I like to move it, move it - Running with Chris

Flying Monkey Marathon #6

2011-12-15T15:20:00.002-06:00

My first, and only, road race of the year, was the biggie - The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey. This year's theme was THINK MONKEY - it was a spoof on the old Apple commercial "Think Different".

There were lots of hills (duh)

There was lots of rain.

There was mud at the finish line... and beer.

Finished 30 or so seconds ahead of last year, pretty consistent. Great finisher shirt and got a "Silipint" which is a silicone cup that will not break or shatter.

Here is what the RD said after the race:
"Yes. You did it. You ran Monkey the year it rained. You fool.

At least you now have bragging rights. Then again, the line between courage and foolish is faint. Whichever it was, perhaps now your legs are starting to recover, and your white hot hatred for the sufferfest the Monkey put you through is beginning to fade. Soon, the nightmare that was Monsoon Monkey will pass from your mind. Even though the scars will likely last a lifetime.

And then, perhaps you will crave more. Perhaps. Think Wet Monkey."

As for this year, I ventured into triathlons. I completed 2 sprints and 1 duathlon. I am not much of a swimmer and hope to improve next year. I've kind of got the urge to get back into racing next year, and am looking forward to doing a few 1/2 and one whole marathon in the fall. But my biggest goals are to complete 2 sprint, 1 Olympic and 1 70.3 half Iron. Stay tuned.

Flying Monkey Marathon #5

2010-11-23T10:32:00.005-06:00

This is going to be more of a "random thoughts" blog, instead of the usual race report/recap.

First things, first. I finished my 4th Full "Mary" in 4:21. Nice to know it's one of the 5 toughest Full Marathons in the country. Very pleased with that time, as my overall training was laughable for the past 4 months. The 4-5 times I did get out to Percy Warner to run the course, was very beneficial. I was able to run up hills that were only walk-able 4 weeks ago. YES, I did walk up on a few occasions ( 3 mile hill, back-side of 3 mile hill, "not a hill" at mile 23, etc) but these are more like 8% incline (or so it seems when running).

Nice day for a Marathon during the first half for the runners, and a nice day for a Marathon for the spectators during the last half. Temps were in the 50's to start, but by noon (when I finished) it was in the upper 60's/low 70's.

If any deer would have been at the finish line, I would have made for a great "salt-lick". I've never been covered in salt like I was at the end. Arms, legs, those little spaces right there in your eyes. OUCH that stings, trying to wipe away the sweat with salty fingers, elbows, etc.

Ran with Melanie, Matt and Amy during the first 3 miles. Somehow I got a little bit ahead of them, and like normal, started running by myself. I saw them a few times on the out-and-back, and they all had good finishes.

One of the signs at the top of the first big incline said "300 feet up, 3500 more to go" - thanks for the encouragement !!!

Saw Trent, the race director going up 3 Mile Hill, and asked him "Why did I PAY you to do this to myself?"

Old Man was out doing some pacing in the "rainbow Afro" wig. Funny.

Felt the familiar calf cramps around mile 22, and they slowed me for the last 4 miles. It's a weird feeling having your calf's knot up and start running like a stick man.

The park is beautiful and the race is really awesome. The volunteers are fantastic and very encouraging and make things fun on the course. The after race food is the BEST because everyone brings a little bit.

Running down to the finish line was AWESOME. My family was there to greet me and I had a wonderful sense of accomplishment. The race is tough, and my quads and calf's are still sore, but I had the best experience EVER at a race event. I wasn't feeling very well, so we didn't stay long after the race was over, and I wished we could have. Free massages and Beer. Enough said.

It took me around 4 hours to start feeling well, I guess my electro-lytes were really low. I didn't realize I had sweated that much. I took 4 GU's at mile 6,12,18 and 24 and drank plenty of water and Gatorade.

It's one of those Marathons that you dread doing, but when you have finished it, you feel so good that you conquered it, that you start planning for it next year. It doesn't hurt that the Swag and after race are top notch. I hope to get another Monkey next year. Better start training now.

Of Monkey's and Madness

2010-11-10T15:11:00.003-06:00

With such a topsy-turvy, mind-numbing, serial-apathy towards any kind of training over the past 4 months, I find myself on the eve (so to speak) of my 4th Marathon. The 5tth annual Flying Monkey is set to start at 8:00am on the 21st of this month.

I'm quoting from the Marathon web site here "it is a marathon that is about running. Running hard. Running over big and memorable rolling hills and through dense woods. Running with other like minded athletes. The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon is about the joy and pain of running a unique, and uniquely challenging--some would say beastly--26.2 mile course in the beautiful and historic Percy Warner Park, nestled among the Middle Tennessee Harpeth Hills... 26.2 tough and memorable miles, with a total of 3500 feet of elevation gain and loss."

On some of the running message boards, I hear stuff like: "training run", "hope to finish in 7 hours", "someone pace me, I'm going to run 12 minute miles", "God help us all".

Mostly, I'm thinking about the 3 Yazoo Beer kegs that Trent (the race director) is tapping at the end of the Marathon.

Trent caps the runner limit to 250 folks, and although it is a very hilly and tough coarse, the marathon sold out in 32 minutes. Sounded like "fun" to me, so I went for it.

Stay tuned for more thoughts and how my ~~training~~ jogging has gone in preparation for this "training run."

I Corinthians 13 4-13

2010-09-29T09:37:00.000-05:00

Been a rough 6 months for me, personally. Getting your world yanked away from you, without seeing it coming is like getting hit in the face with ICE COLD water.

I'm starting to run again. I'm like a brand new runner that has no base. Building from scratch, just like my life right now.

My favorite verse in the bible is 1 COR 13 4-13, but latly I've been holding true to this little gem:

"When your down to nothing, God is up to something".

Going to try and SURVIVE the Monkey this year. I'll need plenty of prayers for that.

Still Alive

2010-06-03T16:48:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm still alive and running. I've had some other stuff come up recently, and have not felt much inclined to "blog".

I'll try and update something soon.

Here is a quickie.

-CMM was a disaster, in more than one way. Was diverted to the FINISH line at mile 21 due to Thunderstorms in the area, and now have the distinction of having a Finishers medal that say's 26.2 Miles. I need to file away the 6 and put a 2.

-Ran a Trail Half Marathon in Chattanooga. Hills are still HARD.

Not really training for anything particular. May try and hit 20:xx in a 5K for a July 4th run.

Sudden 10K, 5K, 10K no 5K

2010-04-10T21:45:00.000-05:00

Serious tweaking going on. Stephanie said for me to go race this morning, so I hopped in the car and headed to the 2010 Purity Moosic City 5K/10K in Nashville. On the way, I could not decide which race to run. Looking at last years results, I decided I had a slight chance to place in my age group running the 5K, but my training was telling me 10K. When you read the last part of that sentence, it should plainly read - NO SPEED WORK, only some 800M/1000M Fartlek, about 3 weeks ago.

I've been nursing a sore hamstring for the past 2 weeks, and have slowed my pace way down, and run the same SLOW pace for 2 weeks. Yesterday, I got back to marathon speed, but knew deep down that it wouldn't be good enough for a good race. Finally, I got to the race, and decided that the 5K would be good enough. Here is my reason. I want to do a long run on Sunday morning, and didn't want to be too tired from a 10K.(insert corny face with bulging eyes here)

Long story gets shortened here. All the fast folks must have seen the same results as I saw from last year, and decided to run this race. Luckily, half of them ran the 10K, but the other half ran the 5K. It was a perfect morning and a super flat, fast course, but I just could not maintain my first mile speed of 6:50, and hit mile 2/3 at 7:28, which is more or less my 10K speed.

Finished at 22:43, which was good enough for 9th in my Age Group. WOW. Bottom line is that I am still new at this, and the marathon training is still new to me. This time last year, I would have been absolutely thrilled with a 22:xx 5K.

Right now, it feels like I'm standing still, like in the picture above. (I don't recall stopping and posing for that. I do remember, half smiling and thinking, OMG - she's about to take my ........ )

Next up is the CMM in 2 weeks.

River Gorge Video

2010-04-06T08:37:00.000-05:00

Here is a little taste of the trail run from March.

Rock/Creek River Gorge Trail Race from Rock/Creek on Vimeo.

Trail Runnin' - 2010 Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2

2010-03-27T19:31:00.007-05:00

Rolled out of bed at 3:30am this morning and headed down to Chattanooga's Prentice Cooper State Forrest, the site of the Rock/Creek River Gorge 10.2 and 6.2 mile trail races. A little nippy, but the sun was shinning, so I opted for a long sleeve wicking shirt. Checked in and got a wonderful bag of goodies from Rock/Creek.

My nephew met me at the starting line and in the most informal way, we were off. Single track trail races are very interesting. If you want to compete, you better get to the trail head in a hurry. If you get behind a slightly out of shape/slower runner, you can fall behind quickly. Yes, there was a lady in front of a big, long line of folks (including me) and within 1/2 mile, SHE STARTS WALKING. The ~~cursing~~ shout's rang out. Somebody finally "nudged" her out of the way, and she was pissed!! "Excuse Me" she said as everyone was passing her. Someone shouted, "you do know this is a Race". Mostly though, guys and gals would announce their intention to pass. They would say "on your left/right" or "at the first opportunity, I'm going to make a pass". Everybody was having a blast. The views were incredible.

I went out way too fast, caught up in the flow of trail runners. Chugging up hills and flying down them. It caught up to me around mile 3, where we had the 1st fluid station. I took a 30 second break to catch my breath and get some Heed, and 15 people passed me.

Did I mention the views were incredible? I kept thinking to myself that it would be great to slow down and enjoy the run and the views. So that's what I did. I hit the first 4 mile splits in 9:34, 9:08, 10:19 and 10:24. Pretty fast for me, considering my paces at Percy Warner Park trails. After the 15 people passed me, I just decided to enjoy the run. Slowing down made the race much better. I really had a great time on the Gorge trails.

1,600 feet of elevation change, multiple waterfalls and creek crossings, a view of the Tennessee River and valley in the early morning mist, a rock "face" that rose 600 feet in less than 1/10 of a mile, a cool but incredibly tough "rock garden" along the basin of the gorge, and a wonderful morning - made my first trail race memorable. My nephew finished in a speedy 1:35 and in a very respectable 35th position. He lives in the area and ran the trail last week for a prep run. I'm very proud of him and his fitness. I wound up in 93rd position at 1:51 (11:17 pace). Best 93rd out of 175 person race I've ever run. I didn't care if I was last, it was so much fun. I had a huge grin on my face when I finished and Mike came up to me and shook my hand, and said "well done, wasn't that fun?" I told him, I couldn't wait until next year. A little more training and I think I can improve on my time, but the faster you go, the less scenic it is - what a trade off.. :)

March Madness

2010-03-20T19:24:00.002-05:00

So, have you been following the NCAA BB tournament? Very fun. Lot's of upsets and Cinderella's playing. (see ya Kansas, Villanova.)

It would be awesome if the BCS could let the college football teams have a playoff.

2nd 20 miler is in the bag for this training period (3rd if I count the New Year's day run with OldMan.) Today's Nashville Strider training run was on the CMM course and covered the 1/2 marathon course with 7 miles tacked on. It's a confidence booster to run the 1/2 in around 1:49, which would put me on pace for 3:45 time for the Full. I would be very satisfied with that for my time. Problem is, the 7 miles after the 1/2 course were much slower and I could feel the BONK heading my way. In fairness to me, I repeated some of the hillier portion of the 1/2 on my way back to the start/finish of this run, and the 2nd half of the Full is not as hilly. Still, 20 miles is 20 miles. I'm going to shoot for 2 more 20 milers in this training run, one on my own and one with the Striders.

Next weekend will be a fun/hard one for me. I'm going to be doing my first trail race in Chattanooga. If you ever been to Chattanooga, then you know that it is in the foothills of the Smokey Mountain's (you should interpret this as HILLY). It is a 10.2 mile "leg" of the StumpJump 50K course (The "easy" section of the course.)

Here is the description:
These are single track trails with varied terrain. Lots of hills, rocks, and the occasional mild stream crossing. - Remember that trail running is strenuous. Practice before you participate; it makes the race more fun.

Yes, hilly trails have kicked my butt when I have ran them in the past but I am going to go have fun with it. My nephew lives down towards Chattanooga and has run on these trails before, and he says they are hard, but worth the effort. He is a very good runner, so I hope he doesn't feel obligated to wait on me.

If I can finish in 2 hours that would probably be a boost, and I get to see if I REALLY WANT TO TRY STUMPJUMP in the fall. We'll see, but when I was on mile 19 today, I told myself, "self, I'm not too sure you want to be trying to run 32 miles on those Chattanooga hills, because the hills (i.e. bumps) on this training run is kicking your rear - R U CRAZY ???"

5 seconds

2010-03-15T10:06:00.004-05:00

5 seconds,in a race, can seem like a long time.It can mean the difference in a Boston Qualifying time or the difference between a 3rd place group award and a 4th place group finisher. This past weekend, that 5 seconds, left me feeling a little down about the race.

This weekend was the 16th Annual Tom King Half Marathon. Finish line is inside of the Tennessee Titans Football stadium on the 50 yard line. The course is a flat out and back, starting outside the stadium and going down a nice greenway in Shelby Park in Nashville. It is put on by the Nashville Striders which is one of the groups largest fund raising races of the year. It also brings out any-and-everybody who is fast in the area. It's the perfect tune-up race for upcoming April/May spring marathons, OH and it's TOTALLY FLAT, so it is a very FAST course. Bring in overcast sky's and the temperature at 45 degrees, and this day was as good of a race day as you can find. The humidity was hanging in the air, but not bad because of the low temps.

It's funny what your training tells you, if you are listening. My training has been spot on for 8:00 minute miles (over the long haul.) My plan for this race was to keep it between 7:45 and 8:00 miles and shoot for 1:43 to 1:44.

First 10 miles were pretty consistent:
1 Mi - 7:32
2 Mi - 7:42
3 Mi - 7:50
4 Mi - 7:57
5 Mi - 8:00
6 Mi - 7:52
7 Mi - 7:52
8 Mi - 8:06
9 Mi - 8:02
10 Mi - 8:10

Mile 11 was the walk thru-water break. Ouch, I walked a little longer than planned. I was telling my feet to go, but could not make them run. I didn't bonk, I just wanted a little break.

11 Mi - 8:32
12 Mi - 8:05
13 Mi - 7:52
0.19 Mi -6:45 (1:45:04)

The last "tenth" of a mile is a fib on behalf of my Garmin - before running into the stadium, we had to go under the tunnel to get to the field, and the garmin paused for 25 seconds. I looked at the Garmin going into the field and it said 1:44 something, so I knew I had a chance at that 1:44 I was shooting for. Crossed the finish line and Garmin said 1:44:40. I was totally happy about that. I was smiling ear to ear when I went to the Buffet inside the stadium and sat down and looked at my time and splits, when it occured to me that there was that 25 second pause coming into the stadium. I check the official chip sheet, and sure enough, 1:45:04 - 5 seconds too slow for the 1:44. Crap'ola. Still a 5 minute Personal Record from last October's Middle Half Marathon. Happy about that and gives me something to shoot for in the fall.

Oh yeah, remember I said this race brings out the "faster" type.I finished 261 out of 1128 finishers - which is top 23%, but was only 41st out of 105 in my age group (39%).

CMM is 6 weeks out and I need to pick my miles back up.

First real "Trail Race" in 2 weeks in Chattanooga, so stay tuned for that.

Much ado about Nothing.

2010-03-07T20:03:00.000-06:00

Sitting here watching the Oscar's show and thinking about:

Hoping Avatar wins for Best Picture. Stopped by Hollywood Video this weekends, but Hurt Locker was all checked out. Heard it was good.

20 miler through the hills of Shelby Bottoms greenway from the Wave Pool to the Dam and back. Some steep hills and nice elevation changes. Finished at a good pace, that I think I can keep up with for the Marathon, especially since this weekend's hills were much bigger than CMM.

Steve Martin is still funny. Good joke about being a poor black man in his first movie too (The Jerk).

The hills have tore up my quads. I have a good bit of DOMS in them.

Did not run any on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Was fighting a Sinus Infection and left my head swimming and pretty drained of energy. Did not run today as my muscles were sore, seems like a lot of time off.

On course for 2,200 miles this year. Still don't know if that is sustainable.

Watching a commercial for Apple's new iPad tablet computer. It looks cool. This is how most REAL computers will be in a few years. This early model is more like an over-sized iTouch.

Tom King Half Marathon this weekend. Finish line is on the 50 yard line of the Tennessee Titans Football Stadium. They show you on the big screen coming across. Sounds fun, I hope it is a nice day. It will be a good tune up for CMM and we will see where my fitness is at.

Sunglasses REQUIRED !!!

2010-03-02T17:14:00.000-06:00

Please do not glare into the sun. Put all children and dogs away.

These images are NSFW PEOPLE ! ! !

So, around middle of 2008, the summer was ending, and I was browsing through some photos of a pool party we had at my sisters house. OMG, I have turned into a beached Whale. I had balooned to around 205 and felt miserable.

I got off my behind and did a round of P90X and got down to around 185 in October of 2009. Then Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays, and all my momentum from P90X was gone. I was a blubber baby.

Right after Christmas, my work sent out a MEMO : "GET FIT, RUN Country Music Marathon".

I was like "whoa, this is what I need". I looked at this as an opportunity to get in shape and lose the weight. My company went full bore with this concept. They solicited people from all over our company (around 220,000 people) and had "lunch and learn" sessions, and a fund raising campaign for our HCA HOPE FUND. But most of all, they were going to give all of us participators a SHIRT. Now, I will do anything for a nice, new, cool shirt. Oh yeah, they are doing this in the name of Fitness, so they also paid $50 of the entry fee to the CMM. Now that is an incentive.

So, I guess I'd better stop rambling, and get to the topic of this blog. Losing some weight. For the past month, I have had at least 20 people notice that I have gotten "skinner" or "you've lost weight, haven't you" kind of thing. Most people know I've been running, so they know what kind of exercise I've been doing.

It's been a journey for me. I thought, mistakenly, that the pounds and inches would just melt away in a month or two. I started running in January of 2009 and weighed 180 pounds. I ran CMM in April of 2009 at 175 pounds.

My goal weight for CMM in 2010 is 155.

YES - I NEED A SPRAY ON TAN.

And I'm not giving up my BEER ! ! !

Heavy Metal

2010-02-26T20:33:00.000-06:00

What do you do with your Marathon or Half Marathon Medals? Do you wear them around all day after the big race? Do you treasure it like Gold Medal from the Olympics?

I got this in the mail today. I had forgotten all about Competitor sending it. It represents the Country Music Half Marathon and the Las Vegas Marathon, from the RockNRoll Series. I let my daughter open the package and told her to wear it proudly :)

I think she thinks its as goofy as I do. LOL.

Training Update

2010-02-21T19:59:00.002-06:00

Just a little more than half way through with CMM training plan. Feels like in "throes of" training - meaning HO-HUM. Saturday, the 3rd of 6 training runs with Nashville Striders, and kicked out 18.5 miles. I want to say it was easy, but I'm having some residual pain behind my right knee, which is either a sub-set of the ITBS from last year or some tendinitis.It almost took me out of the training run Saturday morning. It was bad enough that I started to turn around about 2.75 miles into it, when a little elderly man came upon me. He was the last runner on the course, and was kinda dressed like super-man. He saw me looking at the map, and said to me - "Put the map away, the course is this way". I was like "whoaaa, if he can do it, so can I".

I limped along for about 5 miles, and it loosened up quite a bit. Somewhere around mile 7, I caught up to Marathon Matt at a fluid stop. Matt said "hi" but took off, because he had already been there 30 or so seconds before me. I quickly drank a cup of gatoraide, and took off. I tried to catch up to Matt, and trailed him for 3 more miles, and finally caught up to him at the 10.5 mile fluid stop. We ran together the last 8 miles and both of us upped our speed a little bit, and finished the last few miles at 8:30 min/miles. Not too bad for miles 15-18, and this is my Marathon Goal Pace.

We saw "super-man" still trucking along at one point, where we were about 4 miles ahead of him. But, I still think he is awesome, and has great dedication to running.

Quick numbers during this training run:

372 miles (on pace for 2,300 miles - I don't see that happening)
1-20 miler
1-18 miler
1-16 miler
1 crickety knee
1 strained hammy

mta - I realize that is Ed Whitlock in the photo, but he reminds me of the older gent who spoke to me.

Beat goes on, sorta..

2010-02-08T09:40:00.003-06:00

Stephaine pointed out to me that I say I'm a newbie on my blog, I guess I will say I'm a "Novice Runner" now, although the longer runs are hard to complete.

A few weeks ago I felt strong and raring to go. I've been nursing a tight hamstring for a week and a half, which loosens up in a few miles, but even with that, I've been feeling very sluggish for the better part of a week. Last Tuesday, I dusted the 40 lb kettleball out of the closet and swung it a few time. Whew !! That left my "Gluteus Maximus" sore for 3-4 days, on top of my sore hamstring. I can't tell if its the ramped up training that has me drained or the slight injury/weight training.

Either way, I had a "decent" Week 11 on the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan. 36.6 miles out of a planned 42 miles. Seems like the general theme on a lot of Running blogs is the weather, and I'm right along with this theme. 2 days of treadmilling are 2 too may for me. I've found that I like to push the speed when I'm on the treadmill, usually doing speed progressions, to get the workout over with. I know this isn't helping my hamstring, and when I am out on the roads, I'm having trouble hitting a groove. I hope my body will begin to adjust to the added miles soon. I've had 3 consistently 36-34-36 mile weeks since my nice 55 mile week. Total miles for the year are 228.8.

On the positive note - I've dropped below 160 pounds for the first time in 25 years. Well, let me say, that was on Friday when I weighed, I have no clue today, after the Super Bowl party from yesterday. I've been reading the book Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald, which I will give a review of soon. By his charts, I should be around 152 pounds for my optimum racing weight. I'm shooting for that in the next 10 weeks, but would probably take a lot of work to get that low. Certainly not running mid-30 mile weeks.

Streaking

2010-02-01T21:24:00.000-06:00

Seriously, what were you thinking??

Week 12 ended with a little bit of a dud. I had a 21 day running streak going into Friday's snow/ice storm, my longest such streak of my short running "career". Actually, my body was quite ready for a break. During the 21 days, I have felt as strong and as weak as at anytime in my training. I also accomplished my largest monthly running volume to date - 181.45 miles. I was within reach of 200 miles for January had I gotten the Saturday long run in. It was only a 12 miler, but the missed 6 miler on Friday would have put it pretty close. No matter, the streak of 2 missed days was helpful, and revived my legs, even if only slightly.

Week 11 brings me to the 2nd "cycle" of the 18/55 Pfitzinger Marathon plan. The next 5 week cycle are the largest volume of training I will take on. I am not following it verbatim, and plan on substituting a lot of trail running during this cycle.

We have several great running groups in Middle Tennessee. The Nashville Striders and East Nasty Running group/gang have marathon and 1/2 marathon training group runs which I am planning on taking advantage of. I've, up to this point, been a "loner" when training. So training with the larger groups will be a new, but exciting aspect of this training period.

Today the snow is starting to melt, and I put on the trail shoes and got in a good, sloppy, slushy, wet 6 miles during my lunch break. I felt just like a kid running through the slush.

2010 Nashville Zoo Run Run 5K - Race Recap

2010-01-24T15:26:00.003-06:00

Nashville, TN - 1/23/2010 - 3:17 pm

Took off to the Nashville Zoo for a little 5K run on Saturday. About 1,200 other folks showed up to run with us. People were still streaming in at the scheduled start time of 3:00, so they delayed it until 3:15. They gave you the option to purchase a chip for official timing and around 730 people were timed and the rest un-timed. The Nashville Striders were on-site to manage the timing (but obviously not the start, or we would have started at 3:00 whether you were there and ready, or not.)

I left Stephanie and the girls and went up close to the start. I had looked up the times for last year, and thought if I pulled a 22:00 or less that I might have a chance at a age group award.

So, around 3:17 we were finally off. It's not good when the first 20 steps PAST the timer are walking, And it never fails. 240 Fred and the twins Susie Sixteen and Frannie Fifteen were up in the 1st 2 rows, and had no clue on how to pace. Slow trotting from Fred and the talking teens wondering what song to listen to on their I-Pod had me in a bind. I'm not usually one to get mad or upset, and a quick "coming through" is usually what I say. Today it was an ELBOW and a "GET OUTTA THE WAY ! ! !" It took a full 200-300 meters to get up to speed.

Nashville is not a typical big time zoo. It's much quainter, and they have it more setup like "strolling trough the jungle" to view the animals. Two feet foot paths are the norm, and lots of twisting and turning. Throw is a few nice hills and downhills on gravel access roads, and this was one fun, but rather tough, race format.

For me, it was just trying to get some speed up. I have plenty of endurance, but with marathon training going in full steam, I have not done ~~much~~ any speed drills. With a combination of the twisty/turns and lack of speed work, I just could not get a sustained pace under 7:00 min/miles. As a matter of fact, I was very fresh as soon as the race was over. Finished in 21:55 (7:04/mile) and 42nd overall of the timed folks. I also got my first EVER Age Group award, coming in 2nd place in the 40-44 men's group (I was actually 3rd, but one of the guys in my AG placed in the Top 3 Men's Masters category.

I asked Stephanie to write as a "guest blogger" but she didn't want to. She had a good run and finished in 37:38. This was a tougher course than she ran last August. Good experience for the 1/2 marathon in the spring. Her calf's are on "fire" so she will need a round with the "Marathon Stick" to work out the kinks.

The girls. Well.. They finally came around the finish line at 47:00. I saw them and ran up to encourage them to the finish line. When I told them "lets run to the finish" the took off in a flash. They both left me in their dust, so they were holding back big time. K told me they had walked the last mile, and H said she was tired of running, so they walked. They had fun, though.

We all stayed around and ate spaghetti and salads provided by the Zoo staff. I got a back-pack for my AG award.

Week 14 - CMM Training

2010-01-18T11:07:00.004-06:00

For 2010 Country Music Marathon, I have been following Pfitzinger 18/55 plan. 18 weeks and topping out at 55 miles per week. I believe that week 8 (8 weeks before marathon, he count's the weeks down to goal week) is supposed to be the 55 mile week.

Week 14 totals - 55 miles and around 6,250 calories burned. I feel good about the mileage. I can feel the road miles are getting easier after I log some trail miles. Most of the miles are easy, but I am mixing in some 3X3 tempo runs and hill sprints in with the trail miles.

I'm also on a 10 day streak, the longest such streak ever.

Week 13 is the final week of cycle #1 for Pfitz. The "Endurance cycle" is generaly a transition phase from the non-training phase to the training phase, getting the body ready for the ramped up mileage and some lactate training.

At the end of this week is my only winter time 5K. Stephanie and 2 of our kids are running the Zoo Run 5K on Saturday. Steph has really been diligent in her training. I think she has run every day this year except for a few days. Her goal is the CMM Half. I think its a great goal and challenge for her, and a good way to stay in shape. One of the kids running the 5K this weekend also wants to go out for XC at her middle school. I'm really happy and grateful that my running has rubbed off on my family.

Equipment Review - SmartWool Socks

2010-01-12T09:12:00.000-06:00

I love my socks. To prove it, I have a whole drawer full of them. Sock and Gear companies must really LOVE their products, be they are so expensive. They must believe us runners are loaded. $12-$14 pair of socks are kinda expensive.

So in my quest (which is on-going) to find the best gear that I like, I tried the SmartWool socks out over the holidays. SmartWools claim to fame is comfortable wool socks that aren't itchy or shrinky (is that a word?).Well they somehow figured it out.

I picked up a pair of SmartWool Adrenaline Light Micro to use as my Trail Running. They are super soft and give just the correct amount of cushioning and moisture management. There is this little tab on the heel that helps the sock to stay in place so it won't slide down into your shoe. Best of all, THEY DON"T STINK.

At $14.95 a pair, they are pricey. Lot's of Ultra and Trail runners swear by them, so all these folks can't be wrong. I think I've found my "go-to" sock for Trails. I'll just have to add to my collection, a little at a time.

They have an entire line-up of socks, for Snow Skiing to biking and running. I'll try a pair of running socks next, and give a review soon.

Trails

2010-01-10T19:28:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure why I am so drawn to trail running. It could be the just the raw aspect of being in nature and exploring, which is exactly my spirit.

Trails, especially, with lots of elevation change, are very tough and challenging. I hit the best trail system in Nashville this morning, Percy Warner Park, and it once again kicked my rear end. It's like I'm a beginning runner on trails.

7.62 miles in 1:32. 12 minute miles and every one was earned. I "presumed" that I was in decent running shape. Decent on the roads, not close to decent on trails.

StumpJump 50K in October is looming mighty LARGE on my horizon. I have lots of practice/training to do.

The Dreadmill

2010-01-05T11:06:00.001-06:00

I gotta admit, I don't really like using the treadmill. We don't have one at the house, so if I'm going to use one, I have to go find one at the YMCA or at work. Usually, I can only stand using one for an hour or less workout. I usually sweat like a pig, especially at the Y, because it's hot inside. One thing I do like about them is the ability to dial in a tempo workout, which let's me know exactly what it fells like at a certain speed.

And with this being the first of the year, lots of "New Year's Resolution" folks are busy honoring that resolution on any and all available treadmills. With a mixture of work related time constraints, frigid weather, and limited evening sunlight - the Dreadmill is sometimes the only option.

So yesterday, with a 8 mile tempo scheduled on the training plan, I headed down the street at work, to seek out a treadmill. I had originally planned on getting outside during lunch, but the 8 miler during the day usually takes me longer than a "normal" lunch break, so I decided not to attempt it at lunch. So, I worked through lunch and took off at 4:30 headed to building #1. We have 4 decent treads at the Corporate facility right down the street, and "lo and behold" they were all in use. Now, even though I hate using them, I have resigned that during the winter/cold months, it's a necessity. I've been down to building #1 at around 4:30 to 5:00 many times during the last year, and NOT ONE TIME were all 4 treads being used. Oh well, I decided not to wait and just headed home.

At this time of day, I knew there was no use in heading directly to the Y to find a tread, it would be the same story there.

I finally got around to going around 7:30 and got to the Murfreesboro Y around 8. It was not bad at that hour and I was able to get on a decent tread and begin the 8 miler. I better get used to it, because Old Man Winter has finally decided to give us a taste of winter. No snow here in Middle Tennessee yet, but some is expected in the next few days. Good luck to all getting in your workouts.

Recap - Old Man's Fat Ass "50K"

2010-01-01T14:37:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year - 2010, everyone. I hope everyone had a great New Year's celebration. For me, it was an early wake-up call and a quick trip down to the Murfreesboro Greenway for Old Man's Fat Ass ~~50K~~ 32K.

Yes, I put my EGO in the cooler this morning, and followed Kenny Rogers advice - "you got to know when to fold em'." Around mile 17, I was in full Marathon Zombie stroll, and knew it was time to pack it in. By mile 20, I had a 2nd wind, but knew if I continued on, it would be a week before I recovered, and I don't want to mess up my Pfitzinger training plan.

I met up with Old Man at the Bragg HQ trail-head on the Murfreesboro Greenway, with about 15 other "brave souls." It was a balmy 25 degrees, with a northerly breeze making the wind chill around 9. Dirk took a picture and we were off. The plan was a 4 mile loop around the Stones River Battlefield, back to Gen Bragg trail-head, and a 6 mile out-and-back to Cannonsburgh Village trail-head, making a 10.1 mile "loop" 3 of these loops was the original goals of 50K or around 30.3 miles (which is not quite 50K, but anything over 26.2 is pretty much a 50K, by UltraMarathoner standards - which I am NOT).

So, without further ado, here is a pictorial reviews of Old Man's Fat Ass 32K.

Out toward the Battlefield for the 1st loop

I was momentarily in the lead pack, but stopped a bunch to take pictures.

Up and around the Battlefield visitors center.

The ladies buried me and never looked back.

Out the Battlefield and back to Bragg.

4 mile point. Gen. Bragg's HQ marker at Stones River Battlefield.

Now on the Murfreesboro Greenway for 6 miles.

I've been on this greenway for hundred's of miles, and this is the 1st time I've slowed down to take pictures. Murfreesboro greenway is a FABULOUS place to run.

The Stones River runs right beside the greenway. Pictures do not give it justice.

Trestle bridge over the river.

Stones River from the trestle bridge.

Somewhat fresh around mile 6.

Murfreesboro Ultra legend, David Jones on the left. Old Man in the middle. Brandon from Fleet Feet on the right. They're about a mile ahead of me, at this point (7 miles into the run - LOL)

1700's era Murfreesboro village.

Mile 7 turnaround at Cannonsburgh Village.

Past the Bark Park around mile 9.5.

Up to the pavilion at Gen Bragg HQ for the finish of loop #1, Mile 10. There was some great Chicken soup and sandwiches for refreshments.

I was DONE around mile 16 or so. Geez, and I call myself an "Endurance Athlete".

"Folded" after 2 loops.

I like to move it, move it... 2010 Version

2009-12-19T10:43:00.005-06:00

I'm using the theme song from Madagascar for my 2010 Running Season.

Yes, I'm a Type A personality. My color is Gold in the True Colors personality profile. Planning stuff, especially my running routine, is my thing. Some folks wing it, I like to plan it. Or for 2010.... Move it, move it.

I did a little research after reading that Jesse was planning on using Pete Pfitzinger. I have adopted Pfitzinger's Intermediate 55-mile program for my next Marathon. I've got the book on the way too, so I plan on doing a deep dive into Phitzinger's principles. We'll see how this plan goes for the spring Marathon, and if I will continue to use it for the fall Marathon.

Really, the Trails are calling my name this year. Even before I began running early this year, what I really always wanted was to run trails. Stephanie had bought me some nice trail running shoes for Christmas LAST YEAR, and I finally used them, for their intended purpose, last weekend. Nashville only has a few good trail systems, so the it will be off to Chattanooga a few times this year.

My GOAL race/run for this year will be an 50K Trail Ultra Marathon called StumpJump. Considering that it took me 2 hours to run 9 miles at Percy Warner Park (and IT WAS BRUTAL), I've got a lot of training to do for this one.

2010 Running Schedule (subject to Change)

Start the year off with Old Man's 50K Run at the Murfreesboro greenway. I'm going to try the entire 50.
A few 5/10K runs in Jan/Feb.
Tom King Half Marathon at Titan's Stadium in March.
Rock Creek River Gorge 10.2 Mile Trail Run in Chattanooga in March.
11th Country Music Marathon in April - Steph is running the Half. Will be fun.
Wild Thang Trail Run in Nashville and
the Scenic City Trail Half Marathon in Chattanooga in May.
RC and Moon Pie 10 Miler - Should be HOT in June
July/Aug/Sept will be 50K training period, with a few 5/10K's thrown in to keep the speed up.
Oct 3rd, 2010 will be the Rock/Creek StumpJump 50K - Move it, move it.....
Tentatively scheduling Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in November, because I enjoyed it so much the first time.

I will probably miss one of my favorite races from the past year, the Middle Half Marathon. It was a blast. They have to schedule around MTSU football games, but last year was on the same weekend as StumpJump. I'll keep an eye on it.

My personal goals are:

Have more FUN. I know I am a planner, but running, at its core, is about getting away from ordinary life and enjoying nature and yourSELF.
1.500 miles is my goal. 1,800 is my stretch goal.
Lose 10 more pounds. I think I will be much fitter running at 150 instead of 160. Seriously, I will need an entirely new wardrobe if that happens. This time last year, I was around 180 pounds.
3:45 Marathon
1:40 Half Marathon
21:xx - 5K
44:xx - 10K

Foot Prints

2009-12-16T21:04:00.000-06:00

What is up with all of the crap about Carbon Dioxide emission and stuff they are discussing at the "Green Summit" in Copenhagen? It is just baffling the things that so-called intelligent folks come up with.

It's even funnier when Idiot's join in the fun, and try to make things "right" by "off-setting" the carbon footprint of others. Some company (I guess you could call them that) is going to plant enough trees to off-set the CO2 that President Obama is going to emit while flying to Copenhagen to meet at the summit. I don't know, but maybe Obama would emit less CO2 if he didn't fly there to begin with?

But jeez, it's not like CO2 is even poisonous. In fact, what would trees, plants, grass, etc. turn into Oxygen if it weren't for Carbon Dioxide.

So, what is your Carbon Footprint? I suspect that since you run a lot, that your emissions are quite a bit higher than some folks. And what about me? I used a dang treadmill for 60 minutes tonight. Wonder how much that was?

Al Gore has a good thing going. He's going to make a fortune pulling this over every ones eyes. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping to create less pollution though technology. Getting off America's dependence of oil would be an awesome thing. But seriously, are they all that naive to think that human being's can man-make anything that mother-nature could not adjust to?

Just be careful, because before long, us runners will have to purchase some "carbon off-sets" every time we use a trail or buy some new Nike's.

I better go plant some trees.

1,001 Miles

2009-12-11T21:00:00.002-06:00

I broke though the 1,000 mile barrier today. 1,001 to be exact.

1,000 more than I ran last year.

I'm hoping to run 1,800 miles next year, which will average 150 miles per month.

I remember the 1st mile, last year on my birthday in late December. I think it took 12 minutes, and I walked at least 3 or 4 times.

I remember the first time that I averaged around 9:00 per mile in early January. It was at a hard effort.

I just finished running 26.2 miles, averaging 9:03 per mile.

1,000 miles is about the distance from my door step to Boston, Mass. WOW.

This time last year, I would have thought that was crazy.

2009 RnR Las Vegas Marathon - Race Report - Pt. 2

2009-12-08T11:13:00.017-06:00

Mile #7 to Mile #12 heading towards downtown Las Vegas and the turn around. Temp remained in the 30's to low 40's, but the wind was still kicking around 10-12mph. As we cleared the tall casinio's, the sunshine warmed me up a little and I ditched the beanie and gloves. Ditching the gloves was a bad idea. My hands remained cold for then next 2 hours.

I had intended to use my Chickamauga fluid strategy by taking a water bottle through 13 miles. This worked strategy worked great the first time and allowed me to breeze through all the water stops that were very crowded with all of the runners on the course. At Chickamauga, it was kind of a last second strategy, where I stopped by a 7-11 on the way to the Marathon, and kind of winged it. This time I found a sweet water bottle at the airport on the way into Vegas, and kept it in the room since Thursday. Saturday night, I'm looking all around the room for the water bottle and can't find it anywhere. Crap, the service lady must of tossed it, even though it clearly was NOT IN or NEAR the trash can. Back up plan was to get a ginormous water bottle at one
of the shops at the Belligio. It was just too big to carry, and I dumped it about1/2 mile into the run.

At 10.5 the full takes a right out west of town, and the Half Marathoner's keep going down LV Blvd to the finish line. Mile time come in at : 8:33 - 8:36 - 8:34 - 8:44 - 8:47 - 8:58 (1:25:38 at Mile #10.)

Mile #13 to Mile #20 - Almost imperceptible during the run, but there is a
500 foot elevation change from mile
8 to mile 20, up hill. So much for a flatcourse. It's an out and back between mile 15 and 24 and watch the front runners going by in the other direction.
My legs began to feel heavy, and I
walked through several water stops and even stopped to stretch my quad and hip, trying to get loosened up. Mostly the same scenery. Not much crowd support and the bands were far between. I had my music player on anyway, so the lack of music didn't bother me. I was just trying to stay motivated and plug out the miles. 9:16 - 8:45 - 8:54 - 9:46 - 9:23 - 9:32 - 9:43 - 9:32 (2:58:10.51 at Mile #20)

Mile #21 to Mile #26.2 - What (gradually) goes up, must come (gradually) down. And so it was. Elevation dropped off 250 feet over last 10K. I was wondering where some of the speed came from. I didn't realize it during the race, it was so imperceptible, and when you are tired, it's sometimes hard to tell if you are going up or down. Still walked though most water stops, but never hit the proverbial wall. The Half marathoners finished up coming down LV Blvd into the Mandalay Bay front parking lot, but they banished us Full marathoners to come in the "back door" and finish on the side of the parking lot ??? Oh well. I kept thinking about "leaving it all on the race course", so I stepped the last 1.2 up as best I could. Unlike last marathon, where I was passing a lot of folks, I was the one getting passed up, until the last mile. The one thing that Rock N Roll does for the Full is to announce the names as we came in. The announcer is very up beat and it was cool still having good crowds pushing you on in that final last 385 yards (which I counted every one.) I was glad to get it over with and find Stephanie. They had setup a cool TEXT UPDATE thing, and it texted her as soon as I finished and she found me very fast. After marathon food was a joke, not even going to comment on it. 8:44 - 9:18 - 9:37 - 9:22 - 9:31 - 8:43

Official Time = 3:56:56
Garmin Time = 3:56:20 (set to auto pause).

All in All it was a great time out in Vegas. Stephanie was ultra-supportive and helped me wobble back the 1.5 miles to the Bellagio and get me into the bathtub. She even got a couple of large bags of ice and got me a great ice bath.

2009 RnR Las Vegas Marathon - Race Report - Pt. 1

2009-12-07T23:11:00.003-06:00

Short Version

3:40 or 3:50 was not in the "cards" for this run. I gave it a shot, but just could not get my legs to turn over like I had planned or anticipated.

I guess consistency counts for something. Finish time - 3:56:56 for a new PR by 20 seconds.

Long(er) Version

5:30am and out the door at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I have about a mile and quarter to cover to get to the starting line at the Mandalay Bay Resort. Las Vegas Blvd is closed to traffic, so I can walk right down the street. The first cold snap of the year for the area, but its only about 38 degrees out, but the wind has been blowing for a few days.

The last week of taper had not gone as planned. I had not put any miles in since Monday. I prefer to log at least some tempo runs, all the way up to the race day, to keep the edge on. Brad Hudson calls it sharpening. The long red lights and traffic make any sort of workout hard when staying on the strip, even early in the morning. Plus the large amount of walking may have helped to tire my legs out in a different way that I was not expecting.

6:00am and I was finally at the "runners village" in the parking lot near the starting line. Competitor knows how to put on a race, but like Country Music, the mass of people make everything seem chaotic. It took 5 minutes to locate the bag drop-off area, and when I finally got my warm-ups off and in the bag, the lady was taking one or two bags back at a time and trying to sort them by last name. There was only 30 people standing in line waiting for this lady, and she was in no hurry to get going. After 5 or 6 minutes, I finally took my bag and up to another volunteer and asked her to help, which she gladly did.

6:14am and I made it to the corral #3 and listened to Cher sing the national anthem. 6:15am and the Elite men took off to fireworks and they did a rolling start, which worked much better than pausing every 45 seconds between corral's like CMM, which I thought worked very well. So the gun fires and we are off. I've had NO WARM UP and very little stretching, oh well.

6:15am - Mile #1-9:05 - It was still dark out as we took off down Las Vegas Blvd. About 3/4 down the street and a U-turn back in the other direction. LV Blvd is very wide and a great street to run on. All of the casino's were lit up and there was a lot of excitement. Trying to find a grove and get going, but right off the bat, I can sense that I'm not into it. I tell myself to give it a few mile to warm up and maybe it gets better. I need to average 8:20 or so for a 3:40 marathon.

Mile #2 - #6 were the best of the race. All the way down LV Blvd as the sun was starting to rise and the casino's lit up and glowing. Looking back at the map, it was a noticeable gradual down hill all the way through the turn around at mile 8.5. About 200+ feet of downward elevation change. It was so gradual, it was hardly noticeable. Several bands and pretty good crowd support down the boulevard. Perhaps it was too early, or not much mention of the event for the locals, but the crowds are no where near as big as CMM. I was able to get into the groove, but just could not find the speed that I was aiming for. 8:29 - 8:36 - 8:29 - 8:17 - 8:24. I was at 51:15 thru mile 6.

26.2 or Bust - RnR Las Vegas Style

2009-12-01T09:19:00.006-06:00

First off, I want to thank everyone who has followed me on this blog for the last few months as I have trained for my first Marathon. All your words of encouragement and advice have been greatly appreciated.

My mantra for this coming race is a quote from T.S. Elliot - "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."

What this means to me, is: GO STRONG OR GO HOME ! ! !

Being a newbie, and somewhat injury prone, I have taken a cautious approach to my race running. Only one race have I felt that I have left it all on the road, with nothing left in the tank. I realize that running races is a process, especially with us who have this newly founded hobby. Leaving it all out on the road, though, is a different type of beast. Truly pushing ones self to go beyond your limits, and leave the comforts of the "conservative nature" is somewhat hard.

Steve Prefontaine is a very quotable and successful runner back in the 70's when running really exploded. He was notorious for wanting to bury his opponents, and leave them in his dust. One of his quotes goes, "A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more."

So, what's it gonna be?? I'm going to shoot for one goal only, if I fail, at least I will leave it on the track.

~~3:45~~ 3:40 (Thanks for keeping me honest, Jesse)

I'll try and post some pic's of Las Vegas and the expo before the race.

Las VegasTraining Re-cap By The Numbers

2009-11-29T11:24:00.004-06:00

Yes, I'm a numbers junkie. I keep up with my Garmin downloads on two different sites. The on-line website is RunningAhead.com and the client version is SportsTracks, which can be found here. SportsTracks offers much deeper stats, but RA offers a link for websites, like this blog.

I intended to use the FIRST Training regimen, which is a "minimalist" program that concentrates on 3 key workouts per week. Of course, I experience my second significant injury of the year during the first workout. The FIRST plan is a solid, scientifically proven plan, but it is not for beginning to intermediate runner's. It, in my opinion, is a good plan for an experienced runner who has a LARGE base and knows how to use the key works to their advantage.

After I recovered from the injury, I figured I'd better start building solid base, although I consider this entire year one long base build.

Here are the numbers:

Weeks Planned = 16
Weeks Actually Training =11
Distance = ~~382~~ 388 miles
Time = ~~59:23:35~~ 60:14:25
Calories = ~~49,489~~ 50,126
Significant injury's requiring 2-3 weeks recovery = 1
Mild injury requiring less than 1 week to recover = 1
Runs over 20 miles = 1
Runs over 16 miles = 3
Runs over 10 miles = 11

On Tuesday, I will reveal my plan for the marathon. See you then.

LSD, Tryptophan and Humble Pie

2009-11-26T20:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

For all you guys and gals that got out and ran a Turkey Day race, congrats. Sure is easier to eat all that good food, after you have burnt those calories.

For me, today was about one last Long Run. I headed out to the Murfreesboro Gateway around 8:45 with the temps around 43 degrees, but nice and sunny. After the first mile, I ditched my long sleeve and ran in a technical shirt and shorts. It got nice and toasty on the run, and I was glad to only have the tee shirt on.

I was determined to go slow and easy, no matter what. They have been talking about Heart Rate training over on RunningAhead, so I was cognizant about that, trying to keep my HR at 150, give or take a few beats. I really need to get a good gauge on my MAX HR, because I am going with the old principle of 220-age with is around 180 for me. I usually train in the 165-175 range, so I'm wondering if my Max is slightly higher than 180.

Everything was going good. I was feeling like my training was good. I was thinking, "12 Miles, I laugh at you." But reality is always just around the corner, in my case, it came in the form of a woman in a Boston Marathon Finishers wind breaker. I had done my plan, LONG SLOW DISTANCE (the LSD part) and was heading back to Old Fort Trail head after turning around at Cason Lane trail head. I was doing my nice, slow 9 minute pace, and saw her going in the opposite direction. I thought, well, she is a Boston Finisher, not too bad, but look at me, I'm all SERIOUS in my tee shirt and shorts with my Oakley's on. 5 minutes later, she passed me, as she had turned around at the bridge before getting to Cason Lane. I thought, OK, let’s see how fast she is. Well, as she pulled away from me, I looked down at the Garmin and saw we were clocking 7:30 miles. I stayed within 150 feet of her the whole way back to Old Fort trail head, where she turned around and went back towards Cason. 2 miles at 7:40 per mile. I was spent. Jeez, I'm not quite as good as I think I am. I just got a big slice of humble pie on Thanksgiving morning. I limped back to the car, grateful for the 2 tempo miles, but realizing that I am not quite as cool as I think I am.

Mostly, this has showed me that I am still a newbie at this. I've been conservative in my races, not really pushing myself to see where I'm at. I have come a long way since January 1st, but I need to find out what I am really made of.

Tune in for the next installment, and I will put out my goals for this coming race. For now, I need to go polish out off some left-over Turkey.

Now.... The taper.

2009-11-21T19:53:00.002-06:00

I'm ready for the "official" taper period. My legs are fully back under me and feeling fine. I have been able to easily complete an 8 and 7 mile run, at decent pace, on consecutive days (Thursday and Friday.)

I'm really considering this entire year, one long training period, and I'm ready for it to end. For a few weeks after I had recovered from my calf injuries after the Country Music Half Marathon in May, were the only time I was not training for a race. I look back and think that these were some of my favorite weeks of the year. I did the most speed work during this time, and this helped in my short and longer distance road work.

One thing I am itching to do is to bust past that 1,000 mile mark. After the Vegas Marathon, I will make some plans for next year. Probably 2 or 3 Halfs, and 1 or 2 more 26.2's. My nephew's have talked about running the Tom King Half in March together which would be fun. I would love to go down to Chattanooga and run a trail run. The Country Music Marathon is a given, not sure if I will do 13.1 or 26.2. Stephanie is considering running the Half, so I may go that route.

More to come on the planning and goal setting. First things first. The Taper.......

Post Marathon Thought, and What's next?

2009-11-18T16:31:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to jot down some post-marathon thoughts:

· I'm a Marathon'er - but still a newbie, with a lot to learn.

· Today is the first day that I could walk DOWN stairs. My quads are still in pain. Vitamin-I is hardly working.

· I’ve run twice since Saturday, and it felt like running in MUD.

· It was such a beautiful day. I’m very thankful that I got to experience it with my family. They ran up to me as I crossed the finish line, and it was fantastic.

· The cannon was awesome. They fired it twice while I was there. Once for the start of the Marathon, and once to start the “kids” marathon.

· The rolling hills kept things interesting. There were not a lot of flat spaces, except the first 2 miles, and the last 2 miles.

· Did I mention that my legs are STILL sore?

· 26.2 miles is a long way, but I enjoyed at least 22.2 of those miles. The other 4, not so much.

· I want to run this marathon again. Like Craig said, the finisher’s medal is very cool. My other fall Marathon wish list would be Chicago or Marine Corps – The People’s Marathon.

· I think running easy miles at the beginning through mile 12 was a good plan. I think I can push it faster, we shall see.

· I ran a “negative split" – un-intentionally. My ½ pace was 2:00:57, and I finished 3:57:27.

This weekend I am volunteering at the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon that some 200 brave souls are running over at Percy Warner Park. One loop of the 11.2 miles usually kicks my can, I can’t image doing 2 loops, plus some extra.

Ok, now here is my secret pact I made with “myself”. There is less than 3 weeks until the Vegas Marathon. Around mile 20 of Chickamauga, I kinda knew I had a shot at a sub-4 hour finish, which was my DEEP DOWN UNANNOUNCED GOAL. So I said to myself “Do this one in under 4 and really run SLOW at Vegas, because you are a newbie and all, and it will HURT.”

So, at this point, I am not absolutely positive that I will try and PR Vegas. My brain says that a 3:45 is do-able, which is a 8:35 per mile pace. My legs are trying to convince my brain, otherwise…….

2009 Chickamuaga Battlefield Marathon Race Report

2009-11-14T16:44:00.015-06:00

5:30am rolled around and felt like 4:30am to me. Wait. It was 4:30am central time, so up early. The hotel was only 15 minutes from the battlefield park, but the line getting into the single lane entrance was about ¼ mile long. I have a love/hate relationship with my Garmin GPS (automobile kind) but this was one of those good times, and I saw a back road way around the traffic congestion into the park, and it only took us a few minutes to get in. Was there 40 minutes before cannon time (more on that later), and had plenty of time to get to the porta and get loose.

Of course, this being a Civil War battle site, they had rolled out a 1860’s era cannon to signal the start of the race. After the National anthem was played by bugle, the cannon woke up the neighbors for a mile around the battlefield with a MIGHTY ROAR, and we were off. The cannon made me smile deeply, and the inner-kid in me that is fascinated by all things military, had sent a chill through my body. I was not nervous at all, since my expectations were for this to be a training run, and to seriously enjoy the moment and the run.

Here is a quick review of my planned run:

1 thru 5 miles between 9:00 and 9:30 per mile
6 thru 20 miles at MP (9:00-9:09)
21-26 - Enjoy the race, evaluate, and finish
.2 - run, limp or crawl past the finish line.

Here is how it un-folded:

Mile 1-2 were a lap around the park entrance start/finish line area and out through a service road to the actual battlefield. I settled into the run and felt no rush to get going. Mile 1 in 9:13 and mile 2 in 9:22. I started right next to the 4:00 hour pacers but quickly lost sight of them in the crowd. They were holding a small balloon up before the race, but must have ditched it when the race began. So we finally made it off the gravel service road and out to the asphalt of the battlefield loop. Of course, I got a tiny pebble in my left shoe, and I thought there is no way that I would go 24 more miles with in there. It was more a mental thing, it did not bother me, but my mind was stuck on it, so I pulled over at the first water stop and pulled my shoe off and shook it out and back to the road in 12 seconds. My garmin is set to auto pause, so it recorded the 12 seconds stopped time.

The Running Laminator had suggested a cool drink mixture of Gatorade and Red Bull. I had mixed it before the race and was carrying it in a 20oz handheld Gatorade bottle. This was something that I had never done before (carry a bottle or the drink mixture) but it really worked for me. The Gatorade/energy drink mixture was nice, and the ability to run right past the water stops was very good. I carried it for the first 12 miles.

This is a very small Marathon which consists of only 600 Marathoners (454 finished) and 900 Half Marathoners. Once we were past mile 2, the crowd thinned a little bit. Since I was averaging around 9:15/mile, most everyone around me was running a similar pace. I effortlessly picked up the pace to between 9:00 to 9:10 per mile, so I was starting to pass a bunch of peeps. After mile #2, I was only passed by one peep the entire race.

Mile 3-11 were a pretty constant 8:58 to 9:06 pace, nothing more, nothing less. This seemed like child’s play, and I was feeling fresh and full of energy. My legs were fine. Everything checked out, all systems go. I GU’d at mile 6 and 12. So, the moral of mile 3-11 were I had stuck to the plan. Time to move onto MP goal pace thru mile 20 and see how it’s going.

Mile 12-22 were pretty consistently between 8:45 and 8:50, with a 8:39 thrown in for good measure. Mile 13 brought us into the 2^nd loop of the park. And speaking of the park, just like any other park, lots of rolling hills and trees. Of course this park also has cannon’s and monuments and I soaked it all in. The runners were really spaced out now, but I was picking people off all along the stretch. I guess most of the faster runners were already long in front of me, and the 8:45 or so pace was faster than most at this point. I did not count the “roadkill”, but I estimate probably between 30 to 40 were run down, with no negative roadkill’s on my behalf. That was sweet. I GU’d again at mile 18, and I walked/slowed down twice through 2 water stops, but got right back on the road after the sips.

I was going so good and easy through mile #22 that I figured that I was just a natural at this. Here are my thoughts: “Wall? What wall – LOLOLOLOL” - Yes, I’m an IDIOT.

Mile 23-24 – I started the last miles thinking, OK, let’s break this down into 2 2-mile runs. Walk in the park J. Legs getting tired, weird cramp in my right calf that made me stumble twice. I had intended to take the last GU at mile #24, but the last water stop was #22, so I decided not to take it. Not sure if this would have helped, but it’s like not using all your time-outs in a football game, not good to leave them on the field if you really need them. My mind was finally registering that this was by far the longest I had ever run. I was just trying to hang on, so I would come up on some guys and fall in behind them. I was running on pace time so I would follow them for a bit, when I noticed they were hitting 8:45 or so. This went on for ¼ or ½ a mile at a time, before I would eventually pass them up. Then I’d find another guy to “latch on” to. Mile 23 was 9:12 and mile 24 was 8:59.

Mile 25-26 – I kept telling myself the old mantra “Pain is weakness leaving the body” and I thought of Dean Karnazas running 50 marathons in 50 days. Mind OVER matter. I had slowed down quite a bit, but still did not get passed by anyone, which amazed me. I even passed a couple dozen Half Marathoners that were still on the course. There was no one left to “draft” on, and I finally walked for 20 seconds at mile 25. I knew that I had a chance at a sub-4 at mile 24, because they had a timer that showed 3:40 at that point, so I knew that I had to average 2.2 miles under 10 minute miles. Mile 25 was 9:32 and Mile 26 was 9:10. I passed 4 more right at the 26 mile marker and I turned back into the square at the park entrance for the “sprint” to the finish line. I finished right behind the 4 hour pacers that I started the race with, but did not see them the entire time on the course.

Mile 26.2 was blessedly downhill. I saw Steph and the girls at the designated tree and ALL THE PAIN LEFT MY BODY. They took pictures and cheered me on and I crossed the finish line and about fell down. A dude grabbed the chip off my shoe, and the girl with the finisher’s medals just handed me the medal, instead of putting it around my neck, there was no way I was bending down. They gave me a cool framed bib with First Marathon written on it. I wobbled over to the food/drink tent and ate the best banana pudding I’d ever had, after finishing a marathon.

Gun time = 3:58:06

Chip time = 3:57:27

Garmin time = 3:57:15 for 26.43 miles

Time Distance Split time

0:09:13 1.00 9:13

0:18:34 2.00 9:21

0:27:40 3.00 9:05

0:36:47 4.00 9:07

0:45:45 5.00 8:57

0:54:45 6.00 9:00

1:03:44 7.00 8:58

1:12:47 8.00 9:03

1:21:49 9.00 9:01

1:30:49 10.00 9:00

1:39:57 11.00 9:07

1:48:43 12.00 8:46

1:57:32 13.00 8:48

2:06:27 14.00 8:55

2:15:15 15.00 8:48

2:23:54 16.00 8:39

2:32:35 17.00 8:40

2:41:24 18.00 8:48

2:50:15 19.00 8:51

2:59:02 20.00 8:46

3:07:51 21.00 8:49

3:16:47 22.00 8:56

3:25:59 23.00 9:11

3:34:58 24.00 8:58

3:44:29 25.00 9:31

3:53:40 26.00 9:10

3:57:15 26.43 3:34

26.2 or Bust - Chickamuaga Style

2009-11-10T21:23:00.002-06:00

T-minus 4 days on the calendar. My excitement is slowly building. I am a HUGE Civil War buff since I was a child visiting Vicksburg, Mississippi with my dad. Living in Middle Tennessee with all the battlefield's close by has always been cool. My main 6 mile bread-n-butter run goes through Stones River (Murfreesboro) battlefield. So doing a marathon through the oldest National park in America and one of the biggest Civil War battlefields will be a treat for me.

A big, huge THANK YOU to all the advice that you gave me on my training. The consensus was to treat Saturday's run as a training run, and continue towards my "goal" marathon at Las Vegas in December. So, here is my training run plan for this weekend:

1 thru 5 miles between 9:00 and 9:30 per mile
6 thru 20 miles at MP (9:00-9:09)
21-26 - Enjoy the race, evaluate, and finish
.2 - run, limp or crawl past the finish line.

OK, but nobody picked A - set a World Record - What? no faith - LOL !!!!

Help me set my Goal ?

2009-11-05T19:41:00.004-06:00

I need your help. Help me decide what to shoot for at my First Marathon on the 14th of November.

My nephew Jonathon asked me what I was going to shoot for at Chickamauga. He said "I know you have something in the back of your mind." Of course, this is true.

For my entire life, I have been a competitor in sports, so I enjoy setting goals and competing. BUT, running races over 100 yards have never been my cup of tea, so I don't have to set my sights too high when running races, these days.

I've been debating back-and-forth about how to treat this 1st Marathon. The conservative side of me, says; "stick to your training plan and use Chickamauga as a LONG RUN, and don't worry about a pace or time goal." The competitive side of me, says; "You had a decent run last month at the half marathon, go out and go for it, you only do a 1st Marathon once.Who knows what will happen if you don't push yourself"

My tendinitis is doing pretty well, now that I've put some miles in with the new shoes. I feel strong, but I've only done 1 run over 18 miles, and 2 runs over 16 miles. In the back of my mind, I've been telling myself; "meet your 'goal' at Chickamauga, then you can relax and take it easy in Vegas, and enjoy that run."

So, please chime in, and let me know what you think. If you click here RunningAHEAD or the RA link over there on the right of this page, you can view my training logs. Pretty sad, I know, but getting better.

A) 2:03:58 or Faster - Set a World Record
B) 3:20:59 or Faster - Qualify for Boston Marathon
C) 3:41:01 - 8:29/mile - same pace as past 1/2 marathon
D) 4:00:00 - 9:09/mile pace
E) 4:30:00 - a good time for a training run
F) Finish
G) Don't Die (like Philippides)

Back in Black (and Orange)

2009-11-02T22:44:00.010-06:00

October 2009 Stats:

143 Miles
22 Hours - 33 Minutes running time
18,299 Calories expended
1 aching Achilles Tendon
2 New Nikes

OK, after a 6 day rest with a lot of R.I.C.E (thanks for the advice, Mel) supplemented with a heating pad and The Stick working on the tendon, I got out and ran 7 gingerly miles on Saturday afternoon. Then went home and watched the Vols hand Steve Spurrier a good ass whoopin' on Saturday night. I thought the Black and Orange uni's that the Vols wore were pretty tight. I really like the attitude that the Kiffen's are bringing to UT. Hopefully in a couple more years, UT can be back in the national picture.

I guess the best thing that has come out of this injury is the fact that I recognized it pretty quickly and knew that I needed to shut down to get healed as quick as possible (and the new shoes have defiantly helped.) Training for a marathon has been quite a revelation for me. It is most defiantly a double-edged sword. You must teach yourself to push though the pain, but you must also recognize when to pack it in, and regroup (like with an injury). I am always hungry for new information, and the World Wide Web makes it easy to find information, especially in the form of running bulletin boards and especially other experienced runners blogs. Even with all this info so readily available, everyone trains different and you must still put in the miles and work to get ready for such an endurance event.

I really don't know what to expect when I get out there and attempt it myself. I feel excited, but anxious to put my body through this experience, since it is an unknown for me. The consensus is that it is an extremely tough thing to do, but can be very gratifying. For me, it's also to push myself past my comfort zone and see what I am made of. Do I have IT ? ?

I earned a gift card from work, so I purchased a second pair of new shoes. Now I am the proud owner of 2 pairs of Brand New Nike Vomero 4+ (orange/black and the blue/white ones), which I plan to rotate, and see if that extends the life of the shoes. Lots of experienced runners claim this is a good method. I'm just hoping that they will last longer, because training puts the miles on them.

Less than 2 weeks until the first marathon. More on my thoughts on this soon.

Old shoes vs. New shoes

2009-10-29T15:47:00.005-05:00

I did not realize that my old Nike Vomero 4+ with around 350 miles were as worn down as they were. The new ones arrived from Running Warehouse and I tried the new on the left foot and the old on the right foot. WOW ! ! !

Discussion from most runners say the shoes only last around 300 miles. I guess I didn't really believe this, but perhaps it is true.

Heal support on the old ones were non-existant compared to the new ones, which may explain the Achilles Tendonitis (which is getting better.)

Here is the visual proof:

Too bad shoes don't come with treadwear indicators :)

No News is .....

2009-10-28T09:24:00.004-05:00

not necessarily good news, always.

The injury bug has once again reared up and bit me, this time in my lower leg in the Achilles tendon area. It happened Sunday morning, while I was on a long run. I had started at the Shelby Bottoms trail head and wanted to run to Kohl’s on the Nashville Stones River greenway. I didn’t realize that it was super hilly, but hills really do not bother me, so I was in good spirits all the way to Kohl’s, which is 8 miles.

The Achilles was bothering me some as I was navigating some of the hills on the way out, and I had stopped and stretched once or twice. The thought even entered my mind to stop and go back around mile 4, but I realize that my opportunities of getting these 16 and 20 mile runs in are getting shorter. So I went on. BIG MISTAKE.

On the way back, I walked up the super steep hill leading to the elementary school right before Two Rivers golf course, and it felt like a rock hit my calf. I knew that a rock had not hit me, and it had to be the tendon getting stretched. My biggest problem was that I was 5 miles from the car, and starting to limp. So for the next 2 hours, I alternated walking, stopping, walking, hobbling, and stopping, etc the 5 miles back to the car.

4 hours later I get back home, and Steph is crazy worried. Now, 3 days later, I’m still resting and messaging as best as possible. I’ve learned from my other injuries that it is better to shut down and heal, rather than trod on, just to keep my fitness up. I’m feeling pretty fit right now, not sure if I’m Marathon fit (the way I would like), but fit none the less. I am going to blame this one on the shoes, which have more than 400 miles on them, and I was looking to replace very soon anyway.

All in all, this running/training regimen may not be my cup of tea after all. These injuries may be telling me that I am NOT A RUNNER, but just a Bucket list guy. I don’t know. I enjoy running and it has helped me to trim down this year, in a good way. I feel really good, except the injury part, although I am spending too much time fretting about the Marathon, instead of enjoying being a “pretend runner.”

Going to rest for at least one or two more days, and give it a test on Friday or Saturday. Will update then.

Rest and Recover

2009-10-24T17:52:00.002-05:00

For my "young running career", the past 30 days have been my most productive.

Run 21 of 30 days
153 Miles in 24 hours and 8 minutes
2 runs of 16 or more miles

I had a long run planned for today, but took the girls and dad to Bicentennial Mall to see the historial re-enactments. So, this is 2 straight off days, but my body kind of needed the additional rest.

Not so with Ultra-Marathon man Dean Karnazas, who last year ran 50 Marathons in 50 Days. 26.2 miles a day. 1,310 miles in 50 days. He capped it off by running the NY Marathon in 3:00 flat. Incredible display of endurance. He is indeed the Energizer bunny - he just goes and goes. I watched the move last night, and it is incredibly inspiring. On top of that, he ran out of the NY hotel 2 days after the race, and ran 1,300 miles to somewhere in Kansas, just to "clear his head." MONKEY, SAY WHAT ??

Tomorrow starts my final push to the 2 marathons. I'm certainly unsure of how it is going to go - do I have what it takes? do I have enough base? will I have enough in the tank and be able to push through?

I'll certainly be thinking of Dean while out of my 20 miler next weekend, and during the upcoming races. One of Dean's primary inspirational quotes in the movie is "What counts in battle is what you do once the pain sets in." - John Short

Gear Review - CW-X Compression Socks

2009-10-21T14:43:00.003-05:00

A few weeks back I purchased a pair of CW-X compression socks to see if they would, indeed, help with recovery after medium and long runs.

Stephanie calls them "knee high tights" and tells me they look like granny socks.

But, I digress. Compression socks were originally marketed to folks with compromised circulatory systems, such as edema and deep vein thrombosis as well as post surgical patients to help aid circulation, hoping to decrease the risk of blood clots.

More recently, they have been marketed toward tri-athlete runners who spend hours biking, then transitioning to running. Meaning they went from not using their calves to really, really using them in a short period of time.

Some of the benefits are supposed to include:

improved oxygen delivery to muscles
accelerated lactic acid removal
help reduce muscle fatigue

More recently, they have moved into the runner community, when Paula Radcliffe was seen winning a major marathon wearing them. Some website even contend they are a fad.

So off to Team Nashville I went in search of some compression socks. They recommended either the CW-X brand or the Swiftwick brand. Now, I am a real supporter of Swiftwick socks which are a local company, but I really liked the fact that I could run with the CW-X socks. Ok, so they do feel like "tights", but they do seem to make my legs feel good after long or medium runs (which is about all I am doing right now.)

I even wore them on a trip around Percy Warner 11.2, and my legs felt really good, during and after the run.

Bottom line is a hearty recommendation for compression socks. There are many different variety of compression sock sellers, so until I try another pair, I would defiantly recommend CW-X.

Please post any comments that you may have about CW-X or compression socks. I'd love to hear them.

Long Runs and Hedge Apples

2009-10-18T17:02:00.005-05:00

Week 11 Review - 46.5 miles - 7 hours 19 minutes - 5,900 calories - including long run, tempo run, hill sprint.

I think (and hope) that I've turned the corner on the IT Band/ hip issues from August. Little aches and pains that come with training persist - like sore hamstrings, sore achilles, and a black toenail that is bugging me - but not the dredded hip pain from before.

I've been meaning to touch on the FIRST training plan that I initially started out to follow for this marathon. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 on these matters, as I was injured on the very first day of training. I think a couple of things lead to the initial injury. 1) I based my training time estimates on a 5K that I ran the week before. Looking back, I should have based the training time estimates on an average of the last 2 5K's - one from July and the faster one in August. I had inproved almost 1:30 from the July to August because of good training, but this was probably not a good estimate to use for the marathon training. 2) I don't believe that my base of miles was NEAR enough. My best guess is that a base of 3-5 previous marathons, or at least 1,500 miles of recent miles should be considered before using this method.

Reading a lot of blogs and message boards from experienced marathoner's, I knew that what I really need is to develop my base milage more. So with this in mind, I'm going to do my best to keep the milage up, and try to run everyday, unless its rest day before a designated long run.

My long run for this week will be my longest run to date - 18 miles. So Saturday rolls around and it is overcast, windy and cold with a lttle rain falling. My plan was to wait until the afternoon to begin the run, as Steph had some things to do in the morning. Carly and I spent time together watching Phinias and Ferb until around 2:00. It was around 49 and overcast and the wind chill was around 41, so I was re-thinking trying it, as the wind is very tough to run in. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I should just go ahead and try it, so off I went. My plan was to run from the Gateway over to Old Fort then on to Cason Lane trail head and back to the Gateway for the first 12 miles. Then over to the battlefield for the other 6 miles.

Most everything went according to plan. I took it easy, keeping in mind that I wanted to get all 18 miles in the book, and kept the pace around 9:30 per mile. There was a ton of mud in some spots on the greenway towards Cason lane, as the Stones River was really high and some over run was still on the trail making it quite muddy, so there were some slow and tricky places.

I slowed for water breaks at Old Fort and Cason Lane trail heads, and headed back to the car at the Gateway and popped a GU (Mocha Chocolate - umm good.) Onward to the battlefield, and I saw the Mock Orange tree with the Hedge apples strewn on the trail, and the one thought I had was "I hope one of these don't fall on my head, because I'm so tired that I would never be able to dodge one" LOL.

I finished the long run in 2 hours and 54 minutes averaging 9:45 per mile, which is just fine with me

OktoBEERfest and post 1/2 Marathon thoughts

2009-10-12T16:44:00.002-05:00

This weekend, Stephanie and I headed down to Helen, GA to celebrate the German heritage holiday, Oktoberfest. It seems to be very simular to Mardi Gras, as in, they have created a "holiday" in order to drink a lot. One thing about runners, though, is they love to drink beer. So much so, they have a race, every now and then, called the BEER MILE RUN. Basically, you drink a 12oz can of your favorite beer, run once around a track (1/4 mile) and chug another beer at the start/stop line. Continue this for 4 laps. Sounds like good times, I will have to try one some day. This weekend, however, was not about running for me. It was for relaxing and have a few pitchers with my wife and some friends, un-winding and forgetting about training. I commented to Stephanie, that I was going to forget about running on Friday and Saturday, and if I did mention anything, just tell me to shut up.

So, with the Murfreesboro Half Marathon still fresh on my mind, I thought I would wrap up my thoughts on that race, and move on to LONGER and BIGGER races.

1) I broke the cardinal "have everything ready the night before" rule. Since we left the house and it was still dark, I totally forgot my sunglasses. Very fortunatly for me, Stephanie had her running Oakley in her purse and let me use them. Very fortunate because, we were on the course several times STARING into the the rising sun, and the shades really helped.

2) I broke cardinal "do not try anything NEW during the race" rule. I got a really good deal on the nice ASICS tech shirt at Athelete's House. I could tell that it was a good shirt, because I am so used to wearing bargain price stuff, this one really felt good. BUT, the insignia left my nips a wee bit on the raw side after 13.1 miles. I even applied my Body Glide before the race, but I guess it rubbed off. OUCH.

I was a little more sore on Monday than on Sunday, as my quads were letting me know that I used them for 13.1 miles at a good effort. Not near as bad as the few days after the Country Music Half back in April. I ran on a treadmill for 4 miles on Monday afternoon, and worked out much of the soreness. By Wednesday, I was ready to move on, so I headed to Percy Warner park and did the 11.2. Thursday, I followed that up with a 10 mile run out at the Greenway. I could tell that I was tiring at mile 6 - 10, but still finished.

Friday and Saturday was mostly this:

Helen, GA is right on the edge of the Chattahoochee National Forest, and if you have ever been to Gatlinburg, you know how the cabins are built: i.e. right on the side of a HILL. Big time hills all over the place, which I took full advantage of early Sunday morning. 8x10 second hill sprints and the steepest hill I could find. Ten second sprints of a hill that is inclined at a 30 degree angle does not get you very far, believe me, but it was a great VO2 workout.

On the drive back to Murfreesboro, I was thinking that this is the last weekend to relax and enjoy the time, because the real training starts Monday. Over the next 4 weeks leading up to Chickamauga, I will be doing an 18 and 20 mile Long run. Most of the hill and speed work are over. I will be concentrating on tuning for the longer distance and trying to maintain it. So now that I have celebrated the minor victory of the Middle Half, it's time to get serious. SERIOUSLY ! ! !

09 Middle Half Pics

2009-10-08T22:12:00.002-05:00

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47641&PWD=&BIB=1408

Shared via AddThis

Race Report - 2009 Murfreesboro Half Marathon

2009-10-04T14:34:00.011-05:00

5:00AM came very early Saturday morning. I felt like I only had a few hours of restful sleep the entire night. Probably still pre-race nerves on my part, as I am still relatively new at racing. Even though the 1/2 was just another "long run" as a part of my over-all Marathon training period, I was internally pretty juiced about this run.

First, it's in my backyard, so to speak. I really enjoyed my last race in the 'boro and had heard many good and positive remarks about the race. Secondly, I was really wanting to do well in a race environment, before I went down to Chickamauga in November, where I will not acutally "race" but use as a training run (for real.)

It was plenty chilly, around 49 degrees, at 6:15 when we arrived on the MTSU campus. I had meant to come down and drive the course on Friday, but had too much to do, so when we arrived I was surprised to see the lights on the Track and Field stadium on. The whole time before the race, I had mistakenly thought we would finish the race inside the MTSU football stadium, so much to my surprise we ended up heading over to the track. Yes, it makes much more sense, in retrospect, to finish at the track instead of the football field. The vibe around the whole pre-race was very calming. No one was rushing around. The short line to the port-a-potties moved very fast. The entire feeling was just way different than the Country Music Marathon earlier this year. I guess it was probably the weather, which was PERFECT for a long distance race. I had been out running at this time of the morning twice this week for early runs, and was used to the nice chilly-ness of the weather.

After a quick potty break and a mile warm-up, I headed over to the start line with Stephanie and her Dad. (Thanks to everyone who said a little prayer for Steph's dad before his cancer surgery a few weeks ago. I'm happy to say that the doc got all of the cancer out and they have not found any cancer spread to his lymph nodes.)

My hip was feeling pretty good this morning, not really giving me any tightness. My internal goal-time was to shoot for two hours, which means all miles under 9:09 per mile.

Races generally tend to suck you into the excitement of the moment and get you going faster than you want to. The trick is to settle into your pace, and folks with the your pace will find you. So with my eye more on my Garmin, than the road, I set out on the 3rd Annual Murfreesboro Half Marathon, better known as The Middle Half.

I was quickly over the starting mat and guys and gals were blowing by me in every direction. I thought, my goodness there are some fast peeps running today. I felt good going out at a 8:30/mile pace. It really felt like a jog, more than a run. The first mile came in at exactly 8:31/mile. My first thought was "ok, I have banked 30 seconds towards the 2 hour goal, let's keep this pace though mile #2 and bank another 30 seconds."

Mile #2 came in at 8:30/mile. Around this time I noticed a guy wearing a Team HCA shirt from the Country Music Marathon. I chatted with him for a minute of two, as we were running the same pace. Then I heard someone taking to the HCA guy, and it was Rick, who is the Team HCA organizer, whom I knew to be an accomplished marathoner. As he passed the other guy, I asked Rick what he was shooting for, and he said he would be happy with a 1:50. Ummm, 1:50 huh? Mentally I said: 1) we (meaning me - unless I am bi-polar and didn't realize it) have 1 minute in the bank towards the two hour goal. 2) 8:30 per mile wasn’t giving me any problems this morning. 3) 1:50 sounds better than 2:00. So I got in Rick's draft and let him pace me for a half mile or so. At some point I looked down at the garmin was saying 8:10 pace. A little too fast, so I let Rick plow on. Mile #3 clocked in at 8:19 pace. Now I mentally noted 1:40 in the bank.

About this time, we were turning right to go to the out-and-back at the Oakland Mansion. As I was turning left, I noticed the race leader, Jacob Korir going in the opposite direction, which meant he was at mile 5.5 having already gone around the Murfreesboro square and heading out. The nearest person was at least a tenth of a mile back of him already. Seeing him motor on, kind of pumped me up, so I kept up my good pace. Mile #4 was 8:20 at the Oakland Mansion and Mile #5 was 8:22 at the square. I was beginning to think that I had the 2 hour goal, but then realized that I still had 8 more miles to go. YES, EIGHT MILES ! ! !

Back down E. Main St towards the MTSU campus and clocked the first 10K at 52.11. We turned down Hwy 70 and I just settled into the pace. It felt comfortable, and most everyone around me was running the same pace. I just blended in and put it on auto-pilot. I could feel the training really kick in and felt good. Now left onto N. Rutherford Blvd and I popped my GU right before the water break at mile #9. I wanted to make sure that I slowed down enough to get the water down without choking, so I walked the water stop. Wow, this really did my legs good. Mile 10 and 11 were still going strong and I averaged 8:19 and 8:16 respectively. I did not feel any fatigue until we turned onto Old Lascassus Blvd between mile 11 and 12, which heads to the finish line and the stadium. At this point, I could see the stadium in the distance and at mile 12 I knew I still had a mile to go. At this point I was picking off people at a fairly good clip. This, more than anything, kept my legs churning. I was determined to pick it up, and go strong into the stadium.

For the entire race, I was just looking at my pace, and not the time. I didn't have a clue what my time was going to be, although I knew it would be under 2 hours. Coming around the turn to the stadium, I just let go and cruised in. Coming into the stadium was very cool. I came around the turn and they called my name over the intercom, and I saw the finish line and the clock.

1:50:28

I'll have to admit, the first thing through my mind was, "if I'd just ran 29 seconds faster, it would have been 1:49", jeeeezzz. I exhaled and got the finishers medal and a drink, and felt really good. I feel like I still had some left in the tank. We'll see soon.

Headed over to the Food tent, which was fantastic. My daughter Hayley and her friend were there with Stephanie and her dad. Pizza, Chick-fil-A nuggets, bagel with cream cheese, fruit, etc. Very nice.

My sister and parents were able to make this race, and I was very excited that they were there to see.

We (Stephanie, her dad and I, not the bi-polar "we") headed over to catch her uncle finish. We also got to see my nephew Jonathon having a good finish.

All in all, a good race for me. I really did not think my fitness level was very good, because of the "not so good" long runs of late. The hip didn't really bother me, but my knee has been giving me some problems this week.

Like the famous football coaches always tells his team after a victory - "Enjoy this today, then get back to work tomorrow, we have another game to play" - this is my motto for this race. It does feel good to get a new PR for the 13.1 distance, but my larger goal is the December Las Vegas Marathon, with a "26.2 Long Run" thrown in for good measure in November, which is only 6 weeks away

Steph and me after the race

Here are my splits, for posterity sake:

1 Mi 8:31 8:30.51
2 Mi 8:30 16:59.88
3 Mi 8:19 25:18.57
4 Mi 8:22 33:39.61
5 Mi 8:20 41:59.21
6 Mi 8:24 50:22.58
7 Mi 8:22 58:44.40
8 Mi 8:20 1:07:03.83
9 Mi 8:33 1:15:36.50 Water walk
10 Mi 8:19 1:23:55.12
11 Mi 8:17 1:32:11.64
12 Mi 8:37 1:40:47.68 Water walk
13 Mi 8:25 1:49:12.31
13.18 Mi 7:22 1:50:31.70

Long Runs and snuffly noses.... Great.

2009-10-01T11:16:00.004-05:00

Quick September review and training thoughts. 110 miles and 14,652 calories later, I have finally gotten back to training for 26.2. Coming up first is The Middle Half Marathon on Saturday.

This past Saturday had a 16 mile Long Run listed on the schedule. Of course the rains were not letting up, as it has rained over the past 4-5 days. Headed out to the Greenway at 7:00am with a ton of dark, gloomy clouds in the distance towards Nashville. I went ahead and thought that the rains may stay north, and set out on the Murfreesboro Greenway headed south towards Barfield Cresent trail head. 1 1/2 mile into the trip, the clouds opened up. I raced along toward the I-24 underpass on the Greenway and let the rains blow by, so out again I went. I played this cat-and-mouse game with the rain several more times: find a tree, get back to the underpass, find another tree. Every time the rain would pour down, then slack off. I took the opportunity twice to wring out my socks and dri-fit shirt.

What a great invention the dri-fit type of shirts are. They sure do a great job in wicking the moisture away and keeping the body relativly dry, but gosh do they STINK. I'm going to need to try some of the newer laundry detergents specifically for the dri-fit clothes. Same goes for the shorts (NO, I didn't take them off to ring them out) but they do a nice job of getting the wettness away. The shorts, however, keep the moisture on them, and quite often feel like wet camping tents after a run.

So, after several starts and stops and re-starts, I said "Screw it" and just sucked it up and ran. I know that I don't have a whole lot of opportunities to get in the longer runs, so I just went with it, soaking shoes, shirt and all. So, for the first 5-6 miles was starting and stopping, not a true test of the long run. I ended up with 16.5 miles on the day around 2 hours and 40 minutes - sometimes in a down pour and sometimes between showers.

See that Germ-X bottle up there? Yep, the kids are sick. Between the middle and elementary schools where the kids go, there are several hundred kids out of class. We took Kayla to the doc yesterday and she has strep. Taylor went last week and had a sinus infection that really resembled strep. So its not so surprising that I am feeling the BUG creeping my way. Yeah, this should make Saturday interesting, to say the least.

Next up... The Middle Half .. hopefully.

Half Time

2009-09-24T14:17:00.014-05:00

8 days away from the Murfreesboro Half Marathon, aka, The Middle Half. So, I've switched gears a little bit to train for the 13.1 distance.

Let's be honest, here. I am really just coming back from a injury that kept me on the couch for 3.5 weeks and the training since I've been back has been spotty, at best. The initial quad pain that I experienced when I first came back, has subsided. The over-whelming hip pain that TKO'd me to begin with is still masked by the cortisone shot. I can still feel the tightness of in my upper leg and along the IT Band. And on top of that, I am really struggling to finish runs of 10 miles or longer. I think it's a combination of the humid weather and my leg and fitness level. BTW - the temperature is relatively mild (compared to July/August temps) but the humidity is back in earnest.

My goal 13.1 pace is going to be one hour and fifty minutes, which is an 8:23 per mile pace. Before the injury, I would say "no sweat" to this time, perhaps even faster. Now, not so sure. My mind has been saying "please stop, please stop" on my long runs, and I think just finishing in under 2:10 may be more realistic. I did a 6x1 miles interval run on Tuesday at 7:50 to 8:20 per mile paces - with 400 meter recovery, and was ready for more. Mostly, the first 6-7 miles of my long runs have been easy, but the "turn-around" has been tough.

What is the "turn-around", you say? Well this is the half way point of a particular long run. It's not like I carry a cell phone with me on the run, so I can't call Stephanie to come get me after 15 miles. I have to go out 7.5 miles and turn around and go back 7.5 miles. I think some of it is MENTAL, knowing that I have run for 1 hour to this point, and have to go back another hour. I think a little is still PHYSICAL, both with my leg and fitness.

Well, here is my secret weapon to combat these mental and physical issues. The Brooks Launch.

It's a really light Racing shoe (as opposed to a trainer) which does not have much cushioning or mesh, or much of anything extra. The less it has, the lighter it is. It's about 4 ounces lighter than my Nike Vomero 4's that I normally train with. So the theory goes, that the 4 oz., over the course of 13.1 miles is like carrying 5 to 10 less pounds. I'm down with that. Besides, I think they look fast.

And, IF I don't meet my goal pace, I've got a bunch of excuses why I didn't quite make it. Just re-read this blog entry - LOL at myself. ..... ..... .....

Little Buddy

2009-09-18T14:58:00.005-05:00

I've had a little bit of residual soreness from my miles from last week, so I've once again, backed off. I think the rest has worked great, my legs are feeling as good as they have in a month. The bad news, I don't feel like my fitness is at a good point, and the upcoming Middle Half Marathon will be a challenge.

I've been reading up on some new Performance type shoes, the Brooks Launch. They are very light, around 9 oz. which are 3 oz. less than my Nike Vomero 4's (which I love to run in.) They should be here Monday, and I'll upload some pictures and give a review after my next long run. I'm going to only run very long runs and races in these, and continue to use the Nike's as everyday trainers.

Went out Monday to get some miles in, after the long 12.75 mile run on Sunday. My legs were shot and had a bad, slow go of it. I just felt like I was being followed, or dragged down for some reason. So, I get back to work, and I'm walking up the side walk to hit the showers, and felt a strange - itchy feeling in my shorts. Turns out I had a little hitch-hiker take a ride with me. I'm going to attribute the "extra weight" to my slowness.

Pheidippides

2009-09-14T09:26:00.011-05:00

Tradition, or lore, tells us that an Athenian messenger was sent to Sparta to request help for the Athenians who were gearing up to wage war against the Persian invaders, who were landing at Marathon, Greece. So Pheidippides set out on a 2 day trek, that had him run 150 miles from Marathon to Sparta and back to Marathon. The next day he ran from Marathon to Athens, to spread the news that the Persians were defeated (I guess they didn't need the Spartans, after all.) The distance from Marathon to Athens was 26 miles.

The current official marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was established purely by accident at the 1908 Olympics in London. The course was originally laid out to be 26 miles long from Windsor Castle to the finish line in the stadium. However, it was then decided to add 385 yards so that the race would finish at the royal box. In 1924, Olympic officials formally adopted the distance as official.

Week 4 Review: 35.52 Miles - 5 hours - 28 minutes - 9:15min/mi average pace - 4,810 calories

This was the week of the Stones River Battlefield and Murfreesboro Greenway runs. Running inside the park or on the Greenway for me is AWESOME. I don't mind running on the roads, but in the park or GW, I don't worry anything about cars or traffic. Lots of deer and wild turkeys are always around in the park, and it's just the right distance (6 miles or so.)

On Saturday, the girls an I, got up early and went out and volunteered for the Run Chickn Run 10k. We all had a good time watching the runners. The girls manned (girled) a water-station and I stood beside a barrier to a service road leading out of the Gateway park. I mostly just was a cheerleader and offered encouragement to the many types of runners that participated. Some really fast guys and gals, and lots of everyday runners, who looked like they were having a good time.

As far as the training goes. My hip is doing much, much better. The cortisone shot has worked it's MAGIC on my bursa, but there is still a lot of tightness in my IT Band. Also, my lower quads are killing me. On my long run from Sunday, they hurt the entire time I was going, all 12.75 miles. My quads have never hurt like this, even when I was doing the bike the last few weeks. I'm thinking they are probably compensating for my bad IT Band, and possibly contracting when they should be resting.

I really though my fitness had not suffered, but the Sunday long run was very hard. I was really aiming for a 1:45 to 1:50 Murfreesboro Half Marathon in 3 weeks, but that does not seem do-able now. Not even sure about a 2 hour finish, which before my injury would have been easy to do, with energy left in "the tank."

As a matter of fact, I felt a little like Pheidippides upon announcing that Persia was defeated at Marathon.

He died.

Must... keep...

2009-09-10T21:47:00.007-05:00

It's Titan's time, and we all know that Fisher will "keep it close" going into the 4th quarter, and try to win it there. I have no hair to pull out, or there would be locks a' flyin' tonight.

So tonight, it is Must keep from yelling at the TV, because all the kids are in bed. Normally, I'd be yelling at something about now. It's been a slug fest all night, 2 good teams, will probably see each other in the playoffs.

Yep, 4th quarter is starting with the score tied 7 - 7.

Running is going pretty good. My quad's have forgotten that I used to be a Runner, and are giving me soreness. Hip is good, just dealing with it now. I am going slow, so slow sometimes, I trip over my own feet. I'm wanting to GO GO GO, but am reeling it in.

Run Chickn Run 10K is this weekend, but I am taking a rain check on the race. I am, however, volunteering to be a race attendent on the course. My girls are also volunteering with the Y to be drink aides, so we are all going down to the Gateway very early Saturday morning.

Stephanie is planning on running in the Christie Cookie 5K in Green Hills. I think it may be up in the air, as her dad had his surgery today and could be coming home Saturday. I keep you posted on that, as well.

Feet meet Street.

2009-09-07T21:26:00.019-05:00

I've been antsy for a week now, waiting to get back out (ask my beautiful wife.) Well, finally, I hit the roads on Monday morning with a nice 6.2 miler though the Stones River Battlefield. This is the course that the Run Chickn' Run 10K will be held this coming weekend. It had been so long since I had been out, I couldn't remember what it felt like to run and I wondered how much conditioning I had lost, but mostly how my dang hip was going to feel like.

Went out sooo slooow, it felt like I was walking. Stopped quarter mile into the "run" and did the IT BAND stretch, so far so good. Stopped another 1/2 mile on the "run" and stretched. You get the point. After the first mile, I figured I was as loose as I am going to be, so I just eased into the run. Murfreesboro is a great place to run and train, as there are many places; the Murfreesboro Stones River greenway, the Gateway, the Stones River Battlefield, etc.

I turned the legs over a little bit faster though the park, but keep it dialed in nice and easy, for the most part. I could feel the bursa a little when running, but not in a painful sense, just like "hello, remember me?" Got back to the car and was pleasantly surprised with the outing: no pain, just a little inflammation, conditioning is good - not great, and not sweaty - I guess the humidity has dropped since last I was out.

WEEK 3 REVIEW - No miles - 3xBike at Y - which I gotta say, I'm starting to like the bike. Possibly an IRONMAN in the future?

I've updateed my Marathon training plan (on the right, over there). It is geared less on SPEED drills and much more on volume and training at/near goal pace (which I've also adjusted - - - DOWN.) I'll give some thoughts on the FIRST training plan that I had originally mapped out, in the near future.

Thanks to everyone who is reading this, please leave me any tips or comments that would help me toward this 26.2 folly of mine - or just any comments in general.

1 COR 9:24

2009-09-03T10:20:00.000-05:00

26.2. 13.1 Distance Running. Sprinting. Middle Distances like 2 mile/3miles, 5,000/10,000 meter races.

Why do it?

Why stress your body and mind to the point that BOTH hurt?

I went to the Ortho Doc yesterday, and got a Cortisone shot in my hip. Incredible what "modern" medicine can do. Doc told me that the injection will start working within a day or so, but I am already starting to feel the inflammation subside. He cleared me to begin running, if I feel up to it, on Monday of next week. I'm going to alter my training schedule to off-load most of the speed work until later in the schedule. I'll incorporate some additional hill training in the early speed work phases.

The doc and I also got into a short "debate" on Long Distance running. From his perspective, he sees many injuries each year from runners, from IT Band, knee, ankle, foot, etc problems. His observation was that, although it is a tremendous way to keep fit, that early man "hid behind rocks" and waited for it's prey to come by, thus he concluded that MAN's bodies were not built to be distance machines. My response was "what happened when the food source runs out?", my point was that early man HAD to cover long distances to hunt for food. This is a common explanation of why men/women pack on fat around the belly, so that we can have energy sources between the HUNT.

Tit for Tat. He respected me for my view, and I for his. Most of this conversation was not his reluctance to give me the shot to begin with, but that he found a "shadow" on my X-RAY that gave him pause. He showed it to me, and we both agreed that it was probably nothing to be concerned. Doc also consulted with another Ortho, and the other Doc wasn't concerned. Doc did not want to inject me if the shadow was perhaps, a mass or tumor that may be forming. He gave me some more questions, and I answered. We discussed. He left it up to me to OK the injection or get an MRI in order to further investigate the shadow. I choose the injection and agreed to follow up in 4 weeks. At that time we will take another X-ray and perhaps and MRI and discuss.

So why not stop my training and get the MRI? Why not stop for 6 weeks and heal up naturally. That's all it would take, this is nothing more than an over-training injury, something that mother nature and time will certainly take care of.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says:

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Paul was writing to the Corinthian church about what it takes to be a Disciple of Christ. The marathon is just a derivative of this passage and outlook on OUR race to Christ. Read the passage to yourself, and you will understand WHY I do what I do to achieve my GOAL of 26.2. I know I won't win the race, but if I don't train for THE RACE i can't finish, in the marathon or in life.

Week 2 Review

2009-08-30T21:11:00.000-05:00

ZERO running miles.
One trip to Family Doctor for referral.
Two trips to Physical Therapy.

Hip = still hurting.

08/24/09 - 30 minute session on bike at Y.
08/25/09 - 1 hour spin class at Y.
08/26/09 - 1 hour Endurance Cycle class (spin bike) at Y.

One thing I have found out, from all these spin bike sessions, is that they make a special PADDED shorts for biking. Going to be heading to REI or maybe just Walmart in search for some padding in that area.

Physical Therapy is about what I expected. Direct massage, ultrasound on the IT Band, stretching. The bursa sac seems to be more sore today than it was last week. I have made an appointment with the Family Doc for Monday to get a Cortisone Injection, which I've read is the quickest and most reliable way to get going from this injury. I have 3 appointments scheduled for PT next week but I'm not sure if I will keep them, depending on the injection.

In the meantime, I have officially registered for the 30th annual Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon on November 14th, which is 12 weeks away. Hopefully, I can get back to my training as soon as possible to get some mileage in.

On a much more serious note, please keep my Father-in-law, Steve Herald, in your prayers. He is fighting the strong fight against Melanoma cancer, and I am going with him on Monday to do some pre-op tests as the doctors get ready for surgery in hopes of removing the remaining cancer tissue. Hopefully we will know more about any residual problems after some tests are run, and if we will need to pursue chemotherapy. So, the more prayers and thoughts to the Great Physician, the better and will be greatly appreciated.

Trochanteric Bursitis / Iliotibial Band Friction Syndrome

2009-08-25T20:58:00.000-05:00

Got into the Doc's office this morning and he pointed right to the pain in my hip and said "It's either ITBS or Bursitis Sac." He gave me some pain med and referred me to the Physical Therapist.

Being neurotic about this stuff, I've been doing some research on the Running Forums, and a few in particular have diagnosed this from doing SPEED work on a TRACK. Let's see, THAT WOULD BE ME !!!

Some quick links in case your interested.

Trochanter Bursitis of the Hip - StudyHealth.com

Rehab Exercises - U of Michigan Health Systems

When can I resume my training? - The Sports Medicine Patient Advisor

I'll give an update after my initial visit to Results Physotherapy on Thursday afternoon. Hopefully a full week's rest and some PT exercises will be the remedy. Let's hope.

Week 1 Review

2009-08-23T10:08:00.000-05:00

Pause. This is what has happened.

It is hard to explain the situation and the obsession about this training. My goal is 2 late year marathons, and I had a specific plan to train for these distances. 90% of those who attempt marathons do not train year round for these type of long distances. So for those of us who are below the 90%, we must gradually build up the longer runs, but going longer a little bit at a time. I must be able to get my milage in, one way or the other, or these Marathon attempts will not happen.

So right off the bat, my carefully laid plans have been put on hold. I have a decision to make before the end of next week. The early period for registration at the Chickamauga Marathon is August 30th. On September 1st, the price goes up $15. I am planning to get an appointment at the Physical Therapist on Tuesday. In the mean time, I am icing and heating and using that Stick. (See my last post if you are wondering what happened.)

08/17/09 - Week 1 - Key Workout #1 3x1600 @ 7:13 with 1 minutes Recovery

Headed out to the Vanderbilt Student Outdoor track facility early Monday morning, arriving at 6:30am. Did a 10 minute warm up, and then proceeded to the interval workout. The purpose of this workout is to stress the lactic acid recovery by only having 1 minute recovery between 16oo meter recovery. 1 mile=1609 meters, so this is effectively one mile at 7:13 pace followed by 1 minutes walk/jog between.

According to my VDOT Daniels formula, my goal was 15 seconds faster than my latest 5K mile pace - or 7:13 per mile. My first mile came in at 7:20 mile pace. I walked for 1 minute and set out on interval #2. Well about 1/2 trip around the track, I could tell that keeping this pace was not going to be possible today. I shut down and walked a full trip around the track (400 meters) and picked up interval #2 where I left off, finishing in 7:21 mile pace. Walked another trip around the track, and gutted out one last 1600 meter at 7:18 mile pace. A tad bit faster, but all pretty consistent, although not at goal pace. Did another 10 minute cool down and headed to work.

I did notice that my IT Band was a little sore, and found some stretches on the Internet to perform.

08/18/09 - 30 minute session on bike at Y.

08/20/09 - Week 1 - Key Workout #2 miles easy - 2 miles at Short Tempo (7:48 pace) - 2 miles easy

As I documented in Wednesday's blog, I headed to the Y do this workout on the treadmill, but could tell that my hip was not as OK as I had thought. I had to shut down about 1/4 mile into the Tempo run.

08/21/09 - 30 minute session on bike at Y.

08/22/09 - Week 1 - Key Workout #3 13 miles at MP +30 seconds (9:08 pace)

WOW what a wonderful day Saturday was. At 7:00am it was 66 degrees and no humidity. Perfect running weather compared to the last 2 months of heat and humidity. I have been wanting to try out the Stones River Greenway in Nashville, so I headed to the Percy Priest Dam and headed out. I set the garmin for 13 miles at 9:20 pace and was on my way. Was I hurting? well YES. My thought process was as follows : Thursday was a disaster for my daily training, but all was well until I kicked up the intensity, so I'll keep the intensity low and have a go.

I generally will go out at what ever pace seems comfortable to do for the daily workout when an easy pace is called for, so I just let my body be the best judge at pace. I went out, intending to hit 9:20, but hit the first half mile at 8:50 pace as my "perceived effort" was slow. Yes, I knew the pain in my hip was starting to boil up, but I thought : it's not tooooo bad, maybe it will get better when I get warmer. I was totally lying to myself, as the pain was making me grimace, and other people were looking at me weird. Lots of runners, bikers and walkers were taking advantage of the greenway, which is really a nice place to run.

The farther I went, the worst the pain got. I had finally had enough when I hit a little hill and had tremendous pain in my hip and leg. I kept saying to myself that I needed to get my miles in, and what a wonderful day (unless your leg fells like it weighs 10 pounds heavier than the other one). About 1.7 miles in, I shut down and took a stretch and contemplated what to do. Nothing else really, except to WALK back to the car. What a long walk that was, but on a brighter note, at least it wasn't 3 miles.

So now I'm going to just hit the pause button until I can get into see the Physical Therapist. I have a good one that has helped me with sore calf's after the Country Music Half earlier this year, so we will see what the prognosis is. The next 2 races are now in serious doubt, the Franklin Labor day 5K and the Run Chickn Run 10K, which I was really looking forward too. Meanwhile I will Ice/Heat and use The Stick, which I highly recommend for any self message that you may want to do.

Right out of the Gate

2009-08-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

AN INJURY !!!

Wow, seriously. And this training program was SUPPOSED to prevent injuries, because of the amount of training involved.

Well, I am experiencing what is probably ITBS (IT Band Syndrome). It flared up right after my Speed workout on Monday. It feels like someone has taken a 6-inch needle and stuck it in my right hip. I have pretty much rested since then (Biked on Tuesday) and felt like most of the pain, from Monday, had subsided by this morning before my planned workout.

After dropping C off at Kindergarten this morning, I decided to go to the Y and hit the treadmill. The ONLY reason I will do treadmill is when it is overly humid outside, or a chance of thunderstorms. This morning, both was a factor, plus I didn't want to get to wet from the humidity or rain that I couldn't get into work.

I hit the treadmill and eased into my 2 mile warm up. I usually take a good 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile to get warmed up, and today was no different. About 1/2 mile into the warm up I could feel my right hamstring staying tighter than usual, so I hopped off and stretched a little bit. I could feel a "pull" in my hip after I hopped back on, but the further I went, the more I loosened up. I set the treadmill to 6.5 mph and did the rest of the warm up mile at a 9:15 mile pace.

Stretched a bit more and cranked up the speed to a 7:40 mile pace. First lap (the treadmill shows the distance as a 400m track - or about 1/4 mile) went good and I felt lite on my Nikes, but could begin to feel the tightness boiling up in my hip. It hit all of a sudden, and literally felt like someone stuck a needle in there. I shut it down and did some stretching, and headed home (working from home today). Trying to contemplate how to proceed now. I have Jeff Galloway's running book and he says to take Vitamin C 3 times a day and stretch. Lots of info on the web also, but mainly says to take it easy for a while.

At worst, I'm hoping that this just sets me back a week or two on the Speed and Tempo work. I'm going to proceed with my Long run this weekend, but at a slower pace than planned.

So right now, Mr. Bolt over there, doesn't have anything to worry about from me.

The Marathon Training Plan - 2009

2009-08-18T21:26:00.000-05:00

I have decided to go against the "traditional" method of training for the Marathon by following the FIRST training philosophy. This plan was originally outlined in the book Run Less, Run Faster in which you only have 3 scheduled runs each week, as opposed to 5-6 in a normal training plan. The mileage is also much less, typically, than a normal plan, in I only hit a high of 32 miles in a week, as opposed to each week averaging 35-50 miles per week.

If anyone is curious about what I'll be doing for the next 16 weeks as I train for the R'n'R Las Vegas Marathon, you can view my training plan here.

Only 3 days? Well, each run is considered a Key Run, in that it pushes the envelope of the type of run for that day: Speed, Tempo or Long. Begin by determining the MP - Marathon Pace - from your last 5K. Using the McMillan or VDOT pace calculator (or the FIRST method, which is right in line with these other 2), we come up with a pace that pushes you to become stronger, but one that is within your limits AND minimizes the chance of injury. A prerequisite for the plan is being able to run at least 10 miles for your long run. My weekly average has been in the 35 mile range for the past 5 weeks, and my overall fitness is pretty good right now. My recent 5K run of 23:08 has my MP set at 8:38/mile or 3 hours and 38 minutes for a 26.2 time. I'm a little sceptical about this pace, and would be thrilled with a 4 hour finish.

In place of the 2-3 days of running that I'm missing in a normal plan, the FIRST method calls for, I will be doing XT - Cross Training - which will consist of biking, spin class, P90X, plyometrics and possibly some swimming.

Oh... you're not misreading. I'm running a 26.2 marathon 3 weeks before the R'n'R Las Vegas marathon. My training plan called for 20 miles at marathon pace on that day anyway, so I decided to do a "long run" during the 30th Annual Chickamuga Battlefield Marathon in Ft. Oglethorpe, GA (about 10 miles south of Chattanooga. Chickamauga is a small marathon, but I have heard lots of great things about it. I can take advantage of all the water/fluid stops and get the benefit of a practice run. I've also thrown in a few 5K, 10K and 1/2 Marathon races to keep in tune with.

So, for the next 4 months, I will be hitting the roads hard for the rest of the summer and into the fall. I'll keep you posted. Let me know what you think.

6th Annual Fenton Payne & Fred 5K

2009-08-15T19:05:00.000-05:00

Murfreesboro, TN - 08/15/2009 - 7:00am

Nice and beautiful morning for a 5K run, hosted by the Nashville Striders running club. I arrived at the MTSU campus, outside of the football stadium and checked in and got my bib and t-shirt. As always, everything runs so smoothly when Nashville Striders are in charge. Walked back to the car and put the t-shirt in the car and put on the bib and ran a warm-up mile before the race started.

Along came 7:00am, and the gun sounded. Before the race started, I noticed the Brentwood Kenyon's were here, so no thoughts crossed my brain about finishing first. I had set my Garmin to pace at 7:30 miles per minute and off I went.

Since winning the whole shebang was out of the question, I'll lead you through what goes into a NOVICE RUNNER's head during a fast, mid-distance run - THE 5K.

First Mile. I was checking the Garmin and went pretty well, clocked a 7:28 mile. I thought "this isn't so bad, feeling pretty goods, legs feel good, heart rate pretty low, easy breathing." Let me say that this was the nicest race route that I have run, thus far. The tree lined streets of Middle Tennessee Blvd, and running toward the square were a pretty site. But please remember that all of these things are recognizable to a runner in the first mile.

Second Mile. "Ok, it's really kinda warm out here, funny how I'm just noticing it." Clocked a 7:29 mile, and that perks me up a little, since I'm right on pace.

Third Mile. "Squirrel, was that a squirrel?" OK, the mind starts wondering a little bit, but mostly it's saying "this is the LAST 5K ever, why am I doing this to myself? I'm just a recreational runner." By now, my legs are on fire, and I can barely breath. I tell myself "I am a Runner, I am a Runner, I am a Runner. Squirrel, was that a squirrel?" So much for the mantra. Around 1/4 mile left, I picked up the pace a bit, and started passing a few folks. 3rd mile came in at 7:32 mile

Now, only .10 of a mile left. Any respectable runner leaves it all behind, and SPRINTS the last tenth of a mile, some more experienced runners will hi-tail-it much sooner. Well, I was going as hard as I could and lo-and-behold I picked off a 10-year old kid by stretching my neck, right at the end. Actually, I kinda snuck up on him and with 25 feet left and he couldn't quite recover, but I DID pass him. The Garmin say's I clocked a 5:56 pace for the last tenth and I thought that was pretty dad-gummed fast. Well, remember the Brentwood Kenyon ran all 3 miles at 4:50 per mile, jeez.

Final time was a 23:08 finish and a new Personal Record for a 5K. They had a big door prize giveaway after the run, sponsored by a local outdoors company, and I was the first bib number called, and got a sweet pair of running sunglasses. All, in all, a great race and good morning. Of course, every runner will experience similar things during a run, and will most of the time, 20-30 minutes after the race, be ready for another one. So will I.

The Beginning

2009-08-14T09:54:00.000-05:00

Since I'm new to "long distance" running, I love to read experiences from others. So, I thought I'd start my own rambling blog, to document my progress toward running a late fall marathon (with a half-marathon and 'warm-up' 26.2 marathon thrown in for good measure).

Hopefully, as I get the blog set up more, I can show my progress for this year. It all started on my Birthday, last December. I had finished with one round of P90X in October and was in pretty decent shape (for a 40 year old guy). I had dropped my weight from 205 to 175 during the round. I was eating better and generally feeling better. But (and it was pretty pronounced BUT)my muscles and legs were sore all the time. I guess age and not being AS active the past few years as I was accustomed to, left me tired and sore all the time.

Then the holidays hit, and I cut loose on all the good food. My family loves gatherings during the holidays, and in general there is more food available - you know how it goes. Well, by my birthday, 2 days after Christmas, I was back up to 182, and just feeling lousy about letting it go so quickly after getting into shape.

On my birthday, I logged onto the company network and checked my email. There is was. An email to participate in the 2009 Country Music Marathon or 1/2 Marathon. The company wanted to do a Wellness Challenge in which they would pay a portion of the entry fee. We, as participants in the Challenge would raise funds for the company's Charity AND get FIT in the process. My campaign for the charity was called "From the couch to 13.1 miles in 4 months". Well I raised money for the company and participated in the "beginner" running meetings the company held, to help us get ready. 4 months later, I stumbled across the finish line of the 09 CMM 1/2.

But along the way, I became ADDICTED. To running.

So here I am, now 8.5 months into running. Next week I start my "official" 16 week training schedule. I have decided to do the FIRST Marathon Training Program, so we will see how it rides.