot. 7++

XT exercises for running technique-3×90y with jog back rests springing, high knees, buttkicks, bounding, skipping- Felt VERY flat on all of these.  Stretching

Wednesday AM Holt Hill 9 easy, 1:00:37, first mile with Melissa, tot. 9

PM 41:31 solo easy, then 10×20second hills with jog down rest, felt very fast, 56mins total running, tot. 7+

XT stretching, Butts(prayer hammy, straight leg quad lifts, abductor and adductor lifts, glute activator, calf raises, straight leg jackknifes)

Thursday AM 3.5+ warm up, 25mins, few strides, light stretch, 20min tempo on track, breezy but less than last week, covered 6300m.  1k-3:10.9, 2k-6:21.4(3:10.6), 3k-9:31.9(3:10.6), 4k-12:43.0(3:11.1), 5k-15;54.8(3:11.9), 6k-19:06.3(3:11.5) stopped at 20:01.2-jogged to 4 miles (20:26) then light stretch.  3+ cool down-23:12. Had a hard time keeping foot and stride where I wanted it to help the hammy.  Muscles very tired.  Very tired in general, not nearly as easy as it should have been today. tot. 11

PM 6 miles easy solo, 43:53, tot. 6

XT stretching

Friday AM 1 mile warm up 7:56, light stretch, 20k tempo run on rolling 5k loop-1:08:29- 5k-17:09.3, 10k- 34:12.8(17:03.6), 15k-51:25.4(17:12.6), 20K-1:08:29(17:04.3)  very hard to keep foot and stride how I wanted/needed it the last 5k but I did and so the hammy held.  Couldn’t have held it much longer, but for right now I’m happy with that.  The calf will get stronger, the adductor will get stronger, the glute will get stronger.  At least now that they are getting used they will get stronger.  1 mile cool down 7:04 tot. 16+

1PM Mika for treatment etc..

PM 40mins easy, then 10mins diagonals (12 diagonals) 1 mile back to house, tot. 8+

XT stretching

Saturday AM 3 warm up, 21:17, very very tired. light stretch, 42mins of 3 mins hard, 3 mins recovery structured fartlek around Phillips fields (it took 42:24 to do 7 full laps, each lap is roughly 1800m) so overall pace is just under 5:30 mile which on soft wet fields isn’t so bad.  This as a side note moved to the track would be a great bread and butter workout for college cross country for the men do 3:00 1k’s followed by a rest of 800m in 3:00.  A good college runner could go 30mins, but if you can do an hour to an hour and half you’re real fit.  Really teaches control at speed and recovery under a bit of stress. Women could slow the times to 3:30 per K and 800m or 3:20 if they are really good.  Anyway did a 3 mile cool down in 20:21 tot. 14

3PM did some running and drills with Mika to film form and work on strengthening and getting proper firing from calf, abductor and glute.  Highlight was half mile on track in 2:44 going 1:31, 1:13.  tot. 1mile or so

PM 6++, easy shakeout, first 3 miles with Melissa, mostly on Phillips fields, 46:35, tot. 6++

XT stetching, Mika stuff Ii’ll post what the exercises are next week when I know the names, he is going to email them to me)

Sunday AM 30mins warm up- 4+, cold rain roads a bit slick, weather unpleasant. 4xPorter Rd. Hill 1200m with (jog down rest) 4:15.0(5:32), 4:12.4(5:08), 4:12.2(5:33), 4:09.0(5:40), 2 mile cool down 12:41, tot. 12+

PM Mika warm up stuff, then 5+ easy in snow, mostly on Phillips fields, very slick, 36:22, tot. 5+

XT stretching, Mika warm up stuff- again I’ll post it next week when I know the real names.

Summary 127 miles for week, 2 tempo runs, 1 medium run (light tempo), 1 hill workout, 1 fartlek/interval session, 2 circuits, 1 short hill session, 1 set diagonals.

Ok the hamstring.  Basically I got a lot of emails and whatnot after worlds and have been trying a bunch of stuff. I got one email from a guy who had fixed a similar problem.  The more we emailed the more apparent it became to me that we had a very similar problem.  I was very impressed that he was able to fix it himself.  I began doing the exercises he did- the walking lunges and the butts stuff.  These made me sore, also some of the stuff we talked about combined with this soreness to make me more aware of my stride.  Last Thursday during my regular tempo I noticed that my ‘bad’ toe landed pointing out.  I noticed as the hammy felt more and more like it was going to go the more it seemed to point out.  The email kid had said that when his started to if he focused on using his butt and his calf to push off it would help.  I tried this but couldn’t seem to fire either.  But when I forced my foot to go through straight I could.  This helped the hammy a ton.  But it was very hard to hold the foot in the right place as my calf, abductor muscles and glute are not used to this.  I played with this a bit at the end of last week and ran it by Mika.  This week we continued to work with it.  I really think it is going to work.  I think it is going to take some time.  But the 20k tempo is the longest effort I have been able to do since I did a single 20k tempo in September last year at about the same pace.  That effort was after about 5 months of not bothering the hammy and at the time I thought it was gone.  In comparison the hammy has been total shit since worlds.  Now changing my stride is no small thing but it is something that can be done.  So I’m going to work on it and hopefully be back to the long stuff next year.  I may try a half marathon as soon as December.  I’ll have to see how things progress.

As to the immediate, I’m going to cut back on the circuit work and some of the quality this week to let my body breathe a little for Mayors Cup.  I’m not sure what I’m shooting for.  I wouldn’t be surprised to struggle to finish in the top 15, like at Cow Harbor, but that said I feel like my fitness is really coming around and I would like to contend for the win.  So we’ll see.

Quote Of the Week “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” -Harriet Beecher Stowe

Hope all is well on your ends.

I have been unable to work on a proper blog for a few weeks so wanted to update you all on what I have been doing. I have been training and racing a lot.

I have done the following races the last few weekends:

• The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler-3rd overall all in 6:31, September 19, 2009

• Clarendon Day 10K-30:59 (within 4 seconds of my PR), September 26, 2009

• The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon-2:23:13 / October 4, 2009

• The BAA Half Marathon-1:09:15 / October 11, 2009

I was pleased with the 10K and 50 Miler and disappointed with others the Twin Cities Marathon and the BAA Half Marathon but so is the way it goes with running.

I was on pace at Twin Cities (went through 20 miles right where I should have been) to achieve my goal of sub-2:19 but failed to hold that pace till the end of the race, so cliché but it is exactly what happened to me.

I am presently excited for the 50K World Championships on October 31, 2009 in Gibraltar and I am focusing my training the next few weeks on making a very good showing there. I think I can do well for the USA and would like to come home with a Gold Medal for us.

Apart from the running, my family and I are doing well, trying to get ready for fall and battling some nasty illnesses but we are recovering and should be 100% soon.

One of the most exciting things that happened the last few weeks is that we had a Kenyan house guest, Joseph Chirlee, who came to the Washington, DC area to run the Baltimore Marathon on October 10, 2009 and he ended 4th overall in 2:18 or so.

Joseph, taught us a lot of interesting things about being a professional runner and best of all, he loved our children, Pierce (3 years) and Grant (almost 10 months) and we got to “race” around the house with him, learn to make ugali (pretty tasty actually) and see how he views the world. We learned that he is supporting his extended family back in Kenya, which was very inspiring and made us appreciate all we have living in the United States of America.

Another interesting and exciting thing that is going on is that our son Pierce has discovered Star Wars and we are in full discovery mode. Pierce is quizzing us daily on why Darth Vader is “bad” and Luke Skywalker is “good”, what is a “Wookie” and does R2D2 have feet. Where does Darth Vader sleep, how does he get out of his mask, does R2D2 help undress him, etc…

This morning, I did a 10 mile treadmill run while Pierce watched scenes from “Return of the Jedi” and asked questions. Great training.

All in all things are good and life is going well, need to stay after training for the 50K Worlds and can’t wait to compete again for the USA.

Hope that all is well on your ends too.
Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,
Michael Wardian