The Constantly Heckled Runner

Training Race #2 - Three miles

2009-07-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to do another of the training races in the park since it was overcast, breezy and only in the 70s. They were offering a 1 mile run for the kiddies, a 3 mile and a 6 mile. I opted for 3 mile to see how 7:00 pace felt.

These races are awesome because they only cost a dollar, they are run on a bike trial that only crosses one road and the terrain is hilly. The terrain is so hilly that the last half of the first mile is downhill and the first half of the last mile is uphill. It gets even worse out toward the turnaround for the 6 mile folk so it is a great practice run for the Shoreline 15K in September.

I warmed up with an easy two in 16:12, did a few strides and waited for the little kids' run to finish. I lined up at the start and eased into it behind a group of high school kids who were running the six at a conversational (for them) pace. We hit the first half mile in 3:31.64 which was perfect. I felt a bit frisky and since I had a nice long downhill to the mile mark I picked it up a bit and coasted through the mile mark in 6:48.32 with a half mile split of 3:16.68. I ran to the turnaround with a junior high kid who was running the six and would have missed the turnaround if he hadn't pointed it out to me. I hit the halfway point in 10:10.58 running the third half in 3:22.26.

I picked it up a bit while it was still relatively flat and ran a 3:14.85 while crossing the two mile mark in 13:25.43. The two mile mark is halfway up a decent size hill heading toward a bridge that crosses Steven's Creek (I think it is Steven's Creek anyway) after crossing the bridge it is a looooong slightly more than gradual uphill to the 2.5 mark. I ran the uphill have mile in 3:35.98 and got passed by two guys about halfway up (I had been in the lead). I didn't go with them as I wanted to save a little in the legs for the four mile race I'm running on the 4th but I picked it up the last half mile and used the nice downhill in the last 400 to my advantage to run a 3:08.68 and finish in 20:10.09 (by my watch). My official time was 20:09.

Mile splits of 6:48.32, 6:37.11 and 6:44.66 made me very happy and I think I could have run 10 to 15 seconds faster if not for the brutal hill the first half of the final mile.

I hit the halfway point in 10:10.58 and ran the last mile and a half in 9:59.51. I felt pretty comfortable with the pace and I am very surprised I ran this fast as I went in expecting 6:50 pace to be what I could do on a good day. Apparently I'm in better shape than I thought.

Training Race #1 - The Mile

2009-06-16T17:33:00.001-07:00

The nice thing about the Decatur Running Club is that they have training races of varying distances every Tuesday until August. Tonight they offered a mile and three mile training races but in coming weeks will also offer two, four, six and seven mile options, all for the low price of $1. I am getting ready to ramp up the training for a PPR peak in mid-September and I wanted to see how the legs felt with fast stuff and I wanted to have a fast effort to base my speedwork paces on.

The races are held on a bike trail in Fairview Park and are out-and-back on rolling terrain. In fact, the first quarter of the races is almost completely uphill. The nice thing about that is that you get to run down the hill the last quarter.

Us lucky few, mostly kids high school age or younger, and me (the nearly 31 year old guy) were released about 2 minutes after the three mile people. I thought this would be nice to have people to catch but I was wrong. I took it easy the first quarter and let one of the high school boys lead up the hill. At the top I stayed on his heels and as we approached the half mile turnaround he slowed and I dropped him. Unfortunately I ran up on the back-of-the-pack three mile people and got hung up behind one as I came to the switchback. I think this cost me a few seconds but I clicked my half mile split in 3:03.38, uttered a profanity and surged very aggressively. I reached the 3/4 point, approximately, in 4:39; uttered another profanity and pretty much threw myself down the hill to the finish and crossed in 5:51.90. I ran the last half in 2:48.52 and waited for the second place kid who finished in 6:18. After catching my breath I ran a two mile cool down and drove home.

I'm pretty certain that I could have run 5-10 seconds faster for a full mile on the track and I'm pretty happy with my run. I will probably skip next week's training race to do 800s in the grass at the park but will probably hit the three mile option the last Tuesday in June.

I've got to get in shape for the PPR because Dan-oh and Lance ran 19:23 and 19:50, respectively, at the Scholastic Challenge last weekend. I can't let THOSE guys beat me. . .

Great job fellas!

Race #2 in Deca-turd

2009-05-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

I completed my second race here in sweet smelling Decatur this morning. We moved here March 27 and I ran a 5K in 20:43 a week later. I was still very sore from the move and didn't perform as well as I thought I could.

I've been putting in about 15-20 miles a week on 3-4 days of running since we moved here. I'm trying to be careful as Decatur is much more hilly than Chatham was and my legs are not used to it. I thought I was trying to get shin splints but a new pair of shoes has alleviated that.

I have not done any speedwork (tempo or track) since sometime in late Feb, early March and I have not run longer than 6 miles since about that time either. I am basically trying to say that I don't really have much going on in the way of race preparedness.

Despite all the above-mentioned disadvantages I felt that a time in the neighborhood of 35:00 would be pretty good. I thought that if the course was reasonably flat and the weather cooperated I could go under 35:00.

The temps this morning were in the 50s, which is perfect, but the wind was blowing about 15 mph with some pretty heady gusts out of the WNW. Unfortunately for me, this race was an out-and-back that headed pretty steadily in that direction.

I started at the front of the pack and after the gun set off I settled into a pretty relaxed pace that I hoped was in the 7:00-7:10 range and hung out in 6th place until a guy in a Cubs hat passed me at about the 4:00 mark. I was content to stay behind him until I hit the mile in 7:19.94 after which I dropped him like the good Cardinals fan I am.

After dropping my blue-hatted friend I found myself all by my lonesome in 5th place approximately 45 seconds behind a pack of 3 guys and 10 to 15 seconds, and extending, on Cub's man.

In a cruel twist of fate we ran over I-72 at which point I was going uphill and into the wind. I wound around on a side road to the turnaround which I hit in 18:15.21 running from the mile mark in 10:55.27. I noticed that after the turnaround the group ahead of me had strung out and it looked like Tailgate Charlie was coming back to me. I relaxed my form, shortened my stride and focused on his orange back. As we left the side road to head back over I-72 he was 28 seconds ahead of me and upon reaching the other side he was only 18 seconds ahead.

I passed the 4 mile mark in 29:05.49 running from the turnaround in 10:50.28 and was only about 8 seconds back. I had picked a house that marked the half mile left point and started an extended kick, passed the guy to move into 4th place and crossed the finish line in a somewhat disappointed 36:01.84 and covering the last mile in 6:56.35.

I was only disappointed until looking at my splits, such as they were, and noticing that I had run negative splits. I was also less disappointed when three people with Garmins commented that the course was between 5.08 and 5.15 miles which makes it about 30 to 50 seconds long. All of a sudden my 36:01 was looking more like a 35:11 or a 35:31 and more in the range I thought myself capable of. The wind also played a factor in that it was in my face most of the first half and blowing me sideways most of the second half.

I did win my age group and brought home a very nice blue coffee cup with the race logo on it.

I'm hoping to run at least one race a month until the end of the year, though I'll see how that works out. I'm going to work on getting my mileage up to the mid-20s with an 8-10 mile long run and I'll start adding some speedwork so I can crank out a respectable time at the PPR in September. I doubt I'll break 19:00 this year but I think sub-19:30 is possible with all the demands on my time.

My new home base of Decatur

2009-04-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Since we moved to Decatur a little over two weeks ago I have run in my new neighborhood four times and ended up lost twice. Today's excursion was supposed to be a touch over five miles and ended up, after getting lost three times, being right around six miles. Decatur also has quite a few more hills than Chatham so a six mile jaunt through town sees me run up at least twice as many hills as my 6 mile route back in Chatham.

The weekend after we moved here I ran a small 5K down the road a bit. It was the LSA 5K and I placed 3rd overall and 1st in my age group in 20:43. I've been fighting a bit of sciatica and hamstring issues and not training very much due to work, school, newborn and moving so I am happy with the result though I think I could have run at least ten seconds faster.

I've been doing calisthenics and working out on the Total Gym pretty consistently so between that and the extra mileage I will get in from getting lost maybe I'll become injury free and faster this year on the infrequent occasions I will race.

Presenting. . . Adam Michael

2009-03-02T08:37:00.001-08:00

Here he is, all 5 lbs, 8 oz. and 17 3/4 inches.

Adam Michael

2009-02-27T16:25:00.001-08:00

My second son was born today at approximately 1030 hrs. He weighed in at 5 lbs 8 oz and measured 17 3/4 inches. He has a head of blondeish/brown hair and blue tinted eyes. Mother and baby are doing well and it is possible that he will be able to come home on Sunday.

As the new father of a child with Down Syndrome I encourage all five of my readers to visit the National Down Syndrome Society website or take part in a Polar Bear Plunge in your area to support Special Olympics.

3200 meter time trial

2009-02-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

My training plan this year basically revolves around a 14 day cycle where I run 5 miles in Decatur during my lunch break on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday's lunch is occasionally spent in the weight room. Thursday and Friday are usually off days. Saturdays alternate between a long run (usually 8 miles) one week and a hard effort (1600 meters, 3200 meters or 3 miles). Sunday is an easy 4.

Last weekend's 8 mile run was completed at an 8:03 clip and my other runs are generally completed between 8:00 to 8:30 pace.

Last night I ran 4 in 32 minutes and change.

This morning I warmed up with an easy two in 15:36.48 (8:04.83 and 7:31.65). I took a 4:53.81 break to water a thirsty tree in the woods near the middle school and, after changing into my vest from my jacket, I started my 3200 meter time trial. The plan was to see if I could run faster than the 12:42 I ran in November. My 5:41 1600 TT from two weeks ago made me think sub-12:30 was possible.

I set off at an easy pace the first lap and felt comfortable the whole way.

1:33.96
1:33.20; 3:07.16
1:34.07; 4:41.23
1:35.52; 6:16.75
1:33.85; 7:50.60
1:34.13; 9:24.73
1:34.24; 10:58.97
1:29.16; 12:28.13

Mile splits= 6:16.75/6:11.38

I cooled down with an easy two miles.

1600 Time Trial

2009-02-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

I just want to brag about my 1600 m. time trial today.

After a 1.5 mile warm-up I hit splits of:

1:27.74
1:25.50; 2:53.24
1:24.32; 4:17.56
1:23.68; 5:41.24

I did a 1.5 mile cool-down and staggered to my car and home for a shower.

I was hoping to hit 5:50 or so but once I hit 1200 I thought that I could dip under 5:40 if I burned the last lap. I don't have much to burn but I'm happy that I got faster every lap and I think I was too conservative my first lap around the oval. I can tell that I haven't run speed like that for a long while but I think that a 5:41 is pretty solid for not running any speed work since sometime in September.

Nice

2008-12-30T11:19:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a very pleasant 5 mile run in sunny Chatham. It was in the upper 40s with a bit of a wind out of the south but I went out and ran in a long sleeve shirt, shorts and a ball cap and broke a sweat. I wore a watch for the first time in a long time and covered my five in 41:04 with splits of 8:18, 8:26, 16:24, and 7:56. I felt good after beating the crap out of myself the last few weeks with calisthenics and stuff to get the hammy and the right knee fixed up. I wish it was like this all winter.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

I just want to wish my readers, all five of you, a Merry Christmas.

I got about 7 pair of Gap underwear (and they're not labeled Monday thru Sunday), a $30 gift card to Best Buy, a George Carlin (RIP) calendar, a long-sleeve Nike technical shirt and a new pair of InSport lightweight running tights. But best of all is that I get to sit around with my family and watch Nathan play with his toys.

Happy Holidays!

Mamma Mia

2008-12-18T12:26:00.000-08:00

I was a good husband and rented "Mamma Mia" for my wife last night since we watched "Hancock" the night before that. I don't mind the occasional chick flick or musical but I was hesitant to watch a movie version of a musical based on ABBA music. (Cringe.)

I consoled myself with the fact that Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and the guy who played Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Master in "The Phantom Menace" were in it and that they don't usually suck.

I've come to the conclusion that the reason I'm not a huge fan of musicals is this: I cannot suspend disbelief enough to accept that people are spontaneously bursting into song because they're in love, angry, horny or drunk.

Well, I guess I could believe it when someone is drunk.

I also get freaked out when they have a conversation in song and when bystanders in the crowd sing back-up (especially when they're "ahhhh, do wop, do wop" back-up singing). If someone started singing "sha doobie do-wop" when I was having an argument with my wife or singing about how much I love vanilla flavored Silk I would run screaming to the nearest psych ward.

I left the room periodically to preserve my sanity (and listen to something that wasn't ABBA) but thought that the movie was decent and that I won't be buying it anytime soon.

Season Recap

2008-12-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Top-Times for 2008

Mile: 5:21 PB (previously 5:27)
Two Miles: 11:59.68
5K: 19:22
5 Miles: 33:00 PB (previously 33:39)
10K: 41:30 PB (previously 42:06)
Half Marathon: 1:39:21 PB (previously 1:43:23)

Course Bests

AMA 5K/Run for Hungry Children: 20:12 (previously 20:23)
Abe's Amble 10K: 41:30 (previously 42:06)
Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon: 1:39:21 (previously 1:44:45)

Races I Executed to Perfection

Sizzling Mile: 2.09, 1:20.90 (1:22.99), 1:21.45 (2:44.44), 1:20.01 (4:04.45), 1:17.11 (5:21.56)
Abe's Amble: 6:40.56, 6:47.45 (13:28.01), 6:41.31 (20:09.32), 6:46.67 (26:55.99), 6:43.87 (33:39.66), 6:38.83 (40:18.69), 1:11.95, (41:30.64)
Heroes Run for Hope: 6:33.34, 6:52.87 (13:26.21), 6:39.37 (20:05.58), 6:43.12 (26:48.70), 6:12.92 (33:00.62)

Future Plans

I have no "A" races planned for the foreseeable future. Kim and I have a baby due in March and he has Down Syndrome and will need heart surgery this summer. I plan to continue working on my masters degree through this so I will only race when the mood strikes me and when I have the time. I am tentatively planning on running the 2010 version of the Illinois Half Marathon in Urbana-Champaign that April. When I complete graduate school in June of 2010 I will set my sights, if all is well, upon the 3rd annual Illinois Marathon in the spring of 2011.

Catching Up

2008-11-30T16:56:00.000-08:00

I didn't do a race report for the Jingle Bell Run 5K last week. I've been busy with house repairs and getting said house ready for people to look at it. I've also had the regular business with school, grad. school, family, etc.

Last Saturday was cold as a well digger's ass in Ohio. It was only about 35 degrees with very chilly winds coming out of the NE at close to 20 mph. That was fine on the way back in on the out-and-back course but really sucked on the way out. Once we hit the tree line around the 1K mark it was fine.

I drove to the race so I had about 90 minutes to sign-up and warm-up. I'm glad I did because it was a huge SNAFU. You had to sign-up and pay at one table, get your bib number at another and then get your goodie bag and t-shirt in another. It was a ton of standing in line. To make matters worse when I got to race and went to grab my gloves and hat they weren't in the car. Luckily I had a raggedy old stocking cap in my car that was covered in dead leaf fragments from the yard work I'd done in it the previous weekend and an extra pair of socks in my dry clothes bag. I eventually found my hat and gloves on the floor of my garage upon returning home.

I got in about a two mile warm-up and stripped down to a long sleeve shirt, light vest, tights, glove/socks and lawn detritus covered hat. I lined up with my friend Emily (the girl I beat at the Run for Hungry Children 5K in April and then almost puked on her shoes). Emily was planning on running 20:00 or faster as I was. The plan was to egg each other on to get under that mark.

The gun went off and Emily shot away. I yelled at her, "What's the hurry?" She said "C'mon!" I stayed where I was because I didn't want to go that fast.

I tucked in behind a few fool-hardy high school kids until we hit the tree line and then I started picking them up and putting them down. I hit the mile, which I think was off, in 6:17 and hit the turnaround in 10:30 with my buddy Nyle. I'm not sure if the turnaround is really the halfway point or not but it has to be pretty close. 10:30 at the halfway doesn't equate to a sub-20:00. I surged pretty hard with Nyle and we passed even more people heading toward the 2 mile mark. Nyle and I go back and forth quite a bit. I'll beat him a few races after passing him late and he'll get me the next race or two. We have a pretty decent rivalry but I think I have the edge because I'm about 20 years younger and have a better kick. He is pretty fun to race though and we pushed each other pretty hard the last bit of this race.

We hit the second mile mark in 11:57 but I'm gonna go ahead and say that their's no way I ran a 5:39 mile and ran within one second of my post-married life PR. Nyle got the best of me heading out of the treeline but only after we passed another three or four people. We were running with two other teenagers at this point and Nyle attacked and built up a lead of no more than five seconds with about 800 to go. Out of nowhere I got a second wind and could see Emily only ten seconds ahead. With about 600 to go I started sprinting. I dropped the high school kids and started gaining on Nyle. Right around the three mile mark we turned into the final straight and I kicked past Nyle and came within a whisker of getting Emily at the finish. I didn't puke though.

I stopped my watch as I crossed the line in 19:59.59. Emily must have run 19:58.xx as her time was 19:59 and mine was 20:00 in the official results, these were the same guys who did the timing for the Parade Run (11:59.68 but 12:00 official). Nyle finished one place behind me in 20:05. I ran from the turnaround to the finish in 9:28.

I placed 19th overall, 17th overall male and finally completed my collection of age group medals with a win in the 30-34 age group to go with two second place finishes and a third in 25-29. The after race party was crazy busy and when I finally decided to brave the line for food there was NOTHING left! No coffee, no bananas, no muffins, nothing.

I went home, drank coffee and did homework.

3200 m. Time Trial

2008-11-15T13:20:00.001-08:00

In the spirit of the post-season that is going on around me I decided to run a hard workout today. My high school alma mater brought home two trophies and four individual all-state medals from the 1A state cross country championships last weekend and the D-1 regional cross country meets were taking place this morning.

I ran a warm-up around the neighborhood and drove to the middle school track in the drizzle and wind to do another mile of accelerations before ditching the jacket and putting on my vest for a 3200 meter time trial. The temps were in the mid-30s with winds about 16 mph out of the NW with gusts in the 20s. Add a nice drizzle/sleet to the mix and it was a fun time.

I decided to see how 1:35s felt and had at it.

Here are my splits:

1:36.10
1:37.36; 3:13.46 (3:13.46)
1:36.35; 4:49.81
1:35.76; 6:25.57 (3:12.11)
1:35.24; 8:00.81
1:35.63; 9:36.44 (3:10.87)
1:34.75; 11:11.19
1:30.90; 12:42.09 (3:05.65) (6:16.52)

1:35s felt okay after easing into them the first few laps. I got a little uncomfortable the last 600 meters or so but nothing too bad. I think I could have clipped off 1:35s for a few more laps before vomiting.

I'm going to run the Jingle Bell 5K to close out my season next Saturday and more than likely will not race again until Adam is a few months old late next spring or early next summer.

Hopefully we will have a house in the Decatur area before he comes along, I hope they have a few decent races.

And the Winner is. . .

2008-11-15T06:02:00.001-08:00

After weeks of suggesting names to my wife and weeks of her saying "no, I don't like that" I gave up on suggesting names and told her to pick one herself. She came up with. . .

It's a BOY!

2008-10-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm going to be the father of sons.

We got our 20 week ultrasound today and while I was hoping for a daughter I am happy that I'm going to have another little boy around the house soon.

I was curious to see what a little girl would look like though.

All we know is that the middle name is going to be "Michael".

Any suggestions?

Heartbeats

2008-10-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Kim and I got out the stethoscope this morning and attempted to find the baby's heartbeat. When Kim was pregnant with Nathan we heard his heartbeat with our 'scope for the first time around 15 weeks in but we haven't had the same luck with this one. We are nearly 18 weeks along and I was able to find the heartbeat this morning. I guess the baby was feeling cooperative because I think it rolled for me because I could hear "swooshing" sounds and then the beat got louder.

We go in for the 20 week ultrasound on October 30th so hopefully the child's spirit of cooperation persists so we can discover if Nathan is going to have a baby brother or a baby sister in March.

Heroes Run for Hope

2008-10-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

I ran the Heroes Run for Hope 5 mile in beautiful Chatham this morning. I LOVE having a race in the town where I live and I was heartbroken when the Race for Brazil/Race to Cure Lymphoma dissolved two years ago.

I love racing in Chatham because I know the streets, I know the hills and I like to do well on my "home" course. This morning dawned sunny and cool with temps in the mid-50s by race time. As I stood on the line I did not see any of the big horses from the SRRC and was wondering if the race was going to turn into a lonely slog in the lead. I didn't have anything to worry about though because when "go" was yelled a guy next to me on the line shot to the front. I let him go and focused on finding my rhythm as the race headed north on Rt. 4. As we passed Walgreens heading to the one mile mark another runner passed me. I didn't feel like chasing and hit the mile in 6:33.34 which was a bit faster than I wanted to go. I didn't feel over-extended and I tried to stride out on the downhill heading toward the railroad trestle. As I crested the hill heading toward the high school I felt like I had quite a bit of life in the legs and attempted to run the tangents as Plummer Rd. wound its way to Gordon Dr. I hit mile two in 13:26.21 with a mile split of 6:52.87.

After rounding the turn onto Gordon I knew that it was a long, straight shot to the three mile mark. Luckily for me the course basically mirrored the first three miles of my six my training loop that I have completed numerous tempo runs on. I settled into a rhythm and hit mile three in 20:05.58 with a mile split of 6:39.37. I ran up the next to last decent hill on the course and wound through the Breckenridge sub-division heading toward the four mile mark. As I rounded the corner with the four mile mark in sight I heard the scuff of shoes right behind me. I snuck a peek over my shoulder as I turned and saw a guy not quite ten seconds back and gaining. I noticed him at the two mile mark when he was about 30 seconds back. It seemed apparent that he was gunning for the bronze medal.

I surged hard at four which I hit in 26:48.70 with a 6:43.12 mile split. I cut a tangent heading to Park St. and swooshed around the corner into the last 3/4 of a mile and the last two hills on the course. I easily crested the first of the bunny hops and surged on the downhill side. As I approached the last hill a block later I lowered the arms and shortened the stride and gave it all I had. As I turned into South Park I dug deeper and sprinted as hard as I could to the finish. I could hear myself whimpering with effort and crossed the line in 33:00.62, having covered the last mile in 6:12.92. I managed to hold off my shadow by 11 seconds and just barely avoided vomiting on his shoes as he came over to congratulate me.

My shadow started running seriously this past spring after spending years on an elliptical machine. He is in his forties and knocked down five miles in 33:11 today. Personally, I am glad he didn't start running seriously a month or two earlier than he did or I would have had to settle for first in my age group instead of third overall.

The race was won by the guy who passed me at the mile mark. He caught the early leader with about a half mile to go and triumphed in 31:45 (I think) to 31:59. I remember when I could run that fast. . . on hilly, solo tempo run days even. Those days were nice. Those days were also about 13-14 years ago. Hopefully those days will come around again.

My legs felt pretty good after having felt dead every time I ran for the last month or so. I started doing the Core Secrets workout with Gunnar Peterson again the last two weeks and I think that is helping me out immensely. I think I'll have to keep that up.

I am getting ready to start two ten week long grad classes on Monday after finishing my first one a few weeks ago. I expect the blogging to go on hiatus for awhile, though I will post updates about our pregnancy toward the end of the month or beginning of next as we'll be discovering the sex of our child then. I'll also try to get a race report up if I decide to run the Jingle Bell Run 5K in the middle of November.

Take care and have a nice autumn!!!

Extra Credit

2008-09-08T18:59:00.001-07:00

For two (2) extra credit points:

1. Identify the diagnostic imaging modality utilized to obtain this image.

2. Identify the anatomic structures demonstrated in this image.

I am not a good prognosticator.

2008-09-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

I competed in the Polka Pace Race 5K in beautiful Havana, IL this morning. We had some nice weather with temps in the high 50's and sunny skies. The PPR is a flat and fast course and is where I ran my post-married-with-children PR (19:02) last season. If any race on my club's Points Series can be described as a "home" meet for me it is this one. My grandparents live three houses down from the starting line, a block before the two mile mark and about four blocks from the finish line. Add them to a town full of aunts, uncles and cousins (many of whom I have never met) and a good friend's parents who live around the corner from my grandparents and I have I rather large cheering section.

I had high hopes for this race even though my training has been derailed a few times this year by IT band syndrome, a hamstring pull, grad school and a new job. The plan was to hit the mile in 5:55 - 6:00, two in 11:55 - 12:10 and then try to hold on and get the last mile under 6:20 where I could use my finishing speed to dig under 19:00.

I got in a two mile warm-up and took my place on the line with a few high school football players. As the starting gun (siren) went off I broke my cardinal rule of racing, "don't get caught up in the initial sprint". I could tell that it was going to be a long day as I was breathing hard by the time we hit downtown Havana, not even 800 into the race. I hit 800 in 2:50, surged down the hill to the riverfront and found myself in 4th place as I passed the mile mark in 5:59. I was surprised to here 5:59 as I felt like I had run 5:50 or faster. I managed to hold form and could see that I was only 20 - 30 seconds behind the leaders as we wound our way to the 1.5 mark. I can't remember my exact split at 1.5 but it was sub-9:10.

I was passed by a guy from my club who passed me in the exact same spot as last year and I tucked in behind him and rapidly fell off the back about two blocks after the two mile mark (12:17). The hardest part about the final mile is that you basically have two long straights of about a half mile where you can see exactly how far you have to go to the turn or the finish line. As I approached the 2.5 mark I felt as if I was in a bad dream where I was running and running but not moving any closer to my destination.

The third mile was a long, shoulder-cramping, lung-searing stagger to the finish line where I ran fast enough to get passed by two more runners and finish in 19:22.79.

I finished in 7th overall (again) and won my age group only because the fastest 30-34 year old in the race placed third overall. On a happier note, I believe I clinched my club's Point Series championship for my age group to defend the title I earned last year. I also earned 8 points in the overall standings as I was the third club finisher across the line today. I have no idea where I am in the overall standings because they haven't been updated since late May but I finished 15th last year.

I think I am going to run the Shoreline Classic 15K in a few weeks but I'm not locking myself into it as I think the IT Band is flaring up again.

I think I'm going to have to give up on the sub-19:00 goal for at least this year.

Maybe I'll go play the lotto with the 18:34.64 from my dream.

Weird Dream

2008-09-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

I dreamt last night that I ran the PPR in 18:34.64. I have no idea what my splits were in this Dreamland run but I was pretty happy to run that fast.

Unfortunately, I think they only way I'll run 18:34.64 at the PPR this weekend is if I have the same dream early Saturday morning or late that night.

Ambling at Abe's

2008-08-17T08:58:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning at 0500 because Nathan let out a yell. I went to his room and held him for a minute but he wanted back in his crib to be covered up. I brewed a cup of coffee, ate a banana and got dressed. I met my neighbor at 0600 and we drove to the Fairgrounds, arriving at 0620 or so. I did a two mile warm-up, hit the restroom and stretched a bit. The temps were nice, 59 or 60 at the start.

The plan for today was to go out easier than I did last year and to try to pick it up around the 5K mark. I ran splits of 6:35, 13:22, 20:13, 20:54, 27:06, 34:08, 40:50 and 42:06 at last years race. I wrote them on my hand last night before bed so I had a reminder of where I wanted to be at each mile mark.

After the National Anthem and the start I settled into a relaxed pace. I had no one I was gunning for and I just made sure I didn't get caught up in the excitement. I hit the mile in 6:40.56, which was a bit faster than I wanted but I felt good and wasn't in any distress. I eased up heading into the park and let myself flow down the hill as we left to head towards the cemetery. I eased up the first decent hill and hit mile two in 13:28.01 (6:47.45), about six seconds slower than last year.

I noticed that Joy was slowly coming back to me at this point but didn't really care, I just wanted to continue to drop 6:45 miles and see what happened until I could make a push during mile four. I used another downhill to my advantage as I entered the cemetery and came up on Joy right around the three mile mark. I crossed three in 20:09.32 (6:41.31). Just as soon as I caught her she spurted away and I let her go as she is known to run negative splits. I hit 5K in 20:49.17 and eased up the hill heading out of the cemetery. Once I crested the hill I surged and tried to maintain heading toward the four mile mark. Last year at this point I eased up too much. I crossed four in 26:55.99 (6:46.67) and was about 13 seconds ahead of schedule. I caught Joy at this point and passed her for good as I surged down the hill but slowed down once I hit the last major uphill going into Lincoln Park. I surged once again as I crested the hill and started to feel a bit of discomfort. Instead of slowing I surged again and told myself I only had ten more minutes to go.

I rounded the corner to the five mile mark and passed in 33:39.86 (6:43.87) to find myself nearly 30 seconds ahead of last year's time. The last 1.2 is a bit muddled but I think I passed a guy, got passed by another guy and passed two others as I entered the gate to the fairgrounds. I remember clicking my split at the mile to go mark and aside from that I only remember snippets of the last bit. I remember rounding the corner coming to the six mile mark and passing in 40:18.69 (6:38.83) and being too far out to catch the two guys ahead of me. I gave it a good shot and ran the last .2 in 1:11.95 to finish in 42nd place (six worse than last year) and in 41:30.64, a PR by 36 seconds.

I ran from the "mile to go" point in 6:25.64.

Today's time puts me within 1:45 of my PR from 1997 when I ran 39:46 after a night of debauchery.

I placed second in my age group and I feel pretty good about my chances of going under 19:00 at the PPR. I'm thinking 18:45-18:55.

Ten miles of reflection on the Parade Run

2008-08-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning for a ten mile jaunt along the bike trail. It was a beautiful day with temps in the mid 60s and low humidity. I wasn't relishing the run but I made it the entire uncomfortable way in 1:21:39 with out and back times of 41:30 and 40:09.

I replayed my race from Thursday in my head and realized that even though I felt sluggish the whole way I ran fairly well. I stayed off the hard sprint the first 400 but felt it was too early to go with Joy when she blew by me about a minute into the race. I chalked it up to her being way ahead of me in training this year and waved goodbye as she passed.

The Parade Run course is basically an L-shaped out-and-back that starts in the fairgrounds and takes a hard right approximately 600 meters later. You run about a kilometer to the mile mark, turn around and retrace your steps to the finish line. John L. and I determined that the distance from the gate to the finish would take 30-35 seconds and that would probably indicate a pretty good place to launch a blistering kick. The Parade Run is one of only two races I have done since my first full season of racing in 2005 and I have never avoided being gunned down in that final stretch.

After watching Joy go by I concentrated on running relaxed. By chance I looked at my watch as I made the hard right and saw that it took me 2:18 to get there. My pal, and nemesis, Dan was ahead of me at this point but I caught him as we passed a set of speakers playing a drumbeat that sounded suspiciously like "36-24-36" by the Violent Femmes. Dan had the indignity of being passed by me as I sang the bridge to the song: "36-24-26, I want lots of pretty chicks. . ." I wasn't singing a few blocks later as I approached and hit the turnaround in about 5:56-5:57.

I snagged a paper cup of water that promptly spilled as the volunteer didn't let go. I took a big enough sip to wet my whistle and dumped a few drops on my head as I took advantage of the downhill to surge. The pack had strung out a bit at this point but I knew that if I could catch the two guys ahead of me I'd have a good shot of going under 12:00 no matter how much it hurt.

The discomfort struck a block later and a subversive voice in my head told me that anything faster than 12:20 would be acceptable. At that point I looked up and saw that Joy was in sight and told the subversive voice that he was full of shit and needed to sit back and buckle up because I wasn't done quite yet.

I focused on relaxing and reeling in the two ahead of me hoping that Joy had run the first mile at a suicidal pace and would come back to me. After the race I found that Joy and her pace crew hit the mile in 5:36. When I hit the turn to head straight into the fairgrounds I told myself I only had about two minutes to go and that if I was going to break 12:00 this stretch was where it was going to happen. I caught one of the two I'd been chasing about a half block from the gate and caught the other (a short, skinny 12 year old boy, ironically) about a hundred meters from the line. I hit the finish in 12:00.86 by my watch but forgot that I hit my watch at gun time instead of when I crossed the mat.

My official time was 11:59.68 but it was rounded up to 12:00 by the race results people, which irritates me. I placed 34th overall, a two place improvement from last year, and won the 30-34 age group by 1:20. Unfortunately I wasn't the fastest 30-34 year old in the race as Joy ran 11:41 high. I am heartened by the fact that her 5:36 first mile took a toll on her because that meant I ran a faster second mile than she did, though not much faster. I do wonder how much faster I could have run if I'd tried to maintain contact with her and her pacers though.

The prediction that John L. and I came up with to determine the amount of time it would take to get from the gate to the finish was spot on as I covered the distance in 32.88 seconds and avoided being out-kicked in that stretch for the first time in four attempts at this race.

Next Sunday is Abe's Amble 10K and I am hoping to go under 42:00. The tempo runs, longer intervals and distance base is not as impressive as it was last year but I was also training through Abe's in preparation for the PPR. Maybe I'll surprise myself on Sunday. Maybe I won't.

Parade Run

2008-08-07T18:03:00.001-07:00

I felt sluggish from the gun in the 82 degree temps, 53% humidity and NNE 9 mph wind. I hit the mile in about 5:57 and followed up with a 6:03, by my watch. When they posted results from the chip timing my official time was 11:59.68 but on the website they rounded all the times up or down and my time is 12:00. Bastards.

I won the 30-34 age group by about 1:20. This is the only race where I have a complete set of age group awards. 2nd and 3rd in 25-29 and 1st in 30-34. Coolness.

Bud Lite Lime and 3200 meters

2008-08-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a Bud Lite Lime with the two chicken tacos I had for dinner. I'd been very drowsy all day, ate a late lunch, needed to finish my research paper for the week and was ready for bed by 1800 hrs when dinner rolled around. I wasn't in any mood to run even though I had a hard practice scheduled so I had a beer while I ate. After dinner I wrote my short research paper on community college finance and was wired. I decided to run that practice I had scheduled.

I changed clothes, drank a little water and ran to the high school track where I did some strides and launched into a 3200 meter tempo run. I decided to do the tempo at 6:20 pace but I figured that 3200 meters is actually about 18 meters (or two seconds) short of two miles I would run the 3200 meters in 12:36 (6:18/1600 meters).

As I was finishing up my strides I had a small burp that reminded me of my solitary Bud Lite Lime. "Sodium" I told myself. "No need to skip the practice, you're all worked up and warmed up anyway."

I calmly walked to the start line and proceeded to click off these 400 splits:

1:36.26
1:34.11--3:10.37
1:34.27--4:44.64
1:33.67--6:18.31
1:34.36--7:52.67
1:34.95--9:27.62
1:35.66--11:03.66
1:32.09--12:35.37

I felt pretty decent but started getting a bit uncomfortable going into lap six. I held pace but on the homestretch of lap seven a bug flew into my eye and caused me to slow down a little until it crawled out. I recovered from the bug and increased turnover to ensure that I made it to 3200 in 12:36.

The Bud Lite Lime didn't come back to haunt me at all but I stuck with water the rest of the night as the 75 degree temps, lack of wind and 92% humidity kicked the crap out of me.

Today the body feels like I ran a comfortably hard effort in slightly dehydrated condition and I am a bit sore. I think I am going to take it easy heading into the Parade Run two mile Thursday and maybe to a short and fast effort early in the week before Abe's Amble. I still have hopes of going under 12:00 at the Parade Run, I hope the weather cooperates. I would also love to get under 42:00 at Abe's but will be quite happy with finishing and running a strong effort.

The lead-in to the Duel

2008-07-27T14:31:00.001-07:00

Some of you know that I challenged my Hardy Breed pal Dan B. to a duel at the Sizzling Mile the other day.

This is where I issued the challenge.

This is Dan's write-up.

And this is Jason's.

There are links to pictures and they tell a nice story of the race.

Enjoy!

SIZZLING!

2008-07-23T19:25:00.001-07:00

I've been pretty bad about posting the last few weeks but I've been busy with my grad. school class, working around the house and getting ready to start my new job as the Radiography Program Director at Richland Community College in Decatur.

I've been running pretty consistently, four days a week for about 24 miles. I get two easy days of five to six, a tempo or track session and an eight mile long run. After tonight I think I'm going to step up to ten mile long runs and faster speed days.

Tonight I ran the Sizzling Mile at the SHG track. I was in heat eight with the 5:00 to 5:30 people. As I was warming up I thought maybe sub-5:30 was a little ambitious of me to attempt what with my injuries of late. The hamstring is great and hasn't bothered me for about a month.

I challenged Dan from Hardy Breed to a duel and he accepted. When we lined up on the waterfall I took the position closest to the outside and out of traffic. When "go" was yelled I stayed outside, clicked my watch at the 1600 meter start line in 2.09 seconds, and waited until the pack strung out on the backstretch of the first lap. Joy and I were together and at 200 I was in dead-last with Joy a half-step ahead. We hit 400 in 1:20.90 (1:22.99) and I took the lead from Joy, picked off one or two runners and worked my way up behind the main pack a few seconds ahead of us. I hit halfway in 2:44.44 with a 400 split of 1:21.45.

I decided to start racing at the half and put down a hard surge the next 200 to catch, pass and gap the pack I was chasing. Dan was leading that pack and I passed him right at the 1000 mark. I hit 1200 4:04.45 with a 1:20.01 third lap and gave one last, long dig in the gun lap.

Things got a little muddled the last 400. I think I passed one or two more people but Carl B. caught and passed me on the last corner and a skinny little 15 year-old nipped me at the line. I guess that is karma's way of getting me back for sprinting down the 12 year-old a month ago.

I ran the last lap in 1:17.11 for a total time of 5:21.56, unofficial. My official time was 5:21.85 and I finished 12th in my heat of about 20. Dan finished a few places back in 5:27.60 and Joy finished in 5:28 high, I think. Our heat was won with a time of 4:56.

If you subtract my 2.09 seconds from waterfall to 1600 meter start I ran the high school mile in 5:19.76. That feels pretty nice.

In a nostalgic note for Nate, I ran into our old friend Clint L. He brought one of his runners down from Peoria, she won the women's division in 5:18. It was nice seeing you Clint!

I am going to shower and hit the sack.

Top-10 5K times since my comeback.

2008-07-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

1. 19:02 - Polka Pace Race, 2007
2. 19:25 (twice) - Scholastic Challenge and Jingle Bell Run, 2007
4. 19:31 - I CARE for Residents, 2008 (winna!)
5. 19:35 - Polka Pace Race, 2006 (1:08 PB at the time, from 20:43)
6. 19:45 - Jingle Bell Run, 2006
7. 19:47 - Premier Bank, 2007
8. 19:54 - Scholastic Challenge, 2008 (out-sprinted a 12 year old, ALMOST vomited)
9. 19:57 - Premier Bank, 2008
10. 20:12 - Run For Hungry Children, 2008 (vomited)

It will be a good season if I can drop under 20:00 a few more times to get that 20:12 out of my top-10. I will also be happy if I can get to 100% and at least put a scare into that #1 time. This season has been so up-and-down. At least my times have been consistent.

Happy 4th!

2008-07-04T10:04:00.001-07:00

I woke up around 0515 today, let the dog outside, started the coffee pot and got my son out of bed as he decided he was going to wake up early today instead of sleeping until 0630 like he usually does.

I read the newspaper and drank my first cup of coffee as he watched "The Higgly Town Heroes" and "The Wiggles." About halfway through the Wiggles I fed him a bowl of strawberry yogurt and a waffle. After waking up Kim I left the house around 0630 and drove to Jacksonville.

I registered, ran a 1.5 mile warm-up with Rick, Rob and the Bionic Woman and did a bit of light stretching until the gun went off. The Bionic Woman and I ran together, which caused me to ask her if she was going too slow or if I was going too fast, and hit the mile in 6:37.04 which seemed a bit slow to us. We both picked it up and ran a few people down. I held onto her as long as I could but when we hit the two mile mark she was about five seconds up on me. I hit two in 12:56.28 with a 6:19.24 mile split.

With about a half mile to go Joy had built a 22 second lead on me and I was trying to catch three high school boys ahead of me. I caught one but he passed me right back and together we ran down one of the kids but neither of us could catch the last one and we crossed the finish line in 19:53, 19:55 and 19:57. Joy finished in 19:36 winning the women's race.

I ran from the two mile mark to the finish in 7:00.99 and finished ten seconds slower than last year and three seconds slower than at the Scholastic Challenge. Last year I ran 19:47 and was 22 seconds slower than Scholastic. I think that with a bit of speed work and a few long runs I will be in pretty good shape. The fact that I haven't run in my flats in my last two races is heartening.

The Sizzling Mile is in a few weeks and I am hoping to put a scare into the 5:20 barrier.

Moldy Water and 4x400

2008-07-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to run a track workout to test the hamstring. I didn't have any pain after the Scholastic Challenge and I took it easy the week after when I was in Akron so I decided it was time to slowly increase the intensity of my training and try to salvage my season.

I ran an easy one mile warm up in my subdivision in 8:20 and then jumped into my car with my water bottle and drove to the middle school track. On the way to the track I discovered that my water bottle had mold in it. It was pretty gross.

I ran another mile of accelerations in 7:33 then took about two and half minutes to stretch out before starting my reps.

The goal was to run each rep in 1:26 with 400 meter recovery jogs between each repeat.

1:24.56 (2:15.01)
1:25.48 (2:16.86)
1:25.54 (2:16.72)
1:24.54 (2:17.35)

After my last recovery 400 I ran a cool down mile in 8:16 and went home for dinner.

This morning I headed out for a relaxed sic mile jaunt at 0430. I stretched out a bit and then ran splits of 8:43, 8:17, 8:24, 8:21, 8:02 and 7:54 for a total time of 49:41. I felt pretty good.

I'm going to take it easy tomorrow and maybe do a little yoga or some light calisthenics to loosen up the back and legs. Friday morning I am going to run the Premier Bank 5K in Jacksonville. I ran 19:47 there last year which was about 22 seconds slower than my time from the Scholastic Challenge. My goal is to beat that.

Next Monday I have a test meeting for my online Masters degree program. I'm going to test all my software to make sure I can attend class without any problems on July 14th. With any luck I will be completing my classes for my Masters degree in Education through the University of Illinois in June of 2010.

Fun in Akron

2008-06-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

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 . . .

2008-06-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-06-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-06-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

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

F#(k!

2008-05-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

Humidity + blisters = DNF.

I've been quiet and gone.

2008-05-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

My wife and I took a trip to West Palm Beach, Florida for our fifth anniversary this past weekend. We stayed at the Resort on Singer Island for three nights and ate lots of rich food, drank lots of beer, wine and spirits and frolicked on the beach. We had a good time but missed Nathan quite a bit by Sunday afternoon.

I managed to get a few short runs in while we were there. I ran from our hotel to the bridge that went over to the mainland and back which was distance of about three miles. The bridge was steep. I'll put some pictures up later.

Yesterday after work I ran six miles in 49:15. My original intent was to run eight but it was too damn hot and I just wasn't feeling it. This morning I got up at 0430 and ran another six miles in 48:22. Yesterday I couldn't seem to run any faster than 8:10 pace but this morning, due to cooler temps and better hydration, I was able to run splits of 8:35 (I wasn't awake yet), 8:16, 8:20, 7:59, 7:48 and 7:23. I closed out a bit fast to knock the rust off for my 10K on Saturday.

I'm running the Passavant/Powerade 10K in Jacksonville. I like the race as it is a reasonably fast course with enough roll to it to make you change tempo but not enough to knock you off stride as long as you didn't go out too fast. The only problem with the course is that it is out in the open with no cover and it gets hot when the sun is out. They're predicting highs of 83 with sunny conditions on Saturday so I'm guessing that by 0830 it will be in the high-60s or low-70s.

Quite a few people from the SRRC are running a biathlon Saturday instead of the 10K so it will be a good opportunity for me to earn some points in the Series. I don't think that the lack of SRRC members is going to slow the race down too much and I'm not expecting my run of top-five finishes in races to continue. I would like to run 41:00 or better but with the extra weight I picked up in Florida beating my 42:15 from last year would make me happy.

Back in February I ran a five mile tempo run at 6:52 pace. I'm sure that 42:15 will be no problem.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict 41:10.

I hope I'm right, I don't want to make an ass of myself.

Run for Hungry Children 5K

2008-05-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that I really hate the Washington Park 5K course. It is a highly technical, hilly and incredibly frustrating course to try to have a good race on. You start the race on a very slight uphill which is followed by a HUGE downhill, a sharp turn and a nice assent to the Carillon. You get a nice downhill after that and then it is flat until the mile mark but you have to be careful to run your tangents to that point. After the mile you make a sharp right turn and contend with a few twists and turns and a few rollers to the two mile mark where you run down the huge hill AGAIN and up Carillon Hill, down the other side and then you make a sharp right up a 300-400 meter hill past the clubhouse followed by another right turn to head more-or-less straight to the finish line that is at the top of a nice roller.

I hit the mile mark in 5:58 and then ran the last 2.1 in 14:14 for a total time of 20:12.40. I had enough left the last straight to kick my way back into 5th place and puked promptly after crossing the finish line and again about thirty seconds later. Lucky for me I only ate a banana, yogurt and a cup and a half of coffee a few hours before the race. Not much came up.

I felt pretty dead the whole race and I've been contending with a bit of a spring cold and some hay fever the last week. Not to make excuses at all. The truth of the matter is that I'm not a strong hill runner. I tend to do better on courses I can stride out on.

The positives from today are that I ran an 11 second best on the course and I ran 23 seconds faster than I did a month ago on the very same course.

I feel good about my chances of running under 41:00 at Passavant as it is a course that agrees with me. There are a few hills but they're spaced well apart and there are quite a few long straights for me to stride out on.

I wonder how Nate did at his 10K?

Re-attempt and my brother

2008-05-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

I ran an easy six Monday morning before work in about 8:05 pace.

Tonight I decided to go to the track and attempt that damn 2 x 1.5 mile repeat practice that I flubbed on Saturday. As I was doing my warm-up I changed it to a 1.5 rep and a mile rep. I covered my mile warm-up in 8:00 and drove the the middle school track where I ran another mile of strides in 7:27. I had a pretty day with temps right about 68 but with a nice breeze coming out of the Northwest at 10 mph and only 46% humidity.

I stretched out for a few minutes and started my 1.5 mile (2400 meters actually)

1:35.93
1:39.53; 3:15.46
1:32.93; 4:48.39
1:32.91; 6:21.30
1:35.44; 7:56.74
1:35.33; 9:32.07

Not bad but the 1:32s were too fast because 1:35s would have sufficed.

I took 2:00 to breathe and started my 1600 meter workbout.

1:30.86 (DAMMIT!!!)
1:36.81; 3:07.67
1:36.82; 4:44.49
1:35.40; 6:19.89

I have no idea why I opened with a 90 second split but I didn't want to and I need to practice reining myself in or I'll suffer for it in a race.

I'm pretty happy with the practice, happier than with Saturday's anyway. I think the 6:26 pace will feel easy if I can just get myself to run it instead of 6:20.

On a happy note, my brother returned home for his mid-tour leave from Iraq. He got home Saturday night and surprised our mom for Mother's Day. Unfortunately I missed it because Nathan was under the weather. I'm hoping to see him next week as he is taking his girlfriend to Chicago for a Cub's game this weekend.

My Mom just e-mailed me to tell my that one of my brother's friends was killed by an IED today and another two were wounded. This happened last time my brother was in Iraq and went on leave. If you're the praying type include the families in your prayers tonight.

I'm going to go call my brother.

2 X 1.5 miles = Disaster, Part II

2008-05-10T18:53:00.001-07:00

As I posted earlier, I ran like crap today. I have theories as to why I did so allow me to set the stage.

First of all, I've not been getting a lot of sleep. Nathan seems to think that 0330 is this season's 0600. I could have set my watch by the kid this week because he let out a yell at 0330 every morning. Only once did he not go back to sleep but when you get a 0330 wake-up call every morning you start waking up at that time whether there is a reason to or not.

Second possible reason I ran like ass today, I've been running very stupid on my recovery days. Wednesday morning I got out of bed at 0430 (since I had been awake since 0330) and ran my easy six miles. I felt pretty good but because it was dark still I had no frame of reference to tell how fast I was really going. I hit my first mile in a blazing fast 8:27 and I picked it up a bit the second mile. Again, the darkness gave me no frame of reference as to my actual speed and I felt good but I ran my next two miles in 7:40 and 7:57. Easy pace is 8:01. 7:40 is not Easy pace. I regrouped and ran 8:03, 8:00 and 8:10 to close it out in 48:09. I was happy with that but I told myself that I was not allowed anymore 7:40 miles on Easy runs the rest of the year.

Friday afternoon I got home from work and set out for another easy six miles. I brought the iPod along with my Modest Mouse and Against Me! and blazed my way to 7:45 and 7:48 mile splits to open up my easy day. Through a titanic act of self control I slowed my next two miles to 8:19 each but had another mental lapse that caused me to torch mile five in 7:47. I pulled up for an 8:02 to close out the run with a total time of 48:03 but I find that I'm a much more rested runner when I actually run an even pace that is slightly slower than what my Easy pace calls for.

This morning I awoke at 0530 for no particular reason. It was a good thing that I did because Nathan woke up at 0535. I skipped the coffee and breakfast this morning (which might be the third reason I ran like shit today) and instead drank some water and watched "The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and "Handy Manny" with my boy. Kim got out of bed around 0800 and I started my run not too long after that.

I warmed up with a mile in 8:09 and a mile of strides in 7:44. I took about 4:30 after that to stretch and run into the house to hit my albuterol inhaler as my hay fever was making it hard to breathe. After stretching and getting my fix I started the first of my reps. I was right on pace at the half mile mark but must have got a bit excited that next half as I hit the mile mark in 6:20.10. I felt heavy all through my warm-up and after hitting the mile six seconds ahead of schedule I made myself slow down the last half to cruise into the finish in 3:15.54 for a total time of 9:35.64 for rep number one.

I took two minutes to walk around and recover before starting rep number two and I just couldn't seem to suck in a deep breath and fill my lungs. When my two minutes were up I bolted to the half mile mark in 3:10.22. Upon seeing that all the wind left my sails and not even two cute girls on bikes heading the opposite direction could make me puff up my chest and act like I was a stud effortlessly running a workout.

As the second rep drug along I could feel my turnover slow, my arms creep up and my breathing grow more labored. I made it my goal to try to sneak under 10:00 but in the end I didn't even have enough energy to do that as I ran the last mile in 6:52.69 for a total time of 10:02.91.

The finish line for rep number two was at the entrance to the west parking lot of Glenwood High School and I laid on the sidewalk for 3:31 before making myself run a three mile cool-down in 25:40 with splits of 8:47, 8:42 and 8:11.

I'm thinking that the next time I do this workout that I might do it on the track so I can closely monitor my lap times to avoid blowing myself out early. I don't seem to have the sense of pace that I had last year and it is worrying me quite a bit, especially with a 10K coming up in about three weeks. Running too fast the first two miles of a 10K tends to result in a world of pain the last 4.2.

2 X 1.5 miles = Disaster

2008-05-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

I was going to run 2 x 1.5 at 6:26 pace today. In a brief summary I ran 9:35 for the first rep and 10:02 for the second. It sucked. I'm not sure what happened.

More later.

Yeesh

2008-05-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

My blog took forever to load so I am going to make this entry brief.

When I got home tonight it was 77 with an 11 mph SW wind that was gusting to 20 an 24% humidity. I was a bit nervous about the temp so I put some sunscreen on, filled a bottle with some ice and water, ran a warm-up mile in 8:08 and drove to the junior high track to run a 200-400-800-400-200-200 ladder workout. I ran the same distance of recovery for the rep that preceded it, 200 rep-200 recovery, etc.

After doing a mile of strides I got started with the meat of the workout. My goal times for the workbouts were: 200-41, 400-1:23, 800-2:46.

What I ran:

200 - 38.27 (1:35)
400 - 1:21.33 (2:46)
800 - 2:43.87 (5:15)
400 - 1:23.26 (2:52)
200 - 40.40 (1:28)
200 - 40.29 (1:07)

I finished up with a 1.25 cool down in 10:00 and drove home for dinner with a total of six miles for the evening.

I'm pretty happy with the workout but I ran WAAAAYYY too fast. My second 400 is the only workbout I was on target. I was antsy for some reason, I think the thought of running an 800 that fast is intimidating.

What a week

2008-05-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

It turns out that the puking my son engaged in last Saturday was the opening shots of a long bout of illness that lasted until late Wednesday. Kim, Nathan and I drove to Peoria Saturday afternoon for the wedding reception of one of my best friends from high school. Nathan spent the night at Grandma Claudia's and when we picked him up on Sunday morning he was looking pretty wimpy. Apparently he puked twice that night but she didn't call us because he seemed fine after that. What followed after that was a sick, mopey kid who had such bad diarrhea that every time he had an episode he would scream. Ironically, or typically, when I took him to the doctor on Wednesday morning he quit having diarrhea and started eating again.

Despite the sick little boy at my house Kim and I were still able to give each other chances to get out of the house for a bit and I managed to fit in a few nice workouts over the last week. Monday evening I ran and easy 6 miles in 48:47 with mile splits of 8:11, 7:58, 8:14, 8:09, 8:13 and 8:01.

Wednesday night was a track workout. I had a nice night with 68 degree temps, 49% humidity and a SE wind blowing at 13 mph. I ran three sets of 2x200 plus 400 with 200 meter recovery jogs between reps and 400 meter recovery jogs between sets.

I started off with a mile warm-up in 8:05 and then ran a mile of strides in 7:28. The goal for the workout was to run my 200s in 41 seconds and my 400s in 1:24.

Set #1:

40.76
(1:10)
41.26
(1:15)
1:25.82
(2:26)

Set #2:

41.40
(1:17)
40.90
(1:28)
1:23.10
(2:36)

Set #3

41.75
(1:25)
40.77
(1:31)
1:23.81
(2:43)

I got a real bad right side stitch the last set that hurt like you wouldn't believe. I'm glad I didn't have to do another set because it would have sucked.

I cooled down with a mile in 8:26 and went home with a total of six miles for the night.

Thursday night I ran another easy six miles after dinner. I left too soon because I felt really heavy the whole run so I've decided that I should probably wait two hours after eating meatloaf and mashed potatoes before running for future reference.

Thursday night was a pleasant 67 degrees that felt much cooler due to the winds blowing out of the South at 19 mph that would gust up to 25. I ran most of the first four miles into that wind as you can tell by my mile splits: 8:39, 8:19, 8:30, 8:10, 8:17 and 7:55 for a time of 49:49.

Early Saturday afternoon I set off for an easy ten miler after putting Nathan down for a nap. I had my iPod Shuffle loaded up with Modest Mouse's "The Lonesome Crowded West" and "Searching For a Former Clarity" by Against Me! The majority of the 1:20:17 it took me to cover my ten miles was eaten up my the incredibly enjoyable "Lonesome Crowded West". Most Modest Mouse fanboys say that "The Moon and Antartica" is their best and while I agree that "Moon" is pretty good I think I prefer "The Lonsesome Crowded West". Highlights for me were the songs "Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice On Ice, Alright", "Polar Opposites", "Bankrupt On Selling", "Lounge (Closing Time)", "Jesus Christ was an Only Child", and "Cowboy Dan".

While jamming out to Modest Mouse I hit splits of 8:08.84, 8:18.11, 8:19.05, 15:55.42, 16:05.92, 7:47.83, 8:05.03 and 7:37.60 all while running in wind that was out of the WNW at 25 mph and gusting to 32. I'm glad that I didn't run the Lake Run 12K yesterday because it would have sucked.

This week is looking like a 200-400-800-400-200-200 ladder on the track tomorrow, an easy six on Wednesday, a three mile tempo at 6:32 - 6:38 pace on Friday and another easy 6-8 miles on Saturday.

This week I covered 28 miles, on four days of running, to bring my total for the year up to 415.75. I only did lifted once and only did yoga once so I need to hit that a little more today and next week.

I Care 5K

2008-04-26T10:38:00.001-07:00

I was up and down last night with Nathan and Kim as he hand a tummy ache and started puking at about zero-dark-30 and puked twice more in the next hour after that. Kim thinks he drank too much soapy water in the bathtub last night. I think I'll start calling it the barftub now.

I woke up around 0630, ate some Cheerios and drank my two cups of coffee. I checked the Weather Channel around 0800 and saw that it was 45 with 15 mph winds out of the west and a wind chill of 33. I threw on tights, a long sleeve shirt and my jacket for a quick one mile warm-up mile in 7:50. After that I hopped in the car and drove to Sherman.

I got to Sherman, grabbed my packet, ran another mile to warm-up with a hard two minute surge at the half mile mark and changed into my flats. After that I stood around trying to stay loose as the race was running a bit behind schedule.

At 0945 we went to the line, got our instructions and got going. I'd been looking at the faces on the line and based on the fact that no one was lining up directly on the line I began to despair that I was going to have a lonely, blustery race ahead of me. As the gun went off I came off the line in the lead with two other people off either shoulder. I took it easy for the first sixty seconds and threw a hard surge off the first turn into a slight downhill. After that it was a race against the clock.

The course wound around a sub-division in Sherman that had a few rolling hills but nothing incredibly intimidating. It was enough to make you change your turnover but not enough to sap you too much and there were enough downhills to surge on that I felt pretty good the whole way.

I hit the mile mark in 6:40.94 but it felt more like a 6:10-6:20. I was pretty disgusted and quit looking at my watch after that. I had two high school kids on bikes acting as my pacers so I made a game of trying to catch them. I talked to them after the race and they said they were trying to keep ahead of me so that I didn't catch them. I would gain ground and get within three or four seconds of them and they would look back and crank the pedals for a few seconds to extend their lead.

Apparently my game made me run super fast the second mile because I hit the two mile mark in 12:20.88 having covered the distance in 5:39.94. I think the mile mark was long.

After the two I pretty much had the wind to my back and two wily high school boys on bikes ahead of me so I tried to keep running strong and maintain my form. I started to hurt a little but before I knew it I could see that I was within a half mile of the finish line and I kicked it in, passing three in 18:54.35 with a 6:33.47 mile split and finished off the last 0.1 in 37.74 with a watch time of 19:32.09.

The second place finisher was right around 21:00 - 21:10.

I drank some water, ate a banana and watched my Hardy Breed pal Jason finish third in the 10K and then I ran backwards(on the course, I didn't actually run in reverse) to catch IronMartha and run the last bit of the race with her. She was the third overall woman in the 10K with a sub-49:00 two weeks after completing her first Full Ironman.

Frankly, I'm astounded that I ran as fast as I did in what amounted to a solo time trial. I thought I would run that fast only if there was more company. Apparently I'm in better shape than I thought I was or the course was only three miles long.

I guess I'll have to come back and defend my title next year.

Weekly Report

2008-04-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

I've had a busy week of work and running and tonight is the first night I've had to sit down and catch up on my blogging.

I covered 27.5 miles last week to bring my total for the year up to 366.75. Looking at my log I am almost 40 miles behind from this time last year. I also hadn't run a half marathon in 1:39:21 either. It looks like I was still training with my heart rate monitor too and it looks like it was starting to piss me off quite a bit.

Monday afternoon I got home from work, changed into my trainers and headed out into the 75 degree temps for a set of 2 x 1 mile at tempo pace (6:32). This was supposed to be a "comfortably hard" effort. Usually the problem with the practice is figuring out what the pace feels like and staying with it as it usually feels pretty pretty relaxed.

I ran a mile warm-up in 8:13.50 and then did a mile of eight 40 step pick-ups in 7:40.71. I stopped for 4:20 to stretch, sip some water and change into my flats. I started my first mile repeat on my mile course that winds through my neighborhood and noticed that I hit my quarter split in 1:34. I slowed down, at least I thought I did, and hit the half in 3:12. I apparently mistook what sewer grate is actually the 3/4 mark, AGAIN, and kicked it in with a bit too much mustard and a time of 6:19.18.

6:19.18 is about 13 seconds faster than I really wanted to run and I decided against a repeat performance on the next rep as I didn't want to blow myself out for my 5K this weekend. I didn't feel like I was straining too much but running faster than you really need to too often tends to defeat the purpose of training to race. I'd rather race well than blow my practice times away.

I gave myself 1:09 to recover and sip some water and then basically repeated my first mile up until the 800 when I reined myself in and finished in 6:25.18. That one actually felt alright.

I changed my shoes and sipped some water and them ran a mile cool down in 8:19.

Tuesday, after returning from work, I ran five miles in the 78 degree heat in a relaxed 40:29. I had mile splits of 8:11, 8:12, 8:04, 8:09 and 7:53.

Wednesday, I did some yoga and hamstring presses.

Thursday, I worked late and then vegged out with my son.

Tonight I got another fiver completed, before the storm, in 40:42 with splits of 8:23, 8:23, 8:02, 8:10 and 7:44. The wind picked up pretty hard the last mile and blew my back to my house. Within 10-15 minutes of getting back it was storming.

Tomorrow I am going to run the I Care For Residents 5K in Sherman. I don't know how big the race is going to be or how fast the course is but I would like to run 19:30 - 19:59 depending on who I've got to push/pull me. I'm not expecting to win the race but stranger things have happened. . . most notably my victory at the Springfield Housing Authority Turkey Trot 5K in 2006. I was hoping that more people would show up for that one but I think there were about 12 and I led wire-to-wire and won by over a minute. I don't think anyone was more surprised than I was.

I'll try to get a race report up before I leave for Peoria Saturday afternoon but it will probably be brief.

My pal IronTim is running the Country Music Marathon tomorrow with a goal time of 3:20. He ran 1:34 at the Lincoln Memorial and if you double his time and add ten minutes that gives you 3:18 and change for a marathon prediction. I think he can do it.

Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow!

What I did this week.

2008-04-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

My wife left for a conference in Florida at 0300 on Tuesday morning. I stayed in Chatham and became Mr. Mom until 1230 Friday morning when she got home. Nathan and I had a good time doing guy stuff: shoe shopping (okay, that isn't manly but I needed new shoes for work), getting DVDs at Best Buy (Juno for me and Toy Story and Thomas the Tank Engine for him), burgers at McDonalds, watching TV in our undies, and going for a hellishly tough four mile run in 20 mph winds while pushing 50 pounds of child and jogging stroller. We had a good time but we were both happy to see Mommy (Kim) on Friday morning.

I managed to get a six mile run on Monday in 48:51 and the four miles with the jogging stroller were covered in 33:19. I even managed to drop a sub-8 minute mile mostly because the canopy on the stroller acted as a sail and drug my ass the last 3/4 of a mile through our sub-division. Friday I ran another four miles in 32:30 in the pouring rain and went to Ruby Tuesdays with Kim and Nathan for another cheeseburger and salad. I ate three or four cheeseburgers this week, it usually takes me a month to do that.

Yesterday I ran 5 x 400 with 400 meter recovery jogs at the track. My intention was to run them in the 1:24-1:25 range but I have no sense of pace for the fast stuff anymore. After running two miles in 16:32 to warm up I ran the following:

1. 1:24.02 (2:18)
2. 1:23.84 (2:23)
3. 1:23.39 (3:19) changed into my flats.
4. 1:22.56 (2:16)
5. 1:16.63 (2:21)

I ran the last one as fast as I did because I just wanted to see how fast I could go. I'm impressed with the whole practice but I would be happier if I ran all of them in 1:24 like I did back in January.

This morning, after Kim woke up, I ran an easy eight miles in 1:03:29. I ran splits of 8:06, 7:52, 8:06, 8:06, 8:05, 7:58, 7:39 and 7:38. I didn't want to run that fast and I think that miles seven and eight are short but I'm happy with how easy it felt.

I think the only reason I ran as well as I did at my half marathon a few weeks ago is because I ran most of my long runs at low-eight minute pace or slightly under because even as I was crashing the last two miles of the race I still managed to run 7:58 and 7:44 splits which is what I'd been used to running.

Nate, I have a muscle question that I need an answer to. What muscle has an origin or insertion on the ischial tuberosity? When I stood up from changing into my flats that muscle gave me a twinge in my first few strides. I remember getting that feeling in high school a few times but never worrying about it. It feels like it is closer to the perineum than the femur if that helps.

Trials

2008-04-20T06:35:00.001-07:00

I've been watching the Women's Marathon Trials for the last hour or so. Lewy-Boulet is way ahead and Deena just dropped Blake Russell and Mary Akor.

Deena looks good.

Blake just gapped Akor by about two seconds.

Interesting race, lots can still happen.

Blake has about a 7 second lead on Akor. Barring a huge meltdown in the last 9 miles it looks like Lewy-Boulet, Kastor and Russell representing the U.S. in Beijing.

UPDATE:

Davila from the Hanson's/Brooks team is making a run at Blake Russell and is only about 10 seconds back. Russell looks like she's laboring a bit.

At mile 20 Lewy Boulet only has a 1:17 lead over Deena.

Davila is right on Russell and is looking good. Russell looks like she's falling apart.

Lewy Boulet just ran mile 21 in 5:57, her slowest of the day, and has had her lead over Deena cut to 1:03.

Lead now down to 40 seconds. Blake looks like she's gained a little more ground on Davila.

Deena only 32 seconds back with less than four miles to go. Lewy Boulet looks BAD.

Deena 22 seconds back. Russell has a 23 second cushion over fourth place. Lewy Boulet could crash and miss out.

Deena only nine seconds out at mile 23.

Deena takes the lead at 2:14:50.

A former Illinois runner, Tera Moody, is in 4th place, 53 seconds behind Blake Russell. Mooday ran a 2:46 to qualify for the Trials and is on pace to take about 10 minutes off that time.

Deena 24 seconds ahead at the 25 mile mark.

Deena wins in 2:29:34!

Lewy Boulet second in 2:30:18.

Blake Russell third in 2:32:41.

Zoila Gomes is fourth in 2:33:53.

Tera Moody is fifth just a few steps back in 2:33:54.

Notice of Silence and one more "wow" moment.

2008-04-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

I will not be posting over the next few days as my wife is going to a conference in Florida tomorrow and taking the laptop with her. She'll be back late Thursday night so I probably won't post again until sometime this weekend.

Don't miss me too much.

The other "wow" moment I am speaking of is that of Chris Derrick, the Illinois 3A state champion from Naperville Nequa Valley High School who ran 13:52 at Detweiller, just ran 5000 meters at an in-season high school track meet (Arcadia Invite) in 13:55. His two mile split (9:03) would have placed him 6th in the open two mile race, and then he closed with a 4:22 mile and ran the last 200 in 30 flat.

Stanford is going to be pretty good next year.

Wow.

2008-04-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

Ryan Hall just ran 2:06:17 for fifth place overall at the London Marathon this morning. That means that he has run marathon times of 2:08:24, 2:09:02 and 2:06:17 to go with his 59:43 AR in the half marathon, all within the last 18 months. I am in awe of this guy.

Thank you Dan B.

2008-04-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

These were taken by my friend Dan at today's race. Check out his website. Congrats on your 3:32:47 at St. Louis! Jason, congrats on your 3:33:11!

The guy in the gray is Ben and the other guy in the red Hammer jacket is John. They're fast and, unfortunately, in my age group. They're still nice guys despite the fact that they kicked my ass today.

AMA 5K

2008-04-12T08:22:00.001-07:00

Seven days after running my brains out in the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon I ran a very sedate 5K race in Washington Park. The temps about an hour before race time were in the high 30s/low 40s with rain and 20 mph winds in the area. I ran a mile warm-up before leaving my house in about 8:03 and ran another mile when I got to the race with Patty and Molly. I felt loose as I stepped to the line but when the gun went off I just wasn't feeling it. I ran the first mile with my friend Matt who was running his first race since July 4th of 2007 due to some Achilles tendonitis. We went through the mile mark in 6:39.52 after which I remarked, "6:39? I thought we were running faster." I threw down a hard surge after that and passed six or seven guys before the two mile mark. I hit two in 13:17.70 running a 6:38.18 mile split. I was feeling pretty good as I headed down the big hill toward the Carillon but was in a huge "no man's land" between packs. I tried to make up as much ground on the two guys ahead of me as I could but wasn't able to get within 20 seconds of them before the finish. I crossed the line in 20:35.08 running the last 1.1 in 7:17.38. According to the pace calculator I use I ran the last 1.1 in 6:37 pace which means that I ran a very even paced race.

I never felt terribly uncomfortable. In fact, I felt very relaxed and in control the whole race. I ran 20:23 last year two weeks after crashing hard in the half marathon and coming down with bronchitis and after having spent the night in the ER with my son and his ear infection. I placed 13th overall today but only 5th in my age group.

I need to go now because my son just covered himself in the adhesive from one of those sticky mouse traps.

Pain and anoxia

2008-04-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

I ran the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon this morning in beautiful Springfield, IL. Gun time was at 0730 after a speech by Abraham Lincoln, the National Anthem and a volley of musketry. I was lined up with my good pal IronTim and a newer pal, Ben. After the muskets went off I didn't see either of them until I finished.

My preparations for this very challenging course have been lacking the last five weeks due to IT band pain and an upper respiratory infection of some sort. I think I put in about 12 miles in the two weeks prior to today and I wasn't liking my chances of running 1:35 like I had hoped.

My goal for the first mile was to start slow in the neighborhood of 8:00. I let tons of people pass me the first few blocks and whenever I would feel myself speed up I would rein myself in and slow down. Mile one came in a very relaxed 7:37.28 (gun time, not chip). Usually when I say mile one felt relaxed it comes back and bites me in the ass so I made myself slow a bit more the second mile and started talking to a girl who was running beside me for the next mile, which we passed in 7:40.10 (15:17.38). I was starting to get into a groove but kept making myself slow down as it was still a bit too early for me to start knocking down faster and faster splits as the hills wouldn't start until the sixth mile. Mile three came and went in 7:44.37 (23:01.75). It should be noted that I was walking through the water stops so I could get the fluid in my gut instead of on my shirt, this will explain why my splits seem a bit up-and-down.

Mile four was still pretty flat and I decided to stretch the legs a little to the tune of a 7:32.68 (30:34.43) split. Mile five was more of the same in 7:38.15 (38:12.58). I took a Power Shot at the five mile mark and decided it was time to get rolling. I dropped a 7:24.48 (45:37.06) sixth mile through the first of our hills and followed up mile seven with a 7:34.86 (53:11.92). I passed a friend around the 7.5 mark and Tracy would come back to haunt me in the last mile and a half.

Mile eight gave us a brief respite from the bigger hills but presented us with a few rollers. I passed the eight mile mark in 1:00:35 with a 7:23.88 split. I knew that all I had to do at that point was run the last 5.1 miles in about 39:00 to go under the 1:40 Promised Land. I followed up with a 7:31.99 (1:08:07) ninth mile and was starting to feel the burn.

I knew if I could make it through Oak Ridge Cemetery and up the hill past Lincoln's Tomb to the ten mile mark without being in too much distress I could put myself in a good position to reach my Promised Land.

I had started the race wearing two shirts, sleeves, a headband and a pair of socks that were disposable gloves. I ditched the shirt a mile and a half in, the socks got dropped around three, the sleeves came off somewhere around seven and my awesome Nike headband came off a mile later and was stuffed down the back of my shorts with my sleeves.

As I headed into Oak Ridge I discovered that my good friend Patty (who likes to talk a lot of crap about how she is going to beat me in the longer stuff) was only about 30 seconds behind me with a bit over three miles to go. I smiled and yelled "good job" at her and headed down the long downhill into Oak Ridge. Once the bottom of said hill was reached you have to pull a u-turn and run up the hill past the Tomb and back out of the grounds. This is where I started my long and disastrous breakdown last year.

As I was powering effortlessly up the hill I felt a slight "twang" in my waistband about halfway up. Without breaking stride I looked back to see my beloved Nike headband laying forlornly in the middle of the road.

I left it where it was.

I ran the tenth mile in 7:24.68 and went through with a total time of 1:15:32, 22 seconds faster than last year and much more in control. I refused water at the next stop and ran up the last big hill into Lincoln Park. I ran too hard up the hill and felt my form start breaking up after cresting the hill and heading to the 11 mile marker about a quarter of a mile in. I tried latching onto a guy and having him pull me through and we went through the mile in 7:27.90 (1:23:00). I knew I was still in good shape to go under 1:40 and all I had to do was run 2.1 miles in 16:59.

As a final insult there is one last little incline heading out of Lincoln Park after which was a nice long, gentle downhill to the 12. I staggered up and out of the park, carrying my arms and starting to gasp and was unable to do much but put one foot in front of the other as I lost contact with the guy I'd been running with and was passed by Tracy and two other guys.

I ran my slowest mile in 7:58.80 and passed through 12 in 1:30.59. I had NINE minutes left and I knew that I'd need almost all of them. I spent the last 1.1 trying to get my arms to relax and to get my lungs to take in air and I willed myself to a 7:44.53 (1:38:43) split for my 13th mile.

I started graying out the last 0.1 and barely had enough presence of mind to hit my split time as I crossed the finish line in 1:39:25.

Once I finished I was held upright by Martha (who probably would have been the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen at that point IF I could have focused) and another finish line marshal who together ushered me into a chair and gave me one of those space blankets.

After sitting there for a good five minutes I staggered to my car for my dry clothes and into the post-race party for food and drink. My pals all ran well with Ben running 1:30:50, the Bionic Woman running in the 1:33 range, Tim finishing in the 1:34s, Tracy gunning me down by a minute and dear, sweet, crap talking Patty finishing not quite ten seconds behind me.

My official time: 1:39:21. Official place: 107th. Time improvement from last year: 5:25. Place improvement from last year: -4. That's right, I actually finished four places worse than last year.

I am VERY happy with my race. I think I could have done better if my training had been more consistent but I'm not going to complain about improving my PR by 4:02 on such a difficult course.

Next year I'm going to see if I can't drop another 4:02.

Exciting stuff

2008-03-31T15:04:00.001-07:00

I got home this morning to find two exciting things waiting in the mail for me.

The first was a letter from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign informing me that the Department of Human Resource Education is recommending to the Office of Graduate Admissions that I be admitted to the online Master of Education program that is beginning with the Summer 2008 term.

The other exciting thing was my brand new copy of The Unnatural Inquirer by Simon R. Green.

I'm not gonna hold my breath

2008-03-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

I ran today for the first time in a week. I felt very weird.

I had a nice day. It was about 55 degrees but there was a pretty nice wind out of the SE around 15 mph. I wore a long sleeve shirt, shorts and a ball cap and set out for an easy four miles just to see how the legs and lungs would feel.

I lifted yesterday for the first time in over a week and my shoulders were pretty tight from the pull-ups and shoulder presses I did. I also couldn't get myself to slow down. I wasn't paying attention and ran well past my one mile mark but still ran 8:03.38. Mile two was a bit short and I covered it in 7:53.96 (15:57.34). Mile three was even faster in 7:52.07 (23:49.41). I made myself slow down after that so I didn't finish in oxygen debt and ran my final mile in 8:01.26 for a total time of 31:50.67.

I only hacked a few times as I walked to my house and I immediately hopped in the shower and into some dry clothes afterwards. My chest feels pretty good but my nose is stuffy. I'm hoping that I feel less herky-jerky and congested as the week goes on and am able to make a reasonable accounting of myself in my half marathon on Saturday.

I'm throwing all expectations out and just hoping to run strong the whole race. I have no time goal other than to run faster than I did during my 13.1 training run on the old course (1:43:29) that made my IT Band flare up.

Anything under that is a bonus.

One thing after another.

2008-03-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've had a bit of a cough for the last week or two that would bother me when I went to bed at night and when I woke up in the morning. I figured it was dry air or my allergies kicking in a little earlier in the year than usual and I ignored it until yesterday morning when I couldn't quit coughing all day. I went to the doctor and was given a prescription for Advair, Benzonatate, Z-Pak and was instructed to pick up some Claritin. I'm not exactly sure what the nurse practitioner diagnosed me with, either a sinus infection or bronchitis, but it is kicking my ass.

I medicated myself quite heavily last night with all the above mentioned meds, excluding the Claritin, and some NyQuil for good measure. I went to bed at 1930 and woke up coughing my head off around 0147. I got a drink of water and checked my temp and saw that it was 100.3. My alarm went off at 0600 and when I checked my temp upon rising it was 101.7.

My place of employment has an attendance policy that states a full time employee may not miss more than 3% of their scheduled work days (7.8 days) in a ROLLING calendar year. Thanks to a three day bout of bronchitis this time last year and Nathan's multiple ear infections I have missed more than my allotted days in my calendar year and have had my first warning. Three strikes and I'm out.

Needless to say, I wasn't going to let a 101.7 degree fever earn me a corrective action so I took my meds, ate breakfast, showered, dressed and drove to work. I've done smarter things in my days. I actually started feeling better about 1000 and was able to put in a whole day of work. I'm looking forward to going to bed in an hour or so though and seeing if another 11 hours of sleep can make me feel better.

I haven't been getting much sleep lately and put in close to 20 hours of overtime in the last two pay periods. It isn't a lot of overtime but with the lack of sleep, thanks to my wife keeping me up because she can't sleep, I think it has all caught up to me. I'm hoping to be healthy by the time the LMHM rolls around in 11 days.

Keep your fingers crossed. I am.

'Bye, 'bye Duke!

2008-03-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching #7 West Virginia send #2 Duke home and I think my bracket is looking a lot better now because I picked the Mountaineers for the upset!

I always enjoy seeing Duke lose.

Final Long Run

2008-03-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

I ran my last long run for the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon today. I just ran ten miles in pancake flat Chatham and took it easy. The left knee got a bit stiff the last two miles but it has always done that so I'm not alarmed.

The weather wasn't as nice as it has been at 36 with 13 mph winds gusting to 18 out of the NNW, 74% humidity and a wind chill of 26. I've been fighting a bit of a cough the last week or so and I can't figure out if it is allergies or a cold. I'm not really congested at all and my cough is slightly productive but nothing alarming. My cough will go long periods without bothering me until the minute I lay down to go to bed and the minute I get up in the morning. It will also bother me after I work out. My albuterol inhaler helps out, cold and sinus medication with a cough suppresant also helps a little but generic benadryl doesn't seem to help. This is worrisome because I got a terrible case of bronchitis the day after the LMHM last year and I would like to avoid that again. Bronchitis, and the 103 degree fever that came with it, really sucks. The worst part was coughing and coughing but not getting up and giving myself a headache from the constant heaving.

I started my run a bit fast with my first two miles each covered in 8:02. I was planning on starting off at about 8:10 pace and going from there and I managed an 8:09 for mile three. Miles four and five went by in 16:02, I have no idea where the four mile mark is. At mile five I turned around and ran the same course backward. Miles six and seven went by in 15:51 and I finished up in 8:00, 7:49, and 7:25 for a total time of 1:19:20.

I felt pretty okay. I'm wondering how much sharpness I lost due to just running base miles the last few weeks. I still think I'm capable of a 1:35 if I get a good day as I feel that I am much more aerobically fit than I was last year. However, hill running isn't my strong suit and this course kicked my ass last year.

In a positive light, Abe's Amble killed me the first time I ran it but I ran two minutes faster the second time I ran it. I also ran a fairly strong 15K in the hills of Decatur a week after running a 19:02 5K in Havana. What helped me there was going out slow the first third of the race and running strong the last two thirds.

My plan for the half is to run the first five very easy, which is hopefully right about 7:30 pace. After that I would be very happy to run about 58:00 flat for the last 8.1, which is right about 7:10 pace. That would put me finishing in the neighborhood of 1:35:30. Truth be told, I would be happy with a time two minutes slower. Long races intimidate me. I have a hard time being patient.

Another easy day

2008-03-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

I ran an easy six tonight in 48:19. It was pretty with temps in the mid 50s and a brisk wind out of the SE at 13 mph. I ran relaxed and ran all my mile splits between 8:10 and 7:51.

I just finished watching Puke pull off a last second, one point win over a highly ranked powerhouse, Belmont. I was hoping to see a 15 seed upset a 2. Oh well.

Seven and a Brief Shoe Evaluation.

2008-03-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to temps in the upper forties I had a pretty pleasant seven mile run tonight in 55:19. I started off a little faster than I needed and wasn 't able to slow down too much. I think my legs are rested and ready to run some fast stuff, maybe I'll do a short tempo run next week to knock the rust off before my half marathon. I ran my mile splits today in: 7:53, 7:52, 8:04, 8:09, 8:00, 7:52, and 7:29. I felt pretty good. The knee got a little stiff the last mile or two but didn't hurt.

The final verdict on the Adidas Supernova Cushion 7s is that I like them. They are light and feel more like a beefier racing flat than a cushioned shoe. They feel fast. I liked the Supernova Cushion 6s but they felt less responsive than the 7s. I also think that the 7s are slightly more firm and the upper is more airy. I think they would be a good, light shoe to run a marathon in.

Less than three weeks

2008-03-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

My half marathon is in about 19 days. My left knee/IT band feels pretty good but is a little sore after my 8 miles yesterday. It doesn't seem to be anything to worry about but I am going to monitor the situation and keep working the rehab.

I ran my 8 in a pretty relaxed 1:04:37 with splits of: 8:03, 8:03, 8:15, 8:15, 8:14, 8:12, 7:47 and 7:46. I felt pretty good the whole time but wasn't able to stretch out afterwards because I had to get ready to go into work.

This weekend is the week where the running club runs the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon course as a practice run and I am debating whether or not to partake. A link to the course is here. I think I am going to stay at home and test my knee on a ten miler instead of running 13.1 on the hills two weeks before the race.

Any advice leading into the homestretch? I'm open to it.

It was never snowing....

2008-03-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

We were in Peoria yesterday to get a four generation picture of all the men in the family and since we spent Friday night at my in-laws' house I ran 5 miles on the Detweiller cross country course. When I was in high school we always ran at Detweiller at least three times a season, and more if we made State. Unfortunately for me, I never made State CC and never ran the course when it was snowing, until yesterday.

We have had a few nice days in the upper 50s and low 60s until yesterday when we only had a high of 45. I started my run at Detweiller about 0730 and by the time I finished my run 41 minutes later, the ground had a thin powdering of snow. It was a bit surreal at times as I kept reliving high school races during my run. I had a few good races on the course and more than a few bad ones but in retrospect, I always had a good time.

My knee was great the whole time and I am starting to worry less about the half marathon coming up in less than three weeks.

Hooray!!!

2008-03-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

I just got back from an easy fiver in the drizzle. It was a nice night at about 47 with a slight wind out of the WSW and an intermittent drizzle that beaded up quite nicely on my jacket. I did some lunges and some front kicks for a warm-up and then oozed my way through an 8:32 first mile followed by and 8:35 mile that felt much faster in the dark. After that I got into a groove and ran an 8:00 mile before finishing my last two in 15:58 for a total time of 41:05.

The best part of all, no pain and very little stiffness in my left knee. Saturday morning, if I get up early enough, I'll try to get 6 miles in at Detweiller Park. Sunday morning, before I go to work that afternoon, I will try for 8.

The missing ingredient in my training this year has been a consistent amount of strength training. The last two years I did yoga and the Core Secrets Workout (with Gunnar Peterson) at least twice a week. I've done maybe two Core Secrets workouts and two yoga sessions in 2008.

I think I'm onto something.

Still not 100%

2008-03-12T16:33:00.001-07:00

We had some nice temps in the low 60s today so I drove to the park and ran for almost 36 minutes on the grass. I had planned on running for a little over 40 minutes but my knee got a little stiff about 35 minutes in. The pain/stiffness was just inferior to the patella as opposed to the lateral side of my left femur. I don't know if it is related to my IT band at all or something different. My knee still cracks a bit during the day but it is doing it less.

Almost there

2008-03-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

I ran an easy 5 miles in 40:47 tonight with no pain. I wore a new pair of Adidas Supernova Cushion 7s which are much lighter than the Supernova 6s I've been using. A combination of the light shoes and the low mileage over the last 7 days made me a little excitable and I ran my first mile in 7:54, which was about 20 seconds faster than I really wanted to run. Everything felt fine and stayed that way and after running I did my hip and knee exercises. If the knee still feels good at the end of the week I'll run an easy 8 on Saturday and maybe think about a little bit of faster stuff the week after that.

Progress

2008-03-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

After waking up at 0600 with my son, feeding the both of us, washing the kid and the floors and emptying the dishwasher I made it outside for a run around 12:45. I warmed up with some shallow squats on the Total Gym and the exercises the Bionic Woman prescribed and headed outside to run. March up here is still chilly and temps were hanging out around 27 degrees. Throw in the wind and we had a wind chill of 19.

It has been a long winter and I'm ready for some warmer temps. I ran my easy days slower in the summer so I didn't overheat. I run my easy days too fast in the winter so I don't freeze to death. Spring and fall are in my Goldilocks zone, they're just right. The only bad thing about spring is the wind.

To make a potentially long, boring story a short, boring story, I ran four miles in 32:20 with mile splits of 8:05, 8:14, 7:57, and 8:04. My left knee felt much better but not better enough to make me thing about going back to my training schedule. The Lincoln Memorial Half is in four weeks and jumping back into my training schedule has more potential to hurt me than it does to help me improve in any way.

My mileage is quite a bit behind where it was at this time last year but I have run longer long runs and faster track work and tempo runs. I think I will still run well as long as I run a smart race early. I tell myself that every year and I never run smart in the early miles.

The plan is to run LSD miles this week. If my knee feels good at the end of the week I'll go from there.

Skipping

2008-03-07T17:24:00.001-08:00

Since my 13 mile jaunt last Saturday my left knee has been bothering me. I figured I had a bit of runner's knee flaring up until Thursday when I felt pain on the lateral side of my knee as I was walking down the stairs at work. It isn't really pain as much as it is stiffness and a "rubbing" sensation. I believe that I have a bit if ITBS.

Thanks to some exercises from my pal the Bionic Woman I have made tremendous strides in decreasing the level of irritation. However, I believe that running the LSA 5K tomorrow morning would be a very bad idea for my long term running goals this year. I have decided skip the race tomorrow and try to salvage my training for the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon on April 5th.

In retrospect, I believe that the crowned roads on the old LMHM course contributed to my ITBS. I don't think I'll be running 13 mile runs out there any longer.

During my 3 mile run at 8:06 pace tonight I felt a bit of tightness but none of the stiffness I had during my 6 miles on Wednesday. I think I caught it early and hopefully the exercises and decreased mileage will ameliorate instead of exacerbate.

Memory Lane

2008-03-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

Looking back at my old logs from high school I noticed a few interesting workouts.

Starting with my junior year 1995:

2/22/95: The Can (our hilly 5 mile course) 30:48.79 (a PR at the time)
Mile splits of: 6:09, 6:05, 6:21, 6:10 and 6:02

Two days before the Can I ran 14 miles in 1:45:59, my longest run ever, at that time.

3/1/95: 6 x 1 mile (if I remember correctly, we would start a new repeat every nine minutes so we were getting a tad over three minutes rest.)
6:03, 5:59, 5:56, 5:41, 5:43 and 5:28.

My teammate Josh went under 6:00 for the first time this practice with a 5:46. He later ran PRs (his senior year, after only starting to run as a junior) of 17:28, 11:10 and 5:12. He finished his junior track campaign with PRs of 11:50 and 5:24. That guy worked his ass off.

My senior year, 1996, I ran a few interesting practices:

2/19/96: 12 miles in 1:29:02. It may not seem impressive but I never hurt during my long runs. In high school I could run 7:20 - 7:30 pace FOREVER.

2/21/96: 3 miles in 16:54.95
Mile splits of: 5:25.04, 5:36.07 (11:01.11), 5:53.84

This practice was a bet between me and Derek that I couldn't go under 17:00 in practice. I told him that day that I was going to run 2 miles as hard as I could, then hold on for dear life and that I would go under 17:00. He started me on my way and met me at each mile mark in his car and laughed his ass off when I crossed the line in 16:54. I think our bet was for ice cream or something.

3/4/96: 15 miles in 1:48:12. I ran 5 mile splits of 35:54, 36:51 and 35:26. Slowest mile was a 7:33, fastest was a 6:44 to close it out. I always got campus fever real bad the last two or three miles of my long runs. I still do.

13 miles and hungry

2008-03-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

I ran my 13 today. It was in the low 40s with winds S 5mph. I was a bit sore from my tempo run and I didn't start my run today until almost noon. By the time I hit the ten mile mark in about 1:18 I was starting to fantasize about food. I finished up my run in 1:43:29 and actually ran a full 13.1 because I wanted to get back to my car real fast so I could eat. (My car was parked where the race used to end.) My post-high-school-second-coming PR for the half marathon is 1:43:23.

I wonder what I could do if I wasn't sore, hungry and was actually trying?

Not bad for having been sick

2008-02-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

I ran my 5 mile tempo run tonight. It was only my second run of the week after coming down with a cold over the weekend.

I had an okay night with temps at 31 with a 9mph wind out of the SE creating a wind chill of 23. I warmed up with a mile in 7:50 and took about 2:30 to stretch out before starting my tempo. I was hoping that I would be able to run the 6:45 pace that my body had seemed to like for my previous tempos. I also knew that my body might not want to go that fast so I decided that I would be happy with 6:55 pace.

My 5 mile course is a little more difficult than the 3 and 4 mile courses I'd run my other tempos on as there were a few minor hills in the first 3 miles. The 3 and 4 mile course have one small hill at about the 2.5 mark and otherwise resemble and asphalt track.

My 6:53.47 first mile seemed a little rough but that may have been the 9mph wind I had in my face for most of it. I regrouped with a 6:41.30 second mile split and a total time of 13:34.77. Mile three threw a few hills my direction and I ran a 6:56.24/20:31.01 split that felt much faster than it was. Mile four went past in 6:52.83/27:23.84 and I finished up with a 6:53.00 5th mile for a time of 34:16.84.

To put this workout in perspective I looked back at my five mile splits from Abe's Amble and the Passavant/Powerade 10k races I ran last summer. My split at Abe's was 34:08.39 and at the PP 10k it was 34:23.69. I think that I am capable of going under 42:00 for 10k. . . on a PRACTICE RUN!

Tomorrow will see me run an easy 5, Saturday will be a 13 miler and Sunday will be another easy 5 for a total of 35 miles for the week.

Only 8 more days until the LSA 5k in Decatur.

A Different Type of Cold

2008-02-26T17:50:00.001-08:00

I abbreviated my easy week of training due to a very bad head cold this weekend. It started up on Thursday afternoon and was kicking my butt by Friday morning. After a busy day at work, starting at 0600 to open our outpatient imaging/mammography center and continuing into covering both CT and x-ray in the Emergency Department while running herd on two radiography students (until 1130 when I only covered ED x-ray) and finishing at 1430, I was bushed. Huge run-on sentence there. The preceding was probably a fragment.

Saturday morning I spent in bed until 1030 and after being out of bed for awhile I drug myself outside for a six miler. It was a fairly nice day, when compared to the weather we've been having here in Illinois, with temps hanging right around freezing and no wind.

I ran at a very relaxed pace and trotted out miles of 8:15, 16:24 (two miles actually, I forgot to take my split), 8:23, 8:07 and 8:01. I worked a ton of the congestion out and ended up putting it right back in at the annual party that our radiologists throw for us. I ate a pretty decent dinner and washed it down with two MGDs, a cup of coffee and a James Bond martini (Vodka, gin, and a slice of lemon peel. Shaken, not stirred).

I actually haven't run since then but I'm still hoping to get my key workouts of a five mile tempo run at 6:45-6:55 pace and a nice 13 mile long run.

In ten days I run my 5k in Decatur. That week I'll probably run a few 1000 meter repeats and an 8 or 9 miler in the days prior. We'll see how fast I can run with slightly tired legs.

Cold, cold, cold

2008-02-21T08:07:00.000-08:00

After an intense week of training, and a few arthritic feeling recovery days, I decided to take it easy this week and ease up on the intensity a bit. The plan was to run an easy six on Monday and Friday with 1200s on Wednesday and an eight miler on Saturday.

Monday's easy six was holding steady at 8:10 pace through the five mile mark until I was blown to a 7:38 mile to close it out. It still felt nice and relaxed despite that.

Last night I went to the track to do 2 x 1200 in 17 degree temps, NNE winds at 9mp and a wind chill of -1. I ran a two mile warm up in 8:27/7:44 and took 1:51 to stretch a little. I wanted to run my reps in 4:33 and then do a two mile cool down.

I hit my first 1200 in 4:30.50, jogged an 800 in 4:45 and ran my last rep in 4:33.15.

I caught my breath for 2:00 and cut the cool down short to an easy mile in 8:12. I would have gone longer but my toes were going numb and I was getting sleepy.

Tonight we're supposed to get some crappy weather so I'll just lift and hang with my wife and kid.

Long Weekend

2008-02-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

I am in my second day of a three day weekend. I'm off Monday because Nathan's daycare is closed for President's Day. Friday afternoon I got home at 1500 and run an easy five to get things loosened up for my 12 miler on Saturday. My shoes are old and my body was beat up and I ran a sedate 41:23.

Saturday morning I headed out to the old Lincoln Memorial half marathon course to get my 12 on the hills. It was 28 with a wind from the SE at 8 mph and a wind chill of 20. I think it was warmer than that because I got pretty toasty the last half of the run.

I really wanted to run right around 8:00 pace or slower but my two cups of coffee had other ideas and I hit five miles in the neighborhood of 39:45. I ran out to where I thought the six mile mark was and saw that I'd run a 9:28 mile. I then turned around and ran a 9:26 to the seven mile mark. Apparently I forgot where the six mile mark was.

I cruised to the finish in 1:36:28 and after measuring the course on the USATF website I saw that I had actually run something like 12.33 miles at about 7:48 pace. Oh well. I felt pretty good. . .

Until this morning when I went out for a five mile recovery run and ran splits of 8:33, 9:02, 8:42, 9:10 (I had to stop and stretch right after the three mile mark as my quads and hips were so tight), and 8:24 with a total time of 43:53. I did twenty minutes of yoga, sat in an ice bath like this young lady except I didn't put ice in my cold water because I didn't want to wake up my napping boy. I also didn't have my Runner's World magazine with me, and I was wearing shorts.

My son has decided he likes the movie "Cars" and is out in the living room watching it for the FOURTH time in the last week. I USED to love the movie, now I'm not so sure.

I dug out my old training journals from high school a few days ago and they made for some interesting reading. For instance, this week in 1995 I ran our hard, hilly five mile course, the Can, in 31:40. A few days later I ran 8 x 1200 in 4:53, 4:49, 4:42, 4:37, 4:33, 4:27, 4:21 and 4:13. We did continuous recovery which amounted to about 300 meters of jogging down an alley to the starting point of our loop.

This same week in 1996 I ran a two mile time trial in 11:11.64 with splits of 5:38.21 and 5:33.43. I also ran an easy 10 miles in 1:13:24.

I would love to run those times again. I pretty sure I could handle 31:40 for five this season but 11:11 for two might have to wait for next year.

Valentines

2008-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

When you get married you never really think about what the vows mean. Richer or poorer, in sickness and health. Most of it is just words you're reciting so you can get through the formalities and get to the part about kissing the bride.

In the last few months we've gone through the loss of a grandparent, a much loved sibling heading off to war for the second time, the hospitalization of a parent, a startlingly ill child, minor surgery for the aforementioned child and much worse, the loss of another child.

The pregnancy was a surprise to both of us. Each of us had a moment where we each thought "oh shit", but we both got excited and our apprehension eased upon seeing the heartbeat flickering like a candle on that first ultrasound. Life is a miracle and another child was a blessing that neither of us were going to refuse.

Sadly, at what would have been our ten week mark, we discovered that the little candleflame had stopped flickering.

It is a hard thing to grieve for a child, but even worse I think, to grieve for a child you didn't get to know.

My wife is strong. That's a good part of why I love her.

I don't think it is enough for one person to be strong in a marriage because one person can't be strong all the time. There is an ebb and flow to it, a bit of leaning from one side to the other and supporting each other depending upon which way the wind is blowing.

Sometimes one person is the arm and the other is the shield.

Sometimes laying in bed with her when she is wearing that ratty, old, ugly t-shirt she got from the team-building exercise at her work and smelling her hair as I fall asleep is when I know that everything is going to be alright.

Ugh.

2008-02-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

I'm tired and I've only run twice this week for a total of twelve miles.

In fairness I've run up-tempo workouts each of my two days and I'm glad I'm not running tomorrow and running easy the rest of the week.

Tonight was 3 x 1 mile at 6:32 pace with one minute breaks. It was 28 degrees, SW 7, 48% and WC=21. It felt colder than that though.

I warmed up with an easy two, pretty much what I did on Monday, 8:10.69/7:45.44. I took about four minutes to change from my jacket to my vest and stretch my back and hams.

I ran my first mile in 6:32.19, right on target and felt pretty good. I felt relaxed and didn't strain at all.

During the first half mile of my second rep I felt it was imperative to figure out how many kilometers were in a marathon, it is a little over 42 if you were curious, and I didn't check on my pacing until the 1200 mark where I realized I was a little behind schedule. I picked it up the last quarter and saw that I had run a 6:23.40. Either I ran the last quarter way too fast or I mistook which sewer grate is the 1200 mark.

I wasn't able to catch my breath too well in my 60 second rest period and set out on my third and final workbout hoping to run in the neighborhood of 6:32. I hit 400 in 1:39, 800 in 3:19, the 1200 was anyone's guess and I finished up in a slightly winded 6:30.87.

I took 4:20 to change from my vest back into my jacket and ran a cool-down mile in 8:23.

I'm looking forward to a glass of wine with my wife tomorrow night. I'll probably skip the Total Gym workout too.

Happy Valentines Day!

2x200 + 400 + 800 + 400 + 2x200

2008-02-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

18 degrees, Wind: East 13mph, 47% humidity, wind chill: 5 degrees.

I warmed up with an easy mile in 8:11.31 followed by another mile, with accelerations on the straights, in 7:44.31. I popped my back and worked a few kinks out for 2:00 and started my practice as I started getting cold. . .er.

200= 40.94
200 recovery= 1:15
200= 42.11
200 recovery= 1:15
400= 1:22.93
400 recovery= 2:30
800= 2:47.21
800 recovery= 4:45
400= 1:23.74
400 recovery= 2:35
200= 41.23
200 recovery= 1:20
200= 40.72
200 recovery= 1:16

Cool down mile= 8:20.17

Recap:

-Six miles total.
-Nose and other soft tissues slightly chilled.
-Second 200 and 800 reps slightly slower than I wanted but only by a few tenths of a second.
-I'm quite happy with this practice, especially since it was so darn cold. With the track situated so the straights run north-south I felt like I had a bitter crosswind the whole time with the wind coming from the east.

Tomorrow: Total Gym, no running.
Wednesday: 3x1 mile at 6:32 with 1:00 breaks between.
Thursday: Valentines Day. Not sure what I'm gonna do about that. Flowers? Wine?
Friday: Easy fiver.
Saturday: Eleven.
Sunday: Easy four, Total Gym.

Running Tempos and Going the Distance

2008-02-10T08:32:00.001-08:00

Friday night I set out for a Marathon Pace (6:55) tempo run. I had 44 degree temps, SSE winds running at 18mph with 24mph gusts and a 36 degree wind chill.

I set out for a mile warm-up in a headband, gloves, vest, long sleeve shirt, tights and my brand new Brooks Glycerine 5s. After my 8:12 w/u mile I ditched the vest on my front porch, stretched for three minutes and took off.

The plan was to run a sedate four mile tempo run in 27:40 or so. The reality is that I went through the mile mark in 6:44.66. It felt pretty easy, I wasn't breathing hard but I made myself slow down and went through the two mile mark in 6:48.03 with a total time of 13:32.69. I had a rhythm going and still felt good so I ran mile three the same way and hit the split in 6:45.10 and 20:17.79. Mile four was 6:43.96, 27:01.75.

I was closer to 26:40 than 27:40 but I still felt like I could have gone another mile without too much difficulty. Two more would have started hurting but wasn't out of the question.

Saturday was a litle cooler with temps in the low 30s and a wind chill of 24 and I met the Bionic Woman at Panera. She was six miles into a 16 miler and I ran the last 10 with her. We took a few water stops and dropped our jackets at our cars at my 7 mile mark and covered our 10 in 1:25:30. I'm pretty sure we were running right around 8:00/pace without the stops but it was pretty relaxed. I was a bit sore from my hard week but loosened up pretty well.

Next week will be more of the same. I'll probably do cruise intervals (miles) on Wednesday and an 11 miler on Saturday before cutting the miles back a little the week after that. I would like to get my long run up to 15 before my half marathon but I'll be happy with two or three runs of at least 13 miles.

I intend to run a 5k on March 8th in Decatur just to see where the fitness is at.

This week last year I covered 29.25 miles with the highlights being a 4 mile tempo run in 29:32 (splits of 7:30, 7:24, 7:29, 7:09) and a 10 miler in 1:24:19. This week last year was cold! None of my runs were completed in temps over 25. Tempo run day was 16 with a WC of 5. 10 mile day was 19 with a WC of 9.

Brrrrr!

Finally, a day without ice, snow, rain, lightning or fog!

2008-02-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

The weather here in Illinois has been typically Midwestern the last five days. Thursday night and Friday morning we got 11.5 inches of snow dumped on us. Saturday was clear and in the mid-thirties. Sunday was a little warmer. Monday brought us temps in the mid-50s and fog that can only be classified as "pea-soup". Visibility was about a tenth of a mile and there were plenty of idiots driving around without their lights on. I went to the track to run a workout, and to avoid playing silly games with my life by running on the roads, but the track was covered in water and slush. I ran a lap, decided it was pointless and went home to use my Total Gym. Tuesday brought us temps in the mid-30s, cold, cold rain, thunderstorms and prodigious lightning. Again, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and after feeding my wife and son I went to play a few games of pool with two of my friends. I suck at pool and the four beers I drank didn't ameliorate the agony of my suckiness. I still won two games because my opponents scratched on their eight-ball shots. They were hollow victories.

I offered myself a bit of succor by inflicting Tom Waits, The Misfits, Dinosaur Jr., Against Me!, and AC/DC on the unwitting pool sharks in attendance.

Tonight I returned home from work to temperatures in the low-thirties, scattered snow showers, 16 mph winds out of the NW that gusted to 24 and a wind chill of 18 degrees. I threw together a tater-tot casserole in record time and drove to the Middle School track after tossing said casserole in the oven.

I warmed up with mile in 7:54 and 800 meters of strides in 3:38. I gave myself a touch over three minutes to stretch out and change into my vest and started the first of three sets of 2x200 + 400. I was to run the 200s in 41 seconds while giving myself 200 meters of recovery afterwards and the 400s in 1:24 followed by 400 meters of recovery.

My sets are as follows:

39.14 (1:10), 41.13 (1:13), 1:23.72 (2:30).

41.46 (1:16), 40.66 (1:19), 1:23.45 (2:42).

41.52 (1:22), 41.41 (1:26), 1:23.86.

I forgot to run a recovery lap after my last 400 but I ran a 1.5 mile cool down in 13:25. I've a bit of tightness in my left Achilles tendon but I'm not used to running this type of practice. I'll stretch it out a bit and monitor the situation. I'm sure it will be fine with some TLC.

Tomorrow consists of an early morning trip to the hospital to have tubes put in Nathan's ears. The kid has ear infections that don't go away and we can't decide if they're starting to affect his hearing or if he's just ignoring us. Hopefully my little man will feel better after he gets his tubes and we can avoid our monthly trips to the pediatrician. I like his pediatrician but I'm getting tired of seeing him as much as much as we've been.

SRRC Monster Mash

2008-02-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

Last night Kim and I went to the SRRC Monster Mash to drink beer, eat pizza and listen to a speech about the 25 biggest changes in the sport of running in the last 50 years.

It was a good time.

The evening started with Kim meeting my running friends: Matt and his wife, Martha and IronTim, Patty and Molly, and the Bionic Woman and her husband, Andrew. She fit right in with the crew and shared similar views of us with Andrew as they were the non-runners of the evening. They exchanged stories of what they did during their spouses' first marathons: Kim slept in the car and Andrew watched the Bionic Woman pass through a point and then left the city of St. Louis. In his defense, he has family across the river in Belleville.

The awards starting pouring in for our table when I answered a question for our speaker and won the most current issue of "Marathon and Beyond" magazine. The question was: "Who won the 2007 U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials and what was his time?" The answer will be posted in the comments.

The Bionic Woman and I won Participation Awards for running the most races and volunteering for Club events, I ran 12 and volunteered at two or three.

One of our Club members won a National Volunteer award from the RRCA that he will receive in April and the National Convention. That's pretty awesome! He is the man responsible for the Half Wits training group (training for the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon) and has helped make this race go from a small half marathon with about 200 people running through the country to a 500 person juggernaut traipsing past the Lincoln sites.

Once the Age-group, overall and Most-Improved awards were presented our table realized that we cleaned up. The Bionic Woman won the Female Runner of the Year award, Martha won the Female 25-29 award, I won the Male 25-29 and our sweet, soft-spoken Patty dropped major time off all her PRs and won the Most Improved Runner award.

We took tons of pictures, some of which I hope will be e-mailed to me as I forgot my camera, and Kim and I took our leave at about 2030 to pick up our very tired little boy.

I've got a great wife, she really supports my running endeavors and I appreciate that. I even told her so.

The runner my friend, is blowin' in the wind. . .

2008-01-30T17:30:00.000-08:00

I decided to run 2 x 1.5 mile cruise intervals on Monday evening before the weather got crappy and cold. By the time I got home the only thing this practice had going for it was that it wasn't cold yet.

When I stepped outside to do my warm-up I was clad in tights, a long sleeve technical shirt (Go Halfwits!), a fleece vest, headband and gloves. The temp was 48 with a wind chill of 39 due to the wind blowing out of the South at a 28 mph clip that would gust to 40 mph just for grins. At least there was only 45% humidity.

I ran a mile warm-up in 8:10 and took three minutes to ditch the vest and stretch my back. My intent was to run my intervals at 9:48 (6:32 pace) but with the first interval heading in a generally southerly direction I amended my goal to anything under 10:00 for the first one.

I hit the first 400 in 1:40 after running straight into the teeth of the wind and didn't look at my watch again until I hit 1200 right around 5:00. I caught a bit of a windbreak as I entered an older neighborhood with big trees and tightly packed houses and was surprised to see that I hit my mile split in 6:31.66. I ran the last half mile in 3:17.42 and completed my first interval in 9:49.08.

I took a two minute break during which I tucked my headband and gloves into the waistband of my tights. I decided to retrace my steps and head back to my house instead of finishing up my second interval a mile from my house and warm clothes.

I was at the 1.5 mile mark of my 4 mile course. In warmer weather I would have continued on to the 3 mile mark, taken a breather and ran the last mile back to my house as a cooldown.

I started interval two with the wind to my back for the first 800. I had hoped to be able to run relaxed and still hit my times for another 9:48 showing but passed the half mile mark in 3:02.71. I really had no control over my pace and was merely holding on for dear life. I hit enough of a crosswind the last mile to slow me down to 6:24.37 and a total time of 9:27.08. Talk about running negative splits.

After gasping for breath, hacking up a lung and donning my headband, gloves and vest I staggered back into the street for a much more sedate cooldown mile of 8:45.

It hurt.

Last night I used my Total Gym and did the Starter Program, which is a total body workout of sorts. I like it, I bought it on eBay at the Total Gym scratch-and-dent store. I actually ordered the Total Gym 2000 but was upgraded to the Total Gym XLS because they didn't have the 2000 OR the Total Gym 3000 in stock. I think I came out ahead on that deal.

Tonight I ran an easy 5 in 40:47. I had a cinder stuck in the heel of my right shoe the whole run that I couldn't get out. I don't mean that the cinder was under my heel and I was landing on it. I mean that it was rubbing against my Achilles the whole damn run. It was too cold to stop and fish it out (20 degrees, SE 2 mph) and I wanted to get home before it got colder and darker.

Tomorrow they're calling for about 6 inches of snow so that might put a damper on my easy 4 miles I'd planned on.

Friday night is the SRRC Monster Mash which is our annual awards ceremony. Your's truly will be crowned the Male 25-29 age group Points Series Champion. It is a good thing that it isn't a co-ed age group because the Bionic Woman would have handed me my ass. She beat me SIX of the NINE times we raced this season and actually owns a 9-3 record against me. That means I am 3-9 against her.

My defeats to the Bionic Woman, this season, range from a nine minute and 57 second thrashing at the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon to a 12 second defeat at the Steamboat Classic 4 mile run.

My wins, such as they are, amount to a 3.22 second edging at the Sizzling Mile, a 13 second triumph at the Parade Run 2 mile and a sound 25 second whupping I laid on her at the Polka Pace Race. Between my Parade Run and PPR wins she dropped me by 50 seconds at Abe's Amble (10k) and she didn't even feel good that day.

When she felt good on a fast 10k course in November she dropped a 39:02. Needless to say, she went undefeated in the Women's competition and probably would have placed in the top-10 in the Men's Points Series.

Either the course was short or . . .

2008-01-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

I'm a hell of a lot stronger than I thought I was.

I got up this morning at about 0530 even though I didn't really want to. I had a full bladder and after I'd emptied it I was wide awake and staring at the ceiling. I put on some shorts and let the dog outside and after I had given him his treat and opened the sports page I heard my son call for me from his bedroom. We got breakfast ready after watching the Wiggles, a waffle and Silk for him and Quaker Oat Squares and coffee for me. At about 0900 we went in and woke Kim up and I headed out about twenty minutes later for a sedate ten mile jaunt along the old Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon course.

I chose to run the old LMHM course because I wanted to get some practice on the hills as the old course and the new course have similar elevation profiles and I didn't want to drive into Springfield to run the new course when the start of the old course is only a few miles from my house.

The temps were absolutely balmy compared to what they've been the last few days at 30 degrees, SSW 14, 65% humidity and a wind chill of 20. I haven't been keeping up with my running very well this year due to some instances of a sick kid, sick mother-in-law, crappy weather and another incident that I'm not quite ready to explain in this forum. One or two of you know anyway.

I started off at what felt like a nice easy pace and just kept reminding myself to relax and run easy up the hills and was very surprised to see that I hit the 5 mile turnaround point in 38:01. On the course map the 5 mile mark is also the 8 mile mark so when you're looking at the elevation profile just skip from mile 5 to mile 8.

Once I turned around I had the wind to my back and I took an energy gel because I'm trying to get my stomach used to them again. I used them with much success the first time I ran the LMHM in 2005 and quit using them after that as Gu upsets my stomach. I switched to PowerBar shots or something like that. At the 2006 and 2007 LMHM I didn't use energy gels and didn't perform as well as I would have liked. I wonder how much the energy gels help.

As I was saying, I turned around, took an energy gel, and had the wind to my back. I pocketed my gloves, un-zipped the vents on my jacket and stuffed my beanie in the waistband of my tights and rocketed my way back to the starting point in 35:38 for a total ten mile time of 1:13:40.

Ironically, I set a personal best for ten miles by 2:14 in a practice run. This is a week after running 8 in 1:03:31 and two weeks after running 10 in 1:19:33. I'm not exactly sure why today was so fast but I'm wondering if it wasn't the two cups of coffee two hours prior and the energy gel halfway in.

Either way, I'm getting a good feeling about this year's LMHM.

Goodbye Heath Ledger

2008-01-23T04:47:00.001-08:00

I was shocked to hear about Heath Ledger being found dead in his apartment at the age of 28 from an apparent overdose yesterday. I remember seeing him for the first time in "Ten Things I Hate About You" and thinking that he would be an actor to watch in the coming years. He had good looks and a commanding screen presence. Over the next few years I found myself alternately applauding and scratching my head over some of the projects he undertook. I must say though that the character he created in "Brokeback Mountain" is his crowning achievement as an Everyman who has a secret love that not every man has. I think he got robbed at the Oscars that year.

It is sad that a man with so much talent died so early and I offer my condolences and prayers to his family.

Do not fear, just believe.

2008-01-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

Goodbye my child. 8/13/08

I dread the second Thursday of the month

2008-01-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

It is Explorer Post night at the hospital. High school kids from the Springfield area and tour a different area of the hospital each month from September through May. I don't HAVE to be there every month but my boss likes for me to volunteer and I really enjoy seeing the kids and helping the presenters out by asking questions at times when dialogue stalls.

The only reason I dread it is because it takes me away from time with my son.

I think he knows, by some freakish toddler 6th sense or an uncannily accurate internal clock, when the second Thursday of the month rolls around because he becomes especially cute, lovable and amusing in the preceding days. Tonight he was throwing a ball to me, climbing on my shoulders, sitting on my lap, pretending he was reading the newspaper and giving me kisses every 10 to 15 minutes. As I got him ready for bed he played peekaboo with me and made the gesture he gives me when he wants me to bend down so he can rub the top of my buzz-cut head. He laughed when I laid down on the floor and pretended to sleep and he let me know he was ready to lay down by pointing down the hall and saying "night-night."

He's in bed right now but I can hear him making little noises as he settles down for the night and I know that I won't get to see him but for the 30-40 minutes tomorrow morning when I feed him, dress him and take him to daycare. He'll be long asleep when I get home tomorrow night but that won't stop me from creeping into his room to touch his head and put a hand on his chest to assure myself that he is actually breathing. I know that when he wakes up Friday morning he'll sit up when he hears my voice and raise his arms so I can lift him out of his crib. When I do he'll rest his head on my shoulder for a moment and then he'll start telling me about all the exciting things he did that he didn't get to tell me about the night before.

I won't understand most of what he's saying to me, but he'll know that I'm listening. . . and that I love him.

Sleep tight Nathan.

Sub-threshold tempo

2008-01-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

I ran what Greg McMillan calls a sub-threshold tempo run this evening upon returning from work. A sub-threshold run is run done slower than lactate threshold pace because some Kiwi runner says that tempo runs done too early in the season (i.e. early base building) cause a runner to peak too early and for times to plateau over the season.

My tempo run pace is 6:32/mile and I really didn't feel like running that fast tonight because it has been a month or so since I have done so. We had a nice night in the 60s with a nice 20mph wind coming out of the south and about 68% humidity. I decided to shoot for 6:50 pace over the course of three miles.

I warmed up with an easy mile at 8:07 and felt pretty relaxed and fluid. I stretched out for a minute or two and took off. I hit mile one in a very relaxed 6:48.47 and decided to keep the gas pedal where it was. At the 1.5 mark I was on pace to run right about 20:30 but turned due north a block later and had the aforementioned 20 mph wind to my back for close to a kilometer. I hit mile two in 6:46.72 (13:35.19) and still felt pretty good. With about a half mile to go I turned off the bike trail and surged onto the road heading east and going slightly downhill. I surged for a good 30 strides to get back up to speed after making a hairpin turn and coasted up a "hill" with about 600 meters to go. I closed out my run with a 6:45.56 third mile finishing with a total time of 20:20.75. I caught my breath for two minutes and cooled down with a mile in 8:12.

I got home and sat at the kitchen table watching my son eat. As I sat there I remarked to my wife that I think half the job of being a good father is being present in your child's life. I went on to remark that a good chunk of the other half is being happy about being there. She told me that she's thinks I'm a good father. That was a much better compliment than her telling me that I had a cute butt.

Yesterday afternoon was pretty warm and after I finished cleaning the garage Kim kicked Nathan out of the kitchen in shoes and a hoodie so she could make dinner. He and I walked around our rather large back yard (210 feet from one side to the other) and we waved at people in cars, played in mud and watched the starlings fly around the back yard and into the bird house the neighbors built for them next door. Every time the starlings would get to fluttering he would point and exclaim, "Oooo, whoa!" I asked him if he thought the birds were neat and he said, "Bird? Whoa!" His sense of wonder is quite beautiful to behold and I hold his excitement very close to my heart. I marvel at the fascination he holds for the things that I find terribly mundane and it makes me think back to when magic was real, animals could talk and my father was the strongest man in the world.

Happy Birthday Bernardo!

2008-01-03T18:22:00.001-08:00

I just want to wish one of my loyal readers a happy birthday. Bernardo, for a guy I've never met in person I think I'd like you a lot if I did. I hope you have a good year.

End of Year Ruminations

2007-12-31T15:59:00.000-08:00

I covered 1,305 miles this year.

My longest runs were two 13.1 mile jaunts, one a race and the other a course preview a few weeks prior.

My shortest recorded run was a 1200 meter jaunt around my sub-division so that I had an even 900 miles for the year at the end of that week.

I set a nine second best in the mile from last season by running a 5:27 at the Sizzling Mile.

I set a 25 second best over two miles from last season by running 11:56 at the Parade Run.

I set a 27 second best through three miles from last season by running 18:32 at the Polka Pace Race.

I set a 33 second best over 5K from last season by running 19:02 at the Polka Pace Race.

I improved my 10K time by 1:59 by running 42:06 at Abe's Amble.

The race I think I ran exceptionally well at is the Passavant-Powerade 10K in early June where I ran splits of 6:59, 7:07, 6:52, 6:43, 6:40, 6:36 and 1:16.

I am also happy with my races at the Premier Bank 5K on July 4th, the Sizzling Mile and the Shoreline Classic 15K.

PPR was a good race but I wish I'd run mile three about 3 seconds faster.

"Daniels' Running Formula" works for me.

Tempo runs are my friend.

I am not afraid of hills.

I didn't puke at all this year.

I came close a few times.

Black coffee is my favorite beverage. . . anytime.

Goals for 2008:

5:20 for the mile.
11:45 for 2 miles.
18:45 for 5K.
41:30 for 10K.
1:35 for the half marathon.
Stay healthy.
Take Nathan out in his jogging stroller more often.
Kiss my wife every day.
Put some Wiggles songs on my iPod.
Hopefully start working on my Masters degree.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

I'm not tired yet.

2007-12-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to post an entry. I've been a little pre-occupied lately with my son being sick, end of semester activities with my radiography students, Christmas shopping, planning in-services for the next year for the technologists in my department and finding a place to house the Radiology Department's Powered-Air-Purifying-Respirators (PAPRs) as well as writing a policy for inspection processes and implementing said policy.

I just got tired thinking about all of it.

About two weeks ago I ran a two mile race at our end of year race, the Frostbite Festival. There were 10 and two mile races and it was about 54 degrees so I decided to run the shorter option because I didn't need the age group points. The courses are both out-and-back and if the first mile of the two mile race was any type of indicator then the next four miles to the longer race's turn-around were going to be strenuous.

I took off with two guys in my age group who aren't club members but are at about my level of fitness. I don't know how experienced they are at running but they were running the ten miler and we all went through the mile mark together. I happened to go through at about 6:01. . . I also happened to be turning around. I was in third place overall in the two mile race and I stayed there. I finished up my last mile in about 6:30 or so for a time of 12:31. After finishing I cheered on a few people, grabbed my brand new Asics Storm Shelter jacket and went inside Fit Club to eat a muffin and drink a Gatorade.

After replenishing my carbs I jogged out to the mile mark to wait for my friend, the Bionic Woman, so I could run the last mile of the race with her. She was in second place in the women's race and was hurting so I paced her in and let her draft off me, she finished in a bit over 70 minutes. My two buddies didn't fare too well after their 6:00 first mile. One of them did okay and ran 69:45 but the other crashed hard and finished in the neighborhood of 75 minutes. After that I went home, took a shower and got family pictures taken.

Then we got freezing rain later that night.

Recap: It was 54 at 0900 when I ran my race and 12 hours later it was 28 and precipitating.

My Storm Shelter jacket kicks ass in freezing precipitation. The review says that it is only a mid-weight jacket but I get hot in it when it is in the high 20s and I'm only wearing a short-sleeve shirt underneath.

Being a Father...

2007-12-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

Means that you do gross stuff that you never would have done when you weren't a father.

For instance, Nathan caught a stomach bug this weekend. At 2406 hours on Sunday morning I awoke from a sound sleep because I heard my lovely baby boy make a gagging sound. I threw the sheets off and ran into his room so fast that I think stuff fell off my nightstand. As I entered his room he was sitting up and I had time enough to cup my hands under his chin and catch the emesis as it left him.

Fatherhood . . .

U of I runner at Nationals

2007-11-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

I doubt Trent Hoerr is going to read this, but good job at Nationals. Trent Hoerr, of Morton, IL, finished 16th at the NCAA D1 National Cross Country Championships this afternoon at Indiana State University. He ran 10k in 30:07 and is the first male U of I runner to earn All-American honors since Len Sitko in 1990. He is also the highest finisher for the Illini since Craig Virgin won the last of his titles.

Trent is a Peoria Journal Star Area Runner of the Year who improved enough every year of high school to place 18th at the Class AA state CC meet in 14:54 as a senior. He also placed tenth at the Foolocker CC Midwest Regional that year. Going from a 14:54 PR for three miles to 16th place at Nationals in five years is a great accomlishment and is a testament to his talent, tenacity, work ethic and coaching.

Good job Trent!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way....

2007-11-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

Oh what fun it is to run an inaccurately marked course. . . ohhhhhhh.

I ran the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis this morning. It was a nice day for a run with temps in the low 50s, negligible wind and about 50% humidity. I had hoped to go under 19:00 today but I forgot how many rolling little hummocks there were on this course. None of the hummocks deserved to be called a hill but they were rolling and numerous enough to prevent me from getting into any type of rhythm.

I started off pretty conservatively and hit the mile in 6:53. I must say that it was the most strenuous 6:53 mile I have ever run. I hit the turnaround in 9:57 and went through two in 12:28. If you do the math I ran mile two in 5:35. Way to go for me! Hooray me! I think the mile mark was actually the 1.1 or the 1.15 mile mark. I covered the last 1.1 in 6:57 and finished up in 19:26.

I ran a pretty strong race. The last mile I had my stopwatch set to alarm every thirty seconds to remind me to surge. The alarm dings for ten seconds and I made myself surge until the alarm stopped. I was able to surge for 28 strides each time and was able to hold off a few 50 year old men and almost run down another. The results will look like this from 13th through 16th place: Male, 52; Male 29; Male 51, Male 50. I'm glad I'm not 50. I'd have a hard time placing in my age group. I actually placed second in my age group for the second year in a row. I was hoping to complete my collection of age group medals this year as I had placed third here two years ago. I guess I have to wait until next year when I'm thirty. Hopefully I'll get it done before I'm 50.

Top-5 books

2007-11-15T17:00:00.001-08:00

This list is going to be harder than the movie list. I have been a pretty rabid reader since my mom got me a library card for my 7th or 8th birthday. It was probably the best birthday present I have ever received. Thanks Mom!

My taste in books tends to run more toward sci-fi but I delve a bit into fantasy too. I'm not a total geek and I enjoy a lot of stuff that literary types wouldn't turn their noses up at. Kurt Vonnegut is my favorite writer and I also like J.D. Salinger and C.S. Forester. My tastes in sci-fi run toward David Weber, Robert Heinlein, and Douglas Adams. My favorite fantasy authors are Jim Butcher, Roger Zelazny(the Chronicles of Amber and Lord of Light are GREAT), and R.A. Salvatore. J.R.R. Tolkien goes without saying. I am also a fan of Harry Potter and Steven King.

I might have to make this list a twofer.

Top-5 smart people books:

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. What can I say? Mark Twain was a stud. I would have forgotten that I loved this book if I hadn't looked at my bookcase just now. I might actually have to pull it down and read it again.

4. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. The movie sucked. The book was a great yarn complete with a fascist future government, giant bug enemies and a kick ass suit of powered armor that made the future foot soldier an unstoppable force armed with lasers, flamers and low-yield tactical nukes. Great stuff.

3. Breakfast of Champions/Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. I couldn't decide between the two. I can't even really describe them to you adequately. Breakfast had all sorts of things going on: mental illness, suicide, mirrors that were "leaks" into other universes, and Vonnegut inserting himself into the story to grant his recurring character, Kilgore Trout, freewill. Slaughterhouse 5 is about the firebombing of Dresden during WWII which Vonnegut witnessed as a POW. It has elements of sci-fi, absurdist comedy and gallows humor. I love them and I miss Kurt Vonnegut.

2. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. The story of a young man born to a Brahmin who goes off to find his own way in the world. He lives every imaginable extreme and at the end finds peace listening to the song of a river. This story makes me think of my Grandpa who has to drive by the Illinois River everyday just to make sure it is there.

1. The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat. The story of the HMS Compass Rose which is a corvette in the Royal Navy during WWII. It follows the ship and crew from its commisioning in the early days of the war until Germany surrenders. Monsarrat was a frigate captain in the Royal Navy and the novel has autobiographical elements to it. This book was suggested to me by my senior English teacher and I make a point to re-read this book every three or four years. Thank you Mr. Beres!

Honorable Mention: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Any of the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. Forester also wrote The African Queen which I have not read but have heard is good. Dune by Frank Herbert. All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Marie Remarque. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. The Illiad by Homer.

Top-5 movies

2007-11-14T17:35:00.000-08:00

This is going to be hard to do because I love movies. This might actually turn into a top-5 list with about 20 Honorable Mentions.

Here it is:

5. The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson is a great director and whenever I watch one of his movies it feels like something by Kurt Vonnegut. I like Tenenbaums because of the ultimate redemption of Royal at the end of the movie.

Favorite quote: Royal: "This brush with death has given me a new perspective on things."

Richie: "Dad. You were never dying."

Royal: "But I'm going to live!"

4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Eastwood in the last of his Man With No Name movies. Lee Van Cleef as a great heavy and Eli Wallach upstaging them both with his loathsome and sympathetic portrayal of a dirty, low-down scoundrel. Great direction by Sergio Leone and probably his masterpiece.

Favorite quote: "BLONDIE!!! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A DIRTY SON OF A . . . Aaiieeaaiiee ahhh!!!!"

3. Platoon. Charlie Sheen's best roll. Berenger and Dafoe are both great as rival sergeants with differing veiws on how the war should be fought. The firefight at the climax of the movie is terrifying. Johnny Depp is onscreen for about 3 seconds.

Favorite quote: "Yeah, you's a killa Bunny"

2. The Godfather Part I and II. I know they're two movies but if you watch them together you get a better feel for what's going on and it is a great way to kill an afternoon and an evening. Pacino is amazing in these movies with a very understated performance (compared to Scent of a Woman which is a good flick but damn! Pacino annoys me in that one.) Only watch Part III if you want to see what happens to Michael Corleone. In fairness to Part III. It only sucks because Parts I and II were so great.

Favorite scene: The christening/hit at the end of Part I. Innocence and cold blooded murder. What a contrast.

1. The Empire Strikes Back. This movie was my least favorite of the Star Wars franchise when I was a kid mostly because of the bummer ending, Luke is the son of the most hated man in the Galaxy and the abusive ass cut his hand off. What I like is that Luke feels that he can redeem his father and turn him away from te Dark Side of the Force. I seem to have a thing with the redemption of fathers.

Favorite quote: "Luuuuke. I am your FATHER."

Honorable mentions: Patton, Legally Blonde, The Life Aquatic: with Steve Zissou, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dodgeball, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later and The Exorcist.

Top-5 books tomorrow.

Top-5

2007-11-13T17:05:00.000-08:00

I was watching the movie "High Fidelity" the other day with my kid and it got me thinking about my top-5 lists.

Here we go:

Top-5 favorite songs:

5. Jolene, by Cake from "Motorcade of Generosity"
4. Shore Leave, by Tom Waits from "swordfishtrombones"
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien, by Radiohead from "OK Computer"
2. Paranoid Android, by Radiohead from "OK Computer"
1. Something, The Beatles, I prefer the demo version from "Anthology Vol. 3"

Jolene is a good driving-home-late-at-night-in-the-dark song. Shore Leave is actually the song I listen to before I race. It tells the story of a homsick sailor getting drunk and missing his wife. SHA was a song that I listened to ALOT when I was in the service, especially early in the morning when I was getting up to run. It tapped into the feeling of alienation, uncertainty and homesickness I was feeling at the time. . . my late teens and early twenties, oof. Paranoid Android is just a song that doesn't know what it wants to be. Slow and sweet or angry and loud? It ends up being both. Something, especially this particular version, is the song I said I was going to dance to at my wedding. Nevermind that I hadn't met my wife yet, good thing she's a Beatles fan as well.

Honorable Mention: Hotel Yorba and I Can Tell That We are Going to be Friends by the White Stripes from "White Blood Cells." Just a hell of a rollicking good tune in the case of Hotel Yorba. Friends is just a sweet song and can be heard at the start of "Napoleon Dynamite." Both songs were featured at our wedding, Friends as they announced us and Yorba just for the hell of it. We ended up having the dancefloor to ourselves for a second first dance.

Top-5 movies tomorrow.

Official results

2007-11-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Jordan placed 6th in 15:12. Winnebago handed Elmwood its head 81-122 for the title and Emerick (Elmwood guy) place 3rd overall in 14:53 getting outpsrinted for the title and runner-up places. Parker Thompson from Tremont won with a 14:49 and Brian Thompson from Fieldcrest nipped Emerick at the line with a 14:53 clocking as well.

The Elmwood girls placed third overall behind Winnebago and Eureka. 65-90-113. A girl from Elmwood finished in 7th place in 18:19, two seconds and one place behind Megan Hermann of Havana. Hermann has run pretty much the exact same time at the State Finals all three years she has been in high school and has managed to get 17th, 12th and 6th. Hilarious.

The Class A Girls' State Champion ran away from the field, winning in 17:27 to 17:53.

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin girls win the 2A State title throwing down on two Peoria area schools (Notre Dame and East Peoria) 63-140-147. SHG packs three in the top-11 and four in the top-30 and strings their girls out between 17:53, 17:54, 18:06, 18:33 and 18:59.

Class 2A girls champ beats defending champ for only the second time ever in a race longer than a 1600, 16:37 to 16:50. Third place time is 17:44.

Chatham Glenwood boys place second in 2A while locked in a dogfight for the last two trophies. Sycamore runs away with it, no pun intended, 73-189. Second through seventh place in the team race are all within a 12 point spread: 189-193-194-196-200-201. Neal Anderson from Chatham placed third in 14:49 while in a melee for second place. It looks like it came down to a sprint for the bridesmaid spot as Nick Holmes from Bartonville (Limestone) ran away with it in 14:21. 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were 14:48, 14:49 and 14:50.

Springfield High School placed 4th and the Central State 8 conference, the conference for the Springfield area 2A schools put two other guys in the top-25 besides Anderson. Osborne from SHS placed 9th in 15:09 and Frank from SHG placed 24th in 15:28.

All Stater. . . .

2007-11-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone with Jordan's mom and he placed 6th in 15:08. She said he went out very smart and was 25th at the 800, 12th at the mile, and 6th coming out of the "triangle". She said he almost caught the guy in 5th but came up short. He also beat the defending State champ who went out crazy fast and faded. She thinks he dropped out. A kid from Tremont, who was the favorite, outsprinted a kid from my hometown for the win but she didn't have a time for either.

Good luck Jordan!

2007-11-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Jordan Patterson is running in the Illinois High School State Cross Country Championships' Class A race tomorrow at 1000 hrs CST. He is in good shape for a top-five finish, in my opinion at least. Illinois Prep Top Times has him ranked at 6th and other "unofficial" pundits have him ranked anywhere from 9th to 13th. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a 4th place showing in 15:05 with him beating the defending State Champion, Matt Feldhake.

The Weather Channel is predicting race time temps of 47 degrees with 52% humidity and NW winds at 7 mph as well as a dewpoint of 30 degrees. It looks to be a pretty fall day in early November!

Is this bringing back memories to a certain two time Illinois cross country all-stater?

Results will be posted here.