I woke up to a thunderstorm this morning. The plan, according to my coach, was five easy miles, but the pouring rain and distant rumbling of the clouds made me hit snooze a dozen times and decide to make this what is known by the acronym 'USRD'-unscheduled rest day. I haven't actually taken a rest day from running since mid-August 2009, so I still tied up my laces and got a quick mile in before heading to work. The daily running streak remains alive, and my legs kicked some of their cobwebs before I ask them to do some big things this weekend.
Tomorrow is the Double Chubb 50k trail run. The two loop course has a variety of terrain, and today's rainstorm, along with the rain we're expecting overnight tonight, nearly guarantees a sloppy good time. The nice thing about this race is that it's only about a 20 minute drive from home. I've been given the green light to race tomorrow in an effort to gauge my fitness level, and I won't lie: I've got high hopes that the legs respond. The field is typically pretty strong, so I'll focus on me and not other runners...until the last few miles, of course!
Sunday morning I'll head to the airport for an impromptu trip to Boston for the 115th running of the Boston Marathon. I registered for this race back in September and decided not to run it when I was accepted into Western States in December. That lasted until Tuesday, when I booked a flight to my all-time favorite race. I have run two personal records at Boston, but this year nearly guarantees that I'll run a personal worst marathon time since only 48 hours will have passed since Chubb. The highlight of the day will be the opportunity to run with so many of my running friends from across the country and even the world--friends from Vermont, Wisconsin, Baltimore, California, Ohio, the Caymans, Canada, and Great Britain, just to name a few of their origins. We only see each other a couple times each year at best, so that post-race toast to another 26.2 miles in the books will be bittersweet since our next reunion is still to be determined.
Special thanks to my friends Lisa and Adam for putting blurbs about my Western States journey raising funds for the Wounded Warrior Project in the most recent edition of Notre Dame magazine. To my fellow alums visiting the blog after reading those notes, welcome! Please feel free to contact me to say hello, and I invite you to look back at the training, charity, and race information I have posted since December. The blog documents my training for the Western States Endurance Run, but the true purpose behind this all-my running the race, the daily grind of training, even this blog-is to raise at least $10,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charitable organization that serves the needs of wounded veterans in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. If you are able to give, know that your donation will go to a great cause...and that you have my gratitude.
To all those racing this weekend, run well!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Training Week Fourteen Recap (75 days to go!)
After last week's huge weekly mileage PR, I was due for a cutback week. I also begged Andy, my coach, to let me race the Go! St. Louis half marathon (he talked me down from my pre-coach plan to run the full 26.2 miles). I was surprised when he agreed, especially since the half comes only six days before the Double Chubb 50 kilometer trail race. This will be my first half marathon since May 2009, when I set my PR of 1:20:08 at the Indy Minimarathon in Indianapolis. That was a two plus minute PR at the time, and I regret I haven't had a chance to go after it since then. I know I'm in better shape than I was two years ago, but a PR was not a given, since I am dealing with tired legs from training is is a lot more intense than my typical marathon training. Here's what I did in Week 14:
Monday: 3.26 miles. Andy's plan for Monday was "6 or off." I went for the middle ground on that one.
Tuesday: 12.03 miles. After a 30 minute warmup, I did 6 up and downs on Skinker Hill in Forest Park. The half mile intervals averaged about 3:20 on the ups (but I did drop a 2:59 on the final one) and 3:03 on the downs. I could feel it, that's for sure.
Wednesday: 10.02 miles. A nice and easy run from my office around Forest Park, with the pleasant surprise of meeting up with my friends Andrew and Leigh for a couple miles at the end! Good luck to them in Boston next weekend!
Thursday: 8.14 miles. Off the the track, where I had a 2 mile warmup before launching into my 4x1600 with 2 minutes rest. The splits were more consistent than last time at 5:44, 5:33, 5:34, and 5:37. I was pleased with this workout.
Friday: 8.15 miles. I was supposed to speed up for the middle 5 miles, and I guess my splits support that. I just wasn't fast.
Saturday: 6.06 miles. I took the dog for one mile, then got another 5 easy miles in later in the afternoon. Raceday was less than 24 hours away!
Sunday: 15.78 miles. Up at 5 am and out the door at 5:45 for the 7 am start. About 8 miles down the road, I realized I left my Garmin back home. It was just close enough, to home, and before I got on the interstate, that I decided to turn around and get it. As a result, my mom got to hear me cursing at the top of my lungs at traffic once we got downtown. Traffic was moving so well that I actually put on my LunaRacers while the car was in park on an exit ramp from the interstate.
When we finally parked six blocks from the start line, I could hear the National Anthem playing. I took off for the start, leaving the key with my mom, only to realize I still had my long sleeve shirt on. She took it from me and threw it in the trunk so I could get up to the front corral. I only got into the corral by hurdling a fence meant to stop me from getting into the corral. Oh well.
The good news for me was that the race got a late start. I also found myself standing within arm's length of runner extraordinaire Bart Yasso, the Chief Running Officer of Runners World magazine, and a great guy who I'd met a few times at races past. Before I knew it, though, the gun went off and with the smallest amount of stretching I'd ever had, we were off. Temperatures were over 70 degrees at the 7 a.m. race start, and they rose to 80 or so by the time I finished. The strong wind that kept blowing head on regardless of the direction we were running didn't help either.
My first mile was too fast, in about 5:45. I was hoping to keep a 6 flat pace. By the middle of the second mile, the groups had sorted themselves out enough that I realized I'd be running in no man's land...too slow to keep up with the guys in front of me and too fast for the group just behind me. Like so many other weekends lately, I ran alone. There just happened to be 14,000 runners on the same path.
The course has changed up since my last Go! Half in 2009. It largely followed the same streets, but the two loops that make up the course were reversed. We headed over to my former 'hood in Soulard, running through the AB campus and past a big pajama party hosted by the neighborhood (as Beth pointed out, 7 a.m. is very early for this party-hard area).
Circling back toward downtown, I saw my mom running the way I just came. I was happy to see she made it to her corral! I ran by Busch Stadium, making a left turn onto Market Street near the Ballpark Hilton...only to nearly be run over by a Hilton shuttle somehow turning off closed Market Street onto Broadway. I gave him a polite salute and tapped his passenger window, and volunteers ran over to put an end to the madness.
The next stretch took us through downtown St. Louis, through the biggest crowds, and I heard the cheers of my friends Andrew and Leigh (the same two from Wednesday's run). We made a few turns onto Olive Street, about 6 miles into the race, and I enjoyed the cold refreshment of holy water strewn on me by a (not Catholic) minister. I've run up Olive plenty of times on training runs, since my old office was on it, but never westbound in a race. I forgot how hilly it was! There were 3 or 4 huge hills, one almost a mile long, and my legs were feeling it after the hard training and the high temperatures. I kept reasoning with the part of me wanting to step off the course, that the last quarter mile split I had wasn't too bad.
Around the seventh mile, I felt my right shoe loosening. At the Mile 8 marker, it was untied. I had no choice but to step to the curb and tie it. Three runners passed me by. I later passed all three, including one in the final half mile who told me afterwards that he was impressed by the comeback, that he figured I was a goner after the shoelace incident.
Somewhere in here a guy with a loudspeaker made fun of my sweatband. Specifically, he shouted, "Go guy with a sweatband! I love the sweatband!" Yeah, me, too. It keeps my sweat out of my eyes.
I took a Gu around Mile 9, and as we headed to the turnaround out near Saint Louis University, I started counting the runners going in the opposite direction ahead of me. I was in 21st place when I hit the turnaround, and I quickly passed that group of 3 or 4 I couldn't quite hang with early on.
The route back along Market was equally hilly, and I quickly dropped in with the female leader and the shoe lace commenter as we battled the hills and headwind. They'd pass me on the downhills, and I'd work my way past them on the uphills (thanks, Greenrock Trail!). When we reached the final 1 1/2 mile stretch, no more than 2 big hills and a small uphill to the finish in front of us, I made another push uphill, passing the female leader for the final time. I urged her to latch onto me, so I could help her fight the wind to her payday, but she couldn't keep up. When I reached the crest, she was about 30 yards behind me, and she ultimately finished 30 seconds later than I did.
I kicked and kicked some more, and the hills started to take their toll. When I finally dipped down and back up across the finish line, the announcer cheering me on to a sub-1:20 finish, I felt good, in a miserable way. I finished 14th overall, 3rd in my age group, in 1:19:47. It wasn't the perfect day to race, but it was a PR...of course, it'd been two years since I'd run a half.
I was surprised when a race official grabbed me and ushered me to a VIP tent. I found a huge breakfast buffet set up there, but my stomach wasn't going to let me consume anything other than some fresh fruit and juice. I rehashed the race with the other runners for a bit before striking up a long conversation with Bart Yasso again. We talked my upcoming Western States run, the horrible weather, his admiration for the event (which is a first class event and only getting better with age), and the upcoming Boston Marathon and my friends' pre-race gathering that we had the joy of having Bart attend last year. There are few better ambassadors for the sport...thank you, Bart!
After a little cooldown run, I went back to find my mom, who ran a great race not far off her PR. She's going to rock Grandma's Marathon in June! I also picked up my awesome plaque for finishing third in my age group, pictured below.
Week Fourteen was over. Total miles: 63.44 miles. Six days until my 50k!
Monday: 3.26 miles. Andy's plan for Monday was "6 or off." I went for the middle ground on that one.
Tuesday: 12.03 miles. After a 30 minute warmup, I did 6 up and downs on Skinker Hill in Forest Park. The half mile intervals averaged about 3:20 on the ups (but I did drop a 2:59 on the final one) and 3:03 on the downs. I could feel it, that's for sure.
Wednesday: 10.02 miles. A nice and easy run from my office around Forest Park, with the pleasant surprise of meeting up with my friends Andrew and Leigh for a couple miles at the end! Good luck to them in Boston next weekend!
Thursday: 8.14 miles. Off the the track, where I had a 2 mile warmup before launching into my 4x1600 with 2 minutes rest. The splits were more consistent than last time at 5:44, 5:33, 5:34, and 5:37. I was pleased with this workout.
Friday: 8.15 miles. I was supposed to speed up for the middle 5 miles, and I guess my splits support that. I just wasn't fast.
Saturday: 6.06 miles. I took the dog for one mile, then got another 5 easy miles in later in the afternoon. Raceday was less than 24 hours away!
Sunday: 15.78 miles. Up at 5 am and out the door at 5:45 for the 7 am start. About 8 miles down the road, I realized I left my Garmin back home. It was just close enough, to home, and before I got on the interstate, that I decided to turn around and get it. As a result, my mom got to hear me cursing at the top of my lungs at traffic once we got downtown. Traffic was moving so well that I actually put on my LunaRacers while the car was in park on an exit ramp from the interstate.
When we finally parked six blocks from the start line, I could hear the National Anthem playing. I took off for the start, leaving the key with my mom, only to realize I still had my long sleeve shirt on. She took it from me and threw it in the trunk so I could get up to the front corral. I only got into the corral by hurdling a fence meant to stop me from getting into the corral. Oh well.
The good news for me was that the race got a late start. I also found myself standing within arm's length of runner extraordinaire Bart Yasso, the Chief Running Officer of Runners World magazine, and a great guy who I'd met a few times at races past. Before I knew it, though, the gun went off and with the smallest amount of stretching I'd ever had, we were off. Temperatures were over 70 degrees at the 7 a.m. race start, and they rose to 80 or so by the time I finished. The strong wind that kept blowing head on regardless of the direction we were running didn't help either.
My first mile was too fast, in about 5:45. I was hoping to keep a 6 flat pace. By the middle of the second mile, the groups had sorted themselves out enough that I realized I'd be running in no man's land...too slow to keep up with the guys in front of me and too fast for the group just behind me. Like so many other weekends lately, I ran alone. There just happened to be 14,000 runners on the same path.
The course has changed up since my last Go! Half in 2009. It largely followed the same streets, but the two loops that make up the course were reversed. We headed over to my former 'hood in Soulard, running through the AB campus and past a big pajama party hosted by the neighborhood (as Beth pointed out, 7 a.m. is very early for this party-hard area).
Circling back toward downtown, I saw my mom running the way I just came. I was happy to see she made it to her corral! I ran by Busch Stadium, making a left turn onto Market Street near the Ballpark Hilton...only to nearly be run over by a Hilton shuttle somehow turning off closed Market Street onto Broadway. I gave him a polite salute and tapped his passenger window, and volunteers ran over to put an end to the madness.
The next stretch took us through downtown St. Louis, through the biggest crowds, and I heard the cheers of my friends Andrew and Leigh (the same two from Wednesday's run). We made a few turns onto Olive Street, about 6 miles into the race, and I enjoyed the cold refreshment of holy water strewn on me by a (not Catholic) minister. I've run up Olive plenty of times on training runs, since my old office was on it, but never westbound in a race. I forgot how hilly it was! There were 3 or 4 huge hills, one almost a mile long, and my legs were feeling it after the hard training and the high temperatures. I kept reasoning with the part of me wanting to step off the course, that the last quarter mile split I had wasn't too bad.
Around the seventh mile, I felt my right shoe loosening. At the Mile 8 marker, it was untied. I had no choice but to step to the curb and tie it. Three runners passed me by. I later passed all three, including one in the final half mile who told me afterwards that he was impressed by the comeback, that he figured I was a goner after the shoelace incident.
Somewhere in here a guy with a loudspeaker made fun of my sweatband. Specifically, he shouted, "Go guy with a sweatband! I love the sweatband!" Yeah, me, too. It keeps my sweat out of my eyes.
I took a Gu around Mile 9, and as we headed to the turnaround out near Saint Louis University, I started counting the runners going in the opposite direction ahead of me. I was in 21st place when I hit the turnaround, and I quickly passed that group of 3 or 4 I couldn't quite hang with early on.
The route back along Market was equally hilly, and I quickly dropped in with the female leader and the shoe lace commenter as we battled the hills and headwind. They'd pass me on the downhills, and I'd work my way past them on the uphills (thanks, Greenrock Trail!). When we reached the final 1 1/2 mile stretch, no more than 2 big hills and a small uphill to the finish in front of us, I made another push uphill, passing the female leader for the final time. I urged her to latch onto me, so I could help her fight the wind to her payday, but she couldn't keep up. When I reached the crest, she was about 30 yards behind me, and she ultimately finished 30 seconds later than I did.
I kicked and kicked some more, and the hills started to take their toll. When I finally dipped down and back up across the finish line, the announcer cheering me on to a sub-1:20 finish, I felt good, in a miserable way. I finished 14th overall, 3rd in my age group, in 1:19:47. It wasn't the perfect day to race, but it was a PR...of course, it'd been two years since I'd run a half.
I was surprised when a race official grabbed me and ushered me to a VIP tent. I found a huge breakfast buffet set up there, but my stomach wasn't going to let me consume anything other than some fresh fruit and juice. I rehashed the race with the other runners for a bit before striking up a long conversation with Bart Yasso again. We talked my upcoming Western States run, the horrible weather, his admiration for the event (which is a first class event and only getting better with age), and the upcoming Boston Marathon and my friends' pre-race gathering that we had the joy of having Bart attend last year. There are few better ambassadors for the sport...thank you, Bart!
After a little cooldown run, I went back to find my mom, who ran a great race not far off her PR. She's going to rock Grandma's Marathon in June! I also picked up my awesome plaque for finishing third in my age group, pictured below.
Week Fourteen was over. Total miles: 63.44 miles. Six days until my 50k!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
El Dorado Creek to Michigan Bluff (Miles 52.9 to 55.7) (72 days to go!)
And...I'm back with our course tour! The delay was not the result of a lack of donations to the Wounded Warrior Project, that's for sure! As of this writing, we've raised over $7,500. That means I'm about 20 miles behind on my course tour! Special thanks to Elizabeth St. Clair, Dan and Beth Erman, Erin Bank, and Derek and Chrissie Gipson, for their donations to the WWP that sponsor this stretch of the course tour! 
The eleventh stage of the race takes runners from the depths of the canyon at the El Dorado Creek aid station to the heights of the small former mining town of Michigan Bluff. Undisputedly, this is one of the hardest stretches of the race, for runners climb about 1700 feet in under three miles, just miles after they climbed up Devil's Thumb only to descend into the suffocating depths of the canyon to El Dorado Creek. 
I wanted to find photos of the course that make it look as difficult as it really is (or so I'm told...I won't find out until my practice run in May), but unfortunately, I couldn't find any that truly captured the burn of this stretch. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the lack of air and temperatures exceeding 100 degrees! 
How hard is this stretch? I recall the runner I paced in 2010, Fernando, telling me that when he reached Michigan Bluff, there were runners strewn everywhere. He felt he was okay, but the medical check, just eight miles after the one at Devil's Thumb, suggested otherwise. He was instructed to take a seat and consume fluids to get his weight up. One volunteer offered him some sort of ice cream treat, and he grinned when he described how great it tasted. 
Michigan Bluff is a supply drop station, so runners can expect personal items to be there for them if they planned ahead. It's also open to a runner's crew, but only by shuttle. 
Rumors are that the shuttles, while hardworking, can cause delays for an understaffed crew. Because nearly every review of the physical state of runners at Michigan Bluff includes words like "tired" and "beaten down," the efficiency and effectiveness of one's crew plays an important part in the race. 
The leaders will leave Michigan Bluff around 1:45 p.m., with 24 hour runners out of there by 5:20. While poking around the web, I found this photo of my coach, Andy Jones-Wilkins, at Michigan Bluff for the 2009 running of the WSER. 
There are extensive videos capturing the climb up to Michigan Bluff on Youtube, but they're long and involve multiple parts. If you're that interested, search "Michigan Bluff" on Youtube and enjoy. Thirty hour runners will depart around 8:50 p.m., and the aid station closes at 9:45 p.m., which is after sunset. For runners leaving after 8 p.m., Michigan Bluff is the first opportunity for the use of a pacer. Most runners pick up a pacer at Mile 62 in Foresthill, but the race organizers, in the interest of safety, allow runners leaving this aid station at or near dusk to utilize the services of a pacer seven miles before those ahead of them. While this is a race against each other for some, it's a race against the clock for most. Only 44.5 miles to Auburn! Training Week Thirteen Recap (76 days to go)
Life must be busy if I can set a huge weekly mileage PR and not even share the news. And that's exactly what last week was! Here's the recap on my first ever 100 mile week...done in 7 runs. On average, that's over 14 miles per day! I was quite pleased, if just a tad bit tired.
Monday: 9.71 miles. I rearranged my schedule a bit, moving Tuesday's track session to Monday. I was still sore from the weekend, but I knocked out 5x1600s with 3 minutes rest in the low 5:40s after a couple mile warmup. I finished up with a couple mile cooldown.
Tuesday: 12.74 miles. This run got its own blog entry, since I ran it with fellow Domer Jeff Grabowsky on his run across America. It was a nice, easy, and talkative run. Jeff mentioned on his own blog that I "talked his ear off." Who, me? Couldn't be!
Wednesday: 10.13 miles. I headed back to Skinker Hill in Forest Park for half mile intervals. The 6 "up"s averaged around 3:12, while the 6 "down"s averaged about 2:52. I looked forward to the next day the entire time because it was....
Opening Day! I mean, Thursday: 12.12 miles. The best holiday on the St. Louis calendar is the Cardinals' Opening Day! Beth and I headed downtown on her first extended time away from Nora, but I made sure to get my run in that morning before celebrating the arrival of another season of baseball!
Friday: 10.12 miles. This was a nice and easy morning run. My legs were starting to feel the mileage.
Saturday: 32.21 miles. Back to the Greenrock Trail for some hardwork. The weather was perfect, starting in the mid-40s and increasing to about 60 degrees by the time I finished six hours later (official running time: 5:46:12; official time on trail, including water and food stops, shoe-tying, and bathroom breaks, not to mention a near fistfight with a mountain biker who was on a "no bike" portion of the trail: 6:10:39). I was pleased with the quality of this run, especially given the previous 10 plus days.
Sunday: 14.03 miles. It took a tad over 2 hours for me to finish this run. It didn't help that temperatures sored into the 80s, and there was a strong wind. Oh, and that tired leg thing, too. But I got it done.
Week 13 Total: 101.06 miles. Before this week, my highest weekly mileage was Week 6's 82 plus mile week, and before I started on this journey to the finish line in Auburn, my highest mileage ever was in the low 60s....in the same week I ran a 50 mile race! Upon hearing this, one of my running friends commented that the human body is an amazing thing. They couldn't be more right.
Monday: 9.71 miles. I rearranged my schedule a bit, moving Tuesday's track session to Monday. I was still sore from the weekend, but I knocked out 5x1600s with 3 minutes rest in the low 5:40s after a couple mile warmup. I finished up with a couple mile cooldown.
Tuesday: 12.74 miles. This run got its own blog entry, since I ran it with fellow Domer Jeff Grabowsky on his run across America. It was a nice, easy, and talkative run. Jeff mentioned on his own blog that I "talked his ear off." Who, me? Couldn't be!
Wednesday: 10.13 miles. I headed back to Skinker Hill in Forest Park for half mile intervals. The 6 "up"s averaged around 3:12, while the 6 "down"s averaged about 2:52. I looked forward to the next day the entire time because it was....
Opening Day! I mean, Thursday: 12.12 miles. The best holiday on the St. Louis calendar is the Cardinals' Opening Day! Beth and I headed downtown on her first extended time away from Nora, but I made sure to get my run in that morning before celebrating the arrival of another season of baseball!
Friday: 10.12 miles. This was a nice and easy morning run. My legs were starting to feel the mileage.
Saturday: 32.21 miles. Back to the Greenrock Trail for some hardwork. The weather was perfect, starting in the mid-40s and increasing to about 60 degrees by the time I finished six hours later (official running time: 5:46:12; official time on trail, including water and food stops, shoe-tying, and bathroom breaks, not to mention a near fistfight with a mountain biker who was on a "no bike" portion of the trail: 6:10:39). I was pleased with the quality of this run, especially given the previous 10 plus days.
Sunday: 14.03 miles. It took a tad over 2 hours for me to finish this run. It didn't help that temperatures sored into the 80s, and there was a strong wind. Oh, and that tired leg thing, too. But I got it done.
Week 13 Total: 101.06 miles. Before this week, my highest weekly mileage was Week 6's 82 plus mile week, and before I started on this journey to the finish line in Auburn, my highest mileage ever was in the low 60s....in the same week I ran a 50 mile race! Upon hearing this, one of my running friends commented that the human body is an amazing thing. They couldn't be more right.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
I thought I run alot. (86 days to go!)
It's March 31st, and I'm in the midst of my hardest week of training ever, having just completed my highest mileage month ever for the third straight month. But the nearly 13 miles I ran on Tuesday are nothing compared to the miles that fellow Notre Dame alumnus Jeff Grabowski has been logging in 2011. Jeff started running in Oceanside, California, in January. On Tuesday, nearly 2100 miles later, he entered Ellisville, Missouri, about 1 1/2 miles from my house. Here's a photo of his arrival to the corner of Manchester and Clarkson: 
I joined him on a short journey down a few roads I've run dozens of times. When we finished for the day, Jeff still had 1600 plus miles ahead of him on his way to Smith Point, New York. That's right, Jeff is running across America. 
I think my favorite part of his daily summary is his observation that I "talked his ear off." Who, me? No way. What I admire most about Jeff is that he's running across the country for a reason: prayer. His website tells his story better than I can, but his rock solid faith, even in the face of adversity in life, is an inspiration. You can submit your prayer requests to him on his website, and I guarantee he'll pray for your intention. 
The local Fox affiliate showed up while Jeff and I were running. Here's the link to that story. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why I'm identified by my occupation, but there it is. I hope you enjoy this story (and the guest appearance made by yours truly) as much as I enjoyed witnessing it. 
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Training Week Twelve Recap (90 days to go!)
I was reading an article in this month's Runner's World magazine, one of those car crashes you can't help but finish because it's so awful. In fact, I still haven't finished it. But I found the inspiration I needed, right there while sitting where we all too often find what moves us: "Ultramarathoners? 'Impressive athletes, sure,' I sniff, 'but isn't there something, how shall I say it, unbalanced about them?'" My proud response is "yes." Yes, there is something unbalanced with us. We see the finish line way off in the distance when others would merely give up. We see the value in an easy recovery run the day after trudging through the woods for 5 hours. We treasure the conversation with the old guy/young dude/random stranger re-filling handhelds from a thermos while snow falls all around us on a day most others wouldn't bother to leave the house. But that was just my weekend. I'm perfectly balanced, in a totally unbalanced way, thank you very much, Mr. Friedman.
Monday: 8.15 miles.
Tuesday: 8.19 miles. But if ever there were two consecutive days less alike, these were it. Monday was nice and easy. Tuesday was a 12x400m workout. The last time I ran 400s was in high school. That was 13 years ago. I'm proud to report that all but my second interval were in 1:14 or 1:15, with the second one wimping out in 1:17. I'll take it. But it hurt, I won't lie.
Wednesday: 6.15 miles. Someday soon, I'll look back on this workout and remember how easy my coach AJW was on me this night.
Thursday: 10.20 miles. Not this night, though....I'm thankful Beth didn't hold a late night at work and a longer easy run against me, what with this being her 6th 25th birthday and all. :)
Friday: 8.21 miles. I woke up on Friday morning around 5:30 a.m., while it was still dark. I looked out the window to a bright spectacle. Turns out it was the street lights reflecting off the snow. Yes, snow. It was March 25th in suburban St. Louis, and we somehow had a few inches of snow overnight. I laid back down. And then I did the math...and I realized I needed to knock this sucker out. And that's how I ended up running 1:07:45 in snow, sleet, and cold. Did I mention that it had been 70 plus degrees during my runs on Monday and Tuesday? I didn't think so. Only in St. Louis do we get to experience all four seasons in ONE WEEK!
Saturday: 28.51 miles. Practically my entire ultrarunning club was running at Greenrock Trail, so I naturally decided to go somewhere else to avoid the crowds. No offense to them, but I was not in the mood to be social for whatever reason. I had three great loops on the approximately 8 mile Lewis Trail and one on the Clark Trail in St. Charles County. Unfortunately, it started snowing on my second loop. It was a few snowflakes at first, in that "oh, cute" sense. On my third loop, it started hurting my eyes as the large flakes flew into my hat-less head, stinging as they blurred my vision. Those flakes were collecting fast, and I ran the final loop through 3 to 4 inches of snow. Here's how I found my car over 28 miles later.
Now, keep in mind that I drove 15 miles to this trail. It took 22 minutes. It took me over 3 hours to get home...all because of 4 inches of snow! I hated the winters I had in Minnesota for 18 years and South Bend for 7 years, but life itself did not shut down at the first sight of a snowflake! Unreal. And sorry, Mom, for teaching you a few new cursewords during our phone conversation while I was parked (literally) on the road home.
Sunday: 10.65 miles. I am the worst recovery runner ever. I hate running on Sundays. Give me sleep, or give me work, but don't make me run. I was relieved, therefore, to be invited by my friend Brandon to run 8 miles at Queeny Park, a half-paved, half-trail hilly course about 8 miles from my house...at 8:30 a.m. Brandon is a few weeks from his first Boston, and we had a great 8 miles together. I tied in another 2 1/2 or so miles on my own, and the result was my second highest mileage week ever.
Well, until next week. I just used my abacus to figure out that I'm due to run 97 miles. 97 miles? 97 miles. That's only 15 miles farther than I've ever run in a week. Good thing I'll be drunk on Thursday afternoon at Opening Day. (Go Cards! Go Twins!)
Week 12 Total: 80.06 miles (second highest yet).
Monday: 8.15 miles.
Tuesday: 8.19 miles. But if ever there were two consecutive days less alike, these were it. Monday was nice and easy. Tuesday was a 12x400m workout. The last time I ran 400s was in high school. That was 13 years ago. I'm proud to report that all but my second interval were in 1:14 or 1:15, with the second one wimping out in 1:17. I'll take it. But it hurt, I won't lie.
Wednesday: 6.15 miles. Someday soon, I'll look back on this workout and remember how easy my coach AJW was on me this night.
Thursday: 10.20 miles. Not this night, though....I'm thankful Beth didn't hold a late night at work and a longer easy run against me, what with this being her 6th 25th birthday and all. :)
Friday: 8.21 miles. I woke up on Friday morning around 5:30 a.m., while it was still dark. I looked out the window to a bright spectacle. Turns out it was the street lights reflecting off the snow. Yes, snow. It was March 25th in suburban St. Louis, and we somehow had a few inches of snow overnight. I laid back down. And then I did the math...and I realized I needed to knock this sucker out. And that's how I ended up running 1:07:45 in snow, sleet, and cold. Did I mention that it had been 70 plus degrees during my runs on Monday and Tuesday? I didn't think so. Only in St. Louis do we get to experience all four seasons in ONE WEEK!
Saturday: 28.51 miles. Practically my entire ultrarunning club was running at Greenrock Trail, so I naturally decided to go somewhere else to avoid the crowds. No offense to them, but I was not in the mood to be social for whatever reason. I had three great loops on the approximately 8 mile Lewis Trail and one on the Clark Trail in St. Charles County. Unfortunately, it started snowing on my second loop. It was a few snowflakes at first, in that "oh, cute" sense. On my third loop, it started hurting my eyes as the large flakes flew into my hat-less head, stinging as they blurred my vision. Those flakes were collecting fast, and I ran the final loop through 3 to 4 inches of snow. Here's how I found my car over 28 miles later.
Now, keep in mind that I drove 15 miles to this trail. It took 22 minutes. It took me over 3 hours to get home...all because of 4 inches of snow! I hated the winters I had in Minnesota for 18 years and South Bend for 7 years, but life itself did not shut down at the first sight of a snowflake! Unreal. And sorry, Mom, for teaching you a few new cursewords during our phone conversation while I was parked (literally) on the road home. Sunday: 10.65 miles. I am the worst recovery runner ever. I hate running on Sundays. Give me sleep, or give me work, but don't make me run. I was relieved, therefore, to be invited by my friend Brandon to run 8 miles at Queeny Park, a half-paved, half-trail hilly course about 8 miles from my house...at 8:30 a.m. Brandon is a few weeks from his first Boston, and we had a great 8 miles together. I tied in another 2 1/2 or so miles on my own, and the result was my second highest mileage week ever.
Well, until next week. I just used my abacus to figure out that I'm due to run 97 miles. 97 miles? 97 miles. That's only 15 miles farther than I've ever run in a week. Good thing I'll be drunk on Thursday afternoon at Opening Day. (Go Cards! Go Twins!)
Week 12 Total: 80.06 miles (second highest yet).
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Doing my homework (95 days to go)
Someone recently posted a short essay on a running message board I frequent that spoke to me. I don't know who the original author is, but he or she has captured the spirit of my training perfectly. Training for Western States instead of marathons has been a lot like making the jump from junior high to high school or high school to college. The work is more intense, longer, and harder...but after time, you get used to it. So far, so good.
Here it is:
Training is doing your homework. It's not exciting. More often than not it's tedious. There is certainly no glory in it. But if you stick with it, over time, incrementally through no specific session, your body changes. Your mind becomes calloused to effort. You stop thinking of running as difficult or interesting or magical. It just becomes what you do. It becomes a habit.
Workouts too become like this. Intervals, tempos, strides, hills. You go to the track, to the bottom of a hill, and your body finds the effort. You do your homework. That's training. Repetition--building deep habits, building a runner's body and a runner's mind. You do your homework, not obsessively, just regularly. Over time you grow to realize that the most important workout that you will do is the easy hour run. That's the run that makes everything else possible. You live like a clock.
After weeks of this, you will have a month of it. After months of it, you will have a year of it.
Then, after you have done this for maybe three or four years, you will wake up one morning in a hotel room at about 4:30 am and do the things you have always done. You eat some instant oatmeal. Drink some Gatorade. Put on your shorts, socks, shoes, your watch. This time, though, instead of heading out alone for a solitary hour, you will head towards a big crowd of people. A few of them will be like you: they will have a lean, hungry look around their eyes, wooden legs. You will nod in their direction. Most of the rest will be distracted, talking among their friends, smiling like they are at the mall, unaware of the great and magical event that is about to take place.
You'll find your way to a tiny little space of solitude and wait anxiously, feeling the tang of adrenaline in your legs. You'll stand there and take a deep breath, like it's your last. An anthem will play. A gun will sound.
Then you will run.
Here it is:
Training is doing your homework. It's not exciting. More often than not it's tedious. There is certainly no glory in it. But if you stick with it, over time, incrementally through no specific session, your body changes. Your mind becomes calloused to effort. You stop thinking of running as difficult or interesting or magical. It just becomes what you do. It becomes a habit.
Workouts too become like this. Intervals, tempos, strides, hills. You go to the track, to the bottom of a hill, and your body finds the effort. You do your homework. That's training. Repetition--building deep habits, building a runner's body and a runner's mind. You do your homework, not obsessively, just regularly. Over time you grow to realize that the most important workout that you will do is the easy hour run. That's the run that makes everything else possible. You live like a clock.
After weeks of this, you will have a month of it. After months of it, you will have a year of it.
Then, after you have done this for maybe three or four years, you will wake up one morning in a hotel room at about 4:30 am and do the things you have always done. You eat some instant oatmeal. Drink some Gatorade. Put on your shorts, socks, shoes, your watch. This time, though, instead of heading out alone for a solitary hour, you will head towards a big crowd of people. A few of them will be like you: they will have a lean, hungry look around their eyes, wooden legs. You will nod in their direction. Most of the rest will be distracted, talking among their friends, smiling like they are at the mall, unaware of the great and magical event that is about to take place.
You'll find your way to a tiny little space of solitude and wait anxiously, feeling the tang of adrenaline in your legs. You'll stand there and take a deep breath, like it's your last. An anthem will play. A gun will sound.
Then you will run.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Training Week Eleven Recap (97 days to go!)
Another week in the books.
Monday: Coach told me to take an off day, since I'll be running significant mileage over the next three weeks without a day off. I, of course, ran a mile (actually, 1.05 miles) because I love my stupid running streak.
Tuesday: 8.20 miles, nice and easy.
Wednesday: 9.05 miles. Big hill workout...two miles down to Forest Park from the office, then 5x 1/2 mile Skinker hills (arguably the most famous running hill in St. Louis). My "ups" averaged around 3:04, while my "downs" averaged around 2:52. With two miles back to the office, I had a fast 9 plus miles on a beautiful evening!
Thursday: 8.12 miles. It was in the 70's at 7:15 p.m. Spring is on its way!
Friday: 12.12 miles, including 9 at what I respectfully call my "ultra tempo" pace. I ran miles 3-11 in the following splits: 7:09, 7:16, 7:05, 6:51 (now we're talking), 6:54, 7:14 (big uphill), 7:08 (legs still feeling the aftereffects), 6:52, and 6:50. I was quite pleased with this workout.
Saturday: 24.58 miles on the Green Rock Trail. It was a perfect running day--temps started in the 50s and finished up in the low 60s for me. My only complaint was that I encountered a mountain biker along a no biking portion of the trail, and he had ripped up the wet portions of a nearly perfect trail. I bumped into some running buddies who were recovering from ultra races last weekend, and I even met a fellow Western States 2011 competitor, Ben Creehan, on this run. Ben is a lot faster than me, so I'm not sure how much running we can plan to do together. I do know we have a lot of the same races on our schedule leading up to WS100, so another familiar face is a good thing. Also, it was weird to see this guy at the trailhead. I have no idea what he was doing there, or how he got there, but he was still there when I left.
Monday: Coach told me to take an off day, since I'll be running significant mileage over the next three weeks without a day off. I, of course, ran a mile (actually, 1.05 miles) because I love my stupid running streak.
Tuesday: 8.20 miles, nice and easy.
Wednesday: 9.05 miles. Big hill workout...two miles down to Forest Park from the office, then 5x 1/2 mile Skinker hills (arguably the most famous running hill in St. Louis). My "ups" averaged around 3:04, while my "downs" averaged around 2:52. With two miles back to the office, I had a fast 9 plus miles on a beautiful evening!
Thursday: 8.12 miles. It was in the 70's at 7:15 p.m. Spring is on its way!
Friday: 12.12 miles, including 9 at what I respectfully call my "ultra tempo" pace. I ran miles 3-11 in the following splits: 7:09, 7:16, 7:05, 6:51 (now we're talking), 6:54, 7:14 (big uphill), 7:08 (legs still feeling the aftereffects), 6:52, and 6:50. I was quite pleased with this workout.
Saturday: 24.58 miles on the Green Rock Trail. It was a perfect running day--temps started in the 50s and finished up in the low 60s for me. My only complaint was that I encountered a mountain biker along a no biking portion of the trail, and he had ripped up the wet portions of a nearly perfect trail. I bumped into some running buddies who were recovering from ultra races last weekend, and I even met a fellow Western States 2011 competitor, Ben Creehan, on this run. Ben is a lot faster than me, so I'm not sure how much running we can plan to do together. I do know we have a lot of the same races on our schedule leading up to WS100, so another familiar face is a good thing. Also, it was weird to see this guy at the trailhead. I have no idea what he was doing there, or how he got there, but he was still there when I left.
Sunday: I started my day off by volunteering at the Quivering Quads Trail Half Marathon in Cuivre River State Park. I manned an aid station at Mile 8 1/2 for a good six hours or so, with a little traffic control duty thrown in for good measure. Yes, the half marathon has a six plus hour cutoff, partially due to its wave start. I need 8 volunteer hours to compete in the WS100, and this was my chance to give back. I've never worked as a volunteer before, and I must say that it was a rewarding way to spend a Sunday! Here's our aid station ready for the first runners.
After my duties were complete, I ran a couple loops on the Lone Spring Trail for 14.15 miles. I was underhydrated, and my legs were tired from the previous two days' workouts and six hours on my feet, but I got it done. Lone Spring is named after a ground spring that originates in the middle of the trail. I wondered why the race map showed only one creek crossing when it appeared the stream wrapped off the page where the path should have crossed it again. Well, that's because the creek came out of the ground.
Total Mileage Week Eleven: 77.27 miles, my second highest mileage level ever...and this one felt much easier than that 82 miles I ran a few weeks ago.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Training Week Ten Recap (98 days to go!)
I figured something would have to give in my life when we brought our little pride and joy home. Turns out it was blogging. I'm still getting my runs in, work continues to slaughter me with busy-ness and stress, and I've found so much joy in my 4 weeks with Nora. I haven't, on the other hand, found much time to update this blog. I even managed to miss the 100 days to go mark!
Anyway, here's what I did in Week Ten of my training. Yes, Week Eleven concludes in 26 hours.
Monday: 6.28 miles nice and easy.
Tuesday: 8.12 miles, again pretty easy.
Wednesday: 8.28 miles, including 4x1200s at the track. My splits were pretty consistent in 4:12, 4:13, 4:07 (where'd THAT come from?), and 4:11, with 400 jogs in between.
Thursday: 1.05 miles on my "off day." The streak lives.
Friday: 10.12 miles. The funny thing about this run was that I knew I had to fit it in before work so I'd have fresh legs for Saturday's long run...and I had a sneaking suspicion that turned out to be correct that I'd be working late. When I left work at midnight, I was glad I didn't have a 10 miler waiting for me at home. Anyway, I set the alarm for 5 a.m. when I went to bed sometime around midnight (one of the benefits of a newborn at home). The alarm went off, I climbed out of bed, and I noticed the clock in the bathroom said 4 a.m. That seemed odd, but I figured we just never bothered to change it last fall. I headed out into the darkness, running a solid run along a usual route under a bed of stars. The highlight was running past a cop car parked along a busy road about 3 miles from my house. It had the appearances of running radar on the road, but I looked into the squad car as I ran by and saw the cop fast asleep. The people of Ballwin, Missouri can rest easy knowing they are safe. It wasn't until I went upstairs to shower that Beth mentioned that it was an hour earlier than I said I'd be out. It turns out that my alarm has an automatic daylight savings time feature that kicked into effect two days early Oops.
Saturday: 20.35 miles in 3:36 along the Green Rock Trail. The legs were sore, and I had to stop a couple times to loosen up my left calf.
Sunday: 12.15 miles in a bit over 8:00 pace. The legs were feeling it.
Total Week Ten: 66.35 miles. When I train for marathons, I use a 12 week program, with the final two weeks my taper period. And here I am, cranking out personal mileage records, with no end in sight! Gotta love ultras!
Anyway, here's what I did in Week Ten of my training. Yes, Week Eleven concludes in 26 hours.
Monday: 6.28 miles nice and easy.
Tuesday: 8.12 miles, again pretty easy.
Wednesday: 8.28 miles, including 4x1200s at the track. My splits were pretty consistent in 4:12, 4:13, 4:07 (where'd THAT come from?), and 4:11, with 400 jogs in between.
Thursday: 1.05 miles on my "off day." The streak lives.
Friday: 10.12 miles. The funny thing about this run was that I knew I had to fit it in before work so I'd have fresh legs for Saturday's long run...and I had a sneaking suspicion that turned out to be correct that I'd be working late. When I left work at midnight, I was glad I didn't have a 10 miler waiting for me at home. Anyway, I set the alarm for 5 a.m. when I went to bed sometime around midnight (one of the benefits of a newborn at home). The alarm went off, I climbed out of bed, and I noticed the clock in the bathroom said 4 a.m. That seemed odd, but I figured we just never bothered to change it last fall. I headed out into the darkness, running a solid run along a usual route under a bed of stars. The highlight was running past a cop car parked along a busy road about 3 miles from my house. It had the appearances of running radar on the road, but I looked into the squad car as I ran by and saw the cop fast asleep. The people of Ballwin, Missouri can rest easy knowing they are safe. It wasn't until I went upstairs to shower that Beth mentioned that it was an hour earlier than I said I'd be out. It turns out that my alarm has an automatic daylight savings time feature that kicked into effect two days early Oops.
Saturday: 20.35 miles in 3:36 along the Green Rock Trail. The legs were sore, and I had to stop a couple times to loosen up my left calf.
Sunday: 12.15 miles in a bit over 8:00 pace. The legs were feeling it.
Total Week Ten: 66.35 miles. When I train for marathons, I use a 12 week program, with the final two weeks my taper period. And here I am, cranking out personal mileage records, with no end in sight! Gotta love ultras!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Training Week Nine Recap (111 days to go!)
I promise this blog will not continue to be a weekly log of my miles. Really, I do. I'm still getting used to all of the adjustments in our lives, and work has been busy, so unfortunately we're going on nearly a month without any new material other than my workouts...and I know those aren't that interesting to most of you.
This past week was a milestone week for my fundraising efforts for the Wounded Warrior Project! We crossed the $6,000 mark early in the week, and with 3 1/2 months until race day, I've only got about $3,800 left to raise! Thank you all for your generosity and support for such a great cause...and one that is dear to me.
Week 9 was my second highest mileage week ever, behind Week 6's 82+ miles. Here's how it went:
Monday: 8.17 miles nice and easy. I enjoyed a run under a blanket of stars shining bright overhead.
Tuesday: 8.12 miles, again nice and easy. This one came at sunrise, and it was as colorful as one would expect after the previous night's starscape.
Wednesday: 10.60 miles. I hit the Clayton High School track after 2 3/4 mile warmup. The workout was a pyramid workout from 400 meters up to 1600 meters and back down to 400 again, and if I do say so myself, it went quite well. The splits were as follows: 1:15 (400m), 2:39 (800m), 4:19 (1200m), 5:43 (1600m), 4:14 (1200m), 2:35 (800m), and 1:15 (400m). I cooled off with two miles, and I went home happy.
Thursday: 1.05 miles. Scheduled rest day, so I took the dog for an easy mile in the morning so he'd get his exercise and I'd continue my running streak dating back to August 2009.
Friday: 6.21 miles. I ran the middle two miles at an uptempo pace, and the legs responded well for a morning run.
Saturday: 32.02 miles. It rained a lot on Friday night. The last time I ran the Greenrock Trail, there were several inches of fresh snow on the ground. This time the path had streams of water and muddy sections to challenge me. This was the third longest run of my life, behind only my 50 mile race last July and my 38 mile pacing effort at the 2010 Western States Endurance Run. I ran alone, with my only company in the nearly six hours on the trail two groups of Boy Scouts hiking with large packs on their backs. I asked one group if they'd been camping the night before, and they looked at me like I was crazy, so they must get a badge for wandering around the woods with a ton of gear strapped to their backs or something. Of course, they probably wondered why I was running circles around them in tights. I took a few pictures of the runoff waterfalls that formed near the trailhead.
Sunday: 10.12 miles. My coach told me that this was supposed to be an easy run, and I didn't have to challenge him...my legs wouldn't have let me do anything else! I started out at 9 minute miles, with legs blasted by the previous day's effort, but they found some life in the latter half of the run. I finished with a string of 8 minute miles, and I'd guess my final mile was in the 7:40-7:45 range.
Total Week Nine: 76.29 miles!
This past week was a milestone week for my fundraising efforts for the Wounded Warrior Project! We crossed the $6,000 mark early in the week, and with 3 1/2 months until race day, I've only got about $3,800 left to raise! Thank you all for your generosity and support for such a great cause...and one that is dear to me.
Week 9 was my second highest mileage week ever, behind Week 6's 82+ miles. Here's how it went:
Monday: 8.17 miles nice and easy. I enjoyed a run under a blanket of stars shining bright overhead.
Tuesday: 8.12 miles, again nice and easy. This one came at sunrise, and it was as colorful as one would expect after the previous night's starscape.
Wednesday: 10.60 miles. I hit the Clayton High School track after 2 3/4 mile warmup. The workout was a pyramid workout from 400 meters up to 1600 meters and back down to 400 again, and if I do say so myself, it went quite well. The splits were as follows: 1:15 (400m), 2:39 (800m), 4:19 (1200m), 5:43 (1600m), 4:14 (1200m), 2:35 (800m), and 1:15 (400m). I cooled off with two miles, and I went home happy.
Thursday: 1.05 miles. Scheduled rest day, so I took the dog for an easy mile in the morning so he'd get his exercise and I'd continue my running streak dating back to August 2009.
Friday: 6.21 miles. I ran the middle two miles at an uptempo pace, and the legs responded well for a morning run.
Saturday: 32.02 miles. It rained a lot on Friday night. The last time I ran the Greenrock Trail, there were several inches of fresh snow on the ground. This time the path had streams of water and muddy sections to challenge me. This was the third longest run of my life, behind only my 50 mile race last July and my 38 mile pacing effort at the 2010 Western States Endurance Run. I ran alone, with my only company in the nearly six hours on the trail two groups of Boy Scouts hiking with large packs on their backs. I asked one group if they'd been camping the night before, and they looked at me like I was crazy, so they must get a badge for wandering around the woods with a ton of gear strapped to their backs or something. Of course, they probably wondered why I was running circles around them in tights. I took a few pictures of the runoff waterfalls that formed near the trailhead.
Sunday: 10.12 miles. My coach told me that this was supposed to be an easy run, and I didn't have to challenge him...my legs wouldn't have let me do anything else! I started out at 9 minute miles, with legs blasted by the previous day's effort, but they found some life in the latter half of the run. I finished with a string of 8 minute miles, and I'd guess my final mile was in the 7:40-7:45 range.
Total Week Nine: 76.29 miles!
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