Running Arthur's Way

Race

2012-01-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have seen a small glimmer of hope on the running front. Here's a glimpse of the log on Daily Mile:

I'm digging the consistency, and more importantly I'm enjoying a higher level of energy than I've had for the past 16 months or so. With this in mind, I tested the legs and the psyche with a 10K on Sunday.

The Sun Run is pancake flat and generally fast, and people generally spread out quickly, all of which make it a good comeback race. I'm still pretty uncoordinated, and downhills and tight crowds stress me out a bit and slow me down.I'll spare the boring race report and just give the splits: 6:01, 6:24, 6:29, 6:27, 6:28, 6:27, 1:17 for 39:34 and a 6:22 average.

Somehow I managed to eke out a 2nd place for my age group (the only good part about turning 40), and I ended up 28th overall. I was shooting for sub-40 and was expecting to miss, so it was a pleasant surprise to see the clock as I neared the finish line. Even better, I felt like I was racing the whole way, and the fact that I was more than five minutes off my best time never crossed my mind.

Trouble in the Locker Room

2012-01-06T16:32:00.001-07:00

"So how do you like those socks?"

I flinch when he asks this, as he's violating my own personal locker room code of ethics with both his proximity to me and his volume. My nickname for him is "Cross-Fit Guy", so you can pretty much imagine him without any further description. I don't particularly care for him, especially after listening to him complaining loudly to the gym attendant (a sweet, soft-spoken guy) about someone spending too long hanging upside-down from the same gym contraption he wanted to do his 500 dips on. If our two elementary school-age kids can solve their problems without tattling, I think Cross-Fit Guy can do the same. I say I like the socks while I pull them off and I silently hope to god we're done here. We're not.

"Those are the only socks that don't get soaking wet when I run two to three hours", he says. "Oh really? That's a long time to be running," I say. In a moment of weakness I throw him a bone. "So, do you run marathons?"

As he blathers on about several endurance accomplishments I make a mental note to henceforth keep my earbuds in until I'm undressed and on the way to the shower. Thankfully he doesn't even bother asking if I run.

I hope my years of blogging are something more than the locker room ramblings of Cross-Fit Man, and that the experiences I share from time to time these days can offer something of value. When I think back on the post-race mope-fests and Tuesday morning quarterbacking in some of my posts I'm reminded of what a small, perfect bubble I lived in.

Yesterday I shared a link to a funny story with Kiera about Ben Gibbard's Runner's World interview. "I started to look at what I do for a living through the lens of doing a marathon. The marathon was the most difficult thing I've done in my life. To get through that, it made me realize I can get through anything. It really did shift something in my brain, flipped a switch I didn't even realize was there. Whenever someone I know says, "I could never do that." I think: That's exactly what I thought!"

Like most runners, I get what Mr. Gibbard is saying, but I also find it pretty quaint. Being in the N.I.C.U. with your second-born soon immediately after delivery is more difficult than a marathon, so is carrying your daughter into the doctors office with a full-body rash and swollen legs (Henoch-Schonlein Purpura), or watching her suffer partial short-term paralysis and blindness after a scorpion sting while in the emergency room waiting for the anti-venom. The three ring circus of getting Multiple Sclerosis and going through the steps, procedures and tests in order to receive the diagnosis is harder still.

Running is a choice, plain and simple. It's always an Elective in life's course load, and as such anything one does with it can't be compared to the challenges life can pile on you.

For years Kiera would argue with me when I called a racer courageous. I think I probably copped the phrase from Phil Liggett's Tour de France commentary, and for some reason it stuck. She was right and I was wrong. An athlete can have perseverance, but courage is overdoing it.

Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis takes courage. Sometimes I have it, and often I don't. I do have the courage of my convictions, or the template I follow in dealing with this, and I can honestly say I feel like I'm succeeding. It hasn't been easy getting to this point, and it takes work to stay here.

Running is a necessary part of this template, and I feel like I'm finally making a bit of progress in this arena. Brooks extended my tenure as a Project I.D. Member, which was very kind of them, and I plan on competing in as many of my Running Club's Grand Prix events as time will allow. Mystery Coach thankfully keeps an eye on me, and I'm going back to the very basic lessons of Arthur Lydiard and trying to get myself as good a base of running as I can maintain before hopefully transitioning to faster training. Stay tuned.

The point that is often missed in the Lydiard System

2011-12-27T09:06:00.001-07:00

Arthur was notice worldwide after Peter Snell's, Murray Halberg's and Barry Magee's performances at the 1960 Olympics. Before that point he spent a good part of 15 years developing his system using himself as the subject. What he learned from these years as much to do with the nervous system as it did with the cardio-respiratory system and muscular systems.

Arthur's earlier (pre 1964) talks and writings referenced the nervous system as much or more than the cardio-respiratory or muscular systems. With quotes like "I have found the marathon training not only increased efficiency of the cardio-respiratory system more quickly but also had a more beneficial effect on the nervous system", "We all know we have to be racing fit to win championships but if we were to race and do fast work continually , the strain would eventually wear down our condition so that we become jaded mentally and physically" and finally "Train don't strain"

One point I watch for as a coach is how well runners follow the "train don't strain" advice. During the Marathon conditioning phase I love to see post that say "I don't feel like I'm training", "My legs just floated along" and "Just drifted along for two hours". They all indicated that the mind is not using valuable willpower that will be needed during the speed phase. Running and recovery have become a habit with no though given to pushing things (like pace and recovery).

The nervous system only has to be gradually stressed over 3-6 weeks and left to recover for 2-4 to achieve a top performance. I see runners push too long with too many long runs or hard speed workouts and they end up as Arthur said "Leaving it on the training track".

So for the coming year make sure that during the Marathon training phase you use your willpower to roll out the door then switch to turning off the willpower and make that run an enjoyable experience that you'll want to visit again the next day.

Have a Happy and successful New Year.

Mystery Coach

Clean Slate

2011-10-11T12:46:00.001-07:00

Since the diagnosis in March there's been a blurry dividing line separating "before" and "after". Do I count the first onset of obvious symptoms, like when Lhermitte's Sign crept up on me in September of 2010 while my wife and I were on a trip to Portland for our 10th Anniversary, or do I go back further to earlier episodes, like when both feet started going numb at work six months earlier than that? I could go back even further, when short spells of fatigue would hit me late in the day, even though I was handling a light training load?

The truth is it doesn't matter. Reconstructing these past episodes might be good for establishing a timeline for my neurologist, but it's not good for me. I don't want to turn this blog into Rotten Tomatoes, but I just saw the movie 50/50, which took me right back to my diagnosis and the difficult months before and after. I was sick to my stomach during the scene where the main character receives his devastating diagnosis (his doctor had the same bedside manner as mine), and I don't think I'll ever be comfortable watching any movie where a character gets and MRI. It was a good movie, but it reaffirmed that while these things happen, it doesn't serve me to dwell on them.

This leaves me with enjoying the present and looking forward to the future, which brings me to a more hopeful dividing line. As of July 20 of this year I am officially a Masters runner. This is a line that everyone who lives long enough crosses, and in my case it brings with it less baggage than the onset of an illness.

I honestly have no idea how my performances at age 40 and beyond will compare to my younger years, and if I do this right I won't care. The point is, I woke up a little over a week ago wanting to train again, and that's enough for now.

The Robber

2011-08-11T12:38:00.002-07:00

Saw The Robber last night and really enjoyed it.

I'd characterize it as an existentialist drama with the added bonus of some great chase scenes, which focuses on the life, choices and relationships of an ex-con bank robber who also happens to be an elite marathoner. I don't want to give anything away, but ultimately the main character finds life tepid and uninspiring (and quite frankly unworthy of his attention) except for the moments where he is running either towards or away from something. He seems detached and disengaged from the things that seem to make most of us tick (our goals, relationships/friendships, jobs, etcetera).

At one point during an intense chase scene I found myself conflicted as far as whether or not I should even root for the runner, as I felt his desired outcome in that moment would ring as hollow in his psyche as the opposite result. In the end I stayed on his side, as I felt an unsettling connection to his utter dis-connect from life in general.

I'm not proud of this. In fact, it's something I'm actively working on, though it's hard to quantify how much (if any) progress I've made. Part of the problem stems from my own hang-ups about how I feel people think about me/treat me since the diagnosis. As I've said before, feeling that people pity me is probably the worst part about choosing to make my diagnosis public, and for that reason alone I often wish I could put those words back in the bottle.

I realize that this assumption of pity is something I manufacture and project most of the time, and it doesn't give enough credit to those around me. But until I can truly stop feeling sorry for myself, I don't think I'll be able to stop projecting those feelings when others interact with me.

What's most frustrating is the realization that this is the mentality of a victim, which is something I need to dispense with as quickly as possible. Recent dreams illustrate this, where I find myself in the passenger seat of a car while someone close to me is driving. In the dream despite my best efforts I can't stop the driver from acting with negligence, and the end result leaves me feeling both guilty and powerless. Part of this comes from my own inability to separate small flare-ups in symptoms with the course (god I hate that word) of the disease, which leaves me feeling a bit at the mercy of something I can't control. This is no attitude to bring to overcoming a chronic illness.

This frame of mind is difficult to break out of. I end up withdrawing, not calling people, wincing when I receive a call, and generally taking myself out of circulation. The anxiety led me to removing my birthday from Facebook as it neared, which my wife quite understandably found ridiculous. I couldn't bear the thought of people at their computers seeing my name in the sidebar with the little birthday present icon, wondering what to write to someone in my situation. The thought that someone would post out of some heavy-shouldered obligation or worse yet pity made me miss out on possibly reconnecting with both old and more recent friends, and it's easy to see how this behavior can sever the already frayed lines of communication in my life

The Robber is an appropriate title for the movie for more than the obvious descriptive element. The character robs himself of the potential joy of fully realizing and engaging in life, and he robs those who work on his behalf and care about him from the emotional connection they want to share with him.

I'm no robber, or at least I don't want to be.
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For those wondering about my general welfare and health, things have generally improved since my last post. While the heat and humidity make running over 5-6 miles difficult right now, I'm having good luck with weights, swimming and Pilates along with the very occasional bike ride. The exercise along with the diet (Vegan plus fish along with Omega 3, Vitamin D and B complex) leave me feeling good, and while I still have lingering numbness and lax coordination on my left side, it's much better than it was in the first half of this year. As always, thanks for reading.

The Plan

2011-05-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I could write about this, but at the moment I'm having my doubts. I would love to be able to handle having Multiple Sclerosis with grace, and to set some sort of example for how to deal successfully with a chronic illness, but it's not easy and at present it seems beyond me.

I also thought I would feel some sort of kinship in finding others with MS or with the National or Arizona chapter of the MS Society, but it's just a granfalloon. When I'm around anything messy (short for M.S.-sy), I start thinking about myself as a sick person. Then I start feeling sick, then I get sad, and then I feel isolated. This goes for doctors, neurologists, therapists and the constant stream of people on the other end of the phone, from my insurance company to doctor's receptionists to home nurses to drug company support reps to mail order pharmacy liasons.

I'm also done telling people I have MS unless it's more uncomfortable to not tell them. I feel like once people know they either treat me with kid gloves or give me the sad eyes that telegraph how sorry they feel for me. It's a bad situation for both parties, and I just don't need it. There is absolutely no comfort in knowing someone feels sorry for you.

With all this in mind, I'm letting you know that this will be the last post for awhile as I try to step away from feeling like I have an illness. As the "Avoidance" post below points out, I just do better trying to get on with things. Just writing this post makes me focus too much on the disease and what might happen, which distracts me from what I can do in the present for myself and my family.

Getting on with things means staying true to my strategy for handling the disease, which has meant some significant changes to my life and the life of my family. I've been a vegetarian for about a year, but I'm now a vegan who eats fish. Of all the sites, books and philosophies on living with Multiple Sclerosis, I feel George Jelinek's Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis site and book are the best fit. He's a doctor who has been living relapse-free with MS for over 10 years while following an adapted version of the diet for MS pioneered by Roy Swank, who studied 500 MS patient's dietary habits over a 34 year period. Both Swank and Jelinek (as well as others studying MS) have found that changes in diet can have a dramatic effect on overall health for those afflicted, including stopping or delaying the progression to disability often associated with MS. Dairy is a big no, and shifting the balance of fats from animal to vegetable is paramount to maintaining health and reducing inflammation.

Using their suggestions as well as my own experience, here's how I'm managing my MS:

Diet: (reprinted from overcomingmultiplesclerosis.org)

-A plant-based wholefood diet plus seafood, with no saturated fat, as far as is practical
-Omega-3 fatty acid supplements (these make up about 30% of the composition of fish oil and 60% of flaxseed oil): 20g (20mls or 20 capsules) a day (of flaxseed oil or fish oil, or the equivalent amount if fish, concentrating on fish or fish oil when beginning the diet)
-B12 supplement
-Vitamin D3 supplement of at least 5000IU daily

Exercise:

In short, I'm doing what I can, when I can. I'm lifting weights, doing Pilates, and swimming (each 2-4 times per week), and I'm running as much as I can. I'm also trying to integrate as much neuro-musclular retraining as I can muster. Trail running is good (though a little dangerous in my state), box steps, strides, one-legged hops, and whatever challenges me to put my foot where I want it to go rather than where it lands on its own.

Rest:

By far the hardest. Simply put, I have to mind my efforts in a way that builds me up rather than overtaxing myself. It's embarrassing to have to rest when I'd rather be working out, and to stay in when I'd rather be going out. I've learned that when I push too hard, I pay. The numbness, anxiety, and all my symptoms get noticeably worse with fatigue, so I have to avoid it.

Medication:

Still a sore spot, but I will hopefully be starting daily Copaxone injections next week. I've been waiting almost a month to get through the red tape and authorizations, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not thrilled about the meds, as they don't really help that much for many people, but I'm committed to doing all I can to get better and this seems to be a necessary part of the package.

This is where I'm at. It's a lot to take on, but I truly believe this plan of action will help me. Treat me like a healthy person, and hopefully I can play the part. There will be a day when I can push this to the back of my mind, when I don't think about it the second I put my foot on the floor as I get out of bed in the morning. I can take all the steps above without dwelling on them too much already, and I suspect with time it will get even easier. For now, this line of thinking is as graceful as I can get about this.

Thank you for reading, and you can always contact me from the email listed on my profile.

Good Grief

2011-04-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Some days it hurts as much to look forward as it does to look back. As Kiera and I waited in the reception area before the appointment with my new neurologist we discussed the grieving process a bit, and my take was that it's a very individual thing. Most people are familiar with the Kubler-Ross model for the different stages of grief, which includes denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It's said the order isn't concrete, and while people don't necessarily go through all the stages, they often face two or more on the list.

I don't buy it. First of all, it omits "avoidance", which is the stage I find myself in on most days. Some might try to shoehorn avoidance into denial, but I'm not denying anything. Watching a dad do a cannonball into a pool to splash his kids pains me, as I can't help putting myself in his place. I can't move like that now, and my mind reaches out in both directions at once, remembering when I could and worrying about whether I ever will again. I don't pretend this isn't happening, but it just hurts too much to think about it, so I avoid it.

Putting Multiple Sclerosis out of my mind is tough (see post below), but the longer I deal with it the easier it gets to put it on the shelf. Feeling a bit better from day to day helps too, and I have been improving a bit as evidenced by my recent runs. When I'm not researching options for medications, diet, supplements and exercise/therapy to help me, I try not to think about it at all.

So why am I writing about it if I'm trying not to think about it? I think avoidance can only help (hurt?) me for so long, and writing keeps me genuinely work through my feelings. I want to write about what happened today.

My friend Lucas has been unlucky enough to be present for several of my running breakdowns. Back in December I was already feeling the effects of MS, though I didn't know it at the time. The legs felt weak, like they were going to come out from under me, and when I tried to put the pressure on with a workout I had disastrous results. We lined up to do a series of 1000's on the track, and I fell apart so badly by the fourth one that I stopped, dropped my hands on my knees and started crying. During the repeat a thought that was fermenting for weeks finally broke from the back of my mind to my lips. I said to the ground,"I've gone from trying to go where I haven't gone to trying to get back some of what I had." It was a low point, but soon enough things would get worse than I ever imagined.

I've gone through the MRI's, steroids and diagnosis since then, dragging along at 10 minute pace for 15 minutes has led to 5-8 milers at what used to be my easy paces. Lucas was with me again for an 8 miler today, and half-way up Dog Poop Trail my I.T. band finally gave way. It had been a bit sore for the past week, but alternating days and stretching had helped it along until today. It ground me to a halt, and Lucas was nice enough to wait three or four times as I stretched, then hobbled, then started jogging again while biting my lip. I broke down with about a half mile to go, muttering about how much it out and out sucked that I couldn't change my leg swing to avoid this. It's been very difficult getting back to this point, and getting injured on 20 miles per week isn't part of the deal.

Pain should be different now. It should be annoying, but that's where it should stop. Quite simply, there are bigger things to worry about and a jab in the side of the knee shouldn't rank very high. The truth is it feels like more than that. It feels like another December workout. It feels like slowly pulling yourself out of a deep pit, inch by inch, only to have someone step on your fingers when they finally grasp the lip.

"Can't I have this?" is unproductive as a mantra, but I find it springing to mind a bit too often, especially when it feels like more and more gets taken away. It's supposed to be a trade off; innocence for experience, youth for wisdom, that sort of thing. The game feels rigged. That leaves either watching as more and more of my pieces are pulled from the board or changing the game. I've chosen the latter. In my next post I'll tell you how I treat my Multiple Sclerosis.

Oh Clippy

2011-04-07T12:29:00.001-07:00

My friend Ian of the extremely entertaining How to do Everything checked in after reading about my diagnosis, and I'm posting a bit of my reply to him regarding my running future and life in general now:

I don't know if I'll ever get to a level where I can actually train comfortably, though I'm hopeful. In my case the cervical and thoracic spine seem to be where I'm having problems, which is challenging my mobility, strength and balance. There's also a real problem with heating up and fatigue, which isn't easy to deal with given our average temperatures. The grieving period for my athletic endeavors lasted much shorter than I guessed it would, but with so much other stuff to worry about (cognitive difficulties, mobility, premature death and catheters and other nastiness), plus the family and the financial burdens made competing at a high-ish level seem trivial. Much as I hope to get back to decent mileage for mobility's sake (40-50MPW would be ideal), I don't reasonably expect to ever have another PR again. If my left leg and hip flexor magically start going where I want it to that might change.

Honestly the hardest thing is just having this press down on me every second of every day (plus the time it keeps me up at night). As I've said to Kiera, it's like having your arch nemesis (be it a co-worker, running buddy, annoying family member or random friend/acquaintance) tied to your leg at all times. As you can imagine, it turns life into a long, sadistic 3-legged race. A new (and slightly less depressing) analogy that's come to mind is having "Clippy" (remember the old Microsoft Word animated paper clip) constantly in the corner of your field of vision. "I see you are trying to navigate a crowded stairwell and you are feeling uncoordinated and off-balance. Would you like MS to make this more stressful and difficult? No? Too bad".
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All this being said, it's been a good week. The runs are coming along, I'm feeling stronger in the weight room, and I'm getting more coordinated in my Pilates classes. I started a short course of the steroid Prednisone last week, which might explain these gains, but I'll take it. I've been tapering down the dose every two days, and I'll be off it by this time next week. I've found that this second course of the drug definitely gave me more pronounced mood swings, and there are certainly more side effects ahead once I start the high dose Interferon drugs (hopefully next week).

Even with all this, life goes on. Our band Lunar Light Collectors plays a gig tomorrow night, and while it was a bit sad to have to reorganize my guitar effects pedalboard to accommodate my newly jittery and off-balance left foot I'll be glad to play again.

February 16

2011-04-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

I knew something wasn’t right. They'd kept me in the tight little MRI tube longer than they said they were going to, which seemed odd since I was obviously very nervous and anxious to be done. The lead tech told me to be as still as I could and to try not to swallow as they took the last three minute section of images of my cervical spine. This was the second go-around for these images, as they took this same series once at the beginning and then again after giving me an injection that would make suspicious matter fluoresce or show contrast when reviewing the results.

At this point I’d been in the tube for about an hour and 45 minutes, with much of that time spent with a tight plastic contraption over my head, so I was getting impatient and a little bit shaky with only a cup of coffee, a piece of toast and three nervous hours of sleep under my belt.

The manner of the two techs had changed. One I’d met previously for a routine MRI in my lumbar spine a few weeks earlier. That visit had gone smoothly, as I spent only 30 minutes or so in the tube and I was positioned far back enough in the machine to be able to look back and see my way out (small comfort but comfort nonetheless). That MRI had revealed a herniated disc and a bulging disc down at the base of my lumbar (between L4 and L5 and between L5 and S1 respectively). This was considered the cause of my problems until I started presenting enough additional symptoms to prompt my doctor to order this additional series of MRI's.

This time she was assisting, and while she started out with the same light and cheery manner, but by the time we got past the first section of the imaging with contrast material I started to sense that something had changed. She and the other male tech were getting more serious, which made me even more nervous.

When it was finally over I tried to get a read on what the techs had seen, and while they tried to remain poker-faced they revealed some clues. “So how long does it take to have this sent to my doctor?” I had an appointment on Monday, and this being Wednesday I wanted to be sure it was sent over in time. “Someone will read yours today and send over the results”. “How long does it take to send it over if it’s a normal result?” , I followed. “Normally three to five days, but someone will look at this today”, he repeated. I left the radiology center and drove to work a little shaken, but I figured I could have misinterpreted his words and hoped for the best.

Later that afternoon my co-worker patched a phone call down to me, saying my doctor was on the line. I went into a full body clench and stared at the ringing phone. I knew the sooner I heard, the worse it probably was.

“Several irregularites”. “Areas showing contrast”. “Spinal column”, “Frontal lobe”, “It looks like it could be MS”. I can't remember the whole conversation, but I still have the notes I scribbled down at my desk. The word 'cancer' was scribbled and crossed out and Multiple Sclerosis was written next to it.

The next afternoon I was sitting in a neurologist's office with my wife going over the MRI's and discussing a spinal tap to confirm his preliminary diagnosis of MS.

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Just to end this with a little humor: If you ever have the pleasure of having an MRI, the facility might invite you to bring in your own music to help comfort/distract you. A word of caution if you decide to do this: You will never, ever be able to listen to whatever you listen to without being reminded of the pleasure that is an MRI.

To this day I can't listen to Norah Jones without feeling sick (techs choice, not mine), and Wilco's Sky Blue Sky is ruined forever, except for the song "On and On" because it's just so damn appropriate.

"one day we'll disappear
together in a dream
however short or long
our lives are going to be

i will live in you
or you will live in me
until we disappear
together in a dream

please don't cry
we're designed to die
you can't deny
even the gentlest tide

on and on and on
we'll be together yeah
on and on and on
on and on and on
we're going to try"

The Same, but Different from now on

2011-04-01T11:36:00.002-07:00

Or whatever happened to Mike?...

Shoes go on and I close the garage door behind me. I start slow and stay slow, running up towards my my old routes in Sabino Canyon. After a short while I drift back towards home, finishing slightly faster than I started and stopping the watch at just over 20 minutes.

Kiera's made scones, the kids are on spring break so there's no rush to do anything, and I sit down to breakfast before heading to the gym for Pilates class and a swim.

Did he just say Pilates? Yeah, I did. Simply put, things aren't the same. The 80 miles per week I averaged for a few years while chasing the still-elusive 2:29 marathon with Mystery Coach have given way to weeks of zeros punctuated by 2-4 mile runs when the body is able. On good days like today I almost feel like my old self while running the last mile home until I catch my long shadow to my right, which shows a very slow runner heavily favoring one side while pulling his left leg along, just keeping it high enough to (usually) stop it from dragging along the ground.

When the run ends the scones aren't the usual buttery ones with chocolate chips and other goodies. Kiera was kind enough to make a dairy free, low-fat variety that works with the new diet. Delicious as usual, but not the same.

At the gym Pilates helps keep me in some semblance of shape. I'm focusing on my core strength more and more as balance has become a real issue, and I'm even throwing in the odd yoga class when my schedule permits. The swim that follows is more for my spirit than fitness. I feel more free in the water than while doing any other exercise, as without gravity the numbness on the left side from my chest/upper back down to my toes doesn't affect me as much. Also it alleviates the constant constriction I feel around the left mid-section and around the toes on my left foot, which usually feels like I'm stuffing my foot into a cycling shoe that's two sizes too small.

I quit the swim early to give myself a few minutes to soak up the sun, as several medical studies indicate that extra Vitamin D is important and therapeutic. I try to memorize the feeling of sitting on the deck chair with the sun on my face and the breeze drying me, and the squawking from the water aerobics crowd slowly fades away when I close my eyes.

I'll try to come back to this place and these feelings when I'm strapped down and sliding into the MRI machine with a Gadolinium drip in my arm in a few hours. It's a tough few hours as I'm no fan of tight spaces, but it's unavoidable for someone in my condition.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis on March 18.

When I started this blog I enjoyed relating the positive experiences that running and life afforded me. Things are different now, but I feel I can benefit from sharing this experience as well. I hope by writing at times about what I'm doing to stay healthy and vital with MS I can continue feeling empowered while dealing with a disease that specializes in stripping power and independence away.

What remains the same is my incredible family and the support and love they offer, and for that I am eternally grateful. I also have many good friends who show me the same kindness, and I'm thankful for them as well.

I hope you will stay tuned, and I hope Mystery Coach will still keep up the running end of things around here. Thanks for reading.

Evaluating the Eval Run (part 2)

2011-02-04T12:12:00.001-07:00

To summarize from the last post the eval run should be about 25 minutes long at a pace about 30 beats lower than your peak heart rate.

One other aspect of the eval run should be recorded, the time it take the heart rate to drop about 30 beats (twenty-five to thirty beats). Heart rate recovery has two distinct phases, the first phase has a time constant of 70-90 seconds and a secondary phase with a time constant of about an hour. The first phase reading can give you an indication of effort and fatigue.

To see how this works go out on a comfortable run and stop after 15 minutes and see how long it takes your heart rate to drop 30 beats (or 25) then continue the run for another 15 minutes and take another reading, continue with a few more 15 minutes segments and readings. At first your heart rate will take longer and longer to drop the 25-30 beats as you get fitter you’ll see that your heart rate will continue to drop at a rapid rate for a larger number of the 15 minute segments. You may not run a faster pace but your system becomes more efficient at staying in a steady state.

For real world example of how the eval run works during the a build, below are the results from Thomas' who writes the Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner blog.

Marathon build phase October 2010 – January 2011:

Average Heart Rate	161.75	160.75	161.00	161.50
Days from Start	0	28	56	84
Date	19-Oct	16-Nov	14-Dec	11-Jan

Mile 1	6:40	6:44	6:51	6:44
Mile 2	6:55	6:57	6:53	6:47
Mile 3	7:14	6:59	6:56	6:49
Mile 4	7:16	7:02	6:55	6:52

Time to 130	0:42	0:39	0:36	0:39

As you can see Thomas’ first two miles changed very little (from an average of 6:48/mile to 6:46/mile) but his last two miles made a big improvement in his ability to maintain a steady state ( from 7:15/mile down to 6:51/mile, a 24 second per mile improvement).

This is the type improvement in stamina that runner should look for during the Marathon conditioning phase. It will serve you well in your recovery from hard workouts.

The next post will cover the methods of building speed without eroding the stamina that you have built.

Evaluating the Eval Run

2011-01-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

One of the evaluation tools that has been part of the Lydiard system since the beginning has been the time trail. Arthur came to realize that the words “time trial” had runners thinking of an all out effort (racing with no reward) and spent a lot of lectures clarifying how they should be run and what should be accomplished by them.

In his book Running to the Top (Meyer & Meyer Verlag) he recommended that the best way to test for personal fitness levels was to run a measured distance an a regular basis, then to take after-run pulse checks so you could chart the improvement of your recovery rate.

I break the eval runs into two different types; one test for steady state fitness the other test for the runners reaction to racing type stresses. The focus of this post will be on the steady state fitness test.

Arthur recommended a run of 5 kilometers or a run of 15 minutes at the steady state then testing heart rate recovery times. In collecting data on runners over the years I have found that a run of about 25 minutes works very well. The first 10 minutes gives the systems time to stabilize and the next 15 minutes gives a good reading into the fitness of the runner. The lactate processing system seems to kick in at a high level after 10 minutes then it stabilize. So how fast should this eval run be? Arthur gave a number of examples of of how fast he thought the steady state was and it fits in with work that Farrell did, about .25 miles per hour slower than marathon pace (8 to 15 seconds slower than marathon pace). To make it easy just subtract 30 beats from your max heart rate (this is probably slower but for the test it works well).

Now we have a speed and a duration for the eval, the next post will explain how to evaluate it.

It’s not how it’s when.

2010-12-02T15:40:00.001-07:00

When I talk to coaches they are very good at telling me how to train athletes and they have the latest research to support it. Looking at the Lydiard system it is not about how (everyone knows how) but it is about when. Arthur’s basic points deal with with when; stamina before speed, the potential of the athlete (based on age) and how much time before the peak. How is easy, when is hard. The next post will decrypted the evaluation process.

Looking for three volunteers

2010-08-01T17:00:00.001-07:00

Of course volunteering for something involves some risk but there can be great rewards. I am looking for three runners who will be coached by me to their next important race. While it won’t cost you anything monetarily it will take a task, running time and some writing time.

This is the deal; I will provide a complete schedule, an individual pacing profile for your ability, and full email support to guide you, using the Lydiard system, to your next race.

First the task: Send a post card from your hometown (preferably about your hometown) to:

Mystery Coach

PO box 152

Laurel, FL 34272

include your email, your blog (if you have one), and what race you are training for

Second: You’ll try the workouts (hey it is much easier to write them than do them)

Third: You’ll write in a blog and write honestly on your thoughts on the training (if you have questions or criticisms put them in your blog , there are no penalties)

Mystery Coach

Arthur Lydiard's Preliminary Road Training

2010-02-14T04:41:00.020-07:00

When a discussion starts about the hill training phase of Arthur's system most of the talk is about the uphill exercises, hill springing, bounding and high knee lifts. Next the talk will go to the downhill fast striding but then very little is said about the preliminary road training that he recommended. This training which was done on the flat section after the fast downhill section consisted of a small amount of short (50-700 yard) fast runs that could be done in a half mile or so stretch every 15 minutes (The original schedule is at the end of this post in a table). This preliminary work is just as important as the hill sections and in some ways is the key to getting the most benefit from your hard speed work.

Let's look at the major benefits that come from this work. After you have finished your Marathon training phase your muscles will act like the diagram below:

The rate of oxygen use has been low and the production of excess lactate and ions also has been low. The muscle fiber has been working in a low stress environment. Let say at this point you set out to run a hard speed workout, lets see what would happen; first the oxygen would drop very low on the inside of the fiber because the fiber wall has not been used to suppling oxygen at a high rate, second the mitochondria would not be able to process the lactate that is building up internally and finally the fiber wall which has not had to deal with lactate and excess ions struggles to get the lactate out of the cell so it can be used and processed by other organs and muscle fibers. A very unpleasant workout with the damaging effect of ruining the good aerobic enzymes that you have built up during the Marathon training phase.

Now instead you complete four weeks of preliminary speed as outline in the table your muscle fiber will look like this:

Now lets try the hard speed workout, now the oxygen has an easy time getting into the fiber which reduces the amount of lactate produced, the mitochondria which have been exposed to increasing amounts of lactate can now process much more of it and the fiber wall can transfer out the excess lactate and ions so other body systems can process it. Not only will this workout feel easier but the internal environment of the fiber stays hospitable to the aerobic enzymes.

Arthur always cautioned that "Even if you are well conditioned, it is not advisable to suddenly do intense anaerobic training, as many athletes do. Just as you carefully built the aerobic steady state, you must carefully raise the capacity to exercise anaerobically without sacrificing any of that condition. You must guard that condition carefully, as it the foundation on which you build all your future strengths." (Running the Lydiard Way 1978).

When working with athletes I have found that just by having them follow the schedule below (even without the hills parts) before they started hard speed work they performed at a much higher level. Some season give it a try you'll be surprised and happy with the results.

Original Preliminary Road Training Schedule
	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4
Day 1 Week 1	440 ¼	700 yds. - (30 yd. dashes every 100 yds)	440 yds. ¼
Day 2	3 x 220 yds. ½ Stride	4 x 50 yds. ½	440 yds. ¼
Day 3	2 x 220 yds. ½ Strides	2 x 100 yds. ½	100 yds. ¾	2 x 50 yds. ½
Day 4	1 mile (50 yd. dashes every 220 yds.)
Day 5	Off
Day 6	4 x 220 yds. Strides ½	100 yds. ¾
Day 7	Long Jog

Day 1 Week 2	440 ¼	700 yds. - (30 yd. dashes every 100 yds)	440 yds. ¼
Day 2	440 ¼	220 yds. ½	440 yds. ¼
Day 3	2 x 100 yds. ½	700 yds. - (30 yd. dashes every 100 yds)	220 yds. ½
Day 4	2 x 220 yds. Strides ¼	3 x 100 yds. ½
Day 5	Off
Day 6	100 yds. ¾	700 yds. - (30 yd. dashes every 100 yds)
Day 7	Long Jog

Day 1 Week 3	2 x 220 yds. ½	3 x 100 yds. ¾
Day 2	3 x 220 yds. Strides ½	3 x 100 yds. ¾
Day 3	2 x 440 yds. ½	100 yds. Full Effort
Day 4	6 x 220 yds. Strides
Day 5	Off
Day 6	440 yds. ½	10 x100 yds. ½
Day 7	Long Jog

Day 1 Week 4	3 x 220 yds. Stride	100 yds. ¾
Day 2	2 x 700 yds. ¼ Stride
Day 3	440 yds. ¼	700 yds. - (30 yd. dashes every 100 yds)
Day 4	2 x 700 yds. ¼ Stride
Day 5	Off
Day 6	10 x 50 yds. ½	2 x 700 yds. ¼ Stride
Day 7	Long Jog

The Long Run vs The Long Run vs Mileage

2010-01-25T09:27:00.018-07:00

One of the more difficult aspects of training for marathons is balancing the use of long runs and mileage. The title of this post has "the long run" showing up twice because of the two very distinct ways long runs affect marathon performance.

Let's look at the two types of long runs. A descriptive name for the first type of long run is the "on your feet" long run. Pace really does not matter with this long run just the total number of foot falls. If we look a world class marathoner number of foot falls we might see something like this: 180 footfalls per minute for 130 minutes for a total of 23,400 footfalls. A four hour marathoner would look something like 150 footfalls per minute for 240 minutes for a total of 36,000 footfalls, over 50% more wear and tear on the legs. As a matter of degree the four hour marathoner has a much bigger problem with mechanical (eccentric) induced fatigue. Efficient runners like Frank Shorter or Lasse Viren (light weight, excellent mechanics) may never need very high footfall runs to run a great marathon. Most runners who run 2:35 and slower marathons need training to counteract the effects of foot strikes but even faster runners depending on the efficiency of their neuromuscular coordination or if they will be racing on a downhill course such as The Boston Marathon will need training to counter mechanical induced fatigue.

The training effects of these "on your feet" type of runs last at least 6 weeks so when planning your schedule the last one only needs to be done between 4 and 6 weeks out from your planned race. The training session itself need not consist of just running, walking an hour, running two, then walking one more hour will get you to 30,000 or so foot strikes. You could mix it up by running for 20 minutes then walking for 5 or running 10 and walking 3, just keep in mind the objective to be on your feet for a long time. One last point running these on hilly courses if available enhance the effectiveness of the run.

The second type of long run focuses on the ability to maintain a steady state, the ability to deal with rising core temperatures, low fuel, fluid imbalance, and getting use to the sensations that come from these imbalances. In general this run is at least 90 minutes long and run at 90% or faster than marathon pace. Runs where you run the first 60 minutes at 90% race marathon race
then add 30 to 60 minutes of running at 95-103% race pace gives excellent results. The first 60 minutes gets the body up to temperature, uses a fair amount of fuel, and depletes fluids. The next 30-60 teaches your mind to accept these imbalances while running at race pace without shutting everything down. Three or four of these type of long runs (spaced 2-3 weeks apart) are all you need to reap most of the benefits. The hardest long run of this type should come 5 weeks out from the goal race, you can add an easier maintenance type run between 2-3 weeks out during the taper phase of your training but it should be well within your capacity.

Mileage is the enhancer when it comes to long runs. Whether you are running either type of long run, the miles you run the the week before, the day before, or the day after can enhance the effect you are trying to achieve in training. You don't want to be exhausted going into to these runs but not being 100% fresh will make race day when you are fresh a much better experience. The most critical time for good consistent heavy mileage is from week 9 to week 4 out from your race.

A note on the survey: Make sure you scroll to the bottom for the submit button.

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After

2009-12-16T09:59:00.003-07:00

I still don't have a good reason for my dismal marathon performance. Possible factors include not enough carb loading, which I eased up on in hopes of having my stomach behave this time around (I think I was a bit over-filled for NYC), or perhaps taking too long of a taper, which could lead to some de-conditioning of the quads for all of the pounding on the rolling course. Whatever the reasons are, I'm trying to put this one behind me.

Conditions seemed perfect at the start with overcast skies and a temperature of 35 degrees, and I had a very good feeling about how the race would go. The first hour went by quickly with steady miles of 5:52-5:58, but soon after the wind kicked up and became a factor. The halfway mark found me at 1:17:38 (the only accurate split for the online tracking), but around mile 14 I found myself struggling a bit to stay on pace the cross-wind turned into a strong headwind. Mile splits started to fade to 6:00, then 6:10, and by 19 I knew that even 2:40 would be almost impossible. The lungs were fine, but the legs were aching. It hurt to pick them up, and I could feel all the power going out of my stride. The last four miles were grim and slow, and I hit the line in a disappointing 2:49.

On a more positive note, the three friends who also did the race had great days. My training buddy Lucas ran a 2:38, and he looked great when he passed me around the 18 mile mark.

Since the race I've been running sparingly, and the legs really held on to the soreness a bit longer than usual. I'll be back for the spring races, but I'm in no hurry at the moment.

Thanks for reading. I'll be going on extended hiatus for the holidays, but I wish you all good health and good running.

Hello?

2009-11-24T13:07:00.002-07:00

Yeah, I'm still running the California International Marathon on December 6, which is just under two weeks from now. My plan to give a weekly rundown obviously didn't pan out, but I wanted folks who somehow kept me in their Bloglines, feeds or whatnot to know I haven't given up. The training definitely changed for this marathon, as my plan to keep strong mileage all the way up to a two to three week taper eroded as work, family and other interests increasingly grabbed my attention and time.

As far as the training, the weeks pretty much went as follows:
Weeks out: miles * long run * workouts
26: 100
25: 101
24: 100
23: 100
22: 59
21:100
20: 100
19: 100
18 57
17: 94
16: 107
15: 100
14: 100
13: 69
12: 61
11: 89
10: 84
9: 64
8: 100
7: 82
6: 77 * 18 miles w/7 at 5:58 pace
5: 84 * 20.5 miles w/15 at 6:00 pace
4: 85 * 24 miles w/progression to MP during last 4 * 6MP, 6MP
3: 65 * 19 w/3x20 minutes at 5:57, 5:48 and 5:43 pace (15 recovery)
2: 56 * 18 w/14 at 6:00 pace * 7 miles at 5:53 pace

I haven't had time to fill in the workouts and long runs for the earlier weeks, but the last 5 weeks pretty much shows where I am. It seems that my base is holding up fairly well, and that I'm spending a good amount of time at marathon pace. Certainly it's been the faster, sharpening work that's been lacking, but since I had a bit of trouble in the middle of my build it took longer for the marathon pace runs to come around. In order to fit them in and still recover, tempo and anaerobic work definitely suffered.

I'm not going to make any predictions for this race, but if anything I'm a bit undertrained this time around. Still, the marathon pace work and the long runs do look good, so I think I stand a good shot at a good race.

Special thanks to Mystery Coach for his counsel throughout this build. His calm responses to my periodic freak-out emails have been very helpful.Also, thanks to everyone who still checks in on me every once in awhile, and I wish you all good health and good running.

8 weeks out

2009-10-11T16:29:00.003-07:00

Still hanging in there, though I've really lost the blogging motivation as of late. Here's where I'm at:

8 weeks out, 10/5-10/11
Mo: 11 miles easy
Tu: 20 miles, 6:57 pace
We: 10 miles easy
We: 6 miles easy
Th: 14 miles w/6 at 6:00 pace on rollers
Fr: 12 miles easy
Fr: 4 miles easy
Sa: 9 miles easy
Su: 14 miles w/10 mile race in 57:32 (5:45 pace)
100 miles in 9 runs

All in all a good week of training given the recovery from the 8K race last weekend and the race today. Goals included a 20 miler, a medium-long run with marathon pace at the end and a solid race effort. Two out of three ain't bad.

14 Weeks Out

2009-09-04T16:03:00.001-07:00

Mo: 10 miles at 7:08 pace
Tu: 12 miles w/10 at 6:19 pace
We: 13 miles at 7:00 pace, 8x downhill 100m strides
We: 6 miles around 7min pace
Th: 14 miles w/4x.7 mile hill repeats, very tough
Th: 5 miles easy
Fr: 10 miles at 7:09 pace
Sa: 20 miles at 6:52 pace
Su: 10 miles at 7:07 pace
Total: 100 miles in 9 runs
Tuesday's marathon-ish pace effort seemed to go well, and while the downhill strides are needed they made the legs a little sore for Thursday's tough hill effort. It felt good to get in a 20 miler Saturday, but the last few miles were tough. I think the hill effort actually put me behind on recovery for about four days, so I need to be sparing with that kind of hard work.

The Marathon Training Phase

2009-09-01T15:25:00.010-07:00

Hi Mystery Coach,

During the last several months I have been experimenting with different levels of effort I use for my long runs.I have been trying to better understand why Lydiard said to run it slow. I am beginning to agree with him dueto the factors I have listed below.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Lawrence

Hi Lawrence,

Your question on the effort of the long runs is a good one and not an easy one to answer that will fit at all stages of your development.

To help with the explanation refer to this model:

The model represents a dozen fibers that you would use on a run. The number of reps signifies how fatigue resistant the fiber is. In this runner Fibers 1-6 are used quite often (regular short runs, every day walking around, etc.) and they have developed high fatigue resistance. Fibers 7-8 get activated every so often (Long runs, tempo runs, races), Fibers 9-12 only get activated in very high effort events (sprinting uphills, short fast races (less than 6 minutes long) and maybe during very long hard runs)

Recovery is also different, 1-6 recover quickly (maybe day to day), 7-8 a couple of days, and9-12 may need a week.

To complicate the matter each fiber has a different capacity for improvement and is different from runner to runner. Some runners will have fibers 1-6 improve to 12,000 reps others will have 1-6 stay at 10,000 reps but have 7-8 jump up to 8,000 reps.

The reason the Lydiard system is effective is that it uses many different types of training to increase the fatigue resistance ("stamina first" as Arthur said) of all the fibers. Long runs are just one of the methods.

Lydiard's Marathon Training Phase does a couple of important things;

1) It gives you a break from race training ( I consider long runs that approach marathon pace as race training, they have their place for peaking but are best left out of this phase)

2) It helps improve recovery times (this is important for when you start race training) "Trying" to run faster does not speed up recovery in fact it slows it down. This is why I recommend the efforts such as:

1/4 effort - you could go out and do that run again that day
1/2 effort - you could do the run the next day and the day after and the day after.
3/4 effort - a 1/4 effort the next day and you could do this again the day after

Most runners get ahead of themselves during the Marathon Phase pushing to fast or too long too
quickly. During my running and coaching career I found better results from runners when they did a bit faster 15-18 miler than struggling to get a slower 20-22 miler in each weekend. Better recovery less injuries and more enthusiasm.

You must remember the harder you run any day the more you take away from your recovery energy that you have. Runners who have built for many years have much more energy to recover.

You'll have to try different variations to find what activates and conditions your fibers the best (and don't forget that it may change from year to year depending on how much different fibers can adapt)

I have some runners who did very well on one day doing 3-4 miles (about marathon pace) and the next a 10-15 mile at about 2 minutes per mile slower. Others would get good results with something like 10 at 30 seconds slower that marathon pace , then a 20 miler about a minute slower than marathon pace and a 15 miler the day after at a minute slower than marathon pace. So don't forget to experiment so that you can keep building and enjoy the Marathon Training Phase.

MC

15 Weeks Out

2009-08-24T14:22:00.002-07:00

Mo: 12 miles at 6:56 +1 hill sprint and 8xstrides
Mo: 5 miles easy
Tu: 15 w/3200, 3200, 1600 tempo (400 recovery) averaging 5:45 down to 5:39
We: 13 easy at 7:13 pace
We: 6 easy around 43m
Th: 12.5 w/3x.7 mile steep hill repeats
Fr: 14 miles at 7:25 pace
Sa: 4.5 easy
Su: 18 w/last four around 6 minute pace
Total: 100 miles in 9 runs

Scheduling conflicts made crashed a planned faster run on Saturday, but beyond that it was a pretty good week of singles. The legs are feeling good, but I really need to catch up on sleep this week.

16 Weeks Out

2009-08-16T11:31:00.003-07:00

Our daughter started 1st grade this week and she's proudly riding her own bike to school, which has added two miles to my runs until she's comfortable enough for me to ride beside her. Cool stuff. (photo by Kiera)

16 weeks until the C.I.M. marathon:

107 miles in 11 runs
Mo: 10 miles at 7:22 pace
Mo: 5 miles at 7:32 pace
Tu: 12.5 miles w/3 x .7 mile hill repeats at strong effort
Tu: 6 miles at 7:44 pace
We: 8.5 miles at 7:08 pace, 8xstrides
We: 6 miles at 6:55-ish pace
Th: 11 miles w/8x1000 on 5 minutes in 3:23, 3:19, 3:20, 3:22, 3:21, 3:20, 3:21, 3:20
Th: 5 miles at 7:20 pace
Fr: 12 miles at 7:14 pace
Sa: 12 miles w/6x1600 redline run at 6:06, 6:08, 6:07, 6:07, 6:03, 6:02
Su: 19 very hilly miles (Saguaro loop) at 6:53 pace w/second half around 6:15-6:20 pace

I think I'm at close to my limit for miles for this build if I'm hoping to maintain or add to this level of intensity (my hope is to add to it). While I'd like to get back over 120 for a few weeks, it remains to be seen whether or not I can do that without just adding junk miles.

As far as how the week went, I feel good about getting in a hill workout Tuesday and 1000's on Thursday, but failed at squeezing a medium-long run between on Wednesday due to fatigue and a little malaise (still managed some strides though). I also felt good about the redline run on Saturday followed by a tough but strong long run Sunday, and for getting in a total of four doubles without the family throwing me out.

21 (Make that 17) Weeks Out

2009-08-09T11:17:00.003-07:00

94 miles in 8 runs this week. A day with eight miles and a zero day while camping Monday and Tuesday really set me on another mileage hunt this week (like last week), and a bonk on Thursday plus feeling tired at the end of both Saturday and Sunday's runs show I'm a little behind on recovery. I felt good about fitting in a hill sprint Thursday, strides on Friday and an evaluation on Sunday. Hopefully I'll stay more consistent with the miles from day to day in the coming weeks, which should allow me to work in more quality instead of chasing missed miles.

Missed out on 100 by eating half a pizza and drinking two beers Friday night instead of running a double, but I'm over it.

Mo: 8 around 7:20 pace at 8000 feet, half uphill and half down
Tu: 0
We: 14 at 7:00 pace in the morning
We: 6 around 6:50 pace in the evening (too fast)
Th: 13 at 7:22 pace and a bonk, plus 1x25 second uphill sprint
Th: 5 miles at 7:40
Fr: 16 miles at 7:11, plus 8x300 jog, 100 accelerate-sprint
Sa: 12.5 miles w/4x1600m evaluation at 150HR in 6:03(149HR), 6:07(150), 6:04(150), 6:07(150) :42 seconds to 120HR recovery
Su: 20 miles at 7:15 pace

Groundwork

2009-08-06T13:12:00.002-07:00

Next week I'll start a 20 week build for the California International Marathon on December 6. In preparation for the work ahead I've spent the past ten weeks building up a tolerance for mileage again with four weeks at 100 miles, one easy week at 58, three more weeks at 100, one week at 57, and the current week. I've managed long runs of 16-18 as well as at least one 14 miler each week, and I've also tried to implement strides, strong uphill running, moderate-paced runs and even a few 4 mile evaluations and the occasional workout of repeats around 5K pace.

As for the body, turning 38 last month has resulted in more gray hair in the beard but not many other changes. I'm starting some runs slower than I used to, and I'm running my doubles (3-4 a week) at pretty slow paces (usually 7:30 pace at the fastest except for when the Wednesday night gang lights things up). I seem to be adapting to the miles about the same as usual, and aside from an achilles scare last week and a few of the old familiar iliopsoas complaints I'm doing well.

As for specifics on the build, I'll be sticking fairly close to what worked well for NYC last year, but I'm hoping to work in a bit more time at paces faster than my current marathon pace earlier on. The training will still follow the usual Lydiard model of base conditioning, hills/transition, speedwork, specific pacework and sharpening and taper, as this has worked well for me in the past.

I'll try to start writing a weekly wrap-up of how the training is progressing, though as usual I won't make any promises. Races leading up to the marathon in December include the Saguaro 8-Miler on September 7, the 8K Run and Roll on October 4, the Get Moving 10-Miler on October 11, the Oracle 10K on October 31, and possibly the 5K Cross-Country Turkey Trot on November 26. I'll have to make most of these races into hard workouts without a taper, and I'll be focusing much more on recovering fully from them rather than tapering down for them.

All in all, the motivation is high and I'm really looking forward to marathon day. Like NYC last year I'm going to be joined by several of my friends for this race. James, Jason, Justin, Lucas and Sean will all be training hard for this marathon, so I'll have some good company for many of the long runs and possibly even some workouts.

As for the family, life is good. Our daughter starts first grade next week and turns seven next month, and our son (who just turned 4) is heading back to preschool for a few days each week at about the same time. My wife is still baking up a storm, and in fact just this morning revived me after the bonk on my run with waffles from scratch, eggs and fake sausage. I live a charmed life and I'm grateful for it. I am trying to keep most of the family details out of the blog, but if you are interested you can always find me on Facebook for that stuff. Thanks for sticking around.

Overdue Response

2009-07-09T12:00:00.002-07:00

Here's a long overdue response to an email and comment from Lawrence:

Hope everything is going well for you. I'm the 38 year old runner from Uganda who has now done about 1.5 years of Lydiard training.

Do you have any pearls of wisdom for those of us who are doing another Lydiard build-up? I'm particularly interested about what you have learned about the "base phase".
1. With several iterations of experience, are you approaching your long run differently than during your first Lydiard build-up?

I still believe that "miles make champions", and I think the more time you can spend running during your base phase, the more injury resistant and better conditioned you will be for the more intense training that follows. For my long runs during my base phase, I'm trying to deal more effectively with the weather during the summer in Tucson, Arizona. I'm finding that in most cases I'm really worked over at about two hours when it's 80+ degrees Fahrenheit and over 50% humidity. My core temperature seems to rise enough that my central nervous system starts working to shut the runs down, which manifests in a strong desire to just stop running once I reach a patch of shade. I also find that if I can keep the long runs at or around 2 hours I can feel fairly well recovered on Tuesday's run (after a long run on Sunday). If I press on much longer than two hours, the body generally feels really sluggish through Tuesday and sometimes on into Wednesday. I think this is my way of finding and dialing in to the stress level that I can adapt and improve from rather than the maximum that I can tolerate. I think perhaps I did too many slow 22 milers during my first build during the summer, which made me good at running long and slow but not much else.

2. Have you found an optimal length for your 3/4 effort each week?

I go by Mystery Coach's advise when it comes to the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 efforts: 1/4 is easy enough that you could repeat the run as soon as you finish it, 1/2 is an effort you could comfortably repeat the day after, and 3/4 is an effort you could repeat not the next day but the day after that (two days later). As far as length, I'm sticking to anything from a four miles on the faster end to seven miles at the slower end once a week.

3. What % of your MHR-Resting HR do you run your 1/4 efforts at?

I just run easy. I start slower than I used to (7:30-7:40 pace), and generally work down to around 7 min pace, although if I'm tired I'll sometimes only get down to 7:20 pace or so. I don't use a heart rate monitor except for evaluations or specific marathon pace runs where I'm looking for data to see where I'm at fitness-wise.

Any advice would be appreciated.

As I get older, I see myself simplifying my training a bit. During base, I like the idea of doing one run of 90 minutes and one of 2 hours for endurance, one session of faster paces (anything between marathon pace and 5K pace, longer if it's on the slower side and shorter if it's on the faster side), and one day of either a hill workout (bound, skip, do short sprints or longer threshold efforts, walk on your hands or just find some hills and grunt it out) or a short, turnover workout on the road or track (200 fast, 200 slow or 100 accelerate/sprint, 300 jog). I like fitting in three evening runs if I can to up the mileage, though since the temperatures are often around 100 degrees I keep these to 4-6 miles at no faster than 7:30 pace. These are parameters I shoot for, though I don't necessarily fit them all in each week.

Also, I've never really been a fan of recovery weeks, but after taking an easy week of running while on vacation in Carlsbad I find my legs to be feeling much better than they did after four consecutive weeks of 9 to 10 runs for 100 miles. I'm also noticing that the paces are faster this week than they were two weeks ago for the same effort, so if I notice the paces slipping again or if I feel run-down I don't think I'd hesitate to take another easy week. Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Mike

12/6/09

2009-06-24T11:47:00.003-07:00

I have a 7am appointment in Sacramento on December 6, and with luck and some work it will last a little under 2 hours and 35 minutes. You'll find me here. I'm in week four of base conditioning, getting in good miles sprinkled with some turnover work and a little intensity, and the will is good for another long build up. I'll be running a handful of races in the fall, but all will be secondary to the main goal of running my best at the California International Marathon.

For those of you still holding a place for me in their blog feeds, I apologize for the lack of updates. I just haven't really felt like updating, but I have kept running and competing. The spring race season found me faltering a bit, which might have had something to do with trying to rely too long on the base I built for NYC. It feels good to be getting back into shape, and while training in Tucson during the summer is always trying, I'm finding myself more motivated than ever.

I doubt I'll post as often as I used to, but I will put the word out occasionally to mark how the training is going. Thanks again for reading.

Looking back, thinking ahead

2009-05-05T03:49:00.001-07:00

It was three years ago when I came across Mike's blog when searching for information on Arthur Lydiard for an ebook that I had been putting together. I enjoyed checking in on how Mike interpreted and applied the Lydiard system. Looking at his workouts I could tell he was using some of more recently published schedules which at times caused confusion with how they should be carried out. This promoted me to send him a transcription of an original Lydiard talk. A number of emails went back and forth discussing theory and methods which lead to collaborating on training for his next marathon.

First I want to thank Mike for letting me post on his blog and listening to me every few months proclaim that the ebook was almost done. This time though I'll tell everyone that it is almost done, most likely before this fall "The Artistry of Arthur Lydiard, a visual guide to his system" will be available as a free download.

Since it is still almost done I would appreciate any input or questions you might want answered in the book (they can be sent to me: mysterycoach [at] gmail [dot] com). The book is intended to help you see the steps, feel the steps of Lydiard's methods. It is based on much of his original thinking and observations before he had to justify everything to the scientific world.

I'll have a few more announcements over the next few months regarding the ebook and the best one will be: It's done ready for download.

4/22/09

2009-04-22T09:47:00.001-07:00

The recovery paces seem to indicate I didn't throw enough of myself into the last 5K, which is somewhat disappointing. Still, it's always good to feel good.

4/22/09
am., 7 miles, 45m, 6:37 pace
Sleep: 6h 5/10 (see Finn for details)
Legs: 8/10 weightless
Weather: 66 degrees
Notes: Felt very easy the whole way.

4/21/09
10 miles, 1h09m, 6:53 pace
Sleep: 7.5h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 63 degrees (warming up quickly)
Notes: Felt fresh at the get-go, felt it a little at 8 miles until the end.

Slow Motion

2009-04-21T05:06:00.002-07:00

Just not my day at the races. I think being consumed by a goal time instead of just focusing on running my best race worked against me, as once I hit the one mile mark at 5:21 I couldn't help mulling over the math in my head. Two miles at 5:02 pace were not going to happen, and the small lead pack in front of me seemed both out of my reach and out of my league, even though they hit the first mile in 5 minutes flat.

I haven't looked at a race split while racing since the New York marathon in November, and I shouldn't have made an exception on Sunday. Instead of making the most of the race and possibly turning a day when I didn't feel spectacular into a good performance, I seemed to settle in and accept my fate with a second and third mile around 5:30 pace for a finishing time of 16:50 or so.

I'm going to just put this race behind me and look forward to a 10K two weeks down the road and another 5K four weeks out.

Congratulations to Mike, Thomas and Micheal on their Boston Marathon performances. I know from experience that things don't always go exactly to plan, but I applaud all three of them for their efforts yesterday.

4/20/09
8 miles, 55m, 6:53 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: very nice
Notes: Felt too good for having a race yesterday. Somehow I didn't leave enough out there.

Closing in on it

2009-04-18T10:44:00.002-07:00

It's all about 76's and 77's, and 5:08's instead of 5:11's.

Yes, I'm still trying to limbo under 16 minutes for 5K, and tomorrow's Race for the Cure is my next shot. It's an arbitrary goal based on a near-by even number (16:06 is my P.R.), and with each passing year my two standard attempts (this race and the Tucson 5000 a month later) seem more and more daunting.

Still, this year seems to hold more promise, as I'm doing a better job of trying to nail the coach's paces instead of trying to surpass them. We've also spent more time going back and forth about recovery, and how as I,(ahem), mature, it seems that recovery seems to be of more importance.

Mystery Coach seems to following a Lydiard model of speed-work and sharpening, which started after spending some time on lower-end tempo runs to both build and measure my maximum steady state. This week has included lower-volume repeats of 200-400 meters within a few seconds either way of goal pace, which seems to be doing the job of getting the legs and brain used to the turnover, pace-monitoring and recognition, and the mental work involved in holding faster paces. Today was 6x200 at 36-37 seconds (400 recoveries), while earlier in the week it was 1x400, 2x200, 1x400, 2x200 (all with 400 recoveries) at faster than race pace.

Last week the volume was higher with a 6x800 workout at 2:35, again with 400 recoveries. We followed that a few days later with a 2400M time trial, which unfortunately found me at 5:11-5:12 pace and gasping. This would put me right at my current P.R., butthere was no way I could have held on for double the volume.

As usual, this put me in a bit of a funk for a few days, but after looking over both my sleep schedule and the volume of the workouts it doesn't seem as bad as the results indicate on their own. It's funny how a good week of running (like this week) can make the results of a single workout seem less important.

The plan for tomorrow will be a conservative start and a strong second half. While sub-16 might not be in the cards this time, I'd really like to run the third mile at 5:10 or better. My best on this course is 16:23, and I don't see any reason I shouldn't be able to equal or better that number.

Finally, best of luck to the Boston crowd on Monday.

?

2009-04-14T16:34:00.002-07:00

Still running.
I've taken a leave of absence from the blogging world, though I plod on. Mystery Coach keeps coaching and putting up with my constant badgering, though now we're doing it through the calendar feature on Gmail to keep the comments tied to the specific dates where they apply.

I ran a disappointing 5K in late March, then I had a good race earlier this month at the Sabino Canyon Sunset Run, where I placed fourth on a course that pretty much leads you 3.7 miles uphill before turning around and running the reverse.

I'm continuing to struggle a bit with finding my 5-10K speed, though I am making some progress. The mileage has dropped to between 60 and 75 a week as the workouts ramp up, and I'm usually taking two easy days between hard sessions.

All in all, things are about the same, with the only difference being my reluctance to chronicle each day. It started with me spending less time following other blogs, but eventually I realized I didn't really feel like spending as much time on my own blog. If I'm not contributing and commenting to others' writings, I feel a bit strange expecting others to keep commenting on my own running saga.

Also, it seems I've come to the point where I don't find anything remotely remarkable about my running. Yes, I still enjoy it immensely (some days more immensely than others, haha), but to go on posting "was tired, kids woke me up, had to X,Y,Z in order to get the run in" just seems repetitive and boring given everything else going on in the world.

I'll still try to post from time to time, but for now I'm taking a bit of a break from the day to day chronicling of my runs. Thanks to all for reading, and for all the comments and emails. For correspondence, you can always track me down easily on Facebook, and the brevity of that medium seems to be something I have more luck with these days.

Thanks also to Mystery Coach for all the wisdom he's doled out here. If I hadn't started this blog I never would have been fortunate enough for him to take up my training as a cause.

Evaluating the eval

2009-03-16T09:40:00.003-07:00

Last week Mike had a disappointing time trail over 3 miles and there was a fair amount of speculation on what was wrong. Any one of the suggestions could have been correct (they were all good opinions) but we didn't have any facts to back them up. This is where the weekend's eval run (4 miles at heart rate 150) gives some facts. When the time trial didn't turn out well I wrote to Mike to have him do the eval this weekend. I suspected 3 possibilities for the TT results;

1) Drop in steady state (not sure this is it)
2) Fatigue (most likely)
3) Need for some additional sharp stuff

Here are the results with one eval from the end of his base phase before New York and the last column adjusting the pace to standardize it on 150 beats per minute.

Mike Salkowski 150 150 150

Date 19-Aug 14-Mar 14-Mar
Adjusted

Mile 1 6:09 6:11 6:13.7

Mile 2 6:18 6:13 6:15.7
Mile 3 6:20 6:13 6:13.0
Mile 4 6:17 6:16 6:18.7

Average 6:16.0 6:13.3 6:15.3

Average last 3 6:18.3 6:14.0 6:15.8

hr<120 47.0

Diff 1 and Ave 9.3 3.0 2.1

Mike's base numbers look as good or better than at the end of his last build. It would indicate that he is in 16:20-16:25 5K shape now but still short of the 15:50-15:55 5K shape he was in last fall during his peak before the New York Marathon.

So most likely possibility number two; "fatigue" was the cause of the time trial results. This was also indicated by Mike's feelings as he started the trial ("I felt a bit sluggish from the get-go").

Since last spring Mike has been working on staying on the safe side of the recovery curve with good success. From a training perspective it makes the timing of the harder sharper work (needed to get to that sub 16 5K) more critical. Over that next 4-5 weeks that will be the goal with a careful watch on recovery.

3/11/09

2009-03-11T14:41:00.002-07:00

3/11/09
8 miles, w/2 miles at about 5:23 pace, 60 seconds rest, then 1 mile in 5:23
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 6/10
Weather: Perfect

Mental notes: Pfffft!
Rough one today for some reason. The workout called for a steady 3 mile run with the first two miles at 5:22 pace and the third mile at 5:21. I took the same three mile warm up with a few aggressive strides which served me well last week, but I felt a bit sluggish from the get-go once I started around the track. After 6 very even laps at 80 seconds (on pace) I started to really fatigue in the legs while the breathing increased. I rode it out to 8 laps, but fell two seconds behind during those two laps. I just didn't seem to have the last mile in me, but I decided to give it a go after 60 seconds of rest (not the plan, but needed). The first 800 after the rest found me on pace again, but then the last 800 found the legs starting to unravel a bit (losing their strength and drive), and I ended up at 5:22 (5:24 adjusted).

I thought it would go a bit better today, so I'm a little surprised. It feels like once I get loaded up with lactate it comes on fairly strong in the lungs, then migrates down to the legs. It's true I felt a bit better Saturday at a second or two faster per 400, but if I'd stretched it out to two miles then I'm wondering if I would have found myself in the same state.

I know I'm still under-sharpened for this spring, but I still sometimes get the nagging feeling that perhaps a decline in my maximum steady state is partly to blame for my struggles at 5K and 10K pace. I'm not suggesting I'm ready to head back into base training, but I have been thinking about whether bumping the mileage back up would help a bit with the steady state without sacrificing the quality I'm putting into the faster workouts.

3/10/09

2009-03-10T14:26:00.003-07:00

3/10/09
6 miles, 40m, 6:52 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 50 degrees
Notes: In a rush today so I ended up cutting it short. One quick 600 towards the end.

3/9/09
8 miles, 55m, 6:53 pace
Notes: Easy run, a bit short on time

3/8/09
15 miles, 1h48m, 7:19 pace
Notes: Slow, very hilly run up into the canyon with Scott and Catlow. A bit dehydrated for the day.

3/7/09
8 miles, 53m, w/6 laps of 78's and 1x600 downhill stride
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 55 degrees and perfect
Notes: Much easier than what was supposed to be the same workout on Tuesday (last post).

3/6/09
9 miles, 1h03m, 7:00 pace
Notes: Legs a bit too dead for downhill strides

3/5/09
6 miles, 43m, 7:12 pace

3/4/09 pm., 6.2 miles easy and slow

Pretty much the same schedule as last week:
Mo: 8 slow
Tu: 10 easy w/strides and downhill strides
We: 8 miles w/2 mile workout (too fast), then 6 easy in the evening
Th: 6 easy
Fr: 9 easy (tired)
Sa: 8 w/1.5 mile workout and strides
Su: 15 hilly and slow
Total: 70 miles in 8 sessions

Turns out the workout on Wednesday was supposed to be 6 laps at 79 seconds and not 76. I had the same workout slated for Saturday, and this time it went off without a hitch. I took a bit longer warm up this time, and added a few more (and longer) strides beforehand in an effort to get the lungs ready. Turns out six laps at 78 is much easier than six laps at 75 or 76, which bears remembering when I'm running the first mile of my next 5K on March 23.

3/4/09

2009-03-04T09:51:00.002-07:00

3/4/09
8 miles, 55m, w/1x1600 in 5:04 (2 min), 800 in 2:31 (1 min), 800 in 2:32
Sleep: 7h 6/10 (kids, sheesh)
Legs: 6/10
Weather: 62 degrees (yes, really)
Notes: Botched workout. Mystery Coach prescribed 6 laps of 76's, or the equivalent of 5:06 pace. The goal was to run fast and relaxed at 5K race pace, but unfortunately that became impossible after about 1000 meters. I started to get a bit hypoxic and crossed jumped right past the "comfortable" line. Rather than be forced to slow down dramatically for the last 800, I called an audible and finished 1600 on pace then took two minutes before running an 800 in 2:31. After a minute of rest I ran a final 800 in 2:32. Each 800 felt the same: Cool and relaxed for 400, then the breathing would increase dramatically for 200 followed by the legs stinging a bit and the lungs feeling it for the last 200.

I think we're starting to test the boundaries a bit after some good fitness gains during the past six weeks, and while I'm disappointed with how today went I think a few more sessions like this will help. I also think doing a very hilly 15 miler on Sunday following 8 miles around 6:03 pace on Saturday left me with some residual fatigue, which didn't help me today.

3/3/09
10 miles, 1h09m, 6:52 pace
Sleep: 8h 8/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: Nice
Notes: Threw in 6x300 jog, 100 accelerate-sprints, plus 1x650m downhill stride

3/2/09
8 miles, 58m, 7:18 pace

3/1/09
15 miles, 1h44m, 6:59 pace
Notes: Hot, windy and hilly. Running up to the top of the road in Sabino Canyon seemed like a good idea when I started.

2/28/09

2009-02-28T09:28:00.003-07:00

2/28/09
11 miles, 1h09m, w/8 miles at 6:03 pace
Sleep: 5h, 4/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 48 degrees
Notes: A planned 7-10 miles at 6:05-6:15 pace ended up with me running 8 miles at 6:03 with Scott and Catlow. Felt a little tougher than last week, but a late night of band practice and some insomnia worked against me today.

2/27/09
7 miles, 49m, 6:53 pace w/1x650 downhill stride
Sleep: 8h 9/10
Legs: 8/10
Notes: Felt good. Slept in so I had to cut the run short.

2/26/09
6 miles, 42m, 6:59 pace
Notes: Slept in a little (kids are on break for a few days). Legs really felt good considering the workout the day before.

Thanks for the recent comments. Runnermint, I'll get to your questions in the next post.

Has it been a week already?

2009-02-25T19:33:00.002-07:00

2/25/09
8 miles w/3 mile effort in 5:27, 5:27, 5:26
Sleep: 8h 8/10
Legs: 9/10
Weather: 55 degrees
Notes: A step up from a similar workout last week. The lungs felt the faster paces at only 800 in but seemed to relax over the last mile. The legs spun along without issue until about the last 1000, where I felt some fatigue.

It will take doubling this to get solidly under 34m for a 10K, but with a bit more sharpening and some recovery I think I could do it. As for 5K, which is the more immediate goal, it's not quite as clear cut.

I seem to be in a good pattern now, and I'm starting to feel like I'm keeping all three balls in the air (intensity, recovery, mileage). Keeping the long runs to 15 seems to help me feel more fresh on workout days, and I'm noticing that the paces are lagging more and more on the recovery days as the intensity moves up.

Mystery Coach has been the mastermind of balancing stamina, speed and sharpening, and he waves the "caution" flag at my car from time to time in an effort to keep me focused on recovery as we dial things up. Overall I'm feeling great.

2/24/09
9 miles, 1h01m, 6:45 pace
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 60 degrees
Notes: 1x650 downhill stride brought the pace down. Felt pretty good

2/23/09
10 miles, 1h10m, 7:00 pace

2/22/09
14.5 miles, 1h45m, 7:19 pace
Notes: Easy run w/Lucas and Scott. A bit worn by the end, probably due to the slow pace and high temperature

2/21/09
10 miles w/7 mile marathon-ish pace, right around 6min miles
Notes: Apprehensive about this but I felt really good

2/20/09
8 miles, 55m, 6:54 pace
Notes: 1x800m stride downhill brought the pace down

2/19/09

2009-02-19T07:57:00.003-07:00

Humming along again. The legs felt great for a three mile effort yesterday, and overall I feel like I'm starting to round into form. The big races aren't until April/May, so it will take some restraint to keep moving up through the spring.

2/19/09
10 miles, 1h14m, 7:24 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 6/10
Weather: 36 degrees
Notes: Nice slow run with Lucas. Legs were a bit tired

2/18/09 pm., 6 miles in 42 minutes, a little fatigued (probably too fast

2/18/09
8 miles w/3 miles at 5:35, 5:34, 5:36
Sleep: 7h 7/10 (a pattern here?)
Legs: 9/10
Notes: Good, good, good. Legs felt great for the effort, breathing crept up over the last section.

2/17/09
8 miles easy, no watch

2/16/09

2009-02-16T21:43:00.002-07:00

Work is grinding me down a bit. My planned long run on Saturday turned into 11, and I ended up taking a zero on Sunday after working the art show at the gallery.

2/16/09
8 miles, 52 minutes, 6:38 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 39 degrees
Notes: Not much time, but the legs felt good so I ran a bit faster. The day off probably helped

2/15/09 Zero

2/14/09
11 miles, 1h17m, 7:04 pace
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 6/10
Notes: Late start and felt a bit tired throughout

2/13/09
8 miles, 58m, 7:13 pace
Notes: Really dragging so I took it easy. Perhaps it's a delayed reaction to the workout two days ago

2/12/09
8 miles, 56m, 7:11 pace
Notes: Felt surprisingly good for the day after a workout, but took it slow
Notes: Felt

"Stop when you're done"

2009-02-13T06:02:00.002-07:00

Now the rest of the story; "but only after you have done 10" So what was the goal to be accomplished here? The feel aspect of speed training is one you'll be hard pressed to find a good physiological study on yet it is a key item of the Lydiard system.

Wednesday's workout for Mike was based on how well his steady state had moved up over the last few weeks. The goal was to move it up more and based on his recovery (Axiom #2 How well you recover is a better indicator of your condition that the workout itself) he did himself a world of good by getting to 10.

But how do you know when to push and when to quit?

This is where reading how you feel is important. In running a hard volume speed workout like the 10 X 1000 repeats (or 20 X 400, 10 X 800, or 6 X 2000) the goal is to work hard and long, to produce a large volume of lactate so that the all the mitochondria in all the fibers get good at soaking it up and using it as fuel. Much like a funnel there is only a certain rate that the lactate can flow into the mitochondria before it over flows and then have it show up in your bloodstream. The mitochondria can get very good at using lactate but it does no good to over fill the funnel (running too fast too soon). It also does no good if the workout is too short and they don't have much processing of lactate to do. You have to feed them at the right rate for a long time to get them good at processing lactate.

Mike needed to work hard to get to all the fibers but that had to be balance with the right rate so it was not just dumping it into his bloodstream. This is why the goal of ten and the holding back for the first three. The actual times were of a less of a concern, the volume of work at the right rate (which would allow him to get to ten) were the goals.

It is a balancing act but an important one if you want to realize your potential.

2/12/09

2009-02-12T16:19:00.002-07:00

2/12/09
8 miles, 58m, 7:15 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 45 degrees
Notes: Easy run, legs actually felt good after yesterday's double

2/11/09 pm.,
6.2 miles easy in 43 minutes

2/11/09

2009-02-11T10:08:00.004-07:00

2/11/09
9 miles w/10x1000 on 5 minutes in 3:27, 26, 24, 20, 20, 14, 14, 15, 15, 13
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 33 degrees, clear and breezy (cold for here)
Notes: Mystery Coach prescribed 10x1000 repeats, one every 5 minutes and starting with the first three at 3:30 then working down. The goal was to get all 10 in, which is different from Lydiard's usual "stop when you're done" on speed-work.

More to say on this later.

2/10/09

2009-02-10T07:33:00.002-07:00

2/10/09
Training: 10 miles, 1h09m, 6:59 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 6/10
Weather: 35 degrees, almost snow (icy rain)
Notes: Quads tight and a little fatigued, probably from running a few more miles than usual yesterday and today.

2/9/09

2009-02-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

2/9/09
10 miles, 1h12m, 7:10 pace
Sleep: 7h, 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 46 and overcast
Notes: Nice slow run. Took the long loop to force 10 miles, though I was a bit fatigued at 8. No complaints

2/8/09

2009-02-08T10:37:00.003-07:00

2/8/09
15 miles, 1h43m, 6:55 pace
Sleep: 7h, 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 45 and overcast
Notes: Good long run, though I felt fatigued for the last 4 miles

I'm really hoping to get the miles up a bit over the next week, as I seem to keep running 8 milers when I should be running 10 milers. Overall the legs are feeling good, and if I can survive the next two weeks at work I should be in the clear.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Here's a glimpse of February in Tucson, AZ:

2/8/09

2/7/09

2009-02-07T15:06:00.002-07:00

2/7/09
8 miles, 49m
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 46 and windy
Notes: 7 mile steady state workout on the track in 6:06, 6:08, 6:05, 6:02, 6:00, 5:58, 5:50 (last mile was downhill back home). Felt absolutely great

Wrong Time of the Year

2009-02-06T20:15:00.002-07:00

Sorry to go missing, but it's the busiest time of the year at work and I've let a few things slide. For the most part I'm putting in 8-10 milers with a weekly long run of 15 or so, and I've been adding either strides or pickups on alternating days or alternating slower with faster runs. The miles aren't as high as I'd like, but unfortunately neither are the sleep totals. Still, I'll try to keep updating with a bit more frequency.

2/6/09
8 miles, 58m, 7:15 pace
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 50 degrees
Notes: Easy, easy, easy. Anticipating a workout tomorrow

2/5/09
8 miles, 53m, 6:38 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 48 degrees
Notes: 5x2 minute surges, one every 10 minutes or so. Felt great.

2/4/09
9 easy miles in the evening, around 7:20 pace

2/3/09
9 miles, 1h02m, 6:56 pace

2/2/09
8 miles, 56m, 6:59 pace

2/1/09
15.25 miles, 1h50m, 7:17 pace, felt good

1/31/09
6 miles, 38m, 6:23 pace, felt great out of the gate so I just rolled

1/30/09
10 miles, 1h09m, 6:56 pace

1/29/09
8 miles, 55m, 6:56 pace

1/28/09
7.5 miles, 52m, 6:58 pace

1/27/09, Zero

1/26/09, Zero

A Joke:

2009-01-26T19:26:00.002-07:00

"Why did the chicken cross the road?
...To get a haircut!"

This is our 6-year old daughter's new joke, which for some reason makes our 3-year-old son laugh hysterically.

Kids. They make no sense, but they are quite amusing. ...Even when they're both sick, and even when their mom is out of town.

In short, I'm being run a bit ragged so the posts have dipped. An easy 5 miler on Thursday, 7 on Friday and another 5 on Saturday led into the 10K on Sunday, where I ended up running 34:40 according to the results. I felt a bit sluggish race morning, and while I thought I might be able to pull out a good day it just started to go wrong in the second half. I ran pretty much all but the first 800 meters in no-man's land, so it was hard to mentally stay in it. 5:17, 11:17 (missed the split), 5:33, 5:50, 5:40, 1:09 tells the story. Luckily for me I have great friends who were able to watch the kids during the race, though as soon as I crossed the finish line I darted to the car to get our daughter to a bowling party that started 20 minutes later.

Since then both kids have taken ill, starting with our daughter throwing up last night. She missed almost all of school today while I stayed with her, and our son developed a mean cough while off with Kiera's mom today. As I type both are hacking away in their rooms and I'm tired as all get out.

No opportunity for a run today, and tomorrow should be the same, but after Kiera gets home tomorrow night things should improve. That's all I got.

1/21/09

2009-01-21T09:48:00.003-07:00

9 miles w/workout
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 63 degrees and overcast (at 6am if you can believe it)
Notes: Marathon-week type workout w/3 miles at 5:50-6:00 pace, then five minutes easy followed by 3x1000 on 5 minutes. Ran the miles in 5:48, 5:51 and 5:50, feeling progressively better as I went along. 1000's in 3:18, 3:10, 3:14. Felt good.

In retrospect, I probably dug in a bit much for the second repeat, as the legs started burning a little during the last 200. I made an effort to ease a little and stay just below the burn for the third one in hopes of making up for it, but it's something I need to watch. Mystery Coach has been emphasizing my current position on the recovery curve, which seems to be more important as I get a little older. Last spring I dug in a little too often while doing workouts, which constantly put me behind the curve. As you might imagine, putting myself into this state seems to increase the amount of time it takes to recover from a workout, and it also put me in the position of heading into the next workout before I was fully recovered. Start repeating this cycle and you'll be moving backwards in no time.

I do think I learned a bit from pushing to hard in the spring, and one adjustment that seemed to pay big dividends for the New York marathon training included taking two very easy days after the back to back workouts. Since I'm not really in marathon mode right now, I'm doing the same thing after a Saturday workout/Sunday long run block, which has helped with the recovery over the past few weeks.

The Future is...

2009-01-20T19:06:00.003-07:00

1/20/09
9 miles, 1h03m, 7:01 pace
Sleep: 5h 3/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: I feel too guilty to disclose it today
Notes: Not enough calories or sleep yesterday so I postponed a workout today and just ran easy on trails around the Canyon

1/19/09
7 miles, 47m, 6:56 pace
Notes: Easy run w/4x30 second bursts with full recovery during the last 10 minutes. Felt good.

1/18/09
8 miles, 56m, 7:04 pace
Notes: Nice easy run

Working towards the 10K this Sunday, which is the first of many races for me in 2009. I'm putting marathons on the back burner for the year in favor of trying once again to PR at 5K, 8K and 10K during the course of our club's Grand Prix Series. Years ago I won this series, but since then a whole fleet of faster guys have come on the scene. I know most of them, which makes the competition even more fun than it would be otherwise. Here's the race schedule:

*Jan 25, Sun Run 10K
April 4, 7.4 mile Sabino Canyon Sunset Run
April 19, 5K Spring Cross-Country Classic
May 4, 10K Cinco de Mayo
*May 17, Tucson 5000m
May ?, 5K Meet Me Downtown
September 7, 8 mile Saguaro National Monument
*October 4, 8K Run and Roll
October ?, 10 mile Get Moving Tucson
October 24, 10K Oracle Run
November 26, 5K Thanksgiving Cross-Country Classic
*=Chance at a PR

I'll also throw in a few more races, including this 10K on March 22, which is hilly but might be fast. I may torture myself with another 5K on the track as well, which would be March 28. I have awhile to decide on this one, as getting lapped by college kids might be more than my fragile ego can take.

As for marathons, the tentative plan is to wait for Cal International in Sacramento, California on December 6. I could push for a late spring marathon, but I just don't feel like it right now. I love the distance, but right now I'm feeling the pull of the competition in these shorter local races.

1/17/09

2009-01-17T14:56:00.002-07:00

Really seemed to take a few steps up the ladder this week. Less fatigue, lighter legs and a good attitude. Good times.

1/17/09
15 miles, 7:14 pace
Sleep: 5.5h 4/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 45 degrees
Notes: Easy long run over hills with Scott. Felt very good the whole way.

1/16/09
10 miles, 1h05m
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 9/10
Weather: 44 degrees
Notes: 7 mile steady state-type run on the track. I discussed this with Mystery Coach beforehand, since I was hoping for a longer run at quicker paces to start mentally preparing for the 10K later this month. Each 1600m split has 2 seconds added to it to estimate mile paces: 5:49, 5:47, 5:48, 5:45, 5:45, 5:47, 5:45. Felt very good after 5 miles or so, much better than any run like this since the marathon.

1/15/09

2009-01-15T19:17:00.002-07:00

1/15/09
8 miles, 56 minutes, 7:02 pace
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 43 (very nice)
Notes: Just an easy run, felt good the whole way

1/14/09 pm.
6 miles easy with the gang, legs felt good.

1/14/09 am.
7 miles easy, six before running Haiden to school and then a mile easy back home afterward. Probably 7:10 pace or so

1/13/09
8 miles, 54m, 6:48 pace
Notes: 8x300 jog, 100 accelerate-sprint, plus a fast 5 minutes towards the end. Shaking the legs out and trying to maintain good turnover

1/12/09
8 miles, 57m, 7:04 pace
Notes: Felt pretty good for the day after a longer run. Put in 4x30 second bursts towards the end with full recoveries

1/11/09

2009-01-11T20:49:00.002-07:00

1/11/09
15 miles, 1h42m, 6:50 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather 42 degrees
Notes: Nice long-ish run that finally got me out of the 7 minute pace rut without trying. Still getting a little tired at 10 miles or so, but overall no complaints. I think I'm starting to make some progress.

1/10/09

2009-01-10T12:01:00.002-07:00

1/10/09
6 miles, 40m, 6:42 pace
Sleep: 5h 3/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 38 degrees
Notes: My music life conspired to thwart my running life, as I got home from a concert around 12:30. I still would have had time to run more this morning, but I procrastinated by playing a guitar that arrived the evening before (Ebay is evil I tells 'ya). The legs felt surprisingly good this morning, so I did a bit of a progression run with an uptempo 800 towards the end. Perhaps quitting before the hour mark helped with the legs feeling fresh throughout.

1/9/09

2009-01-09T12:57:00.001-07:00

1/9/09
9 miles, 1h05m, 7:05 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 39 degrees
Notes: Easy run on roads and trails, finished up with walk-run to school with Haiden and an easy mile back home. Nice morning, and the legs seem to be putting up with yesterday's workout.

1/8/09

2009-01-08T13:29:00.003-07:00

Staying at it, but I did miss Monday's run. Haiden lost her first tooth, which made for an exciting evening early in the week, and I found myself cornered by a few javelina while trying to run a downhill 800 from the end of a dead-end road (a big rock and lots of shouting helped here).

1/8/09
8 miles, 55 minutes
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 6/10
Weather: 36 degrees
Notes: Mystery Coach suggested 10x1000 on 5 minutes by feel without checking splits. Took a short warm up and got to it, but by the fifth one I felt I was starting to go over the limit. I made it through the 6th but felt pretty shaky and too over-taxed, so 400 into the 7th repeat I called it a day. Checking the splits on the way home give some indication of why it started feeling so difficult as I went along: 3:27, 3:22, 3:19, 3:19, 3:18, 3:15, 1:15 (400). Made the mistake of having a light dinner last night after running 6 miles with the gang, and by the time I got home from the workout I had that buzzy feeling of being too depleted. Need to eat more at the right times and less at the wrong times.

1/7/09
pm., 6 miles easy with the group in 44 minutes

1/7/09
9 miles, 1h05m, 7:11 pace
Sleep: 6h, 6/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 34 degrees
Notes: Cold for around here. Forced myself to really go easy over some trails in the canyon

1/6/09
9 miles, 1h0m, 6:48 pace
Sleep: 5h, 5/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 40 degrees
Notes: Ran 2x800 downhill and 4x300 jog, 100 accelerate-spring to shake the legs out. Felt good afterwards.

1/5/09, big zero. Bad weather and no motivation

1/4/08

2009-01-04T16:39:00.001-07:00

1/4/08
15 miles, 1h43m, 6:58 pace
Sleep: 5h 5/10 (sheesh)
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 52 degrees
Notes: This is what's passing for a long run right now. For some reason I've been getting tired around an hour, and today was no exception. Brought a gel along and took it 9 miles in, which seemed to help a bit. Not a stellar week, but I'm seeing some consistency again.

1/3/08

2009-01-03T18:32:00.002-07:00

1/3/08
9 miles, 1h0m, 6:45 pace
Sleep: 5.5h 5/10 (insomnia for whatever reason)
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 44 degrees
Notes: Started as an easy and slow run but progressed down a bit during the second half. Still not feeling effortless by any means, but I'm rolling a little.

Still Here

2009-01-02T11:19:00.002-07:00

I'm still on the roads, though the motivation has dipped a bit for some reason. I've broken up the training log into a 2006-2008 section and a 2009 section, which starts with the post below.

Both should be in the sidebar, and hopefully I'll get back to some more colorful posts this year.

California International Marathon Training Log

2009-01-02T10:57:00.012-07:00

17 weeks out from C.I.M. marathon, 8/3/09-8/9/09
Mo: 8 around 7:20 pace at 8000 feet, half uphill and half down
Tu: 0
We: 14 at 7:00 pace in the morning
We: 6 around 6:50 pace in the evening (too fast)
Th: 13 at 7:22 pace and a bonk, plus 1x25 second uphill sprint
Th: 5 miles at 7:40
Fr: 16 miles at 7:11, plus 8x300 jog, 100 accelerate-sprint
Sa: 12.5 miles w/4x1600m evaluation at 150HR in 6:03(149HR), 6:07(150), 6:04(150), 6:07(150) :42 seconds to 120HR recovery
Su: 20 miles at 7:15 pace
94 miles in 8 runs

Week 16, 8/10/09-8/16/09:
Mo: 10 miles at 7:22 pace
Mo: 5 miles at 7:32 pace
Tu: 12.5 miles w/3 x .7 mile hill repeats at strong effort
Tu: 6 miles at 7:44 pace
We: 8.5 miles at 7:08 pace, 8xstrides
We: 6 miles at 6:55-ish pace
Th: 11 miles w/8x1000 on 5 minutes in 3:23, 3:19, 3:20, 3:22, 3:21, 3:20, 3:21, 3:20
Th: 5 miles at 7:20 pace
Fr: 12 miles at 7:14 pace
Sa: 12 miles w/6x1600 redline run at 6:06, 6:08, 6:07, 6:07, 6:03, 6:02
Su: 19 very hilly miles (Saguaro loop) at 6:53 pace w/second half around 6:15-6:20 pace
107 miles in 11 runs

Week 15, 8/17/09-8/23/09
Mo: 12 miles at 6:56 +1 hill sprint and 8xstrides
Mo: 5 miles easy
Tu: 15 w/3200, 3200, 1600 tempo (400 recovery) averaging 5:45 down to 5:39
We: 13 easy at 7:13 pace
We: 6 easy around 43m
Th: 12.5 w/3x.7 mile steep hill repeats
Fr: 14 miles at 7:25 pace
Sa: 4.5 easy
Su: 18 w/last four around 6 minute pace
100 miles in 9 runs

Week 14, 8/24/09-8/31/09
Mo: 10 miles at 7:08 pace
Tu: 12 miles w/10 at 6:19 pace
We: 13 miles at 7:00 pace, 8x downhill 100m strides
We: 6 miles around 7min pace
Th: 14 miles w/4x.7 mile hill repeats, very tough
Th: 5 miles easy
Fr: 10 miles at 7:09 pace
Sa: 20 miles at 6:52 pace
Su: 10 miles at 7:07 pace
100 miles in 9 runs

Tuesday's marathon-ish pace effort seemed to be a good idea, and while the downhill strides are needed they made the legs a little sore for Thursday's tough hill effort. It felt good to get in a 20 miler Saturday, but the last few miles were tough. I think the hill effort actually put me behind on recovery for about four days, so I need to be sparing with that kind of hard work.

Week 8, 10/5-10/11)
Mo: 11 miles easy
Tu: 20 miles, 6:57 pace
We: 10 miles easy
We: 6 miles easy
Th: 14 miles w/6 at 6:00 pace on rollers
Fr: 12 miles easy
Fr: 4 miles easy
Sa: 9 miles easy
Su: 14 miles w/10 mile race in 57:32 (5:45 pace)
100 miles in 9 runs

All in all a good week of training given the recovery from the 8K race last weekend and the race today. Goals included a 20 miler, a medium-long run with marathon pace at the end and a solid race effort. Two out of three ain't bad.

12/20/08

2008-12-20T21:20:00.004-07:00

Mystery Coach seems to be preparing to crack the whip a bit, as he advised some preliminary speed-work early in the week along with a 7-miler today at 6:15-6:25 pace. For the preliminary speed I'm putting in short fartlek-style intervals of 45 seconds to 2 minutes, with a very full recovery of 15 minutes or so between each. This seems to work well for preparing the legs for faster runs, and it's also much less boring than strides. As for the seven miles up-tempo today, I can't really complain. It was too cold for my crummy heart rate monitor to work, but it seemed like I was working towards the top quarter of my comfort zone. My body seemed determined to run 6:05-6:10, but it felt more like habit than red-line so I backed off when the paces got too fast.

On a different note, I'm proud to say Haiden and I kept our streak of getting to school under our own power for the whole first half of the school-year (with the exception of my days out of town for the marathon). We've been cycling each day, but this week Haiden told me she wanted to start running (I swear I didn't goad her into it, and even Kiera will vouch for me here). So on Tuesday and Thursday this week we jogged the .8 mile to school together, stopping every few minutes for a short walk break when I could hear her getting out of breath. Another semester of this and she's going to kill those kid-races (haha).

Next up for me is the Sun Run 10K on January 25th. I'm a bit behind where I thought I'd be at this time, but between my job and getting sick it's just how things are this time around. Enjoy the weekend and thanks for reading.

12/20/08
10 miles, 1h04m, w/7 miles at 6:15-ish pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10 Lagged a bit but probably just rusty
Weather: 38 degrees

12/19/08
8 miles, 55m, 6:55 pace w/4x60 second bursts, one every 15 minutes or so
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 38 degrees

12/18/08
7 miles, 50m, 7:11 pace, night run since Kiera was sick in the morning

12/17/08
8 miles, 57 minutes, 7:08 pace, concentrated on running very easy

12/16/08
10-ish miles, first nine at 6:45 pace, w/4x2 minute bursts, one every 15 minutes
Legs: 8/10

The Right Direction

2008-12-15T19:27:00.002-07:00

...After a few detours
Week of 11/24-11/30/08, 36 miles in 4 sessions
Week of 12/1-12/7/08, 51 miles in 6 sessions
Week of 12/7-12/14/08, 64 miles in 8 sessions

Out with the sick and in with the well. I'm finally feeling like myself again, so it's good to see the frequency and the miles moving up. I've been keeping my mind off the paces as I've tried to get back to it, with the exception of making sure to take a slow day after a faster day or two when they happen. Both Saturday and Sunday found me down in the low 6:40's, so today I put the brakes on and really took it easy.

Hopefully Mystery Coach is starting to pen some workouts or faster days for the near future, as I'm finally feeling ready.

Thanks as always for the comments. I'm not finding much to write about lately with the running, so I'm not forcing it by blabbing on (too much) about nothing in particular.

12/15/08
9 miles, 1h04m, 7:07 pace
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 50 degrees

12/6/08

2008-12-06T13:10:00.002-07:00

Mystery Coach sent me out for a four mile evaluation run this morning. In the good old days (before NYC) I could run right around 6:00-6:10 pace at 150 beats per minute, but today was a different story:

Mile 1: 6:36 at 153HR
Mile 2: 6:50 at 152HR
Mile 3: 6:52 at 150HR
Mile 4: 6:42 at 150HR

I was moving so slow that I didn't even mind the fitness walker clinging to the inside curb of lane one or the two easy joggers spread out across lanes one and two. It's clear I'm still under the weather, as I'm spending an extra half hour at home trying to get the crud out of my sinus cavities and lungs before heading out each morning.

I guess it's good to have a baseline, but I'm a bit disappointed to see the bar so low at the moment. It does show that I'm probably not doing the easy runs slowly enough though.

12/6/08
8 miles, 57 minutes, w/4 mile eval in 6:36(153HR), 6:50(152), 6:52(150), 6:42(150)
Sleep: 5h 5/10 (hacking too much to sleep)
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 43 degrees

12/5/08
9 miles, 1h03m, 6:58 pace
Sleep: 6h 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 46 degrees

Is This Thing On?

2008-12-04T10:24:00.002-07:00

36 miles last week and 46 the week before. Those are some grim totals, but I guess if it's going to happen I'd rather see it during the month after a marathon. I apologize for the lack of posts, but between work, family and a few bouts of illness I've been running and posting much less often. I've taken five days off from running in just the last three weeks, but it seems like things are finally getting back on track.

The Thanksgiving Turkey Trot was a bit of a fiasco after I got sick Sunday night of race week. I ended up taking the three days off before the race, and when the big day came I was feeling flat and fatigued. Toss in a torrential downpour and a resulting mud bog for a course (and me with flats and no spikes), and you can probably guess how it went. The hills were so muddy that I had to go into an all out sprint just to get half-way up before losing my momentum, which meant walking with my feet splayed out and my weight forward the rest of the way to avoid sliding back down.

In the end I ran a full minute off my best, but I helped score for our team so I can't complain too much. Most peoples' times were 40 seconds to a minute slower, so maybe I wasn't as far off from form as I felt.

Looking forward, I'm going to just try to stay consistent with runs of 8 to 12 miles over the next week to make sure both the virus and sinus infection are gone for good. My focus is still the spring racing season, so I want to spend the next few weeks just getting healthy and strong again.

Instead of a long list of runs here, I've just put the last few weeks in the the log.

Thanks for reading.

11-18-08

2008-11-18T15:16:00.003-07:00

Seems like the recovery is going well from NYC as I head into my third post-race week. I ended last week with 55 miles after a nice run along Phoneline Trail in Sabino Canyon with some friends. Unfortunately I caught my toe on a rock and nearly took a header on the downhill, and the resulting save tweaked my groin muscle a bit. As a result I'm holding off on adding any strides or short bursts of speed until I'm not feeling stiff and sore there.

I've gone from plain-vanilla easy runs daily to incorporating slightly faster paces either every other or every third day, and the leg turnover seems to be returning somewhat. Altogether, I can't complain.

Sorry for the lack of posts, but the gallery I work for has a show this week so my free time has been severely curtailed. I'm also behind on catching up on several of the runner blogs I check, but I'm happy to see Eric's orange face now has some new entries next to it. Welcome back Sundog, we've all missed you.

11/18/08
8 miles, 52 minutes, 6:34 pace
Sleep: 6hr 6/10
Legs: 7/10 still a tweak in the groin
Weather: 63 degrees

11/17/08
6 miles, 42 minutes, 6:58 pace
Sleep: 5h 4/10
Legs: 6/10 groin tight and sore
Weather: 60 degrees

11/16/08
10 miles, 1h30m, Very hilly Phoneline Trail run with friends
Strained my groin a bit when I almost fell after catching a rock with my toe

11/15/08
8 miles, 53m, 6:40 pace
Legs: 8/10 Felt great

11/14/08
9 miles, 1h02m, 6:59 pace

11/13/08
8 miles, 53 minutes, around 6:40 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10 Just a little heavy but ready to move
Weather: 45 degrees

11/12/08, 6.2 miles in 43 minutes with the Running Shop Gang

Love Letter to Greg Crowther and Great Runs

2008-11-12T06:11:00.006-07:00

This post started as a comment on Greg Crowther's blog, but it quickly grew into a post of its own. I've admired the guy for as long as I've read him, so this post is for him.

Since I stumbled onto your blog a few years ago I've been a fan of your writing and your running. I've enjoyed reading about you becoming a father as much as I have enjoyed reading about your best races and your relentless training. With this being said, I was bummed while checking the results for your race this past weekend, and I wish it had gone better.

Between this post and the more recent one, I would have to agree that you're temporarily burnt out. I think you might be wandering in the gray twilight of stage 4.5, which is a damning place to be (check the second link for context). Heading into this summer I felt like I was wedged firmly in this space after two failed attempts at a marathon PR and a lackluster early racing season which culminated in yet again blowing my two chances to PR at 5K. I quit blogging for a few months after realizing I never wanted to write another crappy race report again.

What seemed to help drag me out of the funk was a bit of a change of focus and the schmaltzy self-help mantra, "Never another starting line". Bear with me here.

I know from your posts that winning isn't enough, which is certainly one of the attributes of a champion (I truly feel you are a champion Greg). What might be worth analyzing is why running a PR or a fast time IS good enough. Now I'm going to add my favorite fortune to the schmaltz (yes, I actually pulled this from a fortune cookie and yes I've mentioned it before). "The greatest effort isn't concerned with the results".

My guess is that even while you are a fierce competitor, glancing at the finishing clock while breaking the tape isn't what you remember about the great races. Instead, I bet you remember and savor the feeling of really running well on those days more than the eventual outcome. I mean the feeling of just KILLING it, turning the screw at the critical time and finding more in the legs to give, or fighting back with courage against overwhelming fatigue and holding firm in your resolve. I'm talking about finding and lingering in that elusive place where so much joy and so much pain intertwine, when you are truly giving your best effort naturally without any second guessing.

Certainly the thrill of competition can bring out a great run, and a great time or placing can cement it in time, but as always the real battle is with the man in the mirror. Without a starting line or a finishing clock, where do true competitors find the motivation to continue running? What made us fall in love with it and what keeps us in love even while slipping into the inevitable "winding down" of age that John L. Parker describes so well?

Finding that thing inside us that keeps us searching for that next great run seems to be the important thing. I'm sure it's there for you and for me, maybe at some 5K a few weeks down the road, or perhaps on some familiar trail, far from any starting line. The value of the greatest effort is slowly supplanting the value of the next PR, though both are quite sweet when they arrive.

The Week That (Barely) Was

2008-11-11T11:56:00.002-07:00

Mo: Off
Tu: Off
We: 6 (sore and stiff)
Th: 4 (see line above)
Fr: 5
Sa: 8
Su: Off
Total: 23 whopping miles in 4 sessions

I took the kids to see my folks in Mesa on Saturday night, and in their traditional fashion they took far too long to fall asleep and woke up at 4:30. This behavior was enough for me to at least blame Sunday's zero on them.

This week is off to a good start with an easy 8 miles yesterday and an easy 6 this morning. I'm still leaving the Garmin at home and just running by feel with a stopwatch, but I can tell I'm starting to move over the road at a faster pace than last week's crawls. The right calf muscle is still gripping the bone a bit too fiercely, but I find I'm noticing it about five minutes later on each run when compared to the run before it. Today I only thought about it at 40 minutes in, so I'm guessing it will be gone altogether in a few days. The adductors, abductors, hamstrings and quads are all still a little sore, but they seem to be coming along nicely. One toenail gone, which is unexpectedly good news. I love those Asics Gel Ohanas.

I'm still committed to going easy through the end of this week and into next week, but I'm starting to think a bit about the upcoming 5K cross-country Turkey Trot on November 27. Since my folks are camping for Thanksgiving instead of cooking, I need to land second place in the 30-39 age group in order to secure a pumpkin pie (Kiera hates pumpkin almost as much as she hates making pies). It would also be nice to knock out a PR for the course here, but with all the uphills, cornering and sprinting on grass it will be a challenge given my usual condition in the month after a marathon.

11/11/08, 6-ish miles in 43 minutes

11/10/08, 8-ish miles in 56 minutes

11/8/08

2008-11-08T13:55:00.002-07:00

After two full days off I've gotten back to some running. I'm taking these days as they come, and I've taken off the Garmin for a few weeks in an effort to run easily by feel without minding the paces. The quads are still tight and sore, and the calf muscles are taking awhile to forgive me. So far no strange or abnormal pain, which is always a good sign. It's been fun slowing down and getting up with the kids for a change with the shorter runs. Thanks for all the great comments on the race, I've enjoyed reading them.

11/8/08
8-ish miles, 58 minutes, a bit less sore

11/7/08
5-ish miles, 38 minutes, right calf is mighty tight

11/6/08
4-ish miles, 30 minutes, ran too much yesterday

11/5/08
6.2 miles with the gang, 43 minutes, A bit too fast and too hard for the first day back

11/4/08, Big Zero

11/3/08, Big traveling zero

Mike the Liar

2008-11-06T16:13:00.003-07:00

In the days leading up to the race last weekend I told Kiera that I was planning on really enjoying the New York trip, as this would be the last time I would be doing something like this. What I meant was the whole dedicated build-up; Four to six months of focused training geared towards a single goal to the exclusion of other pursuits and races. I talked about how it's just too time consuming and expensive to travel to a big race, and how the satisfaction I get from a marathon isn't really any different than how I feel after any 5 or 10K race. I meant all of it too...and then I ran the NYC marathon.

New York is an incredibly exciting place. Even before we got into a cab at the JFK airport we were making plans to join Abdi Abdirahman for dinner in Manhattan. Abdi is a fellow Tucsonan who finished 6th at NYC, and he's a three time Olympian to boot. While we live in the same town, I'd never met him before so it was a kick to dine with him.

Walking back from Abdi's hotel took us past Radio City Music Hall, NBC Studios and Rockefeller Center before we found Grand Central Station for the subway ride home. Just stumbling upon all these landmarks was mindblowing, and worth the blister I ended up getting (the only one for the whole weekend though, so no complaints).

Saturday started with a run along the Hudson River with Lucas and Jason. While the wind and the warm temperatures concerned me, the legs just felt electric and ready to go. The trip afterwards to the expo was a bit scattered as we ended up missing a bus after getting stuck in our own elevator and then missed the next one when we figured out we needed quarters to ride instead of dollar bills. The free shuttle to the expo found us after much more walking, and thankfully lunch and the the trip back home were uneventful. Want to find a good restaurant in Manhattan? Walk one block.

Saturday night found the rest of the gang going out to eat while I stayed home and ate pasta with Catlow, our friend who missed running the marathon due to some leg issues but who served as our official map-reader, navigator, and photographer (and in my case chef as well).

Sunday morning's ferry ride to Staten Island was beautiful and calm. We took Ian's advice and switched from a 5am bus ride from Manhattan to the ferry, and it was a great decision. As the Statue of Liberty passed by I listened to Wilco's "Either Way" with my feet up on a bench, pondering the morning ahead. Again, I felt like I had electricity moving through me, and even with the wind I was very excited about the day ahead.

I already wrote about the race, but the rest of the trip was just as fun. The officials shuttle you out of the park fairly quickly after the marathon, so our group met up on 82nd Street west of the park. At the suggestion of our New York friend Peter we hit a diner called E.J.'s, where I was able to put a check-mark next to my usual post-marathon wish list: Cheeseburger, fries, at least 40 ounces Dr. Pepper and a cup of coffee (had to settle for Pepsi but oh well). From there it was off to the Parlour, a bar-restaurant nearby which was hosting a post-race party for the Central Park track club that Peter belongs to. I drank my two beers and watched the one-hour recap on the big screen TV, talking all the time with both old and new friends. Pure happiness.

After a bus-ride back to the apartment we headed out to Greenwich Village for the best pizza I've ever had. Joe's Pizza on Bleeker Street is the place folks. Here we met back up with Jason, so all four of our runners were back together for a celebratory meal with friends and family. We drank our pitchers of beer and relived the good and bad moments of the race, and all of us seemed to want to give it another try someday. Toss in some gelato from Grom down the street afterwards and you have a perfect post-race evening.

Yes, I still need to tell Kiera I was lying. This trip and the company I enjoyed will be something I will always remember. It's not just another 5K or 10K- it's the New York City Marathon!

Toby, Me and Jason at the finish

No More Ghosts

2008-11-03T19:21:00.005-07:00

If you haven't already, you really should run the New York City marathon. I think this is my 12th marathon, and I can say without hesitation that the race and the city are unforgettable.

With this being said, enjoying this race was the absolutely the furthest thing from my mind as I crouched in the porta-john at mile 14. This was the third time I'd done the knee-knocking sprint to the side of the road during the past 5 miles, so by now I was good at throwing the door open and getting on with it. "I'm sh**ting my race away", I shouted at the brown door in front of me. I stayed in longer this time than the last two abrupt trips, as I desperately wanted this to be the last time. A PR was by all accounts slipping away, my stomach felt like hell and I couldn't keep any calories down.

The pre-race fesitivities started with a scare when the announcement sounded that the race had closed the first wave corrals and was now staging the second wave. We were handing our bags to the UPS truck at the time, which was at least a quarter mile from where we needed to be, and the follow-up announcement made it clear that we were now relegated to the second wave. I'd seen this movie before last October when I was stuck in wave 2 at Twin Cities, and there was no way I was going to go through that nightmare again. Unfortunately, there were probably 1000 people milling about in the space between us (Lucas was with me) and the staging area, so we were forced to bump our way through what seemed like half of the race's participants en route to the tail end of our corral. Thankfully when we showed our bibs to the guards at the gate they waved us in. From there we worked to the front and ran into Ian, which was a nice surprise.

Staring ahead at the supports for the Verrazano-Narrows bridge and feeling the cold headwind blowing into the field gave me chills, and I couldn't wait to get started. I was going to get down to business quick, with my effort-based split plan in hand (actually it was glued to my Garmin thanks to Kiera's scrap-book talents). My planned 6:27 was 6:27 for mile 1, my planned 5:38 (big downhill) was a 5:37 for 2, and the 5:49 and 5:42 came in at 5:39 and 5:48. I was on it. I didn't feel great, and the headwind was really pushing against me, but the crowds and the atmosphere made up for it. It was going to be hard work, but I was going to make it my day.

Unfortunately, the stomach started to give me trouble the next mile, and while I kept hitting the splits, I put off the gel at mile 7 until mile 8. When I took it, I knew it was a mistake. Unfortunately the G.I. distress I'd had since Thursday afternoon hadn't disappeared yet, and the pepto caplets I took Saturday night had kept me from my usual pre-race,(ahem), ritual Sunday morning. In hindsight I should have waited until Sunday morning to take the pepto, but I was worried by then it would be too late to do any good. Suddenly the problem was urgent, and it was very close to being very ugly.

One quick side-trip to the john is no big deal, so I did what I had to do and made sure to not look at my split for that mile in an effort to stay positive and to keep thinking one mile at a time. Unfortunately, a sip of gatorade at mile 9 rubbed me the wrong way, and the cycle repeated itself.

Two trips to the john is in fact a big deal. I was now starting to panic and I could feel the heart rate creeping up with the same effort. Just like the first time, I tried to claw back just a few seconds a quarter or so, slowly dialing down the pace as I went to try to get back on schedule. Things again settled down a bit, and a glance at the big clock showed 1:18:15 or so at the half, though now we were on our way up yet another bridge. Maybe I'll just take another sip of gatorade... The next thing I know I'm at mile 14 where this post begins, shouting at the door of the porta-john.

As I sprint back out on the course and hear the door snap shut behind me, I make the plan: Forget micro-managing the splits, don't even look at them until you reach the tape. No more liquid, as it's just putting me on the toilet. Forget the gels. Push it to the red-line and hold the gear, and do what you're trained to do.

The moment of truth came on the Queensborough bridge. This comes at mile 16, and it's a steady, uphill grind run in silence (no spectators allowed). I'm generally good on hills, and thankfully the angle of the bridge took us out of the headwind. I was rolling by runners like they were standing still, all the while thinking about Mystery Coach's advice to keep an even keel until mile 16. Somehow tossing out the split collecting and focusing solely on effort made things feel easier, even though I could tell by my stride and cadence that I was on pace.

Just as the bridge finally tilts downward, runners are funneled down a quick 180 degree turn onto 5th Avenue and the lights come on...

It's a wall of people, screaming their hearts out for every runner. I instinctively give a little wave and the eruption doubles. This roar continues for miles, and I'm just rolling now. 5:53, 5:56, 5:53, 6:01, 5:52. I hit the park and dig in on the uphill mile 23 for a 5:52, and the calf muscles start to give. All of the sudden I can't drive quite as far forward with the knees because of this, but I make do. 6:11, 6:04, 6:03, then a mad dash for the last .2 for a 2:37:08. It's a meager PR, but I'm proud of myself for making the right decision at the right time, and for making the best of a bad situation. I gave it my absolute best. No ghosts.

Special thanks to Mystery Coach for the plan that made it all possible.

Taper Workout and Race Plan

2008-10-29T15:18:00.006-07:00

This morning I ran my last workout before the marathon, which included a simulation of the first five miles of the race, ten minutes of jogging, then 3x1000 on five minutes. I started a short, two day carbohydrate depletion phase yesterday morning, so I was a bit leery of attempting a confidence-building workout like this with a less than full tank. All in all the workout went well, though the first mile out the door on an uphill at close to race pace was a little tricky. If it's hard not to overdo it while just imagining the race and running at home, I'm sure being in the throngs of people on the Verrazano-Narrows bridge will be even more difficult. I ended up running 6:09, 5:55, 5:56, 5:56 and 5:53 for the effort, and I definitely felt more relaxed during the last two miles than I did for the first three. Finding the heart rate at 157 for the last mile seemed like a good sign.

After the simulation I jogged up to the track at the nearby junior high and broke into the first 1000 straightaway. Mystery Coach was looking for 3:10-3:20, which he noted as a hard, 4-5 mile race effort. I tried to lock in on the first repeat, but the legs were a little rusty after jogging easily up to the track. I was a little bummed to read 3:21 for the first result, but I wasn't interested in pushing the effort any harder. The 1:40 rest interval really seemed to help, so the same effort netted me 3:13 for the second rep, and the heart rate was back to 120 at 80 seconds into the rest interval. The last repeat felt about the same as the second one, so the 3:14 wasn't too surprising. I definitely felt good jogging home, knowing all the preparation for NYC was finally in the bag.

I'm planning on an easy jog and a joyful return to carbohydrates tomorrow. I don't seem to take to this depletion thing too well, or at least my brain doesn't. This morning after the workout I managed to leave the burner on after cooking my eggs and then proceeded to freak out after "losing" my NYC marathon info booklet and bib card. Thankfully Kiera kept me from burning the house down, and by the time I arrived at work she had also emailed after finding my NYC documents.

Friday morning I'm on a plane at 7am with my pal Lucas, who is running his first marathon. We have an apartment rented in Manhattan where we'll meet up with Catlow, Jason, Toby an his wife Jen, who are all traveling to NYC from Tucson. Jason is running his first marathon as well, though with his fast times at shorter distances he's earned a clean, "sub-elite" space on the front of the orange starting line. Toby managed a blue, "professional" start with his previous 2h37m marathon, and Lucas and I will leave from corral A on the orange starting line.

As far as a race plan goes, I have every intention of running a personal best, and if things go my way I'll try to squeeze under 2h35m. The training has gone very well, I haven't gotten sick in the past few weeks, and I have no complaints of soreness or any injury. Yes folks, I'm saying I have absolutely no excuses. Mystery Coach put together a plan that's made me feel more fit than I've ever been, and for the most part I've been smart enough not to overdo it. While it's true that the stresses and effects of travel, accommodations and weather can't be predicted, I'm heading to the city with high expectations and with great friends, so I anticipate a great weekend.

Instead of just trying to hit 5:55 for each mile, I'm hoping to ease into the race for the first 5-8K, and I'll try to mind what I've been learning from this spreadsheet as far as adjusted splits for the ups and downs on the route. If you look at the pacing tab in the excel file it even gives you the option of choosing how fast you get up to speed and how much you anticipate fading at the end. Pretty cool, though I'm only using it as a guideline. Mostly I'm noting the noticeably slow and fast splits in hopes of keeping an even effort throughout the race. In the past I've been a bit of a pace monkey, which has meant braking and giving up free speed on downhills while working too hard to stay on pace during the uphills. With the undulations in mind ahead of time, I hope to stay under the red-line a bit further into the race than usual.

For nutrition, the strategy calls for a gel 15 minutes before the start, then gels at mile 7, 12, 17 and 21. I'll take on sports-drink and water in about even amounts, and I'll stick to my usual strategy of hitting most of the aid stations but only drinking small amounts at each in an effort to aid digestion and absorption.

Having a real kitchen while in NYC should help me with getting the complex carbohydrates I'm used to on Saturday, which is something I've had trouble with when traveling to marathons in the past. I do hope to meet up with blogging minimalist and media personality Ian for a meal on Friday night. We'll also be in the same corral for the start on Sunday. I know Duncan will be covering the race, so I'm hoping to catch up with him too if he can tear himself away from Catherine The Great.

The biggest problem I see for race morning is the ungodly long period of time between our 5am bus departure from the library in Manhattan and the 9:40 starting time. I usually like to eat a decent breakfast about three hours before racing, but the long ride and longer wait will most likely throw me off. Still, I'll make do.

For anyone interested in tracking me, my bib is 2054. In the U.S.A., NBC has a one hour recap of the race on at 3pm eastern on Sunday following the race. Lots of info on the race is available here.

I'll try to check in again before the race. In the meantime, many thanks to my family for their love and support, to Mystery Coach for his excellent advice, planning and counsel, and to all of you for reading.

10/29/08
9.25 miles, 5 mile marathon simulation in 6:09, 5:55, 5:56, 5:56 and 5:53, finishing HR of 157, then 3x1000 on 5 minutes in 3:21, 3:13, 3:14 (max HR 168)
Sleep: 7.5h 8/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: Perfect again

Garmin for Sale

2008-10-28T19:35:00.002-07:00

After having some problems with sweat and the touch-bezel on the new Garmin Forerunner 405 Kiera gave me, I sent it back to the company for a warranty replacement. During the time it's been gone I've gone back to my trusty 205, and since I'm fine with the old one I'm offering up the brand new 405 Garmin sent me back up for sale to my blogging pals before abandoning it on Ebay. This has the heart rate monitor, the ANT+sport stick for wireless transmission to a computer, and everything else it comes with. Shoot me an email if you are interested in buying mine for $270 instead of paying $350 for a new one.

The runs have been going well, and I'm finding it hard to keep the paces moderate with the reduction in volume. I'm leaving for NYC on Friday, and aside from a taper workout either tomorrow or Thursday it's all easy running. Here's how last week went down:

Mo: 8
Tu: 9
We: 13
Th: 10.5, Alternating mile at 6:00 pace, 1/2 mile at 5:30 pace X5
Fr: 8
Sa: 8
Su: 12
Total: 68 in 7 sessions

10/28/08
8 miles, 54m, 6:45 pace, feeling great
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 8/10

10/27/08
7 miles, 47m, 6:45 pace, w/2x800 at MP
Sleep: 7.5h 8/10
Legs: 8/10

10/26/08
12 miles, 1h25m, 7:08 pace, slow and easy with the group
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 75 and sunny

10/24/08

2008-10-24T16:27:00.003-07:00

I've had trouble finding the time to post, but for the most part I've just been trying to stay out of trouble on the runs during the taper. The legs seem to be coming back from the Saturday-Sunday efforts, and my one workout this week of a 1600m at 6 minute pace followed by an 800m surge down to 5:30 pace X 5 went down fine (details below on 10/23). Miles 2 and 3 were a bit fast, but I hope I came to my senses soon enough by backing off for the rest of the workout. It was hard to slow back down to 6 minute pace for the 1600's after working down to 5:30 pace on the 800's.

More shorter runs to follow...

10/24/08
8 miles, 56m, 7:01 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 8/10

10/23/08
10.25 miles, 1h01m, 1600 at 6:00 pace followed by 800 surge down to 5:30 pace x 5 in: 5:57, 2:48, 5:48, 2:44, 5:46, 2:50, 5:56, 2:49, 5:57, 2:44
Resting HR: 40
Sleep: 7h 8/10

13 miles, 1h29m, 6:55 pace
Sleep: 6.5h 7/10
Legs: 7/10

Priorities

2008-10-21T08:58:00.006-07:00

Why do Ryan Adams and the Cardinals want to ruin my marathon? I loved hearing this tune when Kiera and I saw earlier this year when they came to Tucson:

Now they're playing on Halloween at the Apollo in NYC, which is coincidentally the same day I'll get there (the marathon is 11/2). Between the $40 for tix, a few expensive cab-rides and the resulting short night of sleep, I'm wisely passing. But damn, listen to those harmonies!

10/21/08
9 miles, 1h02m, 6:57 pace
Resting HR: 40
Sleep: 7h, 8/10
Legs: 8/10 Had to force myself to keep slowing down
Weather: Yes

10/20/08
8 miles, 58m, 7:08 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10 Just a bit stiff
Weather: Oh man, it's just perfect

The legs are feeling quite good, and Sunday afternoon found me with more energy than usual. Still, I'm really trying to start out the week with caution and recovery in mind, since this is the time for the brain to start fooling the legs into working too hard.

10/19/08

2008-10-19T16:48:00.003-07:00

Busy week at home and at work. My boss is back and my wife (the other boss?)is out of town, which means more work all around. Here's a snapshot of the week, which ends with me two weeks out from the NYC marathon:

Mo: 10
Tu: 12
We: 8 w/8x1000 at 3:13-3:17
We: 5
Th: 8 (car episode, don't ask)
Fr: 12
Sa: 10 w/6 mile marathon start simulation
Su: 19 w/10 at 6:49 pace, then 9 at 5:55 pace
Total: 84 miles in 8 sessions

Saturday-Sunday was the last back to back, with Saturday planned as a simulation of the first 6 miles of the marathon. This included an uphill start, followed by a shorter downhill section and pretty much rolling terrain afterward. I really wanted to feel great for this workout, but I ended up feeling very flat. Perhaps I wasn't fully recovered from the 1000's on Wednesday, or maybe it was just an off day. The details are below (10/18), and while the paces went to plan (starting at 6:10, then working down 5 seconds a mile to 5:55-5:57 pace), I had to put more effort into it than I wanted.

Sunday was a planned 20 miler, with 10 miles at 6:40-6:50 followed by 10 at 5:55-5:57 pace with three half mile surges towards the end to simulate some areas in Central Park. After Saturday's run I was apprehensive, and Mystery Coach let me know it was fine to pull the plug early if it clearly just wasn't happening. I ended up putting in 7 miles at 7 minute pace with some friends before heading off on my own, and during the next three miles I brought the cumulative pace down to 6:49 or so. I ran the marathon pace effort pretty much by feel, just glancing at the pace on the Garmin every half mile or mile to see if I was in the ballpark. While I hoped to see 5:55 on the nose, I was closer to 5:58 or so for the first half. When I turned into the breeze (and a slight uphill after running slightly downhill), the effort got a little tougher, but I was still feeling under control. However, by the time the planned surges came about I was starting to feel enough pressure to just continue at the same effort. By 8 miles I could tell my heart rate and respiration had changed, and I seemed to be either at or just over the red-line. Instead of really forcing it just to finish all 20, I called it at 19 miles and 9 miles at effort. Details are below.

I might add a bit later, but with Kiera gone it's just too crazy around here. All in all I'm happy it went as well as it did, but wondering why it didn't go a little better.

10/19/08
19 miles in 2h01m, 6:24 pace. First 10 at 6:49 adjusted pace (Garmin pace plus 5)
11-19 at 5:55 adjusted pace (Garmin pace plus 5)
Mile 10-12.5 HR: 149avg
Mile 12.5-15 HR: 150avg
Mile 15-17.5 HR: 159avg
Mile 17.5-19 HR: 164avg
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 72 or so, light breeze

10/18/08
10 miles, 1h05m, 6:31 pace, w/marathon start simulation in 6:11, 6:04, 5:59, 5:59(unavoidable uphill), 5:54, 5:55
Sleep: 7h, 8/10
Legs: 6/10 A bad day for a bad day
Weather: 73 degrees and breezy

10/17/08
12 miles, 1h23m, 6:57 pace
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 6/10
Weather: Nice

10/16/08
8 miles, 55m, 6:53 pace
Sleep: 7h, 7/10
Legs: 8/10 Very hard to keep it slow
Weather: 75 degrees and windy

10/15/08 pm., 5 miles at 7:16 pace

Still Learning

2008-10-15T10:08:00.009-07:00

Back on the track for 5-10x1000 this morning, starting each rep on 5 minutes. Unfortunately, the wind buffeting against the house woke me before the gurgling of the coffee maker could, which meant it would be a long morning. Oh well, better today than during Saturday or Sunday's workouts.

An email from Mystery Coach made it clear that rather than an arbitrary number, the paces would depend on me finding and holding the appropriate effort, and that I should quit when I felt I had enough, be it five or all 10 repeats.

With the very strong cross-wind it made sense to run strong through the difficult 200 and to cruise and relax through the aided 200 during each lap, and since I was starting the even-numbered reps into the wind my guess was that they'd be a bit slower than the odds.

3:17, 3:16, 3:14, 3:16, 3:14, 3:14, 3:13, 3:15

Instead of checking every 200 or 400 to see what the pace was I just ran each by feel, trying to tune in to the feeling I had two weeks ago while running 3:22 or so. The wind was obnoxious, but the on-off rhythm it necessitated made the run an interesting challenge. After getting through number six feeling pretty smooth, I started fighting against the headwind to keep up the momentum on number seven. By the time I finished the first 400 of the eighth rep I knew I'd be calling it for the day, and after seeing the time slip back a bit when I finished the deal was sealed. The heart rate was at exactly 120 when I timed it for 15 seconds after resting one minute, which is hopefully a sign I didn't stick it out for too long.

This week and next week are without a doubt the most dangerous two weeks in my preparation for New York. I feel like I have about all the fitness I'll muster for this training cycle, so the natural inclination is to use it. During this period the sounds of fatigue can still be audible, but they can often be muted by the noise coming from adrenaline and a general sharpening up. I'm trying to tune in to them, but it's obviously getting more difficult. The first mile of th 8K two weeks ago is a good example of this, as was the fast start to last week's 7 mile effort. In both cases I probably could have gotten the same or more out of less, and recovered more quickly to boot. I don't think I'm doing myself any favors when I dig in too hard, too soon during workouts or races, and it's certainly a habit that can prove disastrous when carried over into the marathon.

I need to be more mindful of easing into the workouts. Perhaps more importantly, I need to remember that just because I'm in the kind of shape that will stand up to punishment, I don't necessarily have to push things to the edge in order to see gains at this point. I think Lydiard's sharpening is more about bringing the fitness you already have to the surface while getting the body rested and fresh. rather than just blindly piling on intensity because the body will take it. Mystery Coach has certainly told me as much, but as he's mentioned, he's not the one running the workouts.

All right...I wrote it, now I just have to do it.

10/15/08
8 miles, w/8x1000 on 5 minutes in 3:17, 3:16, 3:14, 3:16, 3:14, 3:14, 3:13, 3:15
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: WIND

10/14/08
12 miles, 1h25m, 7:05 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: Very nice

Hurry Up November

2008-10-13T08:40:00.002-07:00

Any other runners out there tripping over countless campaign signs every time they round a corner?

10/13/08
10 miles, 1h09m, 6:57 pace
Sleep: 7.5h 8/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 40 degrees (33 degrees less than two days ago)

10/12/08, Three Weeks Out

2008-10-12T20:14:00.002-07:00

Good long run today with the group to finish up the week. The legs had a little fatigue from the workout yesterday, but they seemed to rally once I got to 15 miles. Here's how the week ended up:

Mo: 12
Tu: 12
We: 14, 6
Th: 12 w/8x300 jog, 100 accelerate-sprint + 1x600 downhill
Fr: 12
Sa: 10 w/7 around 5:44 pace
Su: 20
Total: 98 miles in 8 sessions

10/12/08
20 miles, 2h15m, 6:47 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10 to start, 8/10 at the end
Weather: 48 degrees to start, very nice

10/11/08

2008-10-11T10:12:00.006-07:00

Oh man did I feel great today. Trying out the Asics Ohanas (which I'll probably use for the marathon) helped for the 7 mile effort, but even so I was just dialed in for this one. Mystery Coach set 5:44-5:48 (or marathon pace minus 10 seconds) for the pace guidelines, and since I ran on the track I figured the difference between true miles and my 1600's was about two seconds (I didn't adjust the splits). After running the first 2K a bit fast I seemed to find the pace pocket, and from that point on things just rolled. The sprinklers on the infield were spilling onto the track at many points, so I found myself dodging puddles and running wide pretty frequently in an effort to stay relatively dry. It's nice to see the Ohanas drain pretty well.

I was glad to see the heart rate rise quickly and stick at 161. It seems like the body is getting a bit more used to these kinds of efforts.

10/11/08
10 miles, 1h01m, 7 mile effort at 5:38(154HR), 5:40(159), 5:42(159), 5:40(160), 5:42(161), 5:42(161), 5:42(161)
Sleep: 7h, 9/10
Legs: 10/10
Weather: 73 degrees, humid & breezy and sprinkles (actually sprinklers)

Busy

2008-10-10T12:58:00.004-07:00

Just marking time for a few days. Worked on form a bit with 8x300 jog, 100 accelerate-sprints along with 1x600 downhill yesterday. No more soreness from the race, and a planned 7 miles at 5:44-5:48 pace on the schedule for tomorrow. Best wishes to Greg for a great marathon in Chicago this weekend. He's done all the work (and then some).

10/10/08
12 miles, 1h22m, 6:53 pace
Sleep: 7.5h 8/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather 68 or so, warming up again?

10/9/08
12 miles, 1h22m, 6::53 pace, w/8x300 jog, 300 accelerate-sprint, plus 1x600 downhill
Sleep: 6h 5/10 Ugh
Legs: 6/10
Weather: 60 or so, very nice

10/8/08 pm., 6.2 miles 44 minutes, easy with the gang

10/8/08
14 miles, 1h39m 7:05 pace
Sleep: 6.5h 6/10
Legs: 7/10 Held back a bit
Weather: ideal

10/7/08

2008-10-07T10:45:00.004-07:00

The sprint to the finish at the end of Sunday's race seemed to have activated the very deepest of my buried fast-twitch fibers. You know, the ones usually reserved for jumping off the fire escape of a burning building or similar. As such the quads feel like they took on a little damage, so I'm just plodding along until the soreness subsides. I think the last ten seconds of that race probably added two days to my recovery, which is enough of a lesson for me to ditch any question of racing a 10 miler two weeks out from the marathon. I had thought of running the race as my 10 miles of marathon pace planned for that day, but I know there's too much of a chance of me getting sucked in and pushing beyond what I can recover from come marathon day.

Speaking of recovery, last week focused on fewer miles and workouts. Between recovering from the back to back workouts that finished a week ago Sunday and preparing for the race this past Sunday, it seemed as good a week as any to back off. Here's how it went down:

Mo: 10, 5
Tu: 12
We: 12, 5
Th: 16
Fr: 10
Sa: 8
Su: 10 w/8K race
Total: 88 in 9 sessions

This seemed to be a needed break, as I was really dragging on Monday and Tuesday of last week. The next two weeks will be challenging, but thankfully the energy levels seem good and I seem to be handling the workload. Thanks to all of you for reading, and for all the kind comments on the race this past weekend.

10/7/08
12 miles, 1h22m, 6:54 pace
Sleep: 6h 6/10
Legs: 7/10 Still sore
Weather: 60 degrees

10/6/08
12 miles, 1h24m, 7:03 pace
Sleep: 6.5h 6/10
Legs: 5/10 sore quads
Weather: 58 degrees

10/5/08
10 miles w/8K race in 26:32 (10th place, PR)
4:59, 5:15, 5:21, 5:38, 5:18
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 9/10 Ready
Weather 62 and breezy

10/4/08
8 miles, 57m, 7:10 pace
Sleep: 8h 9/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 60 and nice

Run and Roll 8K

2008-10-05T19:11:00.005-07:00

Me goofing off with the kids at a friend's birthday party after the race. Photo by Kiera

Ignoring the splits for the 8K this morning probably saved me a heart attack at the first mile marker. I know from past experience and discussions that it's probably a bit short (and definitely a bit downhill), but even so, seeing a 4 on the minute side of the watch would probably be more than I could handle (4:59). At this point I was still comfortable and running by myself, behind two groups of runners. I was probably in 16th place or so, and while I felt good I could tell the legs were just about at the max of what they could do without me bouncing all over the place.

The second mile typically finds the pack easing, which was the case for the second group just ten steps ahead of me. The first group continued to rocket away, I could tell I wouldn't be seeing them again. I was breathing and sweating now, but the legs still had their strength. I could see some heads waggling and shoulders tightening ahead of me, and while I held my distance and tried to settle in a few from the group came back to me. I hit the split at the second mile and imagined 5:20 (it was 5:15) before honing in on the tangent for another sharp left turn. The course snaked through the University's campus, and it was hard to keep the momentum up through all the turns.

Another two runners drifted back during the third mile, and it was taking a lot more effort to hold my ground behind the shattered remains of the group in front of me. For the first time I started searching for the next mile marker, which I didn't even spend the energy to guess on (it was 5:21), and I remember mentally marking the 5K point in an effort to rally for the last 3K. The fourth mile is really the killer on this course, as it features most of the uphill for the race as well as a tough concrete section through an underpass. The group ahead of me had dwindled to three (I think one more came back to me but it's hard to remember), and now one of them was pulling away from the other two. As I focused on them I could see that the two left behind were now pulling away from me. Unfortunately, I was really on the limit here and I just couldn't turn the screw. The legs felt full and the breathing was shallow, and I kept having to focus on driving my legs instead of following their lead (as I had during the first two miles). I sighed with relief when the marker for mile 4 appeared (5:38).

The last mile (well not quite a mile) found me doing what we all do for the last mile. From the cadence in the legs I could tell I was still on a good race, but it was really hurting now. The last half mile winds through a few more tight turns, and unfortunately the crowds on the sidelines started letting me know about someone coming up from behind. With 200 to go I started to feel his presence, so I surged and focused for the hard, right angle turn that appears 100 meters or so before the line. I pulled on the pavement and cut the tangent right along the curb, but as I made my pivot I catch an elbow and get pushed off the turn and into the middle of the road as the guy somehow muscles past me on the inside.

My eyes get big and I just lose it.

I'm digging into the road to pull this guy back in the 100 meters I have left. Arms are akimbo and flailing, and I feel like my torso is a half-step behind my legs. I remember looking at his right ear, wishing him to turn that head and look at me as I'm drawing close to even and giving it absolutely everything. When I get the step I get mean and get another two on him before crossing the line (5:18 for a 26:32).

Before they even tear our bibs at the end of the chute the guy is apologizing to me. I know it's hard to think straight in those circumstances, and I really appreciated him making the gesture. Later I look in the results and see he's 16 years old (yes, less than half my age).

It's a 23 second PR for me, which is especially nice after my recent grumblings about the static state of my list of bests. Knowing I can still get mean was the best part though.

The New Easy, Redux

2008-10-03T10:20:00.005-07:00

Yesterday Michael asked, "Have you noticed that your recovery runs have been slower than in the past? Have you worked on making that so?"

The short answer to both questions is yes. Last summer I had a very hard time building miles and training volume during my conditioning for the Twin Cities marathon. During my first 11 weeks of base building I only averaged 83 miles a week, with weeks 9 through 11 at 77, 72 and 73 miles. In retrospect, I did most of these runs at 7 minute pace or faster, and as a result I either cut too many short or was too tired to add a second run when I needed to. I think in the end I just didn't build my conditioning up with enough miles to make the most of the specific training afterwards.

For New York I felt I needed to get back to higher volume, and when I started my conditioning phase in the heat of summer I took a cue from the three weeks of easy, watch-free running the coach forced on me before starting the training cycle. I'd come out of this forced off-season feeling very fresh, and running slow when I needed to (without the pressure of the watch) seemed to be a big part of it. Why mess with a good thing?

My first 11 weeks of training this time found me averaging 94 miles per week, including one week of 70 miles when I was sick and working away from home. I don't think I could have managed it without the slow five milers on the treadmill at the gym and several days a week at slower than 7 minute pace. I don't know whether it's an age thing or not, but it's just what seems to be working. It also seems to have the side benefit of making the workout days go smoother, which would stand to reason. I also think it makes me less of a crank to be around, but I guess Kiera would be the better judge of that.

10/3/08
10 miles, 1h09m, 6:53 pace
Sleep: 8h, 8/10
Legs: 7/10 Holding back at first, tight quads at the end
Weather: So nice I'd feel guilty posting it

10/2/08
16 miles, 1h49m, 6:53 pace
Sleep: 7,5h 7/10
Legs: 7/10 A little fatigue towards the end
Weather: Perfect

10/1/08 pm., 5 miles around 7:20 pace, 90 degrees

10/1/08

2008-10-01T10:28:00.002-07:00

I definitely needed a few days to recover from the Saturday-Sunday runs, so I took it quite easy on Monday and Tuesday. There's no real soreness to speak of, just a deep fatigue in the legs that was tested by two more days of big wind. Thankfully the weather cooperated this morning, and I had enough snap to add 8x100 strides during the last few miles to try and shake out the cobwebs in the legs.

I'm really making an effort to back off on the two days following a tough workout, though it isn't as tough a decision as it used to be since the legs now seem to demand it. I'm more than happy to just follow their lead.

I'm racing an 8K on Sunday, which will take care of the speed for the week. I'll still hopefully get in a long-ish run tomorrow, but otherwise it's looking like a down week as far as intensity goes. The 8K is one of my favorite races of the year, so hopefully I can drag the whole family along for it.

10/1/08
12 miles, 1h22m, 6:53 pace, w/8x100 strides/accelerations
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10 (getting there)
Weather 70 and perfect

9/30/08
12 miles, 1h26m, 7:08 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 6/10 Still need a little recovery
Weather: 75 degrees and lots of wind

9/29/08 pm., 5 easy miles on the treadmill around 7:40 pace

9/28/08
10 miles, 1h12m, 7:14 pace
Sleep: 6.5h 6/10
Legs: 6/10 dragging
Weather: 75 degrees and a crap-load of wind, not fun

9/28/08

2008-09-28T09:51:00.005-07:00

Note to self: No leftover chili for lunch the day before the marathon.

G.I. distress is fine, but throw in a devil wind, warm temperatures and a Garmin that decided not to turn on and you have the makings of a tough marathon run. I drove ten miles to the river path before I realized the Garmin was toast, so heading back wasn't an option. Luckily the river path has marks every 100 meters thanks to the University of Arizona's cross country and track teams, but between the darkness in the morning and the stretches of interrupted pavement (they can't really paint washboard sand) I was pretty well confused for my first 10 miles at a planned 6:45 pace. I knew from past runs where to turn around (I did the first half as an out and back to take the brunt of the wind for the first five), but as I came upon the marks I kept thinking they were wrong. One mark would seem too early and the next came too late, and it was only when I reached the turnaround at 32:10 that I realized I was running under 6:30 pace into the wind. I tried to slow down on the way back, but finally just settled in to a heart rate of 138-140, even though it was still ahead of pace. When I grabbed a drink and took a gel at 10 miles I was just under 1h05m, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

Since the wind was really picking up and blowing in one direction on the path, I decided to run the first two of the ten miles at 6 minute pace with the wind at my back, then turn around and run into the wind for five miles before letting the wind push me back home for the last three. By now it was light enough to see the marks on the path, so by adding two seconds to each 1600 I figured I would get an accurate reading on my pace for each mile.

Adjusted splits: 5:56(142HR), 5:58(152), 5:57(158), 6:00(159), 5:44(157), 6:03(159), 6:01(164), 5:54(164), 6:00(163), 5:42(164)

I pretty much ran by feel, and as expected the miles out of the wind (1-2, 8-10) felt much easier than the miles into the wind (the rest). Changes in terrain and various bridges and underpasses can explain some of the variation, but I did consciously slow a bit on the 6:03 mile after burning the 5:44. All in all it was a tough run, but I think if I'd had the same conditions today that I had yesterday I would have felt a bit stronger at the end. Still, it's a good run to have in the bank and a good end to the week:

Mo: 12
Mo: 5
Tu: 10.5
We: 12 w/10x1000 at 3:23
We: 6.2
Th: 6
Fr: 12
Sa: 11 w/7 at 5:52 pace
Su: 20 w/10 at 6 min pace
Total: 95 miles in 9 sessions

9/28/08
20 miles, 2h04m
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 78 degrees, 54 dew-point, lots of wind

Bottle it Up

2008-09-27T10:04:00.004-07:00

Perfect weather, two nights in a row with eight hours of sleep, and light volume over the past two days made for some good numbers this morning. Check it out-

The plan called for seven miles at 5:52 pace, which was the same workout I did two weeks ago (9/13) on the river path with the Garmin. Even though I'm adding five seconds per mile to what the GPS reads on road runs, it's hard to directly compare the two workouts as I did this one by the stopwatch on the track. Still, each mile today felt like walking up and rolling strike after strike at the bowling alley. By the first 400 I could feel the heart rate and breathing firmly settled, and it was just a matter of staying calm and relaxed to keep things humming along in the zone.

...And yes, I fully realize comparing bowling to running shreds any remaining indie credibility I might have, but you already know I like Hall & Oates so wasn't that gone already?

The legs were still humming and light on the mile back to the house, but I resisted the temptation to add to the cool-down given the 20 miler with 10 at six minute pace tomorrow. I figure if I have anything left over it would be better to spend it then.

This is the first run this training cycle where I've felt like I stayed under my red-line at a pace equal to or faster than my planned marathon pace, so I'm giving myself and Mystery Coach a pat on the back. I'm hoping I can come out of tomorrow's run with the same feeling.

9/27/08
11 miles, 7 mile effort in 5:52(150HR), 5:51(153), 5:50(154), 5:49(154), 5:50(155), 5:49(155), 5:48(155), :36 second recovery to 120HR
Resting HR: 42 (a little high)
Sleep: 8h 9/10
Legs: 9/10 A little heavy on the warm up, then great
Weather: 68 and humid

One of my Favorite Days

2008-09-26T11:16:00.005-07:00

The birthday girl (photo by Kiera)

Took an unplanned light day yesterday after staying out too late seeing My Morning Jacket perform. As a result the usual mid-week 16 miler turned into an easy 6, which gave me just enough time to bike Haiden to school. The usual evening time-vortex sucked away my chance for a double, and since I was feeling tired from a few poor nights of sleep I just considered it a wash.

This morning I woke feeling good and got in 12 miles early, which gave us plenty of time for Haiden to open presents. Tomorrow starts a difficult two days with back to back workouts, so hopefully the easy day yesterday and some good sleep will soak up before then.

9/26/08
12 miles, 1h23m, 6:55 pace
Sleep: 8h 9/10 (finally)
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 75 and humid again

9/25/08
6 miles, 42m, 7:05 pace
Sleep: 4.5h 2/10
Legs: 5/10 (see line above)
Weather: windy, sunny, hot (didn't enjoy this)

9/24/08 pm., easy 6.2 with the gang, very slow

9/24/08

2008-09-24T11:29:00.002-07:00

Today I figured out which shoes I won't be wearing come marathon morning. I gave the new Asics Hyperspeeds a go for my workout on the track, but between the very low heel height, the minimal padding in the forefoot and a less-than-perfect fit I decided that these shoes should probably top out at 10 miles of racing. Tonight I'll try out the Asics Banditos, but what I'm really looking for are two shoes that don't exist anymore (the old XI version of the Asics DS trainer and the extinct Asics Ohana Racer). While I'm listing off shoes I want but can't get, I might as well add the last incarnation of the Hyperspeed, since it fit me much better, had a slightly higher heel and more forefoot cushioning. Yes, I'm living in the past.

Now where was I before I started complaining? Oh yes, on the track for 5-10X1000, one every five minutes with a goal pace of 3:24-3:30 (with a little leeway), and a plan to surge from 700-900 meters before coasting in. I was told by Mystery Coach to stop once the effort matched how I felt at 2.5 miles into a 5K. Usually my eyeballs are dragging on the ground by that point, so I figured I would probably get all ten in.

3:22, 3:22, 3:24, 3:23, 3:23, 3:22, 3:23, 3:22, 3:23, 3:23

The workout really seemed to go well. Typically I'd hit the first 400 very relaxed in 1:20-1:21, then I'd ease up just a little until I surged from 700-900 before easing to the line. As the reps progressed I started getting a bit more ahead of schedule at the 600 mark, so I started cutting the surges a little earlier and worked on form for the last 200. The lungs never complained, and the legs didn't seem to feel the load until the eighth rep. Even at that point it seemed more a case of the calf muscles and quads getting used to the new shoes, as the paces didn't dip.

All in all I was happy with the day, especially since this was the first higher volume speed workout I've done since May.

9/24/08
12 miles, 1h11m?, w/10x1000 on 5 minutes in 3:22, 3:22, 3:24, 3:23, 3:23, 3:22, 3:23, 3:22, 3:23, 3:23
Sleep: 5h 5/10 Ugh
Legs: 8/10 Good
Weather: 70 degrees and pleasant

9/23/08

2008-09-23T15:42:00.003-07:00

Just laying low and staying out of trouble after the Saturday-Sunday back to back workouts.

9/23/08
10.5 miles, 1h12m, 7:03 pace
Sleep: 7h, 7/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: Fine

9/22/08 pm., 5 miles, 37m, 7:29 pace

9/22/08
12 miles, 1h24m, 7:06 pace
Sleep: 6.5h 6/10
Legs: 7/10 (Little tired at the end)
Weather: Nice

9/21/08

2008-09-21T18:09:00.003-07:00

Mystery Coach laid out an interesting long run today which included 7 miles at 6:10-6:15 pace...with a twist. After each mile I was told to spend a half mile gradually accelerating up to my maximum "relaxed" speed before immediately heading into the next 6:10-6:15 mile. It took my legs a few miles to come to grips with the fact that the 6:10-6:15 miles were actually the "recovery" part of the run, but after about four miles I seemed to settle in fairly comfortably. I didn't blow the doors off any of the 1/2 mile sections, but I did seem to get down to below 5K pace for at least a tenth of a mile or so by the end of them. I still seem to not have much top end at the moment, but it's hard to really dig in full-bore when you know you have several more miles at close to marathon pace ahead of you during a run like this. All in all it was a fun and challenging run, though I regretted getting a late start on it since it's heating up around here again. I spent the evening before at what I guess I can call band rehearsal, though there's only two of us at the moment. Getting to bed at midnight doesn't go along well with a 5am wake up for a tough long run.

Another week down:
Mo: 10 easy
Tu: 12, 4
We: 13 w/preliminary speed, 6
Th: 16
Fr: 12 easy (felt bad)
Sa: 12 w/7 around 5:56 pace
Su: 18 w/10.5 mile effort alternating 6:10-6:15 miles w/.5 mile acceleration
Total: 104 in 8 sessions

9/21/08
18 miles, 1h54m, 6:23 pace, 7 alternating mile/half mile paces of: 6:12/5:52, 6:11/5:41, 6:12/5:42, 6:10/5:43, 6:05/5:38, 6:10/5:45, 6:11/5:39
Sleep: 4.5h 4/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 78 degrees and dry

Chart It

2008-09-20T10:51:00.003-07:00

It was a civilized morning on the track, with slower runners yielding the inside lanes and everyone saying "good morning" to each other (and nary a dog to be found).

Mystery Coach backed down the 7 mile effort to 5:58 pace today, so I was able to cruise fairly comfortably through the run. The legs did feel a little heavy for the last mile, but after feeling sick to my stomach Thursday night and having a slow, shaky run on Friday I chalked it up to my system just being a bit stressed by either a bug or too much barbeque. The new Garmin is a royal pain in the butt when it comes to switching screens to find how long it takes for my heart rate to get back to 120, so I gave up and did it the old fashioned way at 1:40 and I was already at the recovery number.

In comparing the runs over the past five weeks it seems I'm slowly reaching a heart rate equilibrium at 5:56 pace or slower, which is a good sign. As I've mentioned before, I'd feel much better about a goal pace of 5:54 or so if I felt I could run that and keep my heart rate at or below 160 for the first hour of the marathon. As last week showed, however, I still rocket past a 160HR when I drop the pace to 5:50 or so for 30 minutes. Mystery Coach's 5:58 guideline for today was probably a very astute assessment of my current redline, as shown by the results today and on 9/5.

As I mentioned above, yesterday's run was simply damage control. As I drove into town to see Liam Finn play (Neil Finn of Crowded House's son), my stomach started revolting and I felt a wave of fatigue come on. I made it through an early show for a different band at another club, but I ended up just driving home before even making it to the Finn gig. A rough night followed, so for the run the next morning (Friday) I decided to go as slow as I could. Sticking it out for 12 instead of calling it at 8 or 10 was probably a little dumb in hindsight, but by the afternoon I was feeling right again.

Tomorrow's long-ish run should be interesting after getting the email from Mystery Coach. I'll let you know how it goes.

9/20/08
12 miles, 1h17m, 7 mile effort in 5:55(150HR), 5:57(154), 5:56(155), 5:56(158), 5:57(156), 5:55(156)
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: Nice

9/19/08
12 miles, 1h28m, 7:24 pace
Sleep: 6h 5/10
Legs: 5/10 (Blah, coming off a bug or something)
Weather: No complaints

Fighting Legs

2008-09-18T11:55:00.003-07:00

Michael recently asked, "How are you feeling about your marathon training this go around? Have you looked back and compared to where you were at this stage in your last preparation?"

Well, at this time during the last build I had just decided to run an "easy" marathon race six weeks out from my goal marathon. I won't be making that mistake again. I guess my feelings about my fitness at this point are fairly close to how I felt last time around, which is that I feel I can certainly take a beating, but I can't necessarily give a beating.

What I mean is that the legs feel like they're finally trained enough to stand up to difficult circumstances (like a 24 miler or a tough workout), but they're not quite to the point where they can dish out the sort of punishment necessary to break new ground in the form of a marathon PR. There's enough confidence and fitness to give a wry smile when 16 miles are on the docket, but I'm feeling it at 12 miles and staring at another two miles of uphill before the remaining road levels out (this morning). I can finish the run, I can do the workout, and I can usually manage the paces, but the questions of how much each effort takes out of me and how much stronger each run makes me still remain.

I don't feel like I'm topping out yet (in spirit or in effort), and I'm thankful to still have 6 1/2 weeks of training ahead of me to fine-tune and hopefully grab that last 3-4% I need to get down around 2h35m for the marathon. Mystery Coach is micro-managing the workouts during these last 10 weeks with what appears to me to be more of an eye on my recovery and adaptation than the actual times of the workouts (Axiom Number Two, anyone?) Until now the efforts have been fairly few and far-between, though it looks like the screw will get turned a bit starting next week. With this approach I'm finding myself looking forward to the remaining efforts, which is where I want to be, instead of just looking forward to the hard training being over.

9/18/08
16.5 miles, 1h52m, 6:54 pace
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 7/10 (Rallied at the end)
Weather: 67 degrees, 55 dew-point (perfect)

9/17/08 pm., 6.2 miles in 42:30, felt easy

9/17/08
13 miles, 1h29m, 6:53 pace, w/3x2 minute surges, hilly run up Sabino Canyon
Sleep: 7.5h 7/10
Legs: 7/10

9/16/08 pm., 4.25 miles at 6:45 pace (downhill all the way to pick up my car)

9/16/08

2008-09-16T10:30:00.003-07:00

9/16/08
12 miles, 1h22m, 6:56 pace
Resting HR: 39 (back to normal)
Sleep: 7.5h 8/10
Legs: 6/10 Still a little heavy
Weather: 71 degrees, 55 dew-point

9/15/08
10 miles, 1h11m, 7:06 pace
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 6/10 Heavy
Weather: 74 degrees, hella-windy

Just marking time for a few runs while I recover from the long run. The legs felt pretty flat on Monday, but running into a devil wind for most of the morning seemed to exacerbate the discomfort. Today's run went better, but I still didn't have too much snap in my step. I'm hoping for a second run today, but unfortunately it will be whatever distance it is between my work and the repair shop where our car is getting getting new brakes.

9/14/08

2008-09-14T09:26:00.003-07:00

9/14/08
24 miles, 2h46m, 7:01 pace
Resting HR: 42 (still a little high)
Sleep: 7h, 6/10 (still getting multiple wake-up calls from the kids)
Legs: 9/10 Felt like I was holding back the whole way
Weather: 68 degrees, 55 dew-point (So nice)

Very nice long run with the gang today. I was a little flat during the first 6 mile loop, but after picking up Scott for the second part of the run I just kept feeling better and better. This was a hilly one around my neighborhood, but I felt strong on all the uphills. It was really nice to still have some energy left in the legs even during the final few miles. This ended a good week:

Mo: 13 w/preliminary speed bursts
Tu: 13 w/7 miles of cruise intervals
We: 10, 6
Th: 14 easy
Fr: 12 w/preliminary speed bursts
Sa: 10 w/7 at 5:50 pace
Su: 24
Total: 102 in 8 sessions

I'm off for a drive up to Phoenix to see a Diamondbacks game, woohoo!

Mike Learns a New Trick

2008-09-13T11:02:00.003-07:00

While I couldn't get my Mac to agree with Ewen's cool graphing program, I finally figured out how to do one of these on my own. Yes, I'm pathetic with computers.

Mystery Coach has been assigning a seven mile effort on the day before my long run each week, so I figured it might be time to compare the last four (including the workout this morning). 8/23's run was supposed to be at a constant 155 heart rate, 8/27 was planned as 6:10 pace or faster if I felt like it, and 9/5 called for 6-flat pace. Today's run was our first try at hitting Mystery Coach's marathon pace minus 10 seconds pace of 5:52.

I felt quite good during the first half of the run along the river path, and I kept finding myself a bit ahead of schedule on the paces before easing off. During mile five I could feel the effort, but knew that I'd survive without draining the tank too much. With that being said, miles six and seven felt tougher than I feel they should have. I could feel I was over the red-line (or my maximum steady-state) for both of these miles, and chances are I crossed over somewhere towards the end of mile five.

Comparing the numbers above is a bit of an apples to oranges affair, but I do notice some trends. During the past three weeks the heart rate seems to have stabilized around 6 minute pace, which is good news if I want to run the same old 2h37m marathon in two weeks. Luckily for me, though, I still have seven more weeks until the NYC marathon. This means five more weeks to fine tune things, and even if the gains during the upcoming weeks slow under the increased volume I should still find myself ahead of where I was going into the Phoenix marathon in January.

9/13/08
10 miles, 1h01m, 7 mile effort at 5:49(151HR), 5:51(155), 5:48(157), 5:50(159), 5:50(162), 5:49(165), 5:50(167)
Sleep: 7.5h 6/10 ("Honey, is there a law against tying children in their beds?"
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 68 degrees, 58 dew-point

9/12/08
12 miles, 1h21m, 6:51 pace, 2/2x45 second bursts, 2x2 minute bursts (long recoveries)
Resting HR: 42
Sleep: 8h 8/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 65 degrees, 65 dew-point

9/11/08

2008-09-11T10:41:00.002-07:00

9/11/08
14 miles, 1h38m, 6:54 pace, 140HR
Resting HR: 47 (Way high)
Sleep: 7.5h 8/10
Legs: 7/10
Weather: 69 degrees, 65 dew-point

9/10 pm., 6.2 miles in 43 minutes, felt easy

9/10/08
10 miles, 1h11m, 7:07 pace
Sleep: 5h 4/10
Legs: 5/10 (see line above)
Weather: 76 degrees, 60 dew-point

Tuesday's workout tired me out a bit more than I thought it would, but instead of hitting the sack early that evening I ended up going to see Squeeze after Kiera won tickets by calling in to a radio contest. Yes, I fully realize any shred of indie cred I used to have has vanished after blogging about seeing Squeeze, Ringo Starr and Hall & Oates over the past few years. Thanks to Duncan's recommendation I did catch Wolf Parade though (apparently he just saw them too).

Anyway, the combination of the workout on Tuesday and a very short night of sleep following it made Wednesday's morning run a dragging slog of sorts. I had originally planned on running 16 miles, but I just never settled in and kept finding myself wishing was done. The legs felt tired and the motivation just wasn't there, so rather than forcing it I called it at 10 miles. The evening run with the group went much better, probably because of a quick shower beforehand that dropped the temperature down into the 80's.

This morning I didn't feel great upon waking, and I was surprised to find my heart rate up at 47BPM, much above the 38-39 I've been at for the past few weeks. I decided I decided to just run easy for as long as I felt good, which ended up being 14 miles. I brought along the heart rate monitor, but the readings were about normal with a 140 average for the run. This morning's data could just be an anomaly, but combined with my general irritability over the past few days and my lack of good sleep I think it's safe to say I'm a bit behind in my recovery. Hopefully a good night's rest and an easy run tomorrow will put me right for the weekend runs.

9/9/08

2008-09-09T08:28:00.004-07:00

9/9
13 miles, 1h25m, workout
1 mile 6:04 (2min), 1 mile 6:02 (2min), 1 mile 5:59(2min), 1200 in 4:23(1min), 800 in 2:52(1min), 1 mile in 5:42(2min), 1 mile in 5:42(2min), 1 mile in 5:41
Sleep: 6.5h 6/10
Legs: 7/10 A little fatigued but plenty for the workout
Weather: 76 degrees, 59 dew-point

9/8/08
13 miles, 1h31m, 7:03 pace, w/2x45 second bursts, 2x2 minute bursts (long rests)
Sleep: 6.5h 6/10
Legs: 6/10 A little fatigued
Weather: 75 degrees, 57 dew-point

9/7/08
12 miles, 1h25m, 7:05 pace
Sleep: 6.5h 6/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 73 degrees, 58 dew-point

Today's workout (top) is about as close as I get to cruise intervals under Mystery Coach's tutelage. The marathon pace workout this weekend switches to MP-10 seconds, which will mean running at 5:52 pace or so for 7 miles. This workout got me down to that pace (and faster) with the benefit of some short rest intervals. I still seemed to have a little fatigue left in the legs, but the lungs really responded well to the workout. No heart rate data to work with, but we'll have to survive. This was a continuous run where I jogged in the outside lane during all the recovery intervals, which meant almost 9 miles of spinning around the track. I think I'll give the oval a break for at least a few days.

Yesterday's run was a pleasant 12 miles with some preliminary speed thrown in, and while it wasn't too taxing I just never made it to the gym for a second run. Sunday's run to end the week was another uneventful 12. Here's how last week went down:

Mo: 11 (8 mile race)
Tu: 12
We: 16, 6
Th: 10 (preliminary speed), dragged a bit
Fr: 11 w/7 around 6min pace
Sa: 18 w/10 at 6:38 pace then 7 around 6min pace
Su: 12
Total: 96 in 8 sessions

The miles were down again for the second week, but considering the race on Monday and the workouts on Friday and Saturday I'd say the overall volume was probably the most I've done this build.

Coming Around

2008-09-06T09:12:00.006-07:00

Today's run was the second half of Mystery Coach's famous back to back workout. After seven miles around current marathon pace yesterday, I tried for ten miles steady plus seven more miles at 6:10-6:15 pace this morning. The coach gave me some leeway to shift the paces according to how I felt, and as luck would have it I felt GOOD.

The first ten was slated for 6:35-6:40 pace, and it took some monitoring to keep to what eventually ended up being 6:38 pace. The legs wanted to go a little faster, but thinking ahead to the next seven miles kept them relatively in check.

I decided to break the seven mile effort into four segments: 3 x 2 miles then 1 x 1 mile, run continuously of course. The first two breezed by in 12:07 and felt very easy, probably because of the net downhill. Miles three and four went by in 12:12, and it took a little bit of concentration to keep on pace. Miles five and six turned uphill about half-way through, and while I could feel the heart rate climbing a bit it felt good to dig in a little (12:02). I suffered the uphill on mile six en route to the track to run the last mile, where I ignored the pace and just tried to feel the effort. Again I could feel the heart rate bump up a little, but it felt good to finish the effort feeling strong with a 5:50.

When I stepped off the track I waited for my heart rate to drop to 120, but for some reason it seemed to stick at 125 from about 60 seconds all the way to 1:50, when it finally fell to 120. This might have a been a techno-glitch, but I guess it's something to note.

During the one mile cool-down back to the house I contemplated adding two more slow miles to even out the run at 20, but after thinking about the effort today, plus yesterday's run and the race on Monday I just headed home to start recovering.

I feel like I've gained a bit of a bump in fitness over the past two weeks, so it's going to take some good planning to keep the upward trajectory without overdoing it. I think I can hear Mystery Coach crunching the numbers right now from his undisclosed location.

9/6/08
18 miles, 1h55m, around 6:23 pace
10 at 6:38 pace (148HR), then 2 miles in 12:07(147HR), 2 in 12:12(153), 2 in 12:02(157), 1 at 5:50(161), 1:51 to 120HR (stuck at 125 for almost a minute)
Sleep: 7h 8/10
Legs: 8/10
Weather: 75 degrees, 48 dew-point

9/5/08

2008-09-05T11:18:00.003-07:00

9/5/08
11 miles, 1h11m, 7 mile effort in 5:59(151HR), 5:59(150), 6:00(151), 5:59(153), 5:57(154), 5:59(154), 5:58(153), :50 seconds to 120HR
Resting HR: 38
Sleep: 7h 7/10
Legs: 7/10 Touch of soreness deep in low-quads and calf muscles
Weather: 71 degrees, 55 dew-point (getting much better)

Some good data on the heart rate front this morning, though I'm guessing it probably has as much to do with the improved weather as any improvement in fitness. The past few marathon pace runs have been on hot and humid days, so today's excellent conditions were a pleasant surprise. Don't think I'm too lucky here though, as it's still getting up to 98 or 100 degrees each afternoon.

Mystery Coach suggested 6 minute pace for 7 miles today, and I decided to hit the track to get some Garmin-free (read: accurate) data. I've been a bit concerned about the heart rate drifting too close to (or into) the 160's during these efforts, so today's results were a good surprise (see above). I felt good, though not particularly fresh throughout the effort, and the only hitch seemed to come at a bit past three miles when I seemed to start breathing a bit heavier. This seems to correspond with a bit of a jump in the heart rate that remained through the rest of the effort. The recovery to 120 after the effort definitely felt better, though again I think the cooler conditions played a major role.

While the miles for the week are taking a hit, it felt good to take yesterday easy in light of today's run and the 17 miler with 7 around marathon pace on the books for tomorrow. As the coach mentioned, there really aren't all that many workouts on the calendar for the remaining weeks, so I'm trying to do a bit more to ensure I'm ready for an effort when the day comes.