Running Times, Online

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

Monday AM Holt Hill 9+, solo easy, 1:02:06 tot. 9+

PM 40:17 solo shakeout, exercises for strength (14:08), mile plus jog back to house 9:56, tot. 6++

XT Exercises for strength- 5×10 jump squat 30 seconds rest, 5×20 jumping jacks 30 seconds rest, 5×10 each leg high knee single leg hops 30 seconds rest, Butts- every thing each leg, 3×15 prayer hammies, 3×15 straight leg quad, 3×15 adductor/side butt leg lift, 3×15 mika glute activator, 3×20 side abductor, 3×20 calf raises with stretching between sets, straight leg jackknifes for low abs 35, stretching

Tuesday AM 7++, 41:39- first mile 6:07, last mile 5:27, tot. 7++

PM 30:44 shakeout with Melissa, then exercises for running technique with jog back rests 21:42, 20 min solo shakeout back to house after tot. 7++

XT 50 walking lunges, butts, exercises for running technique-3×80y each with jog back rest- springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, high knee skipping, stretching

Wednesday AM 1:00:09 easy, solo, about 8.5, tot. 8++

PM 32:44 easy solo, 10×12 second hills with jog down rest, 9:03 jog back to house, tot. 6++

XT stretching, butts

Thursday AM 22:10 warm up, couple strides, light stretch, 20min tempo on track plan was 3:12/kilometer, It was extremely windy!!, so I was willing to slow if I had to but given that I plan on doing this faster every week I didn’t feel I had to slow if I was ok.  Ended up being very easy, 1k-3:10.6, 2k-6:20.8(3:10.2), 3k-9:32.6(3:11.9), 4k- 12:46.3(3:13.7), 5k-15:59.5(3:13.3), 6k-19:11.1(3:11.7)- stop at 20:00.2 at about 100m shy of 4 miles, jogged past 4 in 20:36, then stretched a bit, 3+ cool down, 21:28 tot. 10++

PM 40mins easy solo (5.6 miles), tot. 5++

XT butts, 50 lunge walk, stretching

Friday AM 60:50 road and trail, supposed to be starting at 4:00 per K( bit under 6:30 pace) finishing at 3:40 per K- about 5:55 a mile pace) was a good bit quicker, tot. 11

Noon Mika for treatment

PM 40 easy solo to track, 41:19, 10 diagonals on soccer field(8:43), 8:51 jog back to house, tot. 8

XT stretching, 50 walking lunges

Saturday AM 3+ warm up to fields, 20:52, 35 min structured fartlek around fields 3 mins hard 3 mins recovery- last 2 mins of 35′ was recovery- covered bit more then 6.5 miles- 5:30 pace, 3+ cool down to house 20:33 tot. 13

PM 40:00 shakeout to fields- first 26mins with Melissa, exercises for running technique with jog back rests(20:56)-very flat on these, 9:58 jog back to house tot. 7

XT stretching, 30 lunge walk-actually able to recruit glutes on this a little bit which has been the goal but this is the first real success with it. Butts, exercises for running technique 3×80y each with jog back rest-springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, high knee skipping

Sunday AM 30:17 warm up, 4xPorter Hill-1200m- (jog down rests)- 4:19.6(5:46), 4:10.0(5:21), 4:10.5(5:34), 4:07.3(5:46), 3+ cool down-20:49 tot. 13+

PM 5+ solo shakeout, mostly around Phillips fields, 40:51 tot. 5+

XT Stretching, butts, 30 lunge walk-again able to use glutes a bit.

Summary 118 miles, 2 hill workouts, 1 fartlek/interval session, 1 tempo, 2 light tempo runs, 3 circuits, good week, legs very tired. The tempo was a bit faster this week but in windier conditions, the long hill reps were a good bit quicker, most of the other stuff was just increased in volume though the fartlek was just a bit quicker as I was closer to covering full loops of the Phillips fields with each 6 min block (1800m).  I think this block is just what the body needs though it isn’t my favorite type of training.  I’m weak muscularly and if I can strengthen that weak link I may be able to do some damage at the shorter distances.  I ran 14:04 for 5k last winter off 130 something mile week.  I felt like in a race where I lead less and if I had backed off I could run in the 13:45 to 13:50 range.  If I can make a jump beyond that and run a 13:40 to 13:50 without much help indoors, or faster with some good competition depending on how things play out I feel like with my strength I should be able to run a competitive 10k outdoors and will be in a great place for some great marathon training if I can get the hammy sorted.  Hope you had a good week.

Quote of the week “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and coming back.  That’s the real glory.  That’s the essence of it.”  Vince Lombardi

Monday AM 3+ easy to track, 25:15, 8×100m strides with jog back rest, mile plus jog back to house,7:57 tot.5+

PM 6+ shakeout with Melissa, 49:17, exercises for strength, glute activators and 50m lunge walk, mile plus jog back to house tot. 7+

Shitty day- sick

XT exercises for strength 3×10 jump squats 3×10(each leg) one leg hops 3×20 jumping jacks, glute activators, 50m lunge walk.

Tuesday AM 3.5 warm up to track, 26:51, few strides, light stretching, 20min tempo on track at 3:15 per K, windy- worse than last week by a little bit- still sick, 1k- 3:15.3, 2k 6:31.2(3:15.9), 3k-9:46.3(3:15.1), 4k- 13:00.1 (3:13.9), 5k-16:14.2(3:14.1) 6k- 19:28.8(3:14.6) stop at 20:01.2 a bit shy of 6200m. Hammy barked a lot but it didn’t go. light stretching 200m jog then 3.5+ cool down, 24:49, tot. 11+

PM Holt Hill 10 mile solo, 1:05:24 tot. 10

XT glute activators, stretching

Wednesday AM 4 with Melissa shakeout, 30:31 tot. 4

PM 36:47 shakeout with Melissa to fields, then exercises for running technique with jog back rests, then 25:35 back to house, tot. 8

XT stretching, glute activators, exercises for running technique 3×70y each springing, high  knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping jog back rests

Thursday AM 3.5+ warm up to track, 27:17, breezy about same as last time or bit worse, threshold reps- tired and sick, 2k-6:01.2(2:29 rest), 2k-6:08.9(2:30) 2k-6:10.4(2:28) 1k-3:06.6(1:58), 1k-3:06.1(1:53) - legs completely done they were shaking by the end of the second 2k, just no muscular fight in them. Fried from the exercises. 3.5+ cool down, 26:14 tot. 12+

3:30PM 3 easy shakeout with Concord Carlisle High School team, 25 mins tot. 3

5:30PM 6 easy shakeout with Melissa, 49:31, mostly road, tot. 6+

XT stretching, glute activators

Friday AM 51:57 out and back moderate progression- first mile 6:22(uphill), last mile 4:54(downhill) tot.9

Noon Mika for chiro and treatment

PM 35:41 shakeout with Melissa to fields, exercises for running technique with jog back rests, then about a mile jog back to house tot. 5+

XT stretching, glute activators, exercises for running technique 3×70y with jog back rests springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping

Saturday AM 22:30 warm up to fields, 30min structured fartlek 3:00 hard, 3:00 easy around fields in solid rain, very soft covered more then 8k, less then 10k, 22:31 cool down tot. 12

PM 41:17 shakeout, mostly with Melissa, then 10 diagonals on undersized football field by the house(6:50) jog back to house 1:53, total run 50:02 tot. 6++

XT stretching, glute activators

Sunday AM 30:53 warm up, 4×1200m Porter Road Hill(climbs 50m), (with jog down rest)-4:26.6(5:15), 4:23.1(5:25), 4:20.5(5:17), 4:17.2(5:12), 1.5+ cool down I’d like to see myself under 4:00 on these by the end of the fall I think that would be real fit, real good. tot. 12+

PM 6.5+ shakeout with Melissa on fields and trails, 52:25 tot. 6++

XT stretching, glute activators

Summary 116 miles for week, 3 real workouts, a few other workout like things, a lot of muscular work.  Real tired, real heavy.  Really pumped to see great runs by Josh Moen (46:39 2nd place in the 10mile USATF Champs) and Jason Hartmann-2:12:08 in the marathon at twin cities.  Two class act blue collar guys.  Very nice runs for both of them.  Hartmann coming back from some crazy knee injury this year to boot.

Quotes of the Week “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” -George Bernard Shaw

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Maya Angelou