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.

Putting Purpose in your Run

I have really come to love my training schedule.

I love reading it over to plan ahead.  I love going through the workouts in advance and calculating my splits then writing them out.  I love keying in my results into my spreadsheet and comparing them to past results then processing exactly how I felt physically during them and tweek the plan to adjust for something I feel I'm missing.  On top of all that I love reading about coaches and athletes; how they approach the same workouts I'm using, how they overcome the same challenges I face, why they do what they do, and of course I love reading about their results.  Incredible endurance, amazing kicks and blazing top end speed.

That paragraph was awful, but I'm gushing.

I just love this!

I also love that every single workout and run has a purpose.  There is some specific focus or objective, because it is one more step in the right direction on my path.  I'm sure some people wouldn't like having that sort of mind set, and I get that.  Depends on what you want out of running.  But when there is a specific goal in mind, then everything should be aimed at reaching that goal.  Otherwise, you're just wasting time.  Everything I read from great coaches and athletes, as well as great businessmen or anyone else at the top of their field, repeats this point.

There has to be Purpose.  A reason to do what you're doing.

What started out as a sort of fantasy and tangible example of some things I always say about getting the most out of life, has turned into a real passion.  And that passion is delivering all the things I had hoped it would in the beginning.  It's become my Purpose.

First of all is the fact it's made me stronger and faster.  I still flash back on a regular basis to when I was sick.  I know that can get kind of old to hear, but I'm not going to forget it.  I'm reminded of various aspects of that time of my life almost daily.  When I ache I'm reminded of how whatever I feel right now is nothing compared to the pain I felt the first days after surgery and the months around the end of my radiation treatments.  I was triple dosing on the pain meds and still not getting relief.  Whenever I lean in and drive through a turn on the track I'm reminded of how exhausted I would get just walking up a flight of stairs.  And, of course, every time I hear of someone else who's been diagnosed with cancer I'm reminded of how lucky I've been and that I need to be there in some way for them like people were for me.

Those memories are always placed against where I am now, and where I am now is someplace I had only hoped to be.  5:01 in the 1500 and sure of myself that I can break five minutes.  Ranked 30th in the country last year in my age group for the 800 was a total shock.  That part I hadn't even dreamed about.  Racing in a national championship had never crossed my mind, but I've gotten to do it.  My running has given me strength and speed that surprises and thrills me all the time.

Secondly, because I've seeing such gains from my focus and planning on training, I'm doing the same things in work and in life.  I'm looking at something that I want to accomplish, and then working backwards with a plan.  Then, each and every day, I'm working that plan.  Some things have been in place for awhile, and others I've just embarked on.  Either way I know that I have a far better chance of reaching my goals by approaching them with purpose.

Lastly, and probably most important of all of this, is what I hear from various people I've crossed paths with since I set out on this mini-quest.  People are inspired by it.  They tell me about how they've begun running, or have decided they want to see how fast they can get.  A few have asked for help and I'm having a blast working with them to set new PR's.  I get excited knowing that, if we plan right, and the work gets done, they're going to experience the same thrilling emotions I have when they finish that race and look at they're watch.  It's so incredible.

Yesterday I read something in an article in Running Times about the best advice elite athletes have gotten from coaches over the years, and one of them was by Aaron Braun.  This guy ran 10,000 meters in 27:41.  Wow, that's fast.  His college coach told him to "run for something greater than yourself."  His point being that if you're only running for yourself, you may back off in that final lap because you know you'll just race again another time.  But if there's something outside of you that is your focus, you're more likely to push on.

I've found that to be so true.  And not just for an individual race.  It's the same for every single workout.  I push hard the last rep, the last hill, or the last mile and sometimes do "just one more" because there's something greater than me at stake.

People are watching and wanting to see good results.  It inspires them, motivates them to do better as well.

I've had Purpose in my running from the beginning of all this, but it's transformed into something else.  Other people are trying harder, exercising more, living better and smiling more often.  I want to help them along even if it's just a little thing like a random post on facebook that makes them say, "wow, that's fast" and wonder if they could do something like that.

Put Purpose in your running and you will.

Ramblings

So I'm back from a great vacation, haven't written anything here for awhile and tonight I still don't have much of a plan for what to write tonight.

...and when did the lack of a plan ever stop me?

During my trip up to New Hampshire I got in a couple of decent runs and discovered another cool aspect of being a runner.  The network that appears just by being out there and running.

About a year or so ago now, I was doing a group run in the Outer Banks with some of my fellow Outer Banks Running Club members and we had someone join us while she was on vacation.  Sharon had found the through facebook and put in a dozen or so miles with us if I remember that right.  I learned that she was from New Hampshire and had done all sorts of tri's, marathons and ultras including a 200 mile relay race.  My wife and I had gone to New Hampshire for our honeymoon so I mentioned our trip up Mt. Washington and how amazing the wind and weather was up there.  Sharon said they have a road race there every year that's about 8 miles in length with an elevation gain of about 4000 feet.  The t-shirts say, "There's only one hill."

New England understatement.

Well, Sharon and I friended on facebook, so when this trip came up I got some great tips on a place to run while I was up in Attitash.  Very cool of her.  And I met her because of running.

And as for running in New England:  The first morning there I did an 8 mile run and it was only 36 degrees out.  Four days later I got up to run and it was 82.  Yeesh.... Glad I packed a bunch of stuff.

Plus I guess you have to carry bear repellent if you're ever going to run trails.  We went out for a walk and weren't 100 feet away from the condos and I saw this

 

And in case you can't see it, my footprint is in the top left corner of that picture.  Apparently the bear was heavier than me by a good bit.  What do you do if you came across a 250 pound bear while running?  Keep running?  I don't want to find out what works and what doesn't.

 

 At any rate the week allowed me some rest and recovery by taking 7 days off from intense stuff and I'm ready to get back to it.  I read almost all of Greg McMillan's new book, You (Only Faster), and it's really motivated me.  I've got my first of three track meets coming up on June 22nd where I'll be running the 1500 and the 800, with the focus on the 1500.  The third meet is on August 4th not too far from Bob's neck of the woods, in Hershey, PA and I'm really looking forward to that one since it's supposed to be a pretty big event.

 

With the extra inspiration running through my head I started looking at the indoor meets I could and put on my schedule the Indoor Nationals which are in Boston in March, and the Outdoor Nationals that will be in Winston-Salem, NC next July.  Those will be my target times to peak and we'll see if I can find a little more speed.  Speaking of that while looking for meets to run I came across the facebook page for last year's Indoor Nationals and they had thousands of pictures!  It only took 11 hours of digging, but I found a few of me.  I jest, they were in order by the day so it was easy to find the M45 800, but I would have dug none the less.

 

Here's the start with me scared to death and standing next to Khalid Mulazim and a dozen other ridiculously fast people:

 



So cool that my daughter was there to yell, "yay dad!" when the stadium went silent after they announced my name and where I was from.  That's her with the two phones taking pictures!

And then there's this one of me actually running.

It was a total rush to be out there running as fast as I could, and I can't wait to get back to it!

It's Always Something

This morning was my speed work day, so I was back on the track behind the Middle School.

This time of year is becoming my favorite because the temperature is just fantastic, about 46 degrees today, and the sun isn't up when I step outside around 5:40am, but rises quickly during my workout.  The awakening of the sky and world around me is a pretty special thing and another wonderful gift given to me by running.  Another is just the little things that happen during those peaceful, quiet times in the day that most people miss because they're simply still in bed.

Just about every week on the track I see this guy who comes there to walk his two dogs.  Normally, he moves off when I show up or encourages them to stay to the outside, but he only has to talk to one to keep him from running along with me.  That one's a big, yellow lab that just loves to run near me without chasing me.  He'll pull right up along side and a lane away and just run along looking up at me and panting like it's a great game.  The other dog always stays near the man and when I got the chance one day I asked him why the black, older dog stuck so close to him all the time.

"She's blind," he said.

"But she walks around away from you sometimes," I said, "and goes off in the infield some."

He told me that she likes the track because she can feel the edges really well and has learned that it's smooth and there's nothing in the way.  She always stays where she can hear him walk and he pointed out that she always stood still whenever I approached because my footsteps threw her off some.  She did come up and let me pet her while we talked, which was cool.  Such a sweet thing.

They were there again this morning arriving as I was finishing my first 800.  The big, yellow one barked hello, but sat when his dad told him to stay.  They strolled around the outside of the track as I continued my workout and was joined by a young guy I had never met before.

I lined up on the opposite corner of where I was starting and finishing, and watching him warm up I could see he was serious about his running.  Plus, he was blazing fast in his warm up striders.

On my third 800 I started my watch and lunged forward then midway through that first turn I noticed a baby bird hop right into the center of lane one.  I stepped inside to avoid it and looked across the track to see the new guy trucking along beginning whatever workout he was going to do.  I tried to telepathically tell him to watch for the bird, but figured it would be tough to miss it.  I looked over my shoulder when I thought he might be near the bird and he seemed to move on by without noticing it and I just kept pushing to try and hold my pace which I had done pretty well the first two reps.  2:53 both times.

I rounded the turn for lap two and the bird was still there, being harassed by a parent bird.  I guess it was trying to get it to move back out of the open, but because I showed up the thing went into camouflage mode: It scrunched down a little bit and held very still.  I moved inside again and ran by.  Huffing pretty good now and my thighs were beginning to feel hot.  I finished up at 2:54 and walked around the first turn to begin my rest lap.  And the baby bird looked up at me then abruptly looked away and scrunched down again.  But no movement.  By now both parent birds were flying back and forth out of the trees to squawk at the baby and swoop at me to keep me moving away.

Sort of motivational actually.

The new guy was apparently doing a pyramid because after his 400 he turned an 800 keeping pretty much on the same pace as me, but gaining a little ground.

I lined up again for rep number four of five and looked out at the turn to see the baby bird still parked there.  This time I moved around the outside because one of the parents was taking up the rest of lane 1.  I knew I only had two reps to go so it was time to pick it up some, and I finished that one in 2:51.  A couple of starts and stops trying to catch my breath and not heave and there was the bird again.  Just sitting there ignoring it's parents.

Typical.

I watched as new guy finished up a 1200 and he didn't look like he was trying at all.

One to go.  Fast, boy.  Fast.

I paced the first 400 right where I had hit the other first laps, about 1:25, then did my best to hold on until the final turn and 200 to go.  Usually in it's in here that I start to talk to myself about how this is what the end of the 1500 is going to feel like, and that I'll be pushing towards a PR so I better not quit on it.  I began to fall apart that last 100, but I just pushed hard and did everything I could to accelerate.  Pumping my hands, striding long and fast.  I finished up and looked at my watch.  2:47.  Nice!!

And then I just doubled over and gagged a couple of times.  Very nice.

I had to look at my spreadsheet before I realized that was my best 800 workout ever.  Such a cool thing to figure out after sitting around eating breakfast and wondering why I couldn't do it the pace the McMillan Calculator had set.  Ummmm...that turned out to be the pace I printed off after assuming I could run a 4:55 mile.  Apparently I'm not quite there yet.

Anyways, after recovering from the dry heaves I walked over to the baby bird, picked it up and moved quickly to the woods dodging one of its parents that was doing it's best to dive bomb me and get me to leave its baby alone.  I got to the spot where the bigger birds kept flying and figured it was near the nest.  I put the bird down and moved back over across the track.

Good deed for the day.

New guy flew by just then and gave me the runner head nod.

I started my cool down run home, but stopped to introduce myself and meet the new guy, who is now Scott.

We talked the workouts for a moment and then he said, "can I offer some advice?"

"Sure!"  I always want to learn.

"When you were finishing that last rep your speed was good, but you started to heel strike bad.  Over striding."

I nodded.  I knew I did that when I was tired and going slow, but didn't know I did that when running fast at the end.  Makes sense though.

He asked me, "Have you ever tried running barefoot?"

"Yes, and dude, I just gave that advice to a friend.  I guess I need to get back to it."

"It really helps straighten out over striding in your sprints."

I told him thanks and trotted off up the hill and back to my house planning to run barefoot for a mile, and some striders on Sunday.

It's always something...

Choices

This was a pretty good week of running.  I did 13 miles on Sunday.  That is the most since the marathon in October.  It seems like it has taken me a long time to get back to this distance.  Both physically and mentally.  The physical thing started with the knee issue.  That got better, but I couldn't seem to push it.  Couldn't get past certain mileage.  For a while, I thought I may have lost my love and desire for running.  It seemed to coincide with my loss of feelings for my business.  I love to build.  I've spent years teaching myself the trade and the ins and outs of the business.  I made many mistakes.  My business plan was to make cabinets and sell them.  Pretty simple, really.  I jumped in and made lots of cabinets.  I loved it and I grew.  I got lots of jobs.  Too many jobs.  Knee deep in cabinets all the time.  I got behind.  I had some horrible customers.  I had some employees that milked me dry.  I was not the best manager.  When I say that, I need to make it clear that I would love to work for someone like me.  Someone who is passionate about what they do, and really only cared that the end product was good.  I am a person who hates being told what to do.  I'm quiet about it, but I hate being told what to do.  Probably makes me not such a great employee.  But my work ethic is strong.  I will work like a mule.  When the economy started to tank, I still had lots of jobs, but not lots of money.  I told myself this is not why I got into the business.  I did not want to be a manager who told people what to do and watched.  I'm hands on.  I want to be involved in the designing, the building, the installation, etc.  I started the business with a cavernous workspace.  Hardly any electricity, no showroom, no office.  On my first appointment, I had a brochure of door styles and a piece of paper to take notes.  I got the job.  I started framing out a showroom and office and making displays.  I worked all the time.  It was exciting.  Every time the phone rang it meant opportunity.  Over time, I became a slave to the business.  Payroll every week.  Overhead expenses.  I would dread when the phone rang.  I wanted to throw my cell phone in the river.  I finally had enough.  I wanted to downsize.  I wanted to be just me again.  But how to finish all these jobs with no employees?  Work all the time is how.  I had to deal with the fact that I was going to be behind, but the product would be nice.  I had some angry customers, but all the jobs got done.  I am proud of all of them.  The jobs, that is.  I got stiffed royally a few times.  Not getting paid at a time that I was already a bit sour on things really added to the fun.  But, I knew it would all be over as long as I stuck to my plan of not taking a job just for the money and not getting dependent on an employee or any other help.  This process took about two long years.  I finally cleared the slate around December of last year...2012.  I took a part time job.  Not because I didn't have work, but to see what it was like to do something else.  A couple days a week.  I like the job.  It is easy.  Just go to work, do my thing and go home.  Rinse and repeat.  It was a bit hard to balance that with the business at first, but I started to get used to it.  I thought maybe I should just get out of the business entirely.

My running during the last few years sort of became my sanity.  I would run when I could fit it in.  I'd save my Saturday mornings for the running group.  I would almost always work after the run, but I wouldn't schedule anything until I had run.  I remember having an appointment after a 13 mile run a few years ago and I could barely stand up.  I am in much better shape now, but then 13 miles was monumental.  I had to ask them if it was okay if I leaned on their table.  I explained that I was training for a half.  I would laugh sometimes at what I thought was going on in people's minds.  Here's this cabinet guy who could barely walk and he's saying he is going to do a half marathon.  He has to be full of crap.  Anyway...my worst days in the business sort of coincided with my best days of running.  2012 had me dreading work yet I was pr'ing in every race I entered.  The year ended with the marathon in October, running wise.  Business wise, it was December.

I still don't blame my knee issue on running.  My knees have gotten much stronger since I have been running more in the last few years.  I blame my job for my knee issues.  Kneeling, carrying...whatever. But, my knee was hurting for a long time.  Did the marathon hurt it?  Did the job hurt it?  Both. probably, but for the first time, I could not do both.  I needed to take a break from running.  Because of the business.  If I can't walk, I can't make money.  Two things that I loved to do were hurting me.  One financially and physically and the other physically.  I considered quitting both.

My part time job offered me a full time position this week.  I had a few days to think about it.  My running, to me anyway, pretty much was not going well.  I was thinking why bother anymore.  I can lift weights, and do other things.  Then, this week happened.  13 miles and it felt good.  Sprint work a few days later and that felt really good.  5 miles and dinner with some great friends on Wednesday, and today another 6 with more great people.  After my run today, I installed a bathroom vanity that I custom made.  My customer told me what nice work I do.  I called the part time people and told them that I was going to stay part time.  I've decided to stick with the business and the running.  I have way too much invested in both to quit.

I've been reading a book by Og Mandino.  The Greatest Salesman in the World is its name.  I haven't read a motivational book since my days in the mortgage business, but I thought I could use it.  Here is a quote that I like from it.

"I will live this day as if it is my last.  And what shall I do with this last precious day which remains in my keeping?  First, I will seal up its container of life so that not one drop spills itself upon the sand.  I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday's misfortunes, yesterday's defeats, yesterday's aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?

Can sand flow upward in the hour glass?  Will the sun rise where it sets and set where it rises?  Can I relive the errors of yesterday and right them? Can I call back yesterday's wounds and make them whole?  Can I become younger than yesterday?  Can I take back the evil that was spoken, the blows that were struck, the pain that was caused?  No.  Yesterday is buried forever and I will think of it no more.

I will live this day as if it is my last."

Now, I've got to get some sleep.  I have to run in the morning and I have lots of shit to build.

Racing Over Your Head

I knew when I signed up for the Masters Indoor Nationals that I would be facing some really good competition.  Last year I ran in a Regional meet up in Delaware and got third in my age group in the mile, but there were only four people in it that day.  I ran a 5:52 in the mile and the first two guys ran just about 5 flat!  That opened my eyes some so this year I decided to just enter the 800 since I really wasn't ready for that distance back then.

Yesterday as I walked into the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex up in Landover, MD I realized my eyes hadn't been opened at all.

After parking my car I met a guy getting out of his car and he was quite obviously a distance runner.  Just had that look along with the shoes and warm ups.  He said, "Hi," and commented about how far the walk was going to be to the complex.  He'd been here the day before to check it out since one of his races was today, the 4x800 relay.

"You run the 800?" I asked, "that's what I'm running."

"What age group?" he asked me.

"45 to 49."

"Hey, I've got the world record for that age group!"

Sal Allah meets Ed!

I had just met "Salli" Allah.  This guy ran a 1:54 back when he was 46.  He's now over 65 and his team was going for the world record in the 4 x 800 later in the day.  He turned in a 2:21.  Holycow.

And the world record holders, American record holders, national champions, world champions and even several medalists from the Olympics, just kept coming.  Turns out this is one of the biggest meets in the country and its open to international competitors to make it even tougher!  Sheesh.

Earlier in the week I had gotten to see my seeding and the times of the other entrants in my race and age group.  You know what happens when you sign up for a National Championship meet, you've only barely broken into the top 50 in your event and 16 guys sign up for the same race?

You're getting 17th.

And I knew that was where I was winding up.  I did not belong at this meet.

That feeling was confirmed when Sal and I walked in the door.  He showed me where the packet pick-up was and I said I wanted to poke my head into the field house and see the place.

Wow.  I'm running here...

 

 

The facility is huge and crowded with people moving around all over the place.  Very exciting and a rush to be in, but overwhelming when I thought about the fact I had to get down there and run in front of everyone and get last.  I got the shivers...

 

I got my packet, bought my shirt and then hunted around to find my teammates and coaches.  I found Keith Witherspoon just about to start his 60 meter race.  Keith went to UVA and is always ranked in the top 10 in the country in his age groups in the long jump, triple jump and the 60 indoors.  He's over 60 and still a serious beast.

 

I mean look at the back on that guy!

 

He got second in the 60 and in the triple jump this year, and coached me as well.  He told me that "some guys will have the race of their lives," while poking me in the chest, "and other guys will fall apart," as he spread his arms out like that's what will happen to everyone else.

 

I watched  a couple of other members of our team compete then headed up to Annapolis to watch my niece in a softball game and then spend the night at my mom and step-dad's place.

 

The whole night I was running my workouts through my head thinking that best I could hope for was a 2:30.  And I didn't know how I could do that with my fastest 400 in a workout being a 1:13.  I had done all the stuff that I had read about and added the sprint work that Spoon and Kaestner got me into to move up my top end speed, but I wasn't feeling confident.  I knew I could beat a 2:38, no problem, but I was beginning to tell myself that I'd be happy with a 2:34.

 

When I got to the meet and was warming up I saw several people I had met at other races over the last couple of years, shook hands and said "good luck" as I kept picturing myself staying with the back of the pack as long as I could.  And while I was talking to myself Remus Medley gave me a head nod so I went over to say, "hey."  I met him once just a couple of years ago at a meet in Richmond so I reminded him of that and we shook hands.  He is in the M40 group and is a sub-5 miler and runs the 800 close to 2 flat.

 

He asked what I thought I could do and I told him my guess and a little about my workouts, but he said, "you ran a 1:13 as your last rep in a 10 x 400? How much rest?"

 

"About 90 seconds."

 

"And your last hard workout?"

 

"A 5 x 400 with three to four minutes rest and the last two being 1:15's."

 

"You'll do a 2:30.  Got to.  Your workouts say so."

 

He was so matter of fact and confident about it, that I thought that McMillan workout plan must be dead on because it said the same thing.  I felt better.

 

Turns out only 13 guys showed up for the event, and in looking at the field it was the 12 fastest and me.

 

When they called us to the track I got to line up next to a guy named Khalid Mulazim.  They introduced him listing off his national championships and age group records in the 400 and whatnot.  All I knew was that he was this 6'2" 190 pound superhero looking guy.  This is him from the web.

 

 

Yeah.  There are pictures of him on the web.

 

So I look up at this monster, stick out my hand and say, "good luck and have fun!"

 

"This is just for fun," he said seriously then smiled, "I've never run this event before."

 

I didn't feel any better since he could run the 400 in 50 seconds flat.

 

They gave us our instructions and called us to the line.  I felt remarkably calm.  I told myself to just relax the first 100 and fall in with the back of the pack.  Don't burn it up in the first lap.  Just stay close.

 

The gun sounded and away we went.  And, DAMN did the front guys go.  I got left back immediately and then had to accelerate just to stay up, but I caught myself and slowed my chase so I would just stay with the last two or three guys in front of me.  We came to the end of the first lap and the big clock (they have a big clock like the meets on TV because this a big meet like the ones on TV) and it just clicked to 35 as I passed it.  I felt good and kept my breathing slow and deep as I stayed with only two guys ahead of me now, thinking that my first 200 in my fastest 400 workouts were 36's and that 10 x 200 workout I was only doing 34's and those felt hard!

 

But that one didn't feel hard.  I cruised around and watched the clock as I finished the first 400 and it was on 1:09 as I got to it, clicking to 1:10 just out of the corner of my eye.

 

Now I was scared.

 

I felt okay.  A little winded, but that was 5 seconds faster than it should have been.  I was scared I wasn't going to be able to put two 1:15's back to back and here I just did the first one in 1:10.  Stupid.

 

Except that I was breathing well and my legs weren't burning yet.  I was okay.  Slowing some, but okay.  My fear had me slow down in the third 200 but so did the guys ahead of me.  They weren't getting any further ahead and then all of a sudden I saw the guy right in front of me pogo stick off the track as he pulled his hamstring.  I felt bad for the guy, but had to make up some room between me and the next one ahead of me, so I started to push some as we got to the bell lap.

 

That's a very cool moment hearing that bell and knowing there's only one to go.

 

I pushed a little and felt my legs respond.  My lungs were good, but I was breathing hard now.  Still, I kept trying to accelerate and I began closing on the guy.

 

We got to the beginning of the last turn and he had four or five strides on me.

 

I dropped my hands and thought, "take off!"  and my legs said, "Okay!"

 

I closed on the guy so fast I had to move out to the second lane to go by.  Even with the extra distance I knew I had come on so fast he was not going to be able to get me back.  As I passed him I drifted halfway into the first lane again so he'd have to go wide if wanted by, but he wasn't coming and I was closing on the guy ahead of me.

 

I kept expecting to feel that tightness in my stomach when I'm gonna hork from exertion, but it wasn't there.  My training was right and I was ready for this race.

 

I looked to the left as I drove hard across the finish line and saw that 2:24.

 

I couldn't believe it!

 

Friends got pictures near the finish, though they were blurry, and then my daughter took a picture of the board.

 



 

The Kick

 

The Finish  (left him!)

 

The Time

 

 





When I got to the bleachers Spoon and Kaestner were saying, "we told you! we told you!"  And they had.

 

I still got absolutely crushed by the leaders of this race, it was won in 2:02, but my confidence in how the sprint work had helped me out was soaring.  I had just cut 16 seconds off of my fastest 800 from last year, and it turned out that time just placed me in the Top 25 in Masters Rankings for the 2013 Indoor Season!  There are still a couple of meets in different parts of the country going on so I might get pushed out, but for today I'm ranked 23rd.  Big Smile!!

 

I feel like I can still improve on that and get in there with "the big boys" if I can figure out how to balance the rest and work stuff.  But it's getting clearer.  Sprint and weights once a week, one long run per week, one tempo run per week.  Now to see if I can do an additional speed workout and still get enough rest in there to recover and keep making gains.

 

Regardless.  I can't wait to keep working at it!





Dad's birthday

Tomorrow is my Dad's 80th birthday.  Or today, depending when I finish this.  Friday, March 22nd is the day.  Whatever it is, I am not going back and editing the last few sentences.  This in itself would frustrate him to no end.  He is a planner.  I am a jumper in with two feeter.  He always wanted me to think and plan ahead.  I liked to give him a blank stare and in my head I would talk back to him.  Rarely would I actually talk back to him.  That would lead to bad things.  Not getting spanked or hit.  He would never do that.  He would give me a look and send me to my room.  Trapped in my room, looking outside would be enough.  All my friends out there doing something, me doing nothing.  Punishment enough.  Back to the planning ahead thing.  "Bobby, football practice is starting in a few months, you should be out there practicing or running to get ready."  Me,  "Dad, there will plenty of time to practice when practice actually starts."  Same would go for track practice.  Why run until you had to run? 

I remember from a very early age that he and I would always be outside throwing and catching something.  Football, baseball...whatever.  For hours and I loved it.  He had this huge football that was as hard as a rock.  It actually was a normal sized football, but to a six year old it seemed huge.  I don't think they had the junior size balls back then.  If they did, that would have been wasted money and we used what we had.  He coached football when he was stationed in Korea.  Coached and played.  He brought that football back from Korea.  We would play catch and at first I could barely catch and throw it.  Sometimes the point of it would hit me in the wrist and my arm would go numb from it.  It wouldn't be numb for  long and I didn't complain, because I was with him and I loved it.  I learned to not let it hit my wrist.  Catch with my hands.  By the time I was in 8th grade, my parents let me play organized football.  Yes, I said let me.  From throwing that huge ball and then being introduced to the smaller ball of that league, I found that I could throw it pretty far.  The coaches made me a quarterback.  I wanted to be a receiver.  Now, I'm a QB.  This is a story for another day.

We would also throw the baseball for hours.  My dad had a mitt from when he was a kid.  The type you picture Babe Ruth having.  Huge hunk of leather it was.  He would not buy a new one.  He still has it.  We would play catch for hours and would always use that glove which wasn't that far from falling apart.  The point of this, is that he instilled in me a love of sports.  This love and the skills he taught me helped so much in all my moves.  Being a military brat, we moved a fair amount.  Shy new kids get teased sometimes.  Especially ones whose mom made them wear ugly clothes.  It would be a bit rough for me until the kids learned I was an okay athlete.  Then, things got way easier.

I don't really remember him sitting me down and giving me life lessons, but he did teach me things.  He had a brilliant mind and some things came easily for him.  Not so much for me.  He would try to teach me algebra.  He would say,"blah, blah, blah = blah, blah, blah."  I would say, "huh?"  He would say, "AX + BX + C = what?"  I would say, "Dad, there are no numbers.  Why do people want to add letters?"  Not really, but I may as well have.  It would frustrate him until I got it.  Which I finally did.  I am the type of person who has to see something and visualize it before I get it.  With him, it is in his head.  Like a computer.

Two memories are etched in my mind.  One is when he went to Vietnam.  I was around six.  I didn't really understand much except that he was going away.  I gave him an acorn.  We lived in New Hampshire then, and we spent lots of time in the woods together.  Maybe that acorn meant something to me.  I don't remember.  He has it to this day.  It  meant something to him.  The other is when he went to Thailand for a year.  I was 12.  He had the choice of taking the family to Thailand and being there for two years or leaving us where we were comfortable and spending one year there.  Alone.  He chose to have us stay.  I remember the day he left like it was yesterday.  One of the few times I have seen him cry.  One of the few times he has seen me do it. 

My dad is a West Point graduate.  He spent 30 years in the Army and retired as a Colonel.  Along the way, he got many medals, including the Silver Star.  A hero in Vietnam.  He spent another 25 years at Lafayette College.  At home, he would go and go until it was time to sleep.  He would relax to watch sports.  To spend time with the family.  Other than that, he would be working on something.  He retired at 76 when his mind just started to let him down some.  The steel trap started to rust a bit. I went to the doctor with him not long ago.  When they told him he couldn't drive anymore.  He looked at me and said, "they think I'm crazy.  I'm not going to be worth too much now."  I told him he is the same person he always was, he just can't drive.  That was a tough day, when it all sunk in.

My dad is a gentle man with a huge heart.  He has 4 kids and eleven grandkids.  He got to meet his baby grand niece last month.  The grandaughter of his only sister who died recently.  My cousin came to visit with his wife and newborn baby.  My dad was able to relate stories to my cousin about his mother in their youth.  I'm not going to cheapen it by writing more about it, but it was great for my dad to see the look of his sister in my cousin. 

I guess I'm done here.  Just wanted to say a few things about my dad.  I will wish him happy birthday in person.  I feel very lucky to be able to say that.

Improvement

Had a good couple of weeks of training, despite catching a stomach virus.

I guess all these trainers, coaches and runners’ magazines I’ve been reading actually know something about getting faster.  ; )

My training plan for the rest of the year follows a pattern suggested by many sources and each week consists of a long run, a shorter one with long intervals or a tempo segment, a day of medium intervals on the track or hills, a day of shorter intervals on the track or hills, and a short easy day.  Five days of running.  Sometimes six if I throw in another short easy day or a sprint workout.  I keep planning on doing a couple of days in the gym to augment it all, but I’ve been resting those days since my joints and muscles just feel like they need the break.  Maybe in another couple of weeks I’ll be stronger and used to it.  I won’t be finished tiling the downstairs and remodeling the bathroom, which has added to the pain in my joints, but I’m hopeful I’ll get to the point I can do all the work that the really fast people do.

My mileage has increased nicely as well.  I did just over 30 miles this week.

This coming week will be shorter, because I like to go back and forth between long weeks and short weeks to help my body adjust, but each cycle I should be increasing the numbers.  More reps, longer steady and tempo runs, and maybe some two-a-days will all serve to increase my mileage and conditioning.  I can’t believe I’d actually get to covering 50 or 60 miles in a week like a lot of milers do (read that professional, world class milers), but I’ve been surprised dozens of times by something I actually accomplish.

The Short Hill workout this past week was one of those things.

 

It doesn't look like much of a hill in this picture, but it's decent.

Two weeks ago I did the workout where I’m supposed to do 10 reps of a .21 of a mile steep hill near my house and run them all in about 1:20 or less.  This was the first time on this workout since last July and I could only get four reps in and all were over 1:23.  Very sad.  I felt horrible during the second two and just about collapsed when I got to the top for the last one.  It is a hard workout, and every “first” workout of any kind is especially difficult because your body is just not used to it.  Think about the first time you ever swung a kettle bell.  30 seconds of that and your heart feels like it’s going to pop out of your chest.  But then maybe three workouts later you’re doing it for half an hour!

The same is true in running when you haven’t worked a particular muscle group.

After those hills I stuck to my plan and did the following runs over the next two weeks before hitting the Short Hill again.

A 10 mile moderately paced run followed by a 7 mile run with three 1 mile intervals in there at VO2max, and then an easy 7 mile run.  After a day of rest I did a 10 x 400 workout on the treadmill, and then another day of rest.  That brought Saturday back around and another 10 mile run which was relaxed but almost 30 seconds per mile faster than the week before.  On Sunday I did a 100 meter full out sprint workout where every one of my reps was under 15 seconds for the first time since I began doing sprint workouts.

Another rest day followed by a short pyramid workout on the track, then another 7 mile run with mile intervals inserted in there.  One more easy 5 mile run then back to the Short Hill.

This time on the Hill was completely different starting with the very first “conservative” rep.  I crested the top, eased my pace as I came up to my finish point and stopped my watch.  Glancing down I saw 1:16!

“Seriously?” I asked myself, “Ed, you better slow down or you’ll never get to six.”

I reset my watch and jogged back down the hill and got to the bottom right about the two minute mark which meant I get almost a full minute to stretch, do some Lamaze breathing and bring my heart rate down.  I promised myself to go easy this time up so I didn’t hose the workout and have to cut it short.  My start was strong and I throttled back before the half way point and allowed it to feel slow the rest of the way.

1:17.  “Slower, Ed.  Go slower.”

The next one I did in 1:19 which felt very easy.  Since I was half way and only had three more reps to go I decided to just go with the feel, but to keep it relaxed feeling, no real strain.  The point of the workout is for form as much as it is strength.  Getting my knees up high.  Lengthen my stride by pushing further out behind me as opposed to reaching out in front of me.  Run on my toes and balls of my feet.  All that stuff.

Number four was 1:16, and I slipped with my gloves and stopped number five’s rep at 1:17.  I was feeling it now, but only had the one rep left for the workout this week, so it was Go Time.

I pushed off strong at the bottom of the hill and ground my way to the top with my thighs and lungs burning despite it being below freezing outside.  I began to feel rubbery, but told myself I didn’t want to waste such a nice start of that rep, so just forced the last four or five strides to the finish.

1:08.

My fastest rep ever on that hill.

I didn’t think I was going to come close to that.  I was thinking 1:13, maybe a 1:12, but I believe those little sprint workouts are really helping.

In fact I’ve had several other confidence building workouts just in the last couple of days.

Friday I did my 6 x 800’s with a target pace of 3:10 and this time my rest would be jogging a 400 instead of standing there for 3 minutes.  The first three were 3:08, 3:07, and 3:08 and I was feeling really good with them, so I just went with the body from there and the last three were 3:03, 3:00, and 2:49.  Hurt so good.  The following Saturday I went out for my 10 mile run and followed another suggestion by multiple sources: on long runs that are supposed to be moderately paced, don’t look at your watch.  Running so your breathing is not really labored just shortened is the goal and an hour or so of that pace is what the perfect target zone for your body to maximize building mitochondria and improve your body’s ability to process oxygen efficiently.  Not to mention improve your muscle endurance without straining them.

I only looked at my watch twice: once at halfway and once at the finish.  I was just under 40 minutes at 5 miles and was under 1:20 at 10.  All said and done what felt like a casual run was at 7:57 pace, and my legs never felt fatigued the entire day.

Sunday morning was a “Cutdown” or “Breakdown” workout which I had never heard of until last week.  It sounded cool, and looked like another good shorter speed workout so I put it in for the day after my long run thinking that my legs might not have a lot of pop, but that’s kind of the objective right now.  It’s called “work” for a reason.

This workout is designed for 800 runners and it goes like this.  You run a 600, jog or walk 200 meters then run a 500.  Jog or walk a 200 then run a 400.  Then a 300 and finally a 200.  The key is each 200 meter average is to be one second faster than the previous one, so you’re accelerating with each progressively shorter run.

I used the McMillan calculator to get my goal paces and then decided that I’d start at 44 seconds per 200 making my 600 a 2:12.  Then step down until my final 200 would be a 40.  The weather, however, was going to make all that difficult.

 

Into the wind.

When I left the house this morning to run the one mile up to the high school track it was 30 degrees outside with a windchill of 21.  Winds gusting to 30mph.  Nice.  Every time around that track I was either going to be flying along like Usain Bolt or I was going to be running with an open parachute behind me.  I told myself it was the average that would be the goal today and not ever split.

Didn’t matter.  I cruised the 600 in 2:10, walked for a few seconds then jogged the rest 200.  The 500 went by right at the 43 second goal pace of a 1:47 then I just got faster.  Again going with feeling the increased effort each time as opposed to looking at my watch 25 meters ahead of each split.  I covered the 400 (goal pace of 1:24) in 1:19.  The 300 goal was 61-62 seconds and I hit it in 56 seconds.  I walked almost half of the last rest 200 breathing hard, then lined up for the last 200.

I smiled because the final 100 meters was right into the wind.  “Make you strong, wuss boy.”

The goal for the final 200 was 40 seconds, and with the wind shoving my backwards down that final 100 I finished in 34!

It’s hard to describe the surprise I felt.  My legs were tired; I started that last rep with my heart all ready pounding and my lungs doing all they could to keep up, and I still cruised.  I have no idea how this will all translate into an 800 race, but I’m beginning to think I could get to a 2:30 this early in the season.  That’s getting fast, but I need to get well below that to reach my goal of a sub 5 mile.

Having a well thought out plan (taking advice from experts and experienced runners) is making a big difference.  I am seeing first hand and encourage everyone to make a plan first, start out conservatively and build slowly.

And put then put work in consistently.

Interval Training

Well, that's the piece that's been missing from my workouts and my body sure let's me know it.

Here just last week I was talking about how I was feeling the progress, and I posted on our facebook page about how I dropped 30 seconds a mile off my pace for my 10 mile long run even though I went from a flat course back to the hilly one here in Richmond.  Ah, but different workouts are for different muscles and systems in the old bod and except for the Short Hills I did two weeks ago I haven't done much in the Interval Department.

I did the 400's on the treadmill last week and those were pretty good, but the treadmill is different than running on the ground.  And perhaps I needed to do another week of nothing longer than 400's to help me adapt to that lactate buildup, but what the hell.  I need to get into these workouts pretty quickly if I want to be able to race a mile at the end of March in the Indoor Nationals meet in Landover, MD.

I took a day of rest yesterday because of the soreness in my hips from the sprint workout I did on Sunday along with all the tiling and grouting which is brutal on my glutes and hamstrings.  I need to get faster, not hurt, so the rest was a good thing.  I felt better this morning and set out to do a mini-pyramid workout on the track.  400, 600, 800, 600, 400 with a slow 400 between each rep for rest.  Mr. McMillan and his calculator suggested I run between 1:41 and 1:44 for my 400's, between 2:31 and 2:36 for my 600's, and between 3:22 and 3:28 for my 800's.  However, those paces normally are part of longer workouts, like a 10x or something like that.  My workout today, was going to be short so I bumped up everything to a 6 flat pace pretty confident that I could pull that off.

I ran up to the track at the middle school and stepped up to the starting line.  I love this part of every workout.  It's dark, I'm alone, and I'm picturing in my mind how I'm going to push myself.  My first 400 was in 1:28 and felt pretty decent, though I figured I was going to have a difficult time stringing two of those together.  I quickly reset my watch and jogged off around the track.

Now normally, I like to give myself three minutes of passive rest between sets, but a lot of what I've read over the last year suggests making that rest a slow jog and not just standing around.  It keeps the heart rate slightly up and encourages recovery improvement better than the passive rest.  Which is to say it makes the workouts a little harder.  I was concerned that my slow jog would be too slow and I'd end up with more rest time than I wanted, but that turned out to be no worry at all.  I came around to the starting line again in 2:29 so I actually got to stand there, reset my watch again and get a couple of relaxing deep breaths in.

Then off for the 600.  I checked my watch at the 200 and 400 meter marks to make sure I was on pace and finished that one in 2:16.  A hair slow, but it didn't feel slow.  While I reset my watch and started off on my slow lap, I knew the 800 was not going to be easy and I would need to push the last 200 to keep it at three minutes.  When I got back to the start line I had done the slow lap in 2:29 again, and my breathing was just about normal.  Nice.

I lined up and took off again.  Checking myself at 200, 400, and 600 meters.  I crossed that mark right on 2:15 and with 200 more meters to go I could feel it.  I was breathing hard and my thighs burned.  "Just 150 more to go, Ed.  Hold steady wuss boy."

I talk to myself a lot when I'm running.  Totally goofy, but I do much worse.  Just ask my kids.

I finished that up right on 3:00 and proceeded to dry heave.  I wasn't exactly expecting that, but my abs were getting that tight feeling the last 100.  "Oh well," I thought as I took off jogging for my slow lap, "they just get shorter from here.  Two to go."

My next 600 felt hard, but I finished it in 2:13 and didn't dry heave at all.  I always try to push my last rep like it's the end of a race and I pounded that last 400 out in 1:19.  Man, my legs were all rubbery the last 50 meters of that straight away.

I took a good 30 seconds before I reset my watch and headed home.  The whole way back I was thinking about how that workout, with those paces, should be all the way up to 1200 twice before coming back down and I think I actually did that workout last spring sometime.  Oh well, starting up again is always tough, and I'm on my way for the upcoming track season.

I have a day at the gym tomorrow and I'll test out my biceps to see if it's healing up at all.  Then on Thursday I'm back on my Short Hill.  Since I only did four reps the first time I'll shoot for six this time.  Keeping them "easy" compared to where I ended up last year so I get all six reps in and max out the benefits for the workout.

And then of course I have to finish the grout in the kitchen and keep on tiling out into the living room...

A post not about running, training, P90X, cross-training or any other super searchable words

So let me tell you how things work in my house.

My wife told me the tank on our toilet seemed to be sloping backwards.  I took a quick look at it and tell her it's because it's an old style toilet with only two bolts.  These things sit up straight because the rubber seal between the tank and the bowl has four little feet on them and after awhile they get squishy and it slopes forward or back.  "I just need to replace it," I say, "Only take fifteen minutes."

"We'll stop by Lowe's after church," she said while brushing her teeth.

We get into Lowe's and walk around to the plumbing supply area and I can't find the part I want.  I start describing it to the guy (there's always 'the guy' at Lowe's) and he says, "Yeah, that's an old toilet. We'd need to order that."

Debbie pipes up and says, "Let's just get a new toilet."

Fine.

So we cruise around two aisles and pick out a new one.  On sale!

"Hey," Debbie says, "We've talked about remodeling the bathroom anyways.  I hate that shower unit."

The Old Shower

"Sure," I chime in.  "We can tile the walls, get a nice tub and new fixtures. Let's see if we can find a tub that will match the toilet."

So we walk around the corner and immediately find a great one on sale because it's a display model and they were discontinuing the model.  There were only two left and we grabbed the left hand drain one and put it on one of those big ol' trolleys, leaving the toilet on it's own little one.  Fortunately, the designs of the two looked remarkably similar so we were really pleased with our luck.

From there we hit the flooring department to look for tile, and went to the piles of them they had on clearance.  There were several different kinds and I had figured we only needed about 60 tiles.  We narrowed it down based on color wanting to keep it fairly neutral in case we decide to sell or rent the place in the future.  The tiles we settled on were only 58 cents a piece which is just ridiculously cheap, so we decided we'd bump up the design a little bit with some sort of accents.

Normally in showers where I'm doing 12 x 12 tiles I'll go about 5 feet (tiles) then rotate the tiles at 45 degrees.  Makes a nice look.  In this case we also picked up some cool glass accents that I'll use to create a 3" divide between the first 5 tiles and the angled ones at the top.  It's going to be really nice.

So we haul everything home after miraculously getting it into the Equinox I'm driving right now.  Then from there I got it all upstairs.

We decided to just set it all in the guest room because it was going to take me a bit to get all this work done since I was only going to be able to work at nights and on weekends.

Notice how that one box of tiles is opened?  Bottom right of the picture there.  Well Debbie pulled some out and carried them downstairs.  I get down there and she's laying them out on the foyer floor.

"I really hate this old slate in here."

"Only because it's hideous," I reply, "So what are you thinking?"

"How much would it cost to tile the downstairs?"

"I figure we've got just under 790 square feet down here, so not even $500!  I'll call Lowe's and see if they've got enough of those tiles left."

They did and delivered them two days later.  41 boxes of 'em.

While waiting for the tiles to get there I made some attempts to get the slate up.  No dice.  They were installed into a bed of wet cement as opposed to be glued down to a slab.  The kitchen has tile that would pop right up, but then I'd have to level that floor with the foyer.  Same was true about the ugly laminate we have in the dining and living room areas. The laminate was glued down, so it wasn't going anywhere and was a nice flat surface. I checked the bottoms of doors and measured the dishwasher and decided I could just go right over the top of everything.  Not the best way to go about things, but sometimes the most cost-effective.

From there we talked about the layout and snapped some lines to follow to ensure the pattern matched up perfectly from the foyer and around the hall and kitchen.  Then I started removing doors and hauling stuff out of the kitchen, like the big hutch full of dishes, cookbooks and glassware.

Now our house looks like Oscar Madison's place.

 

Dishes on every flat surface

 

Tools on the table and floor

 

 

 

Everything shoved out of the way for the layout work

 

Doors and tile all over

 

Well, since I didn't have any of my tile saws up here I decided to get started doing all I could without cutting anything or putting myself in a tough spot to get a tile under a door jamb when I go to put those pieces in.  I've done that before and it's a big mess and pain in the butt because those pieces have to slide under the cuts I make in the jambs so I've got to leave room to slide the tiles.  And this way I could get that critical layout work done as well as get the dishwasher out of the way.

 

I got a long way prior to going to Manteo for the weekend and coming back with a saw which I needed to use to get things finished under the dishwasher.  Once that was wrapped up and put back together I got to get all the dirty dishes out of the sink and cleaned up at last.

 

So here's where I am right now:

 

Kitchen Floor

 

Foyer Floor

 

Connecting the two in the Dining Area

 



And here's where the toilet is that started it all:

 

... sigh.

 

"It'll take about fifteen minutes."