Fun in Akron

I was in Akron last week from Wednesday until (unfortunatly) Sunday. I was there for a Radiology Educators Conference and learned quite a bit. The gentleman who spoke for the three day conference has been a Radiography Program Director at a community college in SC for 37 years and was a treasure trove of information and advice. I had a good time and would love to visit his college when he holds a seminar there.

During my stay in Akron I went to the movies twice ("Ironman" and "Get Smart"), visited Best Buy everyday, ate at TGI Fridays (smoked salmon pasta), Outback (New York Strip, sweet potatoes, and green beans), Macaroni Grill (spaghetti and meatballs) and Steak -N- Shake (Frisco Melt). I drank a few beverages but didn't drink as many as I did when I was in Florida and I even got a few decent runs in at this really cool park one of the clerks at my hotel told me about.

The park was Sand Run Park and had quite a few trails that wound through pretty thick forest and up-and-down some very hilly terrain. I got a bit of five miles in on Wednesday, was rained out by some very severe weather on Thursday and put in a nice eight mile run in just under an hour and six minutes Friday.

Saturday evening I was supposed to fly from Akron to Chicago at 1845. Twenty minutes before my flight was to leave they canceled it. The airline put me up in a Quality Inn a few miles away and booked a flight out for me at 0600 Sunday morning.

This little trip was the longest I have ever been away from my son and when they canceled my flight I was about ready to cry. I missed him quite a bit and was hoping to be home when he woke up in the morning. It was worth the wait to walk into my house just before 1100 on Sunday morning and hear my wife say, "Daddy's home."

As I walked around the corner into our living room he was turning the corner around the couch. When he saw me his face little up and he yelled, "Da Da!!!" as he ran full tilt at me and lunged into my arms. As I picked him up he planted a kiss on my lips and then clung to me with his head on my shoulder for about two minutes before he let go.

He only let go so he could grab Kim and hug us both at the same time.

Scholastic Challenge

I got up just before 0500, let the dog outside and drank a cup of coffee before heading to the race around 0600 to get registered. It was a pleasant morning in the mid-sixties with a slight wind out of the South and moderate humidity. I jogged a mile and half with a buddy finishing about 15 minutes before the gun. I lined up with Dan B. from Hardy Breed and then we were off.

The plan was to stay close to Dan the whole race and kick him down the last 400 or so. I was about three seconds back at the mile as I went through at 6:20.55. I felt pretty good at that point but didn't think I was going to drop consecutive 6:10s to finish it out. I still thought I had a good shot at low-19:40s though. I ran mile two in 6:23.41 and went through in 12:43.96. As I crossed the bridge I lost quite a bit of ground on Dan and was passed by four or five people, at least, before launching a furious surge about 400 meters from the finish to pass most of the people who had gotten by me. I hit mile three in 19:21.60 after running a disappointing 6:37.64 split. I gave it about all I had the last 0.1 just to see how close I could get to Dan and finished in 19:54.35 running the last little bit in 32.75. Dan finished in 60th place in 19:48 and I was in 61st only because my killer instinct took over and I passed a short 12 year old boy with about five steps left in the race. I don't generally have a problem preying on children the last 100 meters of a race, they can't kick.

I'm pretty happy with my time though I feel I wimped out the third mile and could have run a little better from the two to two and a half point. I think I could have run ten seconds faster if I could just get over that weak mental moment I always have after the two mile mark. I placed second in my new age group and was only 15 seconds out of first.

Next up is the Premier Bank 5K on July 4th. We'll see if I can't break 19:47 there and bring home first in the 30-34 age group.

I also got my ass handed to me by the Bionic Woman. She placed third overall for females in 18:57 but was only four seconds out of first and three seconds out of runner-up. They were in a pretty tight pack. I wish I'd been up there to see it.

Clean bill of health

I went to my chiropractor today and the deep tissue massage didn't make me growl profanities at him so he pronounced me cured and told me not to come back for a month unless it started bugging me.

My clean bill of health is just in time for the Scholastic Challenge 5k at 0730 tomorrow morning. Last year at this race I went out strong with IronTim and the Bionic Woman in 6:05, hung in through two at a then PR 12:17 and crashed ten steps later. I staggered across the finish with a 6:33 final mile and a bad taste in my mouth as Tim and BW had run sub-19:10. This year BW is enjoying some post-Boston Marathon fitness and has already cranked a 5:40 mile in her only race since running the Marathon. She told me a week ago that she thinks she's in the best shape she's been in since graduating from SIUC. I thought, "Oh shit. Here comes another nine straight losses."

When I ran into IronTim at Passavant he told me that he has felt positively mortal since running the Country Music Marathon in April. I never count Tim out but this year I'm not in his age group. I'm still in the 25-29 age group for the Points Series but Tim and I are getting our asses handed to us by a guy named Bernie. Bernie is out-pointing us because he's run all five Points races this year to my two and Tim's one. Luckily for us they count your nine best races and there are still ten races left in the Series. I don't really care too much this year but it would be nice to defend my title.

Point Series aside, I am nervous about this race for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that I haven't run any speed work since May 31st, if you count my DNF at Passavant. If you Don't count Passavant (I'm not counting it) I haven't done any speed since the week of May 12 - 18 where I did 1.5 miles in 9:32 and a mile in 6:19 that Tuesday and ran the Race to Feed Hungry Children in 20:12 and vomited (I counted the vomiting as an ab workout) that Saturday.

The other reason I'm nervous is because I haven't run more that 20 miles a week in over a month. I know that you don't need to run ultra-long miles to run a 5k but six mile long runs are about all I've been able manage for the last six weeks or so. I'm glad tomorrow isn't a 10k or I'd be toast.

The plan tomorrow is to go out safe. Safe can probably be defined as 6:10 to 6:20. Hopefully that will feel pretty good and I can get through two in the neighborhood of 12:30 or faster. During my runs this week I have been visualizing the last mile of the race as we come over the bridge and I visualize myself passing people and finishing strong. I also have been visualizing 18:40 on my watch as I hit mile three and 19:15 as a finishing time. If I can run that fast I'll be ecstatic. If I feel like crap from the gun then I'll be happy to just break 20:00 and place in my new age group.

All that is left now is to hydrate and go to bed.

Watch out 30 - 34!

The 30 - 34 age group just got a little tougher as I moved up a division as of yesterday. The Scholastic Challenge is up this weekend and I'm hoping to start my thirties off with a nice showing and some hardware. Truth be told, I am ecstatic to be out of the 25 - 29 age group as it was getting ridiculously tough from all the young studs who don't have families kicking the snot out of me because they can devote five hours a day to exercise. I'm lucky if I get five hours a week.

Brick

I kicked my ass for Father's Day. After putting Nathan down for his nap a little after noon I did all the lower body and core exercises (18 exercises) in the 45 minute Core Secrets workout. After that I put on the bike shorts and filled a water bottle for a 50 minute ride on the bike trail during which I covered 14.23 miles. Not especially speedy but a decent workout. After I parked the bike I put on the running shorts and ran three miles in 24:50. Running minutes after dismounting a bike felt weird as hell. I felt like I was still pedaling. After I got back from my run I walked into the backyard, took off my shoes and socks and flopped into the swimming pool Kim and I spent the morning blowing up and filling for Nathan. I'm tired now.

I got 20 miles of running for the week and my hamstring feels better, probably about 90%. I'm going to take it easy again this week but I'm going to pound the lower body and core exercises all week and see how I feel on Saturday morning for the Scholastic Challenge. I am going in without any expectations. I just want to make a reasonable accounting of myself as this will be my first race in the 30-34 age group. If I can start my thirties off with an age group win I will be pretty happy. Hell, I'll even take a show.

Wednesday is the big day.

Insomnia

I can't sleep.

On a usual Saturday night I would have been asleep for close to three hours by now (it is 2420 hrs here in Illinois). Tonight I'm wide awake. I'm pretty sure it is the Mr. Pibb I had with dinner. I tend to not have any caffeine after I've finished my two - three cups of coffee I drink in the morning between 0530 and 0730 but tonight I decided to have a soda with dinner instead of a beer or just water.

So here I am typing in my blog while my wife sleeps peacefully across the hall and my son slumbers in the room next door.

I was going to go for an eight miler at 0430 but I'm thinking that I might go earlier if I keep tossing and turning.

I've been nursing a sore right hamstring for awhile now. The chiropractor I go to has been deep tissue massaging it and running therapy on it (where he sticks an electrode to it to make it fire) and he has forbidden me to run hills or speedwork. I can still run easy, bike and do yoga. I have been doing hamstring presses on the stability ball and they suck. I know I should have been doing them all along but even when I'm not sore they hurt. I guess that means that I had some underlying weakness in my hamstrings all along.

I do a yoga pose, the name of which I forget, where I am on all fours to start. The sequence from there goes to extending one arm in front of me and extending the opposite leg behind me. After holding that pose for three breaths I turn and grab my leg with the opposite hand and hold that pose for another three breaths. After that I extend the arm to one side and the leg to the other side and hold there. On that pose, with my right leg stuck out, I can feel marked weakness in comparison to my left. Something isn't right but thanks to my evil chiropractor's ministrations it feels "righter" than it did last weekend. Hopefully I can nip this in the ass so that I can keep up this good season I'm having.

I still have lofty goals of sub-5:20 at the Sizzling Mile, 11:45 at the Parade Run and 18:50 for 5K. I'd love to crank out a sub-19:00 at the Scholastic Challenge but I don't know if that is going to happen. It might have to wait until the PPR.

I've been thinking about my training schedule this past week and I think I've been trying to cram too much crap into a very small bag. A track workout, a tempo workout and a long run in four days of running is too much intensity. I think that when I get healthy and have the okay to run speedwork I will alternate track workouts and tempo workouts every week. Some of you are going "DUH!" but you all know how obsessive we can get about doing more and more when we're running well and want to do better.

I lost sight of my big picture as it pertains to my running. . . train smart to stay injury free. Consistency builds improvement and it is hard to be consistent when you're hurt.

I hope everyone is well and sleeping better than I am.

If it looks like a gun then it must be a . . .

Have you ever seen the Tim Allen movie "Big Trouble" where the TSA screener passes a nuclear bomb through because the bad guys convince her that it is a garbage disposal? The story here is at the other end of the spectrum. Use some damn sense people.

Thunder, flat tires, hamstrings, skip ropes and speed bags.

We have had some scary ass weather here in Illinois the last 24 hours or so. It started last night when I was awakened at 2358 by the sound of thunder rolling across Chatham. Since then we've had a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch with another round expected later tonight. In fact, I just heard thunder again.

After my DNF on Saturday I chilled out that afternoon, went to Dairy Queen that night, mowed the yard Sunday morning and did the 45 minute Core Secrets workout (with Gunnar Peterson!) that afternoon. Later that afternoon I took my bike, with the brand new tire, out for a ride. I was only going to go for thirty minutes but I got about a mile and a half away from my house and my brand new tire was flat! There was no puncture to the tire so I'm guessing that the tube was kinked or that I'm so fat I blew the tube. I was a little pissed off walking the mile and a half back to my house pushing the bike.

Monday morning I rolled out of bed at 0430 and went to the track to do a 200 - 400 - 800 - 400 - 200 ladder. I warmed up with my customary easy mile (8:32) and a mile of strides (7:54).

I had a few cobwebs the on the upside of the ladder and hit my 200 in 42.41 and jogged a 200 (1:16) before starting my 400 which I completed in 1:25.97. That was about two seconds slower than I wanted but I didn't really care. I jogged a 400 (2:30) and ran my 800 in 2:48.37. My 400 split was right at 1:25 so I negative split the last 400 in the neighborhood of 1:23, that's always cool. I jogged an 800 in 4:48 and booked my final 400 in 1:22.27 completed another recovery 400 in 2:29 and finished off the ladder with a 40.17 for my 200. I finished the lap with a 1:15 and ran a mile and a half cool-down in 12:01.

After work Monday evening I went to the chiropractor for some deep tissue massage on my right hamstring. I hate my chiropractor, big asshole. I swear that his thumbs sprout razor blades when he does deep tissue massage. It helps but I still want to kick him in the head afterwards.

Misplaced aggression for my chiropractor and my bike might be the reason I cleared out the corner of the garage that houses my heavy bag and speed bag stand this evening. I did 5 x 1 minute skip rope with one minute rest intervals during which I hit the speed bag.

I love the speed bag. I thought I was going to be all thumbs since I haven't hit the thing for about two years but it felt like I'd hardly taken a break from my days of training to be a really crappy boxer. You start your speed bag session hitting the bag eight times with your right hand and then switching to hit it eight times with your left hand, then you switch back to your right for four hits, then left for another four, right for two, left for two, right for two, left for two and then you alternate hands for 16 hits and work your way back up.

A fast guy can do that sequence (up and down) twice in one minute. I could only do it one and a half times when I was training (way back in 2003) but surprised myself by completing at least one sequence each of the five times I did it tonight.

I go back to the chiropractor tomorrow for more deep tissue massage and as long as it isn't storming at 0430 I'll probably get up and run an easy four or five miles before going to work.

"If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion." Lin-Chi