Running Times, Online

Monday AM 3+ easy to track, 25:31, 8×100m strides with jog back rest on track, bit more than a mile back to house(went long way), 8:54, tot. 5++

PM 5+ shakeout w/ Melissa, then 3×60m exercises for running technique with jog back rest, 8:31 jog back to house, tot. 6++

XT exercises for running technique 3×60m each(springing, high knees, buttkicks, bounding, skipping), glute activators, water pumps10 each leg, prayer hammy curls

Tuesday AM 3.5+ warm up, 27;07, light stretching, couple strides, on track (windy but not as bad as Saturday was), goal 20min tempo at 3:20 a K, 1k-3:17.4, 2k-6:35.4(3:18.1), 3k-9:52.5(3:17.1), 4k-13:12.2(3:19.7), 5k-16:30.6(3:18.4) 6k- 19:50.11(3:19.6)- stopped about 50m later at 20:00.7- hammy barked pretty good the last K but it didn’t go. light stretching for a couple minutes then 3.5+ cool down- 26:57 tot. 11

PM rd. 5+ shakeout with Melissa, 41:26 tot. 5+

XT stretching, glute activators, waterpumps, prayer hammies

Wednesday AM Road and trail 6+ out and back, holt hill trails, 47:20 tot. 6+

2PM Mika for chiro and treatment

PM same out and back as AM also shakeout, this time with Melissa, 50:49 tot. 6+

XT stretching, glute activators-including two new exercises from Mika

Thursday AM 3+ easy to track 25:05, 8×100m strides on track, jog back rest, mile plus back to house, 7:58 tot. 5+

PM spent rest of day traveling to Northport, NY, should have done second run before I left house at 2pm but I didn’t, then I got stuck at the airport for a bit and didn’t get to my homestay until after 9pm and I called it a day

XT glute activators, stretching

Friday AM 8? - about 7 of it with Jason Lehmkuhle, who stays a couple blocks away- mostly on course, 52:14, tot. 8

PM 4+ with Jason Lehmkuhle and Tommy Neal, fun run, 30 mins or so, tot. 4+

XT stretching and glute activators,

Saturday 4:30AM -2 mile shakeout, 16:00 tot. 2

7:30 AM 3 warm up with Tommy Neal and Jason Lehmkuhle, strides, including a hard one of 30 seconds, Race Cow Harbor 10k- 11th place, 31:00.5, splits -4:36, 9:48, 14:43, 19:32, 24:51.  Ran pretty hard but the results weren’t very good, got out in the lead group, dropped back a few places on the climb at the end of mile 2.  Then rallied a bit chasing Levassiur, we worked up to about 6/7 at 4 and a half miles and then I lost contact, faded back from there to finish.  I ran 29:44 here last year in slightly tougher conditions. So this isn’t a good race.  But sadly this is probably the best run I have had since I initially moved to Colorado Springs at the end of February.  I ran 30:47 back in April at Crescent City but that is far and away the fastest road 10k course I have ever been on.  Cow Harbor is a tough little course.  Then I was horrid at Bloomsday, got beat by Kim Smith and ran over 20mins in at steamboat, barely held off the women at Boilermaker, and then 2:30 plus at worlds.  Not a good stretch.  I had hoped for more, I really would have liked to  run about 30 flat or under but I guess I’m not there yet.  It is very frustrating just because when I laid out my goals for the year my first goal was to fix the hammy problem, which I didn’t, and my second goal was to work on my other areas of fitness to get into great shape without bother the hammy, which I did until I went to CO, and it has been a shit show ever since.  I’m glad to be moving in the right direction at last but frustrated thinking about what could have been.  I ran 14:04, 8:08 off of 130 plus mile weeks back in January and February and just gave it away.  I may do a local race for $ over the next couple weeks but my next real test will be the Mayors Cup Cross Country Race at Franklin Park on October 25.  I had originally hoped to run sub 30 at Cow harbor and then look to run in the 23:30 range at Mayors Cup.  Conditions have a lot to do with time there, but I’m thinking now that if conditions are good I’ll have to be very very happy if I’m around 24:00.  Anyway, 47:28 cool down, first 30mins with a big group that included Katie McGregor, all of it with Lehmkuhle, tot. 15+

PM 5+ solo, 38:37, mostly on course, tot. 5+

Sunday AM woke up in the night congested and with a sore throat so I opted to sleep an extra hour plus and skip the AM 10 I was going to do.

8AM to 3PM travel home

5PM 10++ mile shakeout with Melissa, 1:24:41, I had intended to go for 10 more after she finished up but honestly I felt like total shit and figured it wouldn’t do any good. tot. 10+

Summary 88 miles for week, 1 workout, 1 race. I pretty much already did a summary in my race description so I don’t have a whole lot else to say.  The cold is very light today so hopefully I’ll be through it quick not miss anything else.  It’s good to be moving in the right direction a little but frustrating anytime you put out a poor performance like that.  Hope everyone had a good week.

Well, my final week of high mileage is complete and now my taper starts! Woo hoo!  I cannot believe the race will be over in two weeks and I will be landing in Phoenix en route to Playa del Carmen!  This past week I hit about 94.4 miles, to be exact, haha, and I felt great all week, except my runs on Saturday.  I hit a mini wall and my entire body felt very fatigued on both of my runs.  Rather than try to push through the fatigue in my muscles I allowed myself to simply run and go by feel.  Yesterday I felt better and today was much better!  I decided to sleep in yesterday and got 10 hours of sleep.  I coupled that with ice baths and limited strength training and now I am ready to conquer my last intense workout tomorrow morning.  I really feel that I needed to give my body a great night of rest rather than force myself to get up early like I do every day.  Not only did my body feel better, my mind was in a more positive and refreshed mood.

GU Energy recently came out with two new flavors and they are delicious!!  The Vanilla Gingerbread tastes exactly like a gingerbread cookie. Fabulous!  The Pineapple Roctane flavor is also fantastic and tastes like a piece of fresh cut pineapple (well as close as you can get, ha).  I LOVE GU gels and this time I will definitely NOT forget mine for my workout tomorrow morning!

Tapering has its benefits and its difficulties.  It’s great to not be so tired every day and your body recovers and gets ready to perform at its best.  However with the extra time on my hands I tend to think I am not busy enough.  This time I will be sure to REST and not be super busy.  If I am debating taking a nap I am going to force myself to take one, without an alarm!  We all know pre-race night can be hit or miss on whether we can have a good night of sleep.  Therefore getting a lot of it for a couple weeks prior will at least help my body somewhat!

I coached myself leading up to every single marathon I have ever done, except this one obviously.  Having Brad’s expertise on keeping intensity and harder workouts in my training leading up to the race definitely helps.  I think in the past I didn’t do enough longer and harder workouts somewhat close to the race, and my taper was too long and too few miles.  We’ll see how this all turns out, but my body feels great and I can only imagine how fabulously fresh it will feel after two weeks of decreasing my mileage and intensity

Well I better relax for a little while before bed and my last really challenging workout tomorrow! yay!!  I’ll take these awesome dance moves from the Dancing with the Stars tv show to the discos in Mexico in a couple weeks! woo hoo!

Monday AM 4+easy, 25:28, around Phillips, then 8×100m strides with jog back rest on the track and then a mile back to the house easy, tot. 6+

PM trail and woods 6 shakeout with Melissa, 48 mins, stopped at 40mins to do exercises for strength, tot. 6+

XT exercises for strength (4×10 jump squats, 4×20 jumping jacks, 4×10 one leg hops (each leg separate)), stretching, 10 each leg prayer hamstring curls

Tuesday AM 3 warm up, 25:25, strides, then 400m in 70, light drills, light jogging, 6 laps of Aussie quarters session (supposed to be 8 laps) bit of a breeze but really I was just tired as shit (11:39 for whole session which is very slow) start with (tempo 200) -followed by a hard 400- (39.7)-1:04.2,(46.0)-1:07.6, (50.7)-1:06.9, (48.9)-1:09.8, (51.9)-1:10.1, (53.9)-1:09.2.  Rough go, but I knew some tired would show up with all the new exercises.  Did 50m lunge walk and then cooled down 3+ miles, 25:57 tot. 10+

PM 8 miles solo on rd., 51:55, tot. 8

XT 50m lunge walk focusing, unsuccessfully, on glutes, stretching, light drills, glute activation exercises

Wednesday AM 3.5 warm up, 25:31, exercises for running technique, 1.5 easy back to house, 11:03 tot.5+

PM 6+ shakeout around Phillips, 46:59

XT exercises for running technique (3×50m each of springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping), 50m lunge walk focusing, unsuccessfully, on glutes, glute activators, 10 each leg prayer hammy curls- no cramping!! for the first time!

Thursday AM 26:43 warm up, couple strides, breezy but not bad again, 3×2k with 5:59.1(rest-1:56), 6:00.3, (1:57), 6:13.3(2:00) 4×1k- 3:02.1(1:58), 3:01.5(1:58), 3:01.9(1:58), 3:02.2- was supposed to be a nice easy 5×2k at hmp like last week’s nice easy 10×1k but man my legs are heavy!!! I’ll have to do a lot less next week then I had planned so I have enough pop to race at Cow Harbor., 3+ cool down, 26:10 tot. 13+

PM 38:08 shakeout with Melissa, then 10×15 second short hill sprints, jog down rest, then 2 miles shake out jog back home, 16:01, tot. 8+

XT stretching and glute activators

Friday AM 4 easy to Phillips fields, 28:00, 100m walking lunge, mile back to house in 6:05 tot. 5

PM 6+ shakeout on roads with Melissa, stopped with a mile to go for full continuous warm up drills on fields tot. 6+

XT glute activators, 100m lunge walk focusing on glutes, unsuccessfully, prayer hammys, full continuous warm up drills, water pumps (actually able to use my butt!!)

Saturday AM 3.5 warm up, 26:05, very windy 20mph with gusts higher, 1k hard run in 3:01 (40, 79, 2:27) some jogging and strides then 3k on track originally was going for 8:45 but with wind ended up aiming for 9:00 and still fell short, combo of wind and still tired legs- 2:59.4, 6:02.5(3:03.2), 9:07.0(3:04.6), 3.5 cool down, 25:46 tot. 10

PM 8.5 with Melissa shakeout on roads, 1:09:22, tot. 8+

XT stretch

Sunday Noon- 20+ miles easy, first 11 miles at 8 min pace rest faster at least sub 7 maybe more like 6 flat, felt tired but good otherwise, 2:30:01 tot. 20+

XT glute activators, water pumps(before and after run), prayer hammies, stretching

Summary 110 miles for the week, three crummy workouts, tired legs.  I’ll back off a bit this week so I have something to fight with at Cow Harbor.  I’d like to break 30mins there but it’s a hilly course and this soon after a marathon its a crap shoot.  Never mind in the middle of the kind of year I’m putting together.

Quote of the week “Don’t do what you want to do.  Do what you don’t want to do.  Do what you’re trained not to want.  Do the things that scare you most.”  Chuck Palahniuk

PM

Well, training has been oh so fabulous the past few days:) The highlight has to be my very very long run on Monday when I left my GU gels at home, a 25 minute drive away from where we were working out on Lorane Highway and definitely no longer a part of my important gel/fluid long run practice. Before I realized I forgot them I mapped out exactly where I wanted Brad to give me my fluid and gels. I started to look in my bag and thought “oh crap”..and Brad looked at me and already knew, haha. I was really angry at myself at first since I have never done that before, yet then I realized that something like that could definitely happen in the race. Special fluid bottles could be forgotten, lost, or even dropped on the cement by me, like I have also done before in a race. Brad decided to get me started on the run while he quickly drove up to a local little convenience store and bought candy and a Red Bull shot with caffeine in case I started to bonk and needed more than my GU Electrolyte Brew.

Given the fact that this long run was the longest and hardest thing I have ever done other than an actual marathon race, you would think it would have affected me mentally to know I didn’t have my favorite tried and true Vanilla Bean GU’s. Instead I took it as a new challenge and an opportunity to test myself in quite possible really adverse circumstances. I did just fine and ran incredibly well and strong on only drinking my fluid bottles of GU Raspberry electrolyte drink. Brad gave me the Red Bull shot to try at mile 19 and I actually really liked it. It was sweet and although I never drink Red Bull, I think I could drink these little things. Kinda fun that they are in a little bottle about the size of a shot glass, hehe

Another thing that really boosts my confidence is doing very hard workouts in my training shoes. I do this to prevent any major foot problems or injuries. Sometimes I get bad heel pain if I do too much in flats so I have to be careful. It makes me realize that when I slip on my flats on race morning I’m going to feel super light on my feet! The funny thing I did for the first time was actually doing the long run in what I will likely race in, bun huggers and sports bra (with the possibility of a singlet too)…I can only imagine what drivers were thinking when they drove by me running in basically a bathing suit, hahaha

My body is not feeling more fatigued than usual after the run on Monday, just a little sore and more sleepy. I fell asleep before my second run yesterday and when I woke up I definitely wanted to just go get in my bed and sleep until the next morning, haha, but I forced myself to get out and do it and felt better afterward, especially because I knew the season finale of Big Brother was going to be on!

Things are shaping up incredibly well for the race and I am hoping to achieve all my personal goals on October 4th. I hope the weather cooperates and I hope all the people coming to cheer me on are able to get to lots of places on the course to scream at me. When it comes down to it, I am going to toe that line and run all 26.2 miles with more heart than ever before. I know I am so prepared and I will race smart, strong and tough and hopefully the result will be fantastic, and something I can take to Playa del Carmen with me to celebrate, with a stop in wonderful Tempe, AZ first Now only if my two Scotties could come to the race with me and bark when I run by like they do when they go to track workouts with me….;)

Everyone,

Hope all is well and your running is going well.

I have been doing well, really busy with work and the kids but still finding time to train and I am excited to get some big races in this fall.

My next big race is this weekend at The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler in Washington, DC and I am even a panel member for the pre-race talk the night before so that should be neat to be on the same panel as Dean Karnazas & Sam Thompson. It should be a big challenge and fun as I have some friends also running including my boss and his son so really, really cool to be a part of it and have the support of work, family and friends.

In view of the 50 miler and also getting ready for the Twin Cities Marathon and I am planning to run 2:16-2:17 so I need to be ready, I have been working on my speed and endurance and wanted to see where I stood this past weekend.

So I signed up for the Parks half marathon a terrific local half marathon that I have run for a few years now. I love the course and the running club (MCRR) that puts on the race and know if you run well on this course you are doing something right as it is on bike trail and is definitely challenging with little rolling hills and lots of tight turns.

I am feeling fit and ready to go.

Sunday comes around and Jennifer and I wake up early as the race starts at 7:00am and is about 30-40 mins away so the plan was to be on the road by 5:30am. Well, I was in charge of the children.

I got everyone up, made some coffee and put the boys (Pierce & Grant) in the car.

We leave right on time and make the race by 6:20am, plenty of time to get my number, warm up and be ready to run. I go to get my race bag out of the trunk of the car and realize, oops, I don’t have it. I have snacks for the kids, hats, gloves, jackets, boots, sippy cups, diapers, wipes, toys, but nothing that I need for the race (no shoes, no singlet, no socks, no hat, nothing).

Well, we don’t have time to go home and get my bag and of course, I am wearing my cozy The North Face Base Camp sandals but they are not going to be too fun to run 13.1 miles in.

I start asking anyone that will listen, hey do you have size 11 men’s shoes that you are not going to wear for the race. Everyone is looking at me like I am crazy; however, I am in luck after about 10 minutes, I see a buddy from Baltimore and he has some extra Nike flats but they are men’s 12, that he is deciding if he is going to wear of not.

We chat and he says, “Here use these, I will just wear the flats I have on.” I thank him and strap them on, without socks as I couldn’t find an extra pair of socks.

So I head to the start thinking this is going to be interesting “running in someone else’s shoes”.

The race goes well, I run 1:08:13 for 2nd place and I felt really strong the whole race but I lost the race in the last 200-300 meters, which was disappointing.

The nice thing is I only got three big blisters due to the bigger shoes and no socks.

I take off my friend’s shoes, feeling a little like I just went bowling and wait for him to finish. He is a tough masters runner so I don’t have to wait long, I hand him back his shoes and head home with the family thinking that was cool, now I know what it is like to run in someone else’s shoes.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned but I hope that I make things work when that happens in the future, like I did this past weekend.

Have you ever gotten to a race without something that you needed? I’m interested to hear your funny stories.

All the best and look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,
Mike