Track Time!

Ed -

I'm excited.

This week I'm wrapping up my "rest phase" which began back on August 4th right after my silver medal 800 at the State Games of America.  Since then I dropped my runs to three times a week keeping them at a moderate pace to keep my endurance at a good level, but not doing anything intense running-wise.  I also hit the gym three times a week to add some muscle doing a chest day, back day and leg day.  I had dropped to only 135 pounds or so by the end of track season so I really needed to do something about that.

I now weigh 147 so I'm not all that impressed with how much I've gained.  Mental note has been made and I'll make some serious diet alterations next year to go along with the weights.  I'd like to have about 10 more pounds on me at this stage.

The last couple of weeks I've actually gone to the track to do some 1 mile intervals and long ladders, but kept them at a comfortably hard pace.  Those were interspersed with Tempo Runs of 3 miles inside 7 mile runs.  Once a week I also did a sprint workout after an easy 5 mile run.  Those sprints augmented the squats and deadlifts I was doing to build raw strength in my legs.  Doing them on semi-fatigued legs increased the benefit of that work.  All that combined to form a six week cycle designed to improve my VO2 Max (stamina) and prep me for the more serious speed work.

From here I should be able to handle extra reps of fast 200's through 800's right out of the gate.

My first speed workout of last year wasn't until the 2nd week of December and it was a 4 x 800.  I was really happy with that workout and they went 3:07, 3:03, 3:00 and 2:55.  I didn't write it down but I'm pretty sure I was doing those with two minutes passive rest between each rep.  This year I should get 5 out at close to 3 minutes flat.  After that I'll be moving around through interval and ladder workouts to build speed and stamina.  I will also be keeping one long run each weekend that will include fartlek and be done as either a progression run or fast finish.  That will keep my overall endurance at a high level.

There are two other pieces to the weeks ahead.

First, I'll keep a Tempo Run of three miles in there during my midweek 7 mile run.  I was lacking that last year and I think it cost me time in the Mile and 1500.  After that run I will do my 100 meter strides/sprints.  I did those last year and saw some serious gains in my ability to kick at the end of a race.  That last 200 meters in the 800 of the State Games will stick in my mind for a loooooonnng time.  I want that feeling again and again.

The second piece is an addition to last year.  I'm keeping one day a week in the gym doing a combination of chest, back and squats.  I finish that time in the gym with three sets of skips in the gym.  Starting tomorrow I'll be wearing my 10 pound weight vest to do those.  I believe this once a week workout will help my race times by simply keeping my full body strength at a much higher level than it was at last year.

Having a plan gets me worked up anyways, but the fact that I feel as good as I do right now and running faster on my "moderate" runs than last year by a pretty good clip is a real bonus.  Last year at this time my runs were pretty consistently done at 7:50 pace or higher and now I'm running below 7:40.  Just yesterday I wrapped up a 10 mile fartlek run at 7:29 pace.  So far so good.  Now it's time to see if my 400's will be faster than last years'.

That's the other part of coming out of the rest phase that has me pumped.  I'm hungry for running fast again.  The rest phase is designed to rest the runner mentally and emotionally as well as physically.  And right now I feel like I've been holding back the last month or so.  I want to run HARD.  I want to leave myself gasping for breath, dropping to my hands and knees and puking at the corner of the Midlothian Middle School track.

I am chomping at the bit, baby.

Race and Train Weekend

Ed -

Had a blast this weekend running the Colony Lost and Found 5K in my adopted hometown of Manteo, NC.  This is easily my favorite race.

It's only a few minutes from my house, a bunch of my friends run in it as a speed workout for the Outer Banks Marathon or Half coming up next month, the course is pretty flat but runs through some nice trails and out to the water, and the awards are done at the outdoor theater where they do the Lost Colony play every summer.

The atmosphere is casual, friendly and fun.

And the shirts rock.  Long sleeve, heavy cotton with a cool logo on them.

This year the weather was perfect: clear skies, 60 degrees, and only a light breeze of about 10 knots.  That's light for the OBX.  There's a reason Orville and Wilbur came here to fly.  It's windy every freaking day.

As far as the actual race went it wasn't bad since I've tapered off my speed work and have been doing mainly long, slow distance.  I covered the 3.1 miles in 21:00 and didn't really push all that hard the first or second mile.  I did get a little motivated the last mile because this young guy wearing a bright orange jersey almost exactly like mine was about 75 meters ahead of me and I decided to catch him with a mile to go.  I got on his shoulder with a half mile left and we both began to really steam.  My stomach was tightening up and while I knew I could take him, I also knew it was probably going to mean I'd puke at the end.

I was asked once by a friend why I do that so often.  I think part of it is that I can definitely push myself past that pain threshold when I want, but the other part is the fact my salivary glands don't work all that well.  After 15 minutes or so of breathing through my mouth it gets pretty bone dry in there and makes it very hard to swallow and I have to concentrate just so I don't choke on my tongue sometimes.  So I'm thinking that has something to do with it.

Anyways, I really didn't want to go into the dry heave fits at the end of this since there were small children around, and besides it was going to be a slow time for me.  Who wants to look like they just gave it all they had when they really only kicked in the last half?

With 50 to go he kicked (and it was a good kick; the guy flew) and I just hung back.  He beat me by two seconds.  Nice finish dude!  Here's his pic:

The young woman standing next to him is Jessica.

She's fast.

Funny story:

My first ever 8K was a couple of years ago and I ran it hard.  Even had my best 5K time when I hit that split.  At the finish I was dry heaving when my buddy Shane came up to me and said, "Nice run, Ed!  You almost beat the pregnant lady."

Jessica looked over at me while I continued to gag and said, "Good times, Ed.  Good times!"

Here she is today along with the little girl who beat me while in utero.

That shirt is so last year, Jess....

I may have been blown out of the Female Age 25 to 29 group but I got first in the Male Age 45 - 49 group!  Thanks in no small part to the fact that Keith, who's only 47, won the whole thing and placed out of the division.  That's him in the middle there.  Look at this guy's legs!

A cool little tidbit happened here.  A couple of my friends and I finished 7th, 8th, and 9th overall and each one of us won our age group!  We were high fiving and taking pictures at the awards ceremony like we were watching our own kids at graduation or something.  So adorable.

That's Pete getting his medal while Shane was taking his picture.

There were trophies for the top finishers, both male and female, and when Jessica sat back down in front of us with her trophy her husband pointed out the person on top of her trophy was a guy.  That's about when Keith came over and showed Jessica that his trophy had a girl on it.  They traded and laughed.  We figured every one's trophies might have gotten confused so Shane yelled over to Adam, the third place male and asked him, "Adam!  Does your trophy have....ummm...boobs on it?"

Adam's wife hollered back, "Yes I do!"

Thanks again to the Outer Banks Running Club for putting on such a great race.

The next morning I was up at 4:30 to run 13.1 miles with Shane, Pete and a bunch of other Running Club members.  The stars were incredible and the run was a blast.

I ended up throwing a couple of half mile or so fartleks in there, including the half mile UP the bridge at mile 10.  Shane was revving up the group as we approached it.

"There it is!  Are you READY??!!"

I got pumped up and took off for it.  I could hear Shane behind me saying things like, "there he goes...he wants it..."  I accelerated more and he started yelling, "Ed eats hills for breakfast!!"

I drove up that thing with absolute authority and it felt SO good.

We all finished up together with Shane and me talking about how each one of us had inspired the other through our cancers and now our running.  Shane's off to do a 200 mile relay with 5 other runners and then he's doing a 62 mile Ultra next spring!

Such a beast.  And a wonderful guy.

He and I are both inviting people out to the Outer Banks next May 18-19 for our Relay For Life event.  Shane is putting on The Cupcake 5K as part of that weekend and I'll be using that race as part of my 50th birthday celebration.

Mark your calendars and join us!

Movies

Bob -

I don't really have anything interesting to say right now, so I'm going to talk about movies.  Running movies and sports related movies.  There are a lot.  I ran this week, but I don't feel like there is anything that stands out that is worth talking about.  Not that I ever think anything I write here is of any consequence.  I find it hard to write about me.  I would find it harder to write about you.  I don't even know if you want to be written about.  The thing about autobiographies is that,by definition, most of them are written by the person they are about.  Assuming they are still alive.  As far as I know, I am still alive and I find myself fascinating in a really boring  manner.  I start out thinking that I have something interesting to say, and then part way in, I get bored.  Whether in writing or in talking.  I start telling a story and then I wish I didn't start it and I look for a way to end it gracefully.  Sometimes I can't, so I just throw up.  Or, I pretend that my mom is calling me.  One time I stabbed myself in the thigh and told people that I was mugged when they weren't looking.  I had to do an oral report my junior year of high school and my teacher, Mr. Kerlin, told me that I should tell bedtime stories.  That is how boring my report was.  I put my teacher to sleep.  And he was a high energy dude.  I think of this stuff every time I do or say anything.  It is a lot of pressure to really read some one's eyes when you are talking to them to see if they are falling asleep.  To pick the right moment to throw up and run or to keep talking.  One running thing that happened is I was running with my friend the other day.  I'm going to call her Angie, because that is her name.  We were on a ten mile run and I was blabbing like a three year old monkey on crack and all of a sudden I saw a snake.  It was huge.  Well, it wasn't small.  I saw it when I was about a foot away from it.  It was too late to really avoid going by it.  In my brain, I was saying, "Excuse me, Angie, but there is a giant snake right here that looks as though it is a rattler, or perhaps a cobra and I feel we should move over to avoid it."  In reality, I believe that I screamed and said something totally incoherent and by doing this, I made Angie think there was something interesting there and she swerved over to see and then she screamed.  I have told people before that if there is a bear or anything that will eat someone, I am not going to save them, due to the fact that I do not want to get eaten.  This now applies to snakes.  Not that I am overly afraid of snakes, but by the time I have screamed and cried and reacted, the snake danger will either be over or we will already have been eaten and/or bitten.  I feel that in some situations that I would be okay.  Like a fire.  I may be able to pull someone out of a fire, as long as the fire is not very hot or very big.  If there is a snake or a bear in the fire, all bets are off.  Other than that, I think I am a pretty good running partner.  With all this being said, Saint Ralph is an excellent movie.  Do not confuse it with King Ralph.  Although I love John Goodman, King Ralph was not his best work.  Saint Ralph is entirely different.  I love that movie.  Check it out.  Do it.  The moral to the story is even though the world is full of bears and snakes and other things that can mess you up, it is okay to scream and finish your run.  Always finish your run.

Part Deux

Bob -

Part Duex of what you ask?  Of what I started on Monday.  Not the Genghis Khan thing, because that dog done hunted.  That baby is put to bed.  If you had a chance to read that one, then you know what I am talking about.  If you didn't read it, then don't bother.  Unless you want to, because it really is a free world.  Actually, I want you to go back and read it.  I will wait.  Tippy, tippy, tap tap.  That is my foot waiting.  Okay, now we can go on.  I was trying to say that last week was very busy.  I was wrapped up in work and then the quick trip to New York.  Add to that my constant search for knowledge and my plate is pretty full.  But I have training to do and also have the looming mental breakdown that will happen if I don't exercise.  I didn't really get a chance to run much last week...until Friday.  Friday is the day that we historically do hills.  The route is about 5.25 miles, of which about 2 1/2 is grueling hills.  We call them the Hork Hills, because we typically feel like horking when we get to the top.  They never really get easier.  We may get better at them, but that just means we progressively go faster, so the same feeling of potential death is there every week.  I haven't done them for awhile, so they were pretty hard.  I actually had to stop and walk, which is something I rarely do.  I figured a long time ago that the more you walk, the longer it takes to be done with the run.  This is basic math, with some physics and geometry mixed in.  It was Pythagoras who said that the quickest way to point A, is to skip to point C, without even hitting point B.  However, point B will always be the same if your pace is equal to the square root of pie.  Thusly, I don't like to walk.  I take the Pythagorean Theorem very seriously, as I do all theorems and I actually have my own theorem, but I'm not disclosing it until I am either dead or promised some cash for it.  I did get through with running the hills and I was very mad at myself for losing some of the conditioning that I had.  I think I expressed this to my running partners, when I said, "I am done with this f@#&ing $#!t." They asked what I was done with.  And I said I was done making excuses and crying like a one legged cobra at an all night mongoose convention.  So, the next day the same group ran a 12 miler starting at 6:15 in the a.m.  That was a tough run as well.  We ran into a group of marines on a training run who were wearing their fatigues and boots, so that put some stuff in perspective.  Perspective or not, it was still a tough run.   Then....Sunday.  Every year for the last four, I have done a marathon relay.  It is a 5 person team that runs a total of 26.2 miles.  I had the shortest leg of 3.6 this year, but was not sure how I would do because of the Friday and Saturday runs.  I was on a team of very fast guys.  I was the weakest link, by far.  I never really thought about it before, because we were running for a cause that was raising funds and awareness for pancreatic cancer.  I was really running the relay for fun and for the cause.  As the day arrived, though, I realized that we had enough speed to do okay.  Then, I started thinking about the possibility of me being too sore to really run my best.  I have days that I can barely move after a long run.  All I know is that on race day, I run as fast as my body will allow.  Whatever that is.   I did not want to be the one that cost the team a place and a medal. I am actually starting to get bored with this whole story, so I'm going to kill it.  Long story short, I was able to get through the run at a decent pace while I really felt like I wanted to stop at any time.  I did not look at my Garmin once to check my speed or my distance.  I knew I was going as fast as I could go without burning out before the finish line.  I could not wait to see the finish line.  I was all out at the end.  This was not my fastest run, nor was it my longest.  But it was one of my hardest.  We placed 2nd in the Master's Division.  10th overall out of 219 teams.  I did not cost us a medal.  Most importantly, it eased some of the doubt I have about finishing the marathon.  Race day energy and will power have a lot to do with performance.  I am counting on having that on October 7th.

Those "Not Feeling It" Runs

Ed -

Maybe it’s because I ran after work instead of in the morning.  Maybe it’s because my legs were still worn out from Friday’s Kettle bell class, Saturday’s 12 mile run followed by two more days of squatting and walking up and down stairs as I began tiling my covered porch.  This morning I got up to run and my hamstrings were still killing me, so I bailed and put off the run until tonight.  Whatever the reason, I just wasn’t feeling it as I headed out for a 5 mile up tempo run.  Sub-8 pace was the goal and I was hoping to hit 7:45.

You know what I mean by “not feeling it," right?  In the first 100 meters you’re all ready breathing too hard and by the end of the first half mile your legs are like lead along with your hands.  I warmed up like always, but it just felt all wrong.  I had done the same static stretching routine I’ve done for the last couple of years, then I started out my run and aimed to hit the first 800 in just under four minutes.  Typically, I just roll from there at whatever pace I’ve set out for the run.

But this wasn’t typical.  Not completely unusual, obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t expect you to understand what “not feeling it” meant, but I wasn’t cruising along like usual.  This run was quickly becoming work.

Maybe it was the heat.  Or the humidity.  Whatever the reason; I was struggling.

“Here’s where the ‘mental’ kicks in,”  I said to myself as I looked at my watch and figured a 3:45 split as a target for my next 800.

Whenever I’m not feeling it, that’s what I tell myself.  Kick in the ‘mental.’  This is where I just decide to shorten my run into 800 or half mile splits, and focus on hitting marks for each segment.  Allowing myself to quit on it whenever I just can’t do it any longer, but pushing for as long as I can.  I also remind myself that I have more in me than I think I do.  Just go one more half mile.

Breathe in all the way down into my lower back.  Run with my hands driving my legs.  Relax my eyes like I’m going to go to sleep.  Efficiency.  Stride. Drive.

Tonight, I reached mile 3.5 and was more than a minute ahead of where I needed to be.  And this was on my hilly course.  Lots of rolling hills with some steep, though short, inclines.  But I knew I was fading and still had my “short hill” workout section to climb in the last mile of my run.  That was going to hurt and it was still a mile away from me.

I quit thinking about the pace and just thought about pushing for the next half mile, listening for my watch to let me know when I hit my mark.  I tried not to think about the approaching hill and even told myself I could take it easy going up it.  But when I got to it I dug down and started to drive up.  It’s only one hill.  I do this thing ten times during my workouts.  Run dammit.  Push.

I felt my stomach tightening as I got to the half way point on the hill and knew there would be gaggage when I crested the top and that feeling had the effect it normally has on me.  I lengthened my stride and sped up.  Let’s see what you got, Ed.

I hit the top of the hill and allowed myself to slow down, but kept moving as I fought to get air into my lungs again and felt the burn in my thighs move all through me.  From here out it’s pretty flat and I only had ¾’s of a mile to go.  I picked a spot about 50 meters ahead to coast, then picked up my pace again.  This is the part that makes me stronger and faster.  That last half mile or so, where I’m dead but I just keep going.  This is the growth rep.  Get it.

And here is where the satisfaction shows up.  I started out feeling like crap, but I played a mental game with myself to break the run into small segments, telling myself I could quit on it whenever I wanted, but also telling myself I could go further than I thought I could.  Repeating that mantra of “just one more split, Ed. Go one more.”

I got to my house and stopped my watch.  Just over 5 miles in 37:26.  I was way too winded to do that sort of division in my head so I hit the down arrow on my garmin which would show me my pace.  My goal was sub 8 and my hope was 7:45.  My average was 7:26.

Oh baby, that’s sweet!

As a P.S.  I ran again this morning doing a 3 mile recovery run at just under 9 minute pace.  My legs felt very tired when I started out, but loosened up nicely by the end.  Despite the humidity it was a great feeling run and I know it did its job of flushing out the lactic acid from last night and kept those healing fluids running through me to help me recover and continuing to build my endurance.

Changing it Up

Ed -

I started to call this "Picking it Up" but that wasn't as accurate a description.

My summer track season is over, I'm not going to run in the meet in Northern Virginia the first weekend of September, so it's time for me to increase my distance runs again and start back with the strength training.  Plus, I'm going to run in a couple of 5K's and 10K's this fall and I need to build my endurance up again if I'm going to actually "race" them.

From what I've read and have been experiencing over the past year, its very beneficial to change your training around from time to time and break your year up into phases.  Each phase focuses on something a little different and is designed to keep building you up overall for one particular goal.  Like climbing stairs.  You keep moving up but each step is a different step.

I figure there are four phases: Endurance, Stamina, Speed, and Rest.

I'm going into the endurance phase right now.  That's where I'll focus primarily on longer runs every other day or so.  I'll also vary the speeds.  Some will be very slow paced, like almost 2 minutes per mile slower than my 5k pace, and some will be like races.  Each week I'll move my long run out further and then move my shortest run of the week up a little, too.  During this phase I'll also do strength training in the gym.  Starting with lighter weights and lots of reps, moving to heavy weights and low reps.  It's kind of backwards thinking, but it worked well last year.  Lot's of squats and lunges with the big weight bar.  My kettle bell classes will strengthen my core and connective muscles to allow me to move to heavier stuff without injury.

I'll do a little more stamina stuff in the winter.  Stamina is that middle ground where the idea is to go as fast as you can for as long as you can.  Think tempo runs and long intervals built into continual runs.  One workout I like is to run an easy first mile then go into three miles at just over 5K pace so I'm completely spent at the end, then keep myself moving for a slow fifth mile.  Alternating fast and slow miles for an 8 to 10 mile run is great, too.

Speed is what I've been doing most of the summer with track workouts and short hills designed to improve my top end speed.  Lot's of intervals and the occasional vomit fits.

Rest should be less of an afterthought for me and should be mixed in throughout the year.  I've read some middle distance folks will take a couple of months off of running completely in the fall if they're only focused on racing hard in the summer.  I tend to use the two weeks before a 10K or other race as my rest weeks.  I'll scale back mileage and just do two or maybe three runs each week, all of them pretty easy with maybe a little fartlek thrown in to keep the legs springy.

This past summer I used my broken ribs as rest for about 8 weeks in the peak of the track season.  Turns out that didn't hurt me too badly as I was able to turn that 5:16 in the 1500 despite very little real training the two months leading up to it.

Of course the trick here is to keep a little of all of these going at all times.  During my endurance phase I'll throw in a tempo run or long hills each week.  During the stamina phase I'll toss in some track work or short hills.  Regardless of the phase I'll always keep one long (10 miles or more) each week and I'll give myself two (sort of because I don't do it well) rest weeks before races.

So there's my dissertation on a year's training.

Rock on.

Crank It Up!

Feets don't fail me now

Bob -

There are many things that are important to me about running.   So many that I can't list them.  Mainly it is just  great to see your body respond to something you work hard at.  I have been running on a fairly regular basis now for about 4 years.  I've had some ups and downs, but overall I have seen decent progress.  Other than some aches and pains, I have come out of the running experience pretty well unscathed.  Lost weight, got faster, increased my distance and developed some awesome calves.  Yeah, I said it.  They are awesome.  Maybe not to you or anyone else, but when I look at them, I get all giddy.  But who care about that?  We are here to talk about my running toes.  They are hideous.  Ugly.  I have had so many blisters and lost so many toenails, that I can't even count them.  I've changed shoes, changed my stride.  I even changed my compression shorts every so often and I still get blisters.  They usually are on the tips of my toes.  They grow under my toenails and push the nails outward and upward.  The nails are reaching for the sky, trying to stretch their boundaries.  I'm all for reaching for goals, but what happens is they pry away from my toe skin and that hurts.  So, I perform surgery on myself.  Get out the needle and push it it in there.    Pop go the weasel cause the weasel go pop!  Sppplurt goes the blister juice and instant relief.  Thar she blows!  The problem is that the nails have come loose from their moorings.  The ship has sailed.  It is only a matter of time before the nail is completely lost.  What happens in the interim is very interesting.  Sometimes a new one grows in while the old one is still there.  A few times I believe I had three nails on one toe.  My most horrific experience was when I think three or four fused together on one toe and then grew into my skin.  Big, thick and trying to burrow into the toe.  I could not cut it or do anything about it.  Painful yet ugly.  So, I soaked my foot for about an hour, got out the needle and clippers and started poking and digging.  This dislodged the perpetrator and I was able to clip it down.  What was left was a hole.  A hole that disgusted my entire family, but I was pretty proud of it.  I earned that hole.  Hundreds of miles, three Tough Mudders, and countless work hours went into the making of that hole.  A nail has finally started to sprout.  I have most of my nails again.  Last weekend I did a pretty tough trail half marathon.  There was lots of stress on my running toes.  I am going to enjoy my new nails for the short time they are here.


Addendum to aforementioned toe situation.  I do not endorse self surgery (actually I do, because I think doctors are a waste of time for stuff like this), self surgery can lead to further trauma(like a doctor telling you shouldn't run), use of a sewing needle can lead to infection(which is why you hold it under a match for a couple seconds) and if blisters occur, rest is recommended(stop being a big freaking baby, it is just a blister)

Hills

Bob -

Today is hill day.  Every Friday we do a hill run.  As long as our schedules allow, we do anyway.  We try not to let anything get in the way of this workout.  For me, the Friday hill run and the step workout is the key to my running.  The long run is important, but honestly I am in this running thing to be in really good shape.  Really good shape means to have overall muscle tone and fitness.  Increased strength and muscle tone leads to less injury.  To have overall muscle tone means that I have to bust my butt doing things like hill runs and kettle bell workouts and push ups and pull ups.  I would love to try the Flamboyant Ed workout, but I am afraid that I will fall down, so I'll have to practice that at my shop for a while before I go public with it.  Like Ed, I have found that the more intense type workouts have led to my greatest gains in running.  They also allow me to eat more than I should.  I like to eat...a lot.  I cannot eat the bird size portions that is recommended.  If you look at the height/weight charts, I am considered over weight.  Quite a bit.  I do have some pounds to lose, but if I weighed what the charts say I would be too skinny and have no muscle.  So, I pay no attention to those things.  By doing the harder workouts, thusly and therefore, I am able to eat like a human and maintain my weight and get stronger.  When I was struggling with my heal issue and some other stuff and getting frustrated, I decided to cut my running back and set a goal of just running a few miles with the intent of finishing each run strong.  I mean strong both mentally and physically.  Kicking it in, while not kicking myself for not going farther.  Not saying things like, "I only ran 3 miles", or whatever.  I concentrated on working hard in the gym and building muscle.  Working on my legs, which I never really did before.  After a few months of this I was amazed at the fact that ran my fastest 5k in years.  My legs didn't die like they did in the past.  I also found that I could run on consecutive days which I was never able to do before.  So, back to the hill run.  This is a little over 5 miles.  Not alot, but it starts with one of the toughest little hills in our area.  We feel like we are going to die, and then it is flat for about a mile for a decent recovery and then all hell breaks loose.  1.3 miles of hills with really no break.  There is no flat spot.  No matter how many times we have done this, it is never easy.  We know we are getting better and stronger, but that just means each time we are going up faster, so there is no magic moment of it being easy.  Wheezing, cursing, huffing, puffing and near horking we get to the top where we rest a bit.  There is no worse feeling than doing this run for me.  Then it is mostly downhill to the end.  Once we are done, everything is great and we forget how bad it is until we start to do it again the following week.  The great thing about it is that it is short, intense and over relatively quickly.  The payoff is huge.  The moral to this particular story is that hard work pays off, steak fat is good (I will take yours if you aren't going to eat it) and I have developed lovely calves.

. . . but (not too) seriously folks

Ed -

I do want to run fast.

I even have a ridiculous goal I’ve written down and said out loud and I’ll do that again here:

I want to run a mile in under 5 minutes when I’m 50. 

That’s just next year and I’m all ready hedging my bets by letting myself think “. . . in my 50’s” instead.  Hell, I just got blown off the track by a guy who’s 57 and ran a 4:43 1500 earlier this year which puts him just a tad over 5 minutes in the mile.  So I can allow myself a couple more years to hit it.

When I first stated that I wanted to do this I didn’t really believe I had a snowball’s chance.  But I’m the kind of person who thinks if you want something big you start out by saying that you want it.  Then you figure out how to go about getting it, following that up with going out and getting it.  I’m hardly ever successful because I’m an absolute dreamer, but I know that mindset has helped me accomplish things I otherwise would not have accomplished.

As you may have seen in our little description I only started running about four years ago now.  Sure I ran in high school, but as my wife points out, that was a hundred years ago.  The short story is that I had cancer, got really weak, and as I recovered I started running.  Run Ed, run.  (Shameless Plug:  You can read all about that in my book “Ed . . . It Was Malignant” sold through amazon.com or at my website www.alwayscalled.com) A friend of mine that happens to coach distance runners all over the world, caught wind of my efforts and helped guide me to completing my first marathon just one year and one day after being diagnosed.  In that process I got faster than I thought I could be, but she was always unimpressed.  Not to say she wasn’t enthusiastically supportive because she was incredible, she just kept telling me that she expected the speed.  Then she asked me a question.

“What was your fastest mile in high school?”

“4:43.”

“Do you want to do that again?” she asked directly.

“There is no way on God’s green earth I could do that!”

“You can get close,” she calmly said. “You can break 5.”

“Puhleeeez.”

She immediately began naming world class athletes who are considered old in their sports, but were hitting personal bests.  Folks like Dara Torres.  Man, that woman is amazing on so many levels. ; )  Then she convinced me to start logging my miles and times and paying attention to how I felt during and after runs.  I didn’t have a real clue as to what I was doing at the time and didn’t for a minute believe I was capable of going sub-6 let alone a full minute faster, so I just started up a spreadsheet with the dates and I put down the distances and the times of my runs.  I also used that spreadsheet to set goals for the coming weeks and to keep me on track to be ready for the marathon.

Wasn’t long before I started to see the significant increase in mileage and slight increase in pace.  Then she started talking about speed work and getting onto a track.  I was training for a marathon so the track seemed dumb at first.  But my wife, who was being very nice considering she teases me that I’m obsessed with this stuff, bought me the Runner’s World complete book on running.  In there I learned about “Yasso’s 800’s.”  Coach Robin told me how to approach the workout and pumped me up after I did the first ones terribly slow.  But two weeks later when I did them again I knocked a huge chunk of time off each one and did several more reps!

“The stuff works doesn’t it,” she said and I could hear her smiling over the phone.

Then, all of a sudden, I dropped almost 20 seconds per mile off my pace for my 10 to 14 mile runs.  The varied workouts resulted in amazing gains.  I was beginning to believe.

Since then I have become quite the running geek.   I ask experienced runners questions all the time and I read up on things I want to know about.  However, I’m very tactical in my approach.  I don’t just read running books or anything.  I only go after specific information I want because I feel I need to know it.

Take my last race where I went out too fast.

The old(er) really fast guy told me I experienced acidosis because I went out too fast for too long, but I knew that’s the pace I need to run to break 5 minutes in the mile.  So how do I keep that pace for longer if it killed me this time at 800 meters?  The answer must be in the acidosis if this guy knows what he’s talking about.  So I did what I always do when I want information and want it now:  I got on google.  Google is good, and I’m a lover of alliteration.

Go back and read that, that’s a very clever joke right there.  I’ll wait.

I discovered acidosis is a really severe condition that basically is the same as exercised induced lactic acid buildup but caused by other bad stuff.  However, the information I found led me to this nice little article that explains it really well.  And it also reminded me of the other things I’ve read about workouts designed to improve “lactate turn” or your body’s ability to process lactate and more efficiently handle lactic acid.  In a nutshell these workouts are designed to help you run at a faster pace for a longer period of time.  Between improving my overall endurance with longer sustained pace runs, and improving my lactate turn I will go faster longer.

Then I went to my handy dandy folder full of workouts for milers/1500 runners, and found this one that is supposed to just flood my body with lactate and make me collapse.  I hadn’t tried it yet since it seemed silly when I first saw it, but I’m glad I saved it because it’s a beauty.  I tried it tonight as my first two a day workout (I ran a little over 5 miles this morning at an easy pace) and only got through two reps before my legs just wouldn’t do any more.  Here’s the deal:

Start by running a half mile to warm up.  Then run 50 meters at your typical long run pace.  The distance is so short you just kind of have to feel for it at first.  At 50 meters; take off at full speed, an all out sprint for 50 meters.  Then back down to the moderate pace for the next 50 meters.  Repeat this pattern until you turn a complete lap: 400 meters.  The object is to complete that lap at a pace that is a little slower than your best mile time.  I set out to do a 1:30.  I figured it would pretty easy since I’ve done 10 x 400 workouts where I averaged better than a 1:25 with only a minutes rest between each one.  Three of these things should be a piece of cake.

I did the first one in 1:25 and was breathing so hard it was surprising.  The fourth sprint in there didn’t feel much like a sprint even though I was able to stay up on my toes and drive it hard.

From there you jog 200 meters then repeat the pattern twice more for a total of four laps.

The smart, experienced people that come up with these workouts know what they’re doing.  I could only get through two reps.  My second 400 was a 1:32 and the last two sprints were pathetic, heel striking, skeleton dancing, rubber legged efforts.  I almost horked and I’d only gone half a mile.

I also felt my arms go tired and burn again like in the race.  This time I knew that the workout was doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.  Flood me with lactic acid, fatiguing the life out of my body, then the slow jogs in between and the final half mile I forced myself to run (sort of) after the second set was teaching my body to process that stuff better.

The workout calls for me to do this once a week for three weeks.

Based on past experience and looking at each of my annual spreadsheets, I know that next week I’ll get the third set in, then the week after it will feel even easier.  From there I plan to do this every other week or so, working it in with my short hill and other track workouts.  I also need to lengthen all of my runs to build that endurance base.

::::shiver::::  This stuff just gives me goosebumps!

Oh, here's that article I mentioned.  Use it to improve your running!

 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-lactic-acid-buil

Short HIll Workout

 Ed -

 

Two things to mention that happened during my hills this morning: one motivational and one embarrassing.

The Motivational:

This hill that I workout on is a nice one.  Not very long, right at .21 of a mile, but pretty steep.  According to my Garmin it’s about 80 feet in climb, but it seems a whole lot higher than that.  I just know it’s steep with a flat spot about halfway where a railroad track crosses it.

This morning as I was heading down to the bottom of the hill to start my workout I passed a guy running from the other direction and heading up the hill.  He had good form and was moving at a decent clip; definitely an experienced runner.  We gave that quick runner wave thing where you flash your open palm and flick your wrist a little to the side as you toss your chin up about an inch and grunt, “hey.”

He went on his way and I did my workout.  Ten repeats of driving up the hill at a pace a little faster than 5k pace, with a jog back down and about 45 seconds of walking or standing before doing it again.  Basically, that works out to about 1:20ish splits up with 3 minutes to get back down and start the next one.  After the tenth one, that I did in 1:09 (rubber legs and gasping, baby!) I saw that same guy coming back towards the hill.  I was standing there with my hands on my knees trying to get my air back and he said, “you’re not running repeats up this hill are you?”

I stood up with my hands on my hips feeling pretty proud of myself, raised an eyebrow and waggled my head.

“Why yes I am.”

Nice to do something that’s impressive to somebody . . . 

The Embarrassing:

After my third or fourth rep I was jogging back down the hill and a deer came trotting along the yard just to the side of the road.  He was young, but had a nice rack all ready and I said, “Hey there handsome.”

He stopped dead in his tracks and gave me the big eye.  He then looked back over his shoulder as if he thought I might have been talking to somebody else then stared back at me.  Another look over his left shoulder then I swear he looked back at me and furrowed his brow.  I slowed up a little and then he just took off towards the woods.

I was left there stammering, “Dude!  I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not . . . ummmm . . .”

And then I remembered I was trying to explain myself to a deer.