Friday the 13th

Great 12 mile morning run in Cabin John with Mike Smith and Scott Koonce. I woke early and ran down to the park to meet the guys. We then put in another hour on the trails in ideal weather. I feel a slight twinge in the back of my lower right leg but other than that I'm starting to feel really good.

4/12 - 12 miles

Ran 12 miles (1:26) with NBDP on Thursday morning, some of which on the soft surface of the cell phone tower field. Would have liked to run further but my schedule makes my mornings rushed and doubling difficult right now. I'm feeling good though and will find a way to increase my mileage in the weeks to come.

4/11 - 12 easy

12 easy in 1:25. Jake joined me for part of the run but his leg was hurting due to training and moving. Pray to the running gods that he's alright.

Tuesday 4-10

I did a nice 300-200-100 workout at BCC. Ran on my own but felt good except for some allergy issues. Around 50 on the 300s, 31-32 on the 200s, and all-out (untimed) on the 100s. I would have liked to push the rest harder (Dave Nash style) but I'm happy with this one. Lower mileage day: 8.5 miles.

Wiggy Challenge

Joe Wiegner (http://wiggyisrunning.blogspot.com/) and I have challenged each other to update our blogs EVERYDAY in an effort to hold each other and ourselves more accountable.  So if you don't see me post or don't see Joe post, be sure to give us a hard time.  This means most of my posts will be short and boring - maybe just how much I ran the previous day without any explanation.

Yesterday I ran 1:32 (13 miles), much of it with Ryan Hanson in Rock Creek.

After missing out on the trials last Fall, I was disappointed in the result but happy I gave it a good shot.  Right now, I'm trying to build some momentum and get in some solid base training to prepare for what could be my last year of competitive racing.  If I can stay healthy (big if given my recent history) and stay focused I think I can make a run at some PRs and a best-ever placing at club XC nationals before hanging up the spikes.  I have the support of my wife and a great team/coach to work with so no excuses. 

Running Like A Girl And Proud Of It

I’ve once again waited too long between blog posts so I’ll give a quick recap since the last post and then describe Sunday’s Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. 

Overall the training has gone really well despite a few issues over the past month and a half.  I kept my mileage in the range of 90-105 pretty much the whole time and workouts were generally completed as fast as scheduled.  Right after my last post I began to experience some more issues with my breathing and general disposition while running.  I was still getting in the miles and finishing the workouts but it wasn’t easy.  I had to use my fitness to grind through workouts, even though I often was feeling terrible from the start and not believing I would finish until the last interval.  I was having these dry, bloody noses and congestion that were made worse by freshly cut grass and other allergens in the air.  I was so thankful to have teammates to pull me along through that time and a coach to motivate me and put up with all my whining about not feeling well.  I thought I had polyps in my sinuses even after my pulmonologist (Dr. Pollack) told me it was probably just a bad sinus infection presenting itself in a different form from the earlier ones.

Luckily, he was right and I started to improve once I began treating the infection.  Despite some stomach issues (that antibiotics usually give me), things started getting a lot better.  I ran well in workouts including mile repeats, 2mi repeats, and marathon-specific tempo workouts built into long runs.  I was able to close hard in those efforts and felt stronger while doing them.  I ran a nice 5:15 marathon pace workout during a Labor Day race in Avalon (Tim Kerr 7-mi Island Run) and also a 15-min 5K time trial on a random Thursday morning after intense storms washed out our plans to do it earlier.  Last week we did an 8x800m workout where I closed in 2:05.  I ran 58 seconds for the last lap and felt smooth and strong out there.  I recovered quickly and put my mind towards tuning up for Chicago with a good half-marathon in Philly.  Things were looking up.

The weekend started with my daughter Lily’s first birthday party.  It was fantastic.  Lily seemed to really enjoy it and I realized how lucky we are to have such great friends and family to support her as she grows.  My Aunt Andrea (aka Tante Ani) was there to celebrate Lily’s birthday and after the party she, Paul, and I headed back to her place in Philly as she was hosting us for the race.  After watching the Union pull out a big victory and then watching the Phils celebrate their 5th straight NL East title, I went to bed happy before the race. 

I was nervous (as always) for the race but I felt good as Paul and I warmed up together.  When the gun went off I knew I was going to run a controlled effort but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do.  I quickly abandoned the plan to start running 5:15s as I was sucked out with the deep elite field in under 5 minutes and it felt good.  I closed a gap when I didn’t want to be out in front of a pack breaking the wind. I then found myself on the back of a pack running a trials-qualifying pace.  I had to make the decision if I wanted to go for it right then but I reminded myself that Chicago is the goal and I have been saying I only have one bullet left to get to the trials.  I dropped back (hopefully wisely) and searched for pack going the pace I knew I could comfortably maintain.  I found former teammate, MTC-runner Sean Swift to latch onto and to my surprise the two leading women were in his pack.  I latched on to the back of this pack and went for a ride, leading some stretches later in the race.  The rest of the half was pretty uneventful except for being amazed with how well these ladies were running and being stoked about how easy it felt to run 5:0Xs.  Sean and I pulled away ever-so slightly from the pack in the last couple miles and I went on to finish in 66:52 (only good for 36th in this deep field), technically a PR for the half.  At one point I was kicking myself for not going for the standard given how good I was feeling out there.  However, that thought was quickly replaced by being happy at how good that felt and confident about running sub-2:19 in Chicago.  That was fun.

It took the Eagles blowing Sunday night’s game to finally wipe the smile off my face.  I’m more sore than I thought I would be I guess I should have predicted that.  I’ll take a few lighter days to get my legs back under me before putting in a little more work to tune-up for the marathon.   

Progress...

It has been a productive few weeks since I’ve last updated my blog. I got in a solid week of training the week of Monday 8/18, despite the heat limiting my mileage and contributing to a failed attempt at a 4 x 2K workout. I did, however, decide to proceed with the Crystal City 5k, albeit as a tempo run. I ran 15:36 for 11th and it felt very controlled, perhaps too controlled as I slowed in the final mile without realizing it when I could have pushed to hold the intended 5 min mile pace. Sunday was an awesome goodbye run for Dirk going from Bethesda to Alexandria and I felt good. Easier days on Thursday and Friday let me recover from overdoing it slightly during the hot and humid Wednesday workout.

The next week was a scheduled down mileage week with a trip to OKC for work and a trip to SF for Garvie’s wedding. Training in OKC didn’t really happen due to 106 degree temperatures and a packed schedule. The Wednesday workout was a success as I got another chance at a 4 by 2K workout and did well with it. I forget what I split but I know I was well under the prescribed pace, especially on the last one when I closed hard in the last 600m. SF was awesome! It was great to see Garvie and Emily tie the knot and see a lot of the Columbia crew. I also got to do an amazing 2 hour run with Nash and Sundell in 65 degree weather including a trip over and back the Golden Gate bridge.

This past week was great. I made up for missing Monday after not getting back until that morning (due to a flight delay) and then having to work late. I still ended up with 88 miles and a good 3 by 2mi (forget splits but last one was 9:37 with a last lap of 62). I also ran Riley’s Rumble half marathon as a workout on Sunday. Sam and I set out to run 6 min miles and actually ran 5:50s even though the weather was awful and it is the hilliest course I ever raced on. As a bonus, our pace was good enough to be up front and Sam let me get the W since it was my b-day. After a cool-down we headed out to Scott’s for a post-race pool party where Em and Lily surprised me with a cake. It was a great day and a strong week. I need more mileage and intensity to build fitness in a short period of time but I’m happy with the direction I’m heading.