Good Riddance 2011

My year can be summed up like this: Both personally and athletically, fantastic. Professionally, not so much. I'll spare you from the rants about the market, and how I feel like I've aged 3 years in the past 12 months due to my stress at work... But when all is told, I did have a solid year of running and I couldn't be happier with almost all other aspects of my life (again, minus the work bullshit). That said, I'll be happy to move on to greener ground in 2012.

Since CIM, I've been muddling along in a quasi- recovery and maintenance mode with one goal in mind: breach 2,500 miles for the year. I finally closed it out yesterday and hit 2,511.4 miles as of today (yeah, that's right, I'll claim those 2 extra 0.2's from Rotterdam and CIM). I don't need to run tomorrow, but if I can squeeze something, so be it. I'd have to go back to double check the numbers - but I believe that means every year since 2004 has been a PR in total mileage.

I can also mark PRs in my 5K, 8K, 10K, and twice in the marathon. The 16:16 Oak Park 5K, 2:38:46 Rotterdam, and 2:38:14 CIM were my most proud accomplishments.

Strangely, my 1:14:50 half-marathon from September-2010 still stands as my all-time most aggressive race (and that was even before any peak-NYC training). That needs to be rectified.

2011 Notable accomplishments:
March - 106 miles in 7 days PR
April - Oak Park 5K 16:16 PR
April - Rotterdam Marathon 2:38:46 PR
October - FLW 10K 34:38 PR (training run)
November - Streaked 5 consecutive days of maintaining 103 miles
November - Buffalo Turkey Trot 8K 27:16 PR (technically a disappointment)
December - California International Marathon 2:38:14 PR
Total Miles - 2,511.4 PR


Looking forward to 2012, I have some initial goals in mind:

• On a broader scale, run healthy. I still have some lingering problems with my left hamstring yanking on my hip (most likely due to sitting all day at work, followed by running my ass off outside of the office). I haven't mentioned it much recently since it hasn't slowed me down, but it is notably weaker and/or restricted versus my right hamstring. That needs to get fixed. Otherwise I'm 100% healthy.
  
  
• It should go without saying, but PR my total mileage again this year.
  
  
• Roll a decent Shamrock Shuffle 8K. Should be sub 27min, which should be very doable. It'll also put me on solid ground for a nice spring racing season
  
  
• PR my 1/2 marathon. I need to crush that 1:14:50.
  
  
• Go all in on the marathon. And by all in, I mean a proper training session... like NYC-2010 minus blowing up in the peak... and none of this 12-15 week bullshit. A proper 1,500 mile, 20 week ordeal.

I'm not totally sure which half and full marathons yet... I'm likely going to defer any marathoning until the fall though. I could use a few months to more properly recover still and build my core back up. I'd love to gun Chicago, and then sandbag a 2:49 in NYC to get that monkey off my back... but we'll see. Chicago is early again this year, so we'll see (Dear Race Organizers: Pull your head out of your ass and switch to mid/late October already!!)

For now though... Good Riddance 2011! You won't be missed.

The Battle of Sacramento

They dub the California International Marathon as a one of the fastest marathons of the country.

Indeed, with only about 5,500 participants and over 10% of the field running sub 3:10 races, it is pretty fast. (Though I would claim that it's competitive instead of fast). This year, the field was especially stacked as a number of men and women flooded the race in hopes of getting an Olympic Trails Qualifier for next month's Houston Trials. ...Sorry, I'm faaaar too old and late in life to consider even comprehending such an option, but it still makes for an exciting event!

As fast as they say, CIM isn't entirely easy. Many runners go out way too aggressively on the countless rolling and early net-down hills. Pretty much through about the first 13 miles, it's rolling down offset with lots of ups. Through 18 it rolls more but is net flat, then calms down 20 through the finish. Unfortunately, most runners are spent by the time they're supposed to gun it. Of the top 100 racers last year, only 7 runners had negative splits! About 15 wound up negative this year, but arguably because the field had more experienced elites.

CIM Course Map

Long story short: having that 7 out of 100 stat in the back of my mind certainly didn't help as I toed the line.

The weather was hairy the days before the race, but miraculously cleaned up by the time it started: 40's, sun, and very minimal winds.

I went to the starting line with plenty of sleep from the nights before, plenty of hydration. I wasn't feeling horribly nervous. Things were lined up for a decent run. All I needed was the confidence to execute.

Track and Trough Athletic Union fielded a team of 5 marathoners consisting of myself, Dan McDowell, Jason Ream, Michael Martineau, and Verdo Gregory. Carolyn Martineau ran the relay event.

Jason and I decided to run together for what we could. We targeted a 1:19:15ish goal for our split, and then planned to drop whatever we could in the second half. Ideally, we both wanted to go for the seemingly impossible: negatively split races. For me, anything under 2:38:46 would've been a PR.

The first five miles had a decent loss of elevation to them (nearly half of what the whole course would eventually give). We started conservative, and after a some early jockeying and loosening up, Jason and I were hitting low-6's. We weren't working with anyone else early on, but slowly reeled in a nice pack of a about 6 or 7 runners by the 4th mile.

Jason's voice of reason had us stick with the group for a while. It was a wise move because it was either this, or go it alone. Jason hung off my shoulder or in the middle of the pack, while I was happy up front. (I had the burning desire to make sure we stuck to my plan and hence I became a pace setter).

It was really pretty cool, as this pack clung together until about 15 miles deep. We gradually consumed and reeled in runners one by one. Some joined us, some fell off. Nobody dropped us. At almost any point over a 10 mile stretch, we easily had a solid mass of 10-15 guys... all plugging about a 6:00-6:05 pace.

In spite of being in a pack, guys were running completely different races. I found myself pushing up the hills, then cruising down them. Others fell off the back on the way up, then hammered on the way down. In general though, I remained on the front of the pack as much as I could to ensure that I kept with my pace.

We breezed through the 1/2 split at 1:19:16.... 1 whole second from goal pace. Insane!!

As the race unfolded, our conservative start and teamwork proved to be incredibly wise. Steady efforts as we rolled through those hills. It wasn't easy, but also not overly taxing. We had put in a solid number of 6-flats by about 15-16 miles. Our numbers had dwindled. I felt strong. I could sense that some of the other runners didn't want to step it up. I started to pull away from Jason and the pack.

I knew the course was gradually leveling off. It was now me and 1 other guy from Sacramento's Fleet Feet that came along. I was in charge though. I plugged a couple of 5:55's and he retreated. It then became a game of steady leap-frog from road kill to road kill. I didn't have many, but one by one I passed what was left in front of me as the miles started falling off. Nobody had anything to hang with my pace. 4 mile in a row in the mid 5:50's, followed by a bridge and a 6:01, then another mid-5:50.

There were no clocks on the course. I had no idea what time I was running. I was inside of an 8K now and starting thinking, "Hang in there, anyone can run a damn 8K!"

I stumbled through some tiny rolling hills to a 6:01 in 22. A bridge at mile 23 took some of the wind from my sails... 6:09. Ugh. I wasn't done yet. I had a couple more runners in front of me to keep me motivated. There was no going out in flames. I knew it. I was still strong. Only 5K to go now... I kept saying, "Any asshole can run a 5K! Get moving!!"

I bit down for a 6:03 in 24 and passed 2 final runners, one of which tried to hang on to me. I used a 6:05 in the 25th mile to put some distance on the leach. He didn't realize who he was fucking with.

After 25 though, I couldn't even see the next guy in front of me. No more road kills. Nothing to motivate me. Just me and the clock... which I hadn't seen all day. I still had no idea what time I was running.

My mind wondered. My feet became heavy. I became painfully bored. I started doing math in my head. I knew I was on PR pace, but was I under 2:38?? It's not that it hurt so much as it was heavy. Why didn't I just look down at my watch to see what time I was running??

This 26th mile took forever. I felt like I was absolutely all in, as fast as I could. I smiled as I passed Jesus. I liked his style, but I didn't believe what he was telling me.

I had been nailing the redline so hard and so long. I buried those last 10 miles. I could feel myself ever so slightly letting go as I increasingly lost focus with that mile. Ugh! It took forever!!!

Then I thought, was I really all in???

I slapped my wrist. 6:13. FUCK!! That was an expensive mile. I immediately woke up. I knew I wasn't all in. It was too late to make that back though. I gunned it for what I could.

I rounded a turn and saw a clock way up ahead. It was ticking 2:37:45. Ticking 2:37:50. Ticking. Ticking. 2:38:00. It was just too far away. I just fucking wrecked something insanely beautiful in that last mile. No sub-2:38 today. I was immediately pissed.

I rounded the final turn and went as fast as I could to make sure I didn't hose my PR opportunity.

I came across at 2:38:14. I immediately saw that I negative split the course.... I hit the goal perfectly on the head.

I was happy, but had that bitter 15 second taste in my mouth. I knew instantly that I could've probably squeezed a little harder during that 26th mile... A sub-2:38 would've required me to actually even pick it up slightly from the couple miles before, but I can't say that it would've been impossible.

Anyway, that was 32 seconds faster than my Rotterdam Marathon, 8 long months ago.

I did it on fewer weeks of training, and had less confidence going into CIM.

With the exception of that minor 15-second hiccup in the 26th mile, I was a fucking surgeon out there. I cut that thing up with pristine accuracy. By far, my best marathon to date... both by time and execution given the course complexity.


Split Recap:
1- 6:09.7
2- 6:04.7
3- 6:01.8
4- 5:53.5
5- 6:00.5
6- 6:01.5
7- 6:04.9
8- 6:10.9
9- 6:06.1
10- 6:00.7
11- 6:00.7
12- 6:08.4
13- 6:00.0
1st Half Split - 1:19:16
14- 5:59.8
15- 6:01.6
16- 5:58.0
17- 5:55.4
18- 5:54.8
19- 5:53.7
20- 6:01.8
21- 5:54.9
22- 6:01.9
23- 6:09.5
24- 6:03.5
25- 6:05.2
26- 6:13.0 (WTF?)
.22- 1:18.0
2nd Half - 1:18:58 (neg 0:18)
Total: 2:38:14 / Avg Pace: 6:02

Where are the jitters?

So I'm sitting here on my flight out to Sacramento, and I'm realizing that I'm about to embark on yet another 26.2 mile journey.

Oddly enough, I've barely been worried about this one. All week long, I've been waiting for the pre-marathon jitters to come, and ...nothing. Weird.

Maybe I've been trying to ignore the uncertainty in my training? Maybe it's because Thanksgiving really derailed my thoughts of running a marathon? Maybe it's because it'll be my 14th time going the distance and I'm just that nonchalant about it?

Maybe it's because I've been so focused with the volatility in the markets that I've unintentionally nuked my ability to have emotions?

...I'm actually concerned about this on a grander scale with my life... I feel like I'm seriously suppressing my emotions all around right now, because who really cares about a damn marathon when we have approximately $700 TRILLION in currency, credit and various derivative swaps outstanding worldwide -completely unregulated and unchecked, especially since not a single one of those major 30 or so monster world-wide institutions have to worry about EVER going bankrupt, so left they're betting the house every second of every day... and the fractional reserve banking system just continues to multiply at eye popping rates... and sovereigns all over the world are only promoting this model so we can perpetuate the status quo and lobbyists' interests. And all anyone wants to do is try to kick the can father down the road... well it's no longer a can, it's now an anvil and you simply can't kick it anymore.

Our entire worldwide fiat ponzi is staring down the barrel of a bazooka and it's only a matter of time until one little itchy trigger finger from thousands of miles away says "I need to unload." We're talking the brink of complete financial meltdown feels like it's days, if not weeks, months, or just a couple years away... (it changes by the minute...)

And worst thing is... nobody cares or even knows what's about to hit us. Fucked up beyond comprehension. OR - Maybe I should stop thinking on my own or reading http://www.zerohedge.com/ and just join the comatose status quo and ignore the numbers?

OK OK... I try not to rant about the market here, but I think I just figured out why I haven't been the least bit concerned about my marathon so far... I'm sitting on this plane right now, far more concerned about euros, aussie-yen crosses, brent-WTI oil, MLP spreads, interest rates, money printing, etc... let alone what "Merkozy" comes up with this weekend, ...than I am about putting my body through 26.2 miles of agony.

This is about 24 months in the making for me. The last 6 months especially, I've gone to sleep every night not knowing if tomorrow will bring financial armageddon, not knowing which too-big-to-fail bank or world power is on the brink of disaster, not knowing if I'll have a job... not knowing what sort of civil fallout ensues WHEN the house of cards truly collapses and people realize what sort of sham we've been trying to perpetuate. Don't bother asking about my "Five Year Plan"... I have trouble thinking about my "Five Month Plan".

SO, cool as a cucumber about CIM... not so much about the markets. I have less than 36 hours to get my shit straight and focus on the task at hand.

Gluttony + CBM + Botched Turkey = Bad Taper

Some random pre-marathon thoughts here:

I've been on the steady downward slope this taper (yes, pun intended). It's certainly been an unorthodoxed, as Thanksgiving's gluttony and my general diet have not helped my cause. I feel I've gained a little weight now that my miles have been cut. To top it off, I still have no idea what kind of shape I'm in.

Allow me to whine like a little bitch for the moment:

In the past couple weeks, I've eaten like 3 Thanksgiving dinners, each worth at least 1500-2000 calories... eaten way too much pizza, had countless sweets, drank too much alcohol (or at least well beyond what a taper would justify). All things that should not be happening as one prepares to go to battle.

Then throw in the CHICAGO BEER MILE. Of course I couldn't pass up one of the best events of the year, but its timing couldn't be worse for me. (I can gloat that I did PR though with 11:39, in spite of multiple pukes in 5 laps). Unfortunately, all the things that come with a beer mile means binge drinking, eating like a hell, and a monster 2-day hangover. Naturally I used Jimmy Johns and pizza to try to cure the hangover, which only compounded the situation.

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BUFFALO TURKEY TROT

So speaking of fitness... I have no idea where I currently stand. That brings me to report on last week's Buffalo Turkey Trot 8K.

This was race supposed to be the guide post that tells me what to target in California. Instead, I screwed up and am left scratching my head.

The Trot is the oldest race in America and the city's main racing event. By some technicality, Buffalo's Trot even older than the Boston Marathon - though both have been running 116 years. (yeah, there was a time when Buffalo was more than just a run-down, brain-drained, bankrupt ghost town... Its truly sad to see my hometown fall apart).

So typically this race is stacked with college kids and fresh-outs rounding out their XC/racing seasons. It had a field of about 13,000, and up to 50 people generally go sub-28. All but a couple of the guys in front of me were older than mid-20's.

The course is a point to point with some rolling hills early. Temps were in the 40's, but I had to deal with a nasty head-wind the entire way. The kicker: I stupidly forgot my watch and for some dumb reason, thought that there would be clocks at the mile posts (nope, there weren't).

I supposed not having any clocks made the race more entertaining, since it became a "pure race" of me against anyone around me...? Unfortunately, I blew my pack apart at about 3 miles, and ran the last 2 miles totally solo and with out a clue of pace. The monster gusts in the last mile didn't help either.

That said - I ran 27:16. 20th place. Technically, a long overdue 8K PR and I won my age group since the 2nd overall was in my group. Unfortunately, it was about 20-30 seconds off of my target... not a small miss for a 5 mile race. It leaves me clueless as how to gauge my marathon this coming weekend.

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FINAL TRACK WORKOUT

1x 400 @ 71
1x 1600 @ 5:02 (75, 77, 77, 73)
2x 800 @ 2:32, 2:26
1x 400 @ 65

The mile was a disappointment, but otherwise I'm happy with the workout. Somehow I fell into a comfortable zone in the 2nd and 3rd laps...? I could've easily gone 5+ seconds faster had I not fell asleep at the wheel.

The second 800 and final 400 made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Last big track workout

The 20x 400 has become one of my pinnacle workouts before a marathon, similar to the the 10x 800. The 400s though feel like a much more intense and bigger workout though. More speed, and it takes forever given the recovery time. Yeah, I know, it doesn't hold a candle to Quentin Cassidy's 3x 20x 400, but its still pretty large.

Tonight's 20 were a fraction slower than a couple weeks ago, when I did 16. That extra mile had me a little more cautious early. All in all, the whole workout was pretty comfortable and I finished strong. It's hard to tell if I felt better tonight than when I ran them before Rotterdam.

Also, I think I got Monday's knotted up quad all sorted out. It's taken a couple massages -aka pretty much a bazooka to the leg, but it didn't phase me one bit tonight.

I'm still not sure how I feel about missing my mileage this week. I know it's just a number, but I've been meticulous about my miles for the last several weeks. My all-important goal of "3 big weeks" becomes only 2 and a an 80s. Maybe it doesn't matter, and I'm actually better off for being cautious? I'd certainly feel better if I ran a bit harder tonight or during last week's 800's... or had a faster tempo on Monday... This is a shining example of a marathoner's OCD when it comes to training.

I have a couple more days and then it's officially taper time for 2 weeks. The Buffalo Turkey Trot next week will tell me what to expect in the marathon.

Split Recap:
1- 73.9
2- 73.4
3- 73.7
4- 73.1
5- 74.4
6- 73.1
7- 73.5
8- 72.9
9- 73.4
10- 73.7
11- 73.2
12- 71.9
13- 73.1
14- 71.9
15- 71.7
16- 72.0
17- 71.3
18- 70.7
19- 70.6
20- 70.3
Avg- 72.6

I flinched.

Solid tempo run last night. A big nine miles, but in the final mile spooked me.

My quad said enough is enough, and knotted up on me. I was forced to slow up instead of hammering the mile. There wasn't anything I could do, as I basically wound up with a painful flat tire.

A massage and a day later, and I think it's better but I'm afraid to run on it today. I'm taking the night off. Unfortunate, because that busts my week. Tonight was supposed to be 16 miles, and I was shooting for a third 90+ week. I can double tomorrow to pick up some of the slack but the week will still falls short. I'll have to be satisfied with this. It's not worth the risk of doing more damage.

Split recap
1- 5:59.6
2- 5:55.4
3- 5:54.6
4- 5:48.4
5- 5:49.3
6- 5:44.8
7- 5:50.3
8- 5:51.0
9- 5:49.7
Avg - 5:51

Big-boy miles

I've been living beyond 100 miles for the last handful of days. Current tab is rolling at 103 in 7 days.

So far, so good. I can tell my body's getting stronger, and the endurance is building with every run. (Kids, don't try this at home! It takes years to condition your body to do this without breaking it). I've dropped 1-2 pounds in the past couple weeks, in spite of eating everything and anything put in front of me. I'm now 138 lbs and it feels like most of that's in my legs.

Dan and I ran 23 miles this past Saturday in Barrington. It was much more comfortable than the prior week's 23. Both included some quality pick-ups too. Difference was that last week's run was easier from the get-go but did fade a little late, while this week's took me nearly 10 miles to loosen up but finished strong and fast. ...That's the effect of 103 miles.

This will be my longest stretch ever above 100 miles.

Out of my last 4 marathons:
Chicago-09: 1 day that touched 100 (I thought it was sooo much too!)
London-10: only touched 90.
NYC-10: huge base eventually broke me as I tried a streaking above 100
Rotterdam-11: 1 day that peaked up at 106 (included 2x 22mi long runs).

CIM will be a true trial of miles. These are all pure miles here. No cramming in extra long runs, just lots of running every single day... and quality at that. I haven't taken a day off in over a month. I have no idea if it's worth it.

As I said, so far I feel ok. I need to pull the reigns in mid-week though, before really cutting back next week. CIM is only 21 days away.

Monday Funday

Tonight's 8 mile tempo was in a misty, rainy, 50 degrees. Luckily not much wind. It was faster and a lot more comfortable than last week's run, and it was following a heavier mileage week.

Verdo and I went out around 5:50's then came back in about 5:40's (his Garman showed us going slightly faster and longer than what my splits were showing). We hammered the last mile down to nearly 5:30. Same run and route as last week. All in, very smooth. A good confidence booster for another big week of training.

Split recap:
1- 5:55.7
2- 5:53.4
3- 5:51.7
4- 5:45.6
5- 5:44.0
6- 5:43.6
7- 5:43.3
8- 5:31.6
Avg: 5:46.1

1 down, 2 to go.

My marathon training is centered around 3 big weeks. Everything aside from these weeks is just work to get me ready to run those weeks, or a recovery from those weeks. Those 3 peak weeks will either make or break my marathon. Week 1 was this past week. I put in a solid 93 miles chalk full of quality and speed. So far so good. I have 2 more peak weeks to go.

On the heels of my 5K last Saturday... The week that was:

Sunday: 13mi w/ about 9 of it progressing from higher 6:30's down to 6:10ish pace. Admittedly, I had a little help with the wind at my back as I picked it up, but it was still an aggressive effort sandwiched between a 5K and a tempo run.

Monday: 8mi Tempo. 13 miles total. Slight wind at the back early followed by head wind late. The last couple miles show the effect of that wind, which were marginally slower but at a higher effort.

Splits recap:
1- 5:55.0
2- 5:54.2
3- 5:50.4
4- 5:46.2
5- 5:45.66- 5:47.4
7- 5:49.5
8- 5:49.2
Avg 5:49.7

Tuesday: 16mi slow. I was spent right from the get go. I complained the entire way. Legs were totally flat from the prior days' runs. The last handful of miles were a death march.

Wednesday: BIG BOY 400's. 16x 400 w/ 75sec recovery. I averaged 71.6. Wicked! Faster than when I've run them in the past, but I did take a slightly longer rest. The first few were a tad slower, then it was like clockwork with 12 straight at 71. Final two were the fastest, at 70.8 and 69.4sec. I walked away from this workout feeling a lot better about my current condition. A big thanks to Jason, Verdo and Dan for carrying me through the workout!

Thursday: 8 easy.

Friday: 12 with my Vibram Five Fingers. Love those shoes! LOVE THEM. Always have. I don't care if they broke my foot 2 years ago - that wasn't their fault, it was mine. There's truly nothing like running barefoot or in VFFs... It doesn't matter how fast I go, it's just sheer entertainment and makes me feel like a kid again. I was full of energy and it was difficult to keep the reigns in.

...And to make the run even MORE entertaining, I had the pleasure of being accompanied by the infamous "Hi Guy"!! I was gradually passing him on his bike on the lakefront, and couldn't help but say my typical "Hello, Hi Guy!" His prompt reply was, "Hello, Runner!" He then latched on and rode next to me for about 3 miles. Hilarious! We talked about all tons of random shit. I ran 90% of that run with a grin going from ear to ear.

Saturday: 23 miles in Barrington, with about 7 or 8 miles at a solid 6:45 or faster... 3 of which were sub 6:20. First time I've had a decent hill run in a long time. All in all, I was very comfortable and felt strong the whole way. I'll try to repeat this again next weekend.

What is a Carrera?

I should know this... I've obsessed about the word "Carrera" since I was a young boy. My fixation stems from the Porsche variety, but in true meaning they adopted the name from a grueling Mexican endurance race.

In theory, I know that a carrera is a race. In reality though, today it was a race that I was ill prepared for and hence got schooled because I failed to actually race.

Carrera de los Muertos

5K race in Pilsen, Southwest of the Chicago Loop. I went into it thinking that I'd run a 16:30ish. I also went into it thinking that if anyone was around me, then I'd be able to out kick them. I was completely wrong!

After lots of jockeying by a bunch of clowns, I was settled into 4 place by the first mile split, 5:21.6. 3rd place was easily over 50m in front of me and getting dropped by 1 and 2. He looked like he went out too fast and had no idea who he was dealing with (1 and 2 were a couple U-Sole guys that I know I can't compete with). I made the 3rd guy my target, thinking he'd eventually die.

Before I knew it, another guy snuck up, passed and gapped me. He and #3 were now at each others throats, while I watched from behind. I kept within that 50m until the 2nd mile (5:25.4), and then made my move to chase them down. (Oddly enough, I actually thought mile 2 was a bit long... I later verified the course was about 3.16 to 3.17 - or ~5085m, not 5000m... lame!)

Anyway, to my annoyance and surprise, numbers 3 and 4 didn't die at all. Not cool! That meant I had to work. It was going to be an actual race to the finish line. After stalking them and then surging to bridge the gap, I caught them just before mile 3 (5:22.8, which again seemed slightly long). I hammered past them with a big surge, but they just wouldn't die!

At that point, I knew it was over. I spent myself and they weren't going away. With under 40m to go, both buried me with monstrous kicks. I had absolutely no ability to respond. #3 wound up 16:41, #4 was 16:42, I was a shitty 5th at 16:43.

So there you have it... I should've easily had 5-10 seconds on them, but I blew it. Surged too early and had no follow up to counter their counter-responses. I'm not sure if I was just being a giant pussy and didn't want to fight (aka, actually race until the end!), or if I'm just that far out of shape.

I finished the race feeling like I had the endurance, but no fucking kick after that surge! I hate 5K's!

This carrera was a "race of the dead", and dead I was!

5K split recap:

1- 5:21.6

2- 5:25.4

3- 5:22.8

.1- 33.7 (5:15 pace)

If 5000m, Tot: 16:43.6 / Avg: 5:23.0

If 5085m, Tot: 16:26.8 / Avg: 5:17.6 (minor consolation)

5th Overall, 1st Age

A quick car bomb on the ramp

It's been a pretty fast ramp up. I hit 96 miles in 7 trailing days last Friday, and 82 miles for the week. That's much quicker than I anticipated hitting that level, and so far so good. I'm starting to feel like things are coming together.

Lots of decent running last week too. The real entertainment came on Wednesday night's speed workout: We skipped the track and opted for a super long fartlek on the lakefront in 20mph winds with gusts up to 60mph. Tracking would've been useless in those conditions. ...It was cold, it was ultra windy, it was uncomfortable. Lots of random repeats at varying paces. Tons of effort. All in all, a grueling workout with over 28 minutes of pure speed that put hair on the balls of my feet. A 19 mile day after doubling.

A nice surprise came with the Oak Park Frank Lloyd Wright 10K - I ran 34:38. It really is far from what I should be able to run (guessing least sub 34?), but I'm happy with it since it was my first "race" in a while and I was pretty strong through the whole thing. Ironically, I PR'd by about 6 seconds too. My last 10K was the 2009 FLW, 2 weeks after popping my 2:40 cherry, and just before I got my stress facture. (knock on wood). Just goes to show how much we should enjoy healthy running while we can.

Anyhoo, I celebrated this minor victory at FLW with a car bomb on Sunday. This leaves in a good spot with my training. I'm now in a cut-back week. Took Monday off, which will probably be my last day off for a while. I'll race again this coming weekend with the Carrera de los Muertos 5K, and then I pop for three hard weeks at >90 miles each... That'll be make or break time. My final prep-test before CIM will be the venerable and hometown favorite: Buffalo Turkey Trot 8K... the oldest road race in America.

FLW 10K split recap:
1- 5:27
2- 5:44 (whoops!)
3- 5:37
4- 5:33
5- 5:30
6- 5:35
.2- 1:12
Tot: 34:39 / Avg: 5:34
6th over all, 2nd age group

Thought for the day...

I'm stealing this from Facebook:

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered:

"Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about he future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

I don't know how much more I need to add to this, other than it is sad because it is so true.

1/2 of Chicago Marathon

Chicago Marathon was today. Felt kinda weird, considering this was supposed to be an "A" race for me, but in the end I'm really REALLY happy that I didn't run the whole thing.... I wasn't even tempted.

Weather was a heater once again. Like the 4 out of 5 years now! Can they just get the hint, and change the date or start time already?? Ugh.

Start was at 7:30, already in the low-60's and a little stuffy, but it heated up real quick. It wasn't too bad while I was running, but definitely too uncomfortable to have gone the distance. By 10:00, it was easily 80+ with a killer sun.

Right from the onset, my goal was to run the first half of the race (and nothing more) at approx marathon goal pace.... ~6:00/mi. I did just that.

It was a little annoying through the first several miles, because my legs just refused to loosen up and get a comfortable stride. The thought had actually crossed my mind to bail at about 4-4.5 miles. It was too much work and it was only gonna get hotter. Jason and I hung together through about 6 miles. Fortunately, then I had started to ease into my stride and finally feel decent. I picked it up slightly and plugged away though the half. (It was quite easy to see other runners starting to fade into the heat too. It was clearly gonna be a shit show for people going the distance).

I love the first half of the Chicago Marathon!.... One of my favorite parts of any race, as the crowds are chalk thick, and the course snakes its way through the concrete canyons in the Loop, then all the northside neighborhoods, and back down through the loop again. It was all that much more fun having a number of friends at several spots along those miles.

A fun run, great workout, and perfect execution... Once I loosened up, I felt totally fresh and comfortable too. That leaves me in a great spot for my training over the next few weeks.

Congrats to all those who raced and gutted it out, in spite of it being yet another shit show of a Chicago Marathon.

Split recap:

1- 5:55.6

2- 5:59.6

3- 6:02.0

4- 6:00.9

5- 6:03.2

6- 6:01.8

7- 5:51.8

8- 6:05.2

9- 6:02.2

10- 5:59.7

11- 5:48.2

12- 5:55.2

13- 5:51.2

.1- 0:37.7

Total- 1:18:14 / Avg- 5:58.1

Cramming for a marathon

I feel like I need to document my training thoughts here...

I was mildly concerned that I might not have enough time to cram training for CIM (early December), so I went back to see what sort of abbreviated schedules I ran for my 2011-Rotterdam and 2010-London marathons.

A more proper training schedule would probably be about 20 weeks long, with a steady basing for several weeks, then 2-3 steps up with cut-backs before each step up. 14 days before the race, the plug would be pulled and I'd fall back into taper. Cramming is doing this in 10-15 weeks, removing the cut-back weeks and shortening the taper.

London was quite hilarious - Seriously, I only had like 8-9 weeks of training before that thing. I went from two straight months of down time from my stress fracture, to piddling with a handful of 30-35 mile/weeks, then rolled 8 weeks (6 of which were >60 miles), then tapered for 9 days. Now that was cramming! On race day, I felt fresh as could be and actually had a good race (2:39:53).

Here's what I ran leading into Oak Park 5k (16:16) and Rotterdam (2:38:46)...
(Again, garbage miles for a handful of weeks prior to touching a 50+ week)

Week / Miles
1 / 51
2 / 50
3 / 50
4 / 57
5 / 52
6 / 58
7 / 57
8 / 73
9 / 63
10 / 92
11 / 90 (7 day stretch of 106 miles)
12 / 90 (included 1:16:26 Cary 1/2 at the start of the week - totally on fumes though from all the miles)
13 / 42 (I shut it down mid-week to start recovery = 12 days of taper)
14 / 24 (includes 16:16 5k, 7 days before the marathon)
26.2 on Sunday, 4/10/11

14 weeks total. 7 weeks <60 miles, followed by 5 weeks >60 miles, followed by 12 days of taper. The 3 solid weeks >90 miles were key though... I topped out at 106 in a 7 day stretch, then went back down to the 90 range, then tapered.


All that said, here's what I'm thinking for my CIM training. This time, only a couple weeks prior to kick off with ~30 miles/week.

Week / Miles
1 / 50
2 / 50
3 / 65
4 / 65
5 / 75 (running 1/2 of Chicago Marathon at beginning of week)
6 / 75-80
7 / 60 (Oak Park FLW 10K at beginning of week)
8 / 90
9 / 90 (probably try to peak this week w/ 7 days >100)
10 / 90
11 / 45 (trial race somewhere in here?)
12 / 25
26.2 on Sunday 12/4/11

In the end, it can be done. Tried and true. I've proven it twice now, and with excellent results. It won't be easy. It'll require hill runs, and lots of tempo and speed workouts that I'm just starting now. And most importantly, I can't get injured (so far, I'm able to manage this hip/hamstring/glute with 1-2 massages a week, and tons of streching).

If I'm gonna gun for a PR at CIM, then I'm gonna have to be extremely strict with this training starting..... NOW.

Green shoots in late September

Slowly starting to get myself back in to shape. I now have 2 weeks of 50 miles underneath me, I'll be mid-60's this week. Nothing to brag about by any means, but I have to start somewhere and I'm hoping that my longer-term base will help me to bounce back pretty quick.

Speed still sucks, but at least I'm feeling more comfortable with distance now.

Last night, I did a fartlek with Jason, going 1 minute, 2 minute, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... with the same minutes recovery in between each interval. He buried me by the end of it, but I at least kinda held on ok. Good enough for my first speed workout in months. More entertaining though, we ran it in Lincoln Park, taking completely random routes for each interval. It was actually a pretty cool idea. A workout like that will come in handy in a few months, when nobody wants to go to the track.

Monday, I did a double - 5 miles early, then 11 miles with 6 of it being tempo. I started out around a 6:25ish pace, dropped it to 6:15 for the 2nd and 3rd miles, then dropped it to 5:50ish for 4-6 miles. Averaged about 6ish. It wasn't easy, but again it was a start.

Chicago Marathon is in 1 week. Kinda bummed that I won't be racing it, but I'm still planning on doing half of it as a tempo run / marathon paced run. That'll be a true test to see how much work I have ahead of me. If I can survive 13 miles at 6-flat, then I'll feel better about rolling up for CIM.

It's amazing how quickly you can lose your conditioning... Rotterdam seems like a completely distant memory by now.

CIM is 10 weeks away. Yikes!

Back to the drawing board

I took over 6 weeks hiatus, lost most of my conditioning, fattened up a bit, cleared up 50% of my troubles (foot, not hip)... and now, I'm starting to run again.

After some solid winter training and 2 big PRs in the spring (here and here), I muddled along for three months without recovering. Lingering soreness and botched training forced me to re-think my summer and fall racing plans. Throw a market crash on top of it, and it made August training virtually impossible. Ramping up to 100 miles a week was just not feasible. The plug had to be pulled.

It's incredibly annoying to go from primo shape, to giving it all back, and now having to start from square 1 again... Regardless, I have to start from somewhere.

I'd like to say that I'm 100% healthy now, but I'm not. My foot is finally better. But I'm still experiencing hamstring/glute/hip troubles. Recently, I've had some success with some extremely aggressive massage therapy though. Fingers crossed that I'm close to getting this resolved in the next couple weeks... or at least to a point where I can train more comfortably + still work with the massages.

As of now, I have 2 straight weeks of about 30 miles under me, and feel that I can continue to run with at least that sort of volume. Yesterday I ran the Chicago Half Marathon strictly as a training run and finished at 1:24:56 (Thanks to Ryan Curry and Ken Fandell for keeping me motivated!).

None of this is coming easy, and I have a long way to go.... but it's a start. If I can pull it together, then I am registered for the California International Marathon, on December 4th. That's cutting it extremely close with my lack of recent running. I've been here before. Heaven forbid I get a full training session!

Stalled

I'm coming to the end of my line.

My 2 lingering injuries are on the brink of shutting down my Chicago Marathon.

1) Left hip/glute/hamstring
2) Right cuboid/fifth metatarsal

My left glute continues to be constantly sore. It feels like there's a big knot somewhere holding it hostage. As a result, I'm lacking in any fire power. For the last several weeks, I cannot extend my left leg straight out in front of me, or bend over and touch my toes. I fear that I may have tore something.

My right foot has started to improve (kinda). It feels fine when I'm not running, but once I ask it to go over 5 miles, it starts putting up a fuss. Something eventually falls out of place, and becomes an aching mess until I snap it back into place. It's then sore for the rest of the day, and if I'm lucky it recovers by the next morning.

So, same story as it was a couple weeks ago and without any significant improvement in spite of taking numerous days off and skipping ALL normal workouts.

Instead of building my training to 70 miles a week in the last month, I've stalled.

Unless something changes this week, I'm pulling the plug on the marathon. There's almost no way that I can get back to PR... let alone sub 2:40 shape in under 10 weeks.

Getting old

On this eve of my 34th birthday, I can't help but feel like I'm getting old.

The last 2 weeks have been above 50 miles, but it hasn't come easy.

I'm having some chronic soreness in my left glute/hip/hamstring/whatever it is... I've seen like 6 different people in the last 6 months, and nobody can tell me what's causing the pain... aside from "you're weak". I've technically been dealing wtih this pain since around Boston-2009.

Likewise, my good ol' friend Mr. Cuboid is back in town! Just when I've been starting to miss him, too. ...Two weeks ago, the chiropractor gave me a good yank on my foot. A couple days later and it was clear that my right cuboid had become subluxed. Maybe there's more to it than just the cuboid, but I've had this problem before and it certainly feels like it. Nothing like trying to run with a dislodged bone in your foot! I can get it to pop back in, unfortunately, it won't stay back in position.

Good news though: no more shin splints! That's probably a result of running the past couple of months almost entirely in my Vibram Five Fingers, New Balance MT10's, or my Mizuno Universe's. All are ultra-minimalist shoes. (I would say that none have caused the problems above... since the hip was there to begin with and my cuboid was just a strain from getting yanked).

SO... here I am turning another year, getting into marathon training... and I have a bum rear end on the left side and a flat tire on the right side. This needs to get fixed soon, or it's gonna be a long 3-4 months.

Time to get involved

My running's been crap lately. I haven't strung together a week over 40 miles in the past month. I feel fat and out of shape.

I'll admit though, my legs are at least feeling refreshed. Hip/Glute has some linger soreness from my winter/spring training, otherwise everything else feels excellent. Now I just need to get the cardio back and onto a more normal diet.

Chicago Marathon is 16 weeks away. I need to make that shift from running to when I want to, to actually training.

Thus, summer training officially just kicked off a few minutes ago... I pushed myself back in by signing up for 4 on the 4th. It'll just be a tempo run, but this is my excuse to start running on a more steady basis. The race is in a little over a week, so I have no choice but to get back to work.

The following week, the city celebrates my day of birth with the Bastille Day 5K. Naturally, I must be there for all the people to honor me.

Game on.

Not much running, but a long awaited homecoming!

Not a whole a lot of training right now... I'm sticking to my guns and taking some downtime for a couple weeks. Nothing but garbage miles right now. I'll keep this up through next week, and then start to get back towards base mileage.

In other news:
I FINALLY got Sandy back!! Six long months after "The Crime of the Century", and she's finally home. It took forever for the shop to pull her back together. I still haven't seen a final report of everything that they did to her. A lot of parts getting shipped from Germany and possibly some unmotivated mechanics... but she's back nonetheless. Unfortunately, I feel like they missed a few things. I may wind up having to stick her back into the shop to pull together the loose ends.

SF10 - DNF

It's official - I've had my very first DNF in a race.

That's quite the honor!

Here's the thing: I went into SF10 expecting to have some fantastic race. I knew I was gonna PR that thing, since my 10 mile PR is inside of half marathon(s).

Two week earlier, my first 10 of the Green Bay Half was 57:09... and that was during freakin gale-force winds, and on a mildly hilly course. SF is a flat course, and winds were beneficial for a wisely-run negative split race. I felt like I should've been able to at least muster up a sub-57, or ideally closer to 56:30 (= 5:40 pace). GB should've just been a warm up for SF10.

Anything worse than Green Bay's 10mi split would've been tragic.

There was a head wind through 5, and I found myself running alone for about 3 of those miles. I first got dropped by faster runners (as expected), and then I gradually got swallowed by a small pack of 4 runners.

In my mind, that pack shouldn't have been near me and it initially bothered me. But, they were working together and that proved to be a much better strategy, so I accepted it.

As we turned at 5 and gained a tailwind, I realized that I was working waaaay too hard to hang on to that pack. The 6th mile was 5:38 and it felt like I blazed a 5:20. I couldn't fathom hanging onto that pace for any longer, in spite of having that tail wind. And then I got dropped. Passed 7 at 5:49. I was disgusted that I was blowing up.

I thought no way in hell was I going to be able to maintain that for another 3 miles. Everything collapsed so quickly. Like I hit a wall, but only after 7 miles... and 7 miles slower than what I ran at GB! I knew it was over. I didn't have to think twice about it. I immediately pulled the plug.

So there you have it. I turned the corner, expecting to get this big ol' boost from some wind at my back... and even get the favor of running with a few guys..., and instead I got dropped on my "out of shape" ass. I was damned if I was going to run slower than my 10 miles at Green Bay, let alone start choking out some marathon paced miles in a 10 miler. And damned I was!

For the second race in a row I had negative, self-destructing thoughts dictate how I raced... or lack there of.

I'm OK with it too. It's clear now that I did too much. With in about 2 months, I ran Cary 1/2, PR'd Oak Park 5k, PR'd Rotterdam, slugged my way though Green Bay, and then attempted SF10. That's a lot of hard running! My eyes were bigger than my stomach.

SF10 probably would've gone much better if I had been more aggressive with my training in the past few weeks - but honestly, I didn't feel like it. I've been running on empty since Green Bay. I lost the motivation. I didn't want to bother with the track or a couple mid-week longer runs. I got lazy and paid for it. It should've been either GB or SF... not both.

I need to recovery before I can do much more. I'll do a little running this week... only enough to possibly choke out the Roselle 5K... if I even bother... then 2 weeks of heavily reducing miles.

I need to get feeling fresh again before I can think about the Chicago Half and Chicago Marathon.
Split recap:
1- 5:36
2- 5:42
3- 5:45
4- 5:44
5- 5:45
6- 5:38
7- 5:49
A waaay too difficult 7 mile average of 5:42.7.
Note, I went through GB mile 8 with a 5:39 average, before getting slammed by the wind.

A really fun run!

I have only one way to describe my run today:

FUN!

That's seriously for a lack of better terms too. All I could think when I finished was... "Wow, that was really fun!"

I'm alone in the office today. I decided to duck out for an 8 mile run on the lakefront. The weather was probably the best it's been in weeks... 60 degrees, minimal wind. I ran in my newly acquired New Balance Minimus MT10's. I've run a handful of times in them, though I haven't really pushed them until today.

Obviously the name suggests that they're a minimalist shoe. Technically they're dubbed as a trail shoe, though they're far different than any trail shoe I've ever seen or felt... very light weight, very flexible, very thin sole, a slightly heel-to-toe drop (hardly noticeable), and extremely comfortable. Truly a minimalist shoe. I had no trouble wanting to run on pavement with these. A close second to the Vibram Five Fingers.

Anyway... my "8 miles easy" turned into a 10 mile progression run, where I started to push about a 6:00 pace towards the end. I didn't mean to run that fast, it just happened. It sounds kinda stupid too, but I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face the entire way.

I felt great. My feet loved every moment of it. No pain in my shins or calves, or anywhere else. Just like effortlessly floating along for an hour.

That's the joy of running in a minimalist shoe... the stride becomes so much more natural that it no longer feels like work. Total entertainment and enjoyment.

A runners high taken to a whole new level!

Good Riddance Green Bay!

I became a big fat pussy and cry baby during the Green Bay 13.3 Half Marathon. Prior knowledge of an incorrectly mapped course plus some serious winds eventually got the better of me...

The day before the race, we drove the course. It was very clearly marked on the ground with spay paint, and very easy to follow. They put a lot of thought into this! That's great and all, but the course was also very clearly MARKED INCORRECTLY!! Mile 4 was blatantly long, and mile 12 might be debatable. The published and certified course maps were inconsistent with the spray paint.

Bottom line: We went into the race knowing that it was going to be long by at least 0.15 mile. After driving it, we mapped it out 5 different ways on Google, and it just didn't add up. We consistently showed it being over 13.3 miles. As it turns out, after the race, officials later confirmed the course as being 13.25 due to mile 4. I still think that it might be off at mile 12 as well, but that's splitting hairs at this point.

To top it off, we ran the race while dealing with gale-force winds... SOLID 20-30 mph, with gusts in excess of 40mph. Granted, there were times that the wind helped... but trying to hammer a mile into that shit ain't easy.

So there you have it. It got the better of me late in the race.

I put in a solid effort for a while. I ran through mile 8 right at a 5:40 average pace (I'm adjusting that average for the long mile 4... and assuming my pace in that mile was a 5:45 instead of a 7:02). I did screw up in mile 5, which included some wind and a messed up pace by running with a few other people... I ran a 5:55. Not sure what exactly happened there. I eventually dropped some guys that were clearly slowing up, and then faced a nasty 1/2 mile stretch into the wind. This was a screw up, but not a deal breaker. Again, avg pace through 8 was about 5:40... 5:39 if I skip mile 4 altogether.

Mile 9 hurt. It included some uphill, but more importantly it was directly into some horrendous wind... seriously, it was near unbearable. I had caught a couple other guys and tried to work with them, but ultimately I became their work horse for most of that mile. One did jump in front of me late, but the damage was already done... 5:55. We split up and I ran alone from there. I slipped... Mile 10: 5:50, Mile 11: 5:45. Both 10 and 11 had wind hitting me from the sides. You'd think that shouldn't be a big deal, but it mentally effected me.

Mile 12 was the bitch that end my race for all practical purposes. I was all alone, and turned directly into what seemed to be a tornado's path. Seriously, I felt like I was dealing with 50 mph steady winds. I remember seeing shit fly at me and along the sides of the road... like a seen from Twister or something! After dealing with that for all too long, I thew in the towel and just tried to run comfortably though it.... I recall thinking of how pissed I was to be there... how I bothered to drive up nearly 4 hours, only to run a long course during a fucking tornado. Why did I subject myself to that?? I somehow managed to slug out a 6:15 mile. A far cry from my early 5:40 pace.

And to boot, after I passed the 12th marker and turned out of the wind, one of the guys that I dropped 4 miles earlier had caught back up to me and drafted off me through the worst of the worst. I had no idea. He then passed me. I didn't care. In my mind, my race was over. I cruised 13 at a 5:48 pace...

I was angry by the time I hit mile 12, and that wind broke me. Mentally I had checked out of the race. I'm ok with it. I'll just have to roll the SF10.


Splits:
1- 5:35 (aggressive, but felt it was necessary to fight the wind by drafting)
2- 5:29
3- 5:33
4.2- 7:02 (probably a 5:50 equivalent?)
5- 5:55 (Wind, plus ??... I think I fell asleep?)
6- 5:48
7- 5:37
8- 5:37
9- 5:55 (up hill + monster wind)
10- 5:50
11- 5:45
12.05- 6:15 (HORRIBLE wind, seems long, I totally threw in the towel here)
13- 5:48 (basically just rolled my pussy to the finish)
.1- 0:35
13.1- 1:16:45, 17th Place.

Afterwords, the race officials adjusted our times by a multiple of 0.9886 to compensate for their error. Simply applying that multiple gives me a 1:15:51 result. I don't think that's correct in my case, as I ran faster earlier and quit late. - If I smooth out my 3rd and 5th miles (which would still be slower than a simple average of my 1-8 miles), I come up with something like a 5:45-50 pace for mile 4.
That translates to about a 1:15:30 race, in spite of the wind. My second fastest 1/2 marathon.

Needless to say, I'm done with Green Bay. I won't be back.

I can tempo, but can I race?

It's been almost a month since my marathon, and I'm gradually getting my stride back.

Last week I hit 72 miles. It all felt pretty decent too. I even threw in a few core workouts, which I'm trying to do more regularly now.

Last night I rolled a tempo run (2 weeks in a row now).
My goal was to hit some sort of half marathon'esq pace. I did that and then some... 6 miles at 5:47, 5:45, 5:44, 5:40, 5:38, 5:30... a 5:40.7 average. I gradually just pulled the trigger, getting faster and faster. It might've even been a tempo-paced PR for me...? I don't typically go that fast. A slight headwind in the second half made that final mile hurt. It definitely wasn't as easy as I wanted.

This all leads me to the question:

What the hell am I going to run in Green Bay???

I'm just starting to get the mileage back up after a handful of lame weeks. Plus I still haven't been to the track yet! I do feel alright, but I don't think I'm ready to hammer this thing.

My PR set last year was 1:14:50 = 5:42.5 pace. ...The thought of running what I did last night, and then tacking on another 7 miles makes me sick!

It's been a slice, now get back to work!

A couple weeks have passed now since Rotterdam.

The first week was spent vacationing in Europe with Sarah. An awesome trip! We left Rotterdam the day after the marathon, and went to Amsterdam. Spent 24 hours there (24 hours too much!), then flew down to Rome for 5 days...

Rome is amazing. I love that city. Potentially one of the greatest city in the world... and we did it right. Stayed in a swanky hotel near the Spanish Steps. Walked the entire city. Saw as much of the history as possible. Sarah took something like 2,000 photos. Ate great food. Tons of pizza! Drank lots of cappuccinos, wine, and limoncello. Smoked some Cubans. Spent way too much $$ shopping. My only regret was I didn't eat enough gelato.

I ran once while in Rome. A great little run in the park, on top of Piazza del Popolo / Spanish Steps. The views were incredible from up there!

----------

Since Europe, I'm slowly getting back into it in Chicago. 35 miles last week, including a 15 mile run. Like all post-marathon runs, the first couple were laboring and full of soreness. I think I've finally kicked all that out of the system. Now I just need to improve upon my diet! (I've been eating like crap!)

From an injury perspective, I'm feeling decent. No major aches or pains at the moment. Although, my glutes and hamstrings seem extremely tight... Otherwise nothing other than your standard post-marathon lethargy, which is getting better. I've even broke out the Vibram Five Fingers a few times while going easy.

The next month will be all about trying to maintain my fitness. Upcoming target races are the Green Bay Half Marathon on May 15th, followed by the Soldier Field 10 on May 28th.

My goals are still up in the air, but a sub 1:15 effort in Green Bay would be awesome. That's gonna require me to get back into the 60's for mileage, plus spin the wheels on the track. I don't have a lot of time.

Back to work.

A Rotter-damn PR on fumes

Rotterdam was a success by the measure of an evenly split race and a PR.

I'm absolutely excited about how it turned out. It wasn't quite what I gunned for, but it could've been much worse. Unfortunately, I ran it on fumes.

I've come to the conclusion that international marathons aren't easy. I had to adjust for a 7 hour time difference in just 36 hours before racing. That's just ridiculous . This was my 4th international marathon, and you would think I would've already learned and been better prepared. Nope. Instead, I went to the starting line with absolutely no sleep on Thursday night, 12 hours of over-sleep on Friday night, and a whopping 3 hours of sleep on Satruday night! I went to the starting line feeling groggy and drained.

As far as the race itself goes, Rotterdam was great. I highly recommend it! Logistically, it was very easy to deal with. Fewer than 10,000 runners. Managing the starting line/finish line was very easy. Water/Euro sports drink every 5K. Course markers every 1K, Clocks every 5K. Gun was at 11am sharp.

The figure-eight course was pretty ideal. Any headwinds eventually became tailwinds, and vice-versa. There were some "hills" from over-passes, and one large bridge that we went over a couple times, but otherwise it was extremely flat (very similar to Chicago or Berlin). It's no wonder this thing is consistently a fast course! My only complaint was a lack of shade... The sun definitely wore out its welcome. I guess that's not too different than most other marathons though.


My original race goal was to go through the half at 1:19:30, and come back as sub-1:19 as possible. That would've had me going out at 3:45-46 K's, and coming back at 3:44-45 K's. With the sleep and mid-day heat working against me, I knew that might be tough. 2:39 was my hard limit. Anything over that, and the race would be a disappointment.

I left the hotel 20 minutes before the start, jogged 1 block to warm up, then went to the corral. (It was really simple). Corral was packed, but a little negotiable. My seed had me in a mix of runners, and I was forced to start behind probably 300+ people. I should've been in the front of my corral, I didn't leave myself enough time to get closer to the line.

We sat for a few minutes. The waiting game was pretty standard for me. Everyone all jittery. Couldn't understand a word that anyone was saying. Weather was warm up... 60 degrees, and climbing with the sun. A light, steady wind. Helicopters swirled above.

A cannon blasted right at 11am.

The first 5K was all about jockeying for position and shedding some of those slower runners. I hashed out about 150 people within 1K, and crossing our first bridge. Annoying, but oh well. I took another 50 runners through the 15K, and then it was no-man's land. Maybe another 25 people in the remaining 25K? The only person to pass me after the first 5K, was a runner that I was working with and eventually yo-yo'd later into the race.

I went through the 5K all on my own, at 18:48 (3:45.6 avg, 6:03/mi). Pretty much right on target. Everything felt good, so I just clung to it. I gradually picked up a handful of other runners and we went jumping from pack to pack. I sat in the middle of this small group for as long as I could.

Splits went like clockwork through the half. 10K was 37:31, or 18:43 for the next 5K split (3:44.6 avg, 6:01/mi). ...One of the front runners dropped our pack and we eased up for a couple K. I felt good but wasn't going to join that runner. I didn't want to ease up much more though either, so I took the lead. I occasionally put in a few surges to catch guys ahead and shield myself from some on/off head winds. At this point, other runners refused to take the lead but gladly came along for the ride.

We passed Sarah. She handed off a Gatorade. I pressed on.

By 15K, the meat was gone and fat was shed. It was down to myself and a German guy. We went through 15K at a 18:45 5K split (3:45.0 avg, 6:02/mi). Most of the time, the German rode off my shoulder, but occasionally he'd give me the pleasure of taking the lead. We talked a little. He mentioned he had run the course a few times before. We strolled by a couple runners here and there. I noticed it was getting pretty hot and sunny. 20K still went like nothing though, exactly 1hr 15min deep, the 5K split at 18:44 (3:44.8 avg, 6:02/mi).

Started to hit a little wind, then the Half Split at 1:19:20 (3:45.6 avg, or 6:03/mi). Pretty much right on target!

It got pretty annoying as we went though the half though... My fellow German refused to help with what became some solid headwind for the next 5K. That stretch was pretty brutal and we had no one else to work with. Probably the worst and most barren spot on the course... and when the going got tough, my German went into hiding. He finally stepped up and gave me some relief for maybe 1K, but he slowed our pace. I took over after I saw a 3:50 split. It wasn't easy, and I clung two more 3:50 splits. We went from running 6-6:01 splits to 6:10's because of that split. 25K at 18:59 (3:47.8 avg, 6:06/mi). Given the temps, sun, wind... that stretch was expensive. ...and now a bridge.

Just after the 25K... we crossed the Erasmusbrug Bridge for the second and final time. Some more wind on the bridge, and then it finally let up. I carried us up, and then my German dropped me like a bad habit on the down side of the bridge. I couldn't believe it! After all that work and running together. After I basically carried his ass for at least 15K.... he threw in a major surge and gapped me by at least 10-15 seconds.

At that point, we didn't have any more head wind and I still felt somewhat comfortable, so I wasn't too worried... I know he knew the course, but seriously, "You're welcome!"...

I spent the next 5K trying not to lose him. A few times I started to catch back up, but then gave it back. I couldn't help but give up some ground. He definitely kicked into a different gear. We each passed a few stragglers, otherwise there was no one around. Keeping him in my sights was my only hope. 30K at 18:52 (3:46.4 avg, 6:04/mi).

I just passed Sarah, and she threw me another Gatorade. I was starting to feel the dehydration. It was easily in the high 60's, before considering the blazing sun. I wasn't sweating anymore.

I thought more about that last 5K. It was only a few seconds, but I lost some of my early groove. That was now 2, 5K splits that were slower than my earlier splits. I initially struggled with that. I wasn't sure if my time had come and the combination of no-sleep plus heat was taking its toll. Or if I could come back...? German was easily >20 seconds ahead of me and now with a small handful of guys. There was no one else within sight.

My little pity party didn't last long. I was 30K deep and I knew I "only" had 12K to go. For some reason that number didn't seem too bad...? I knew I had to step it up, or my race was over. I immediately surged to wake myself up.

I dropped a 3:39 1K. My fastest one so far. I counted my steps, I pumped my arms, I repeated and chanted random lines in my head... I did whatever it took to forget about the effort.

A couple more mid-3:40's, and a surge with another 3:39...

35K at a 18:40 split (3:44.0 avg, or 6:00/mi). Another K and I caught the pack. German had already started to pull away. I was clearly going faster than these runners. I dropped them, and I gradually reeled in German. He was strong. He said, "Welcome back!" I held on for another 2K in the mid-3:40's. I must have been the wind in his sails though because he took off again. There was no catching him this time.

I just passed Sarah for the 3rd time on the course. She was amongst a thin crowd that was slowly getting bigger. I couldn't wait for this to be over with.

39K and I held a 3:48 pace (6:07/mi). A little slower but not bad, I thought. I had more or less fallen off of German as opposed to him dropping me. That sun was fucking hot! A couple runners that were between us and now became my targets.

My feet had started to get heavier. Legs were sore. I tried to shake them out. I felt the crusted salt on me. German was slipping away. 40th K, a 3:55. UGH!! Hang in there. I hit that 40K with an 18:59 (3:47.8 avg, 6:07/mi).

3:55 hurt, and it came out of nowhere.... but what really hurt was the 41st, 3:59. Out of nowhere, I had slipped to a 6:18-6:25 pace. It was like I completely fell asleep. London all over again, when I hosed myself in the last couple miles.

I remember thinking, "What the fuck!?!" I was dehydrated and dead, but not that dead!! I was pissed and the fuse was lit. "I got's to go!"

My watch said 2:34:28. 1200 meters to go. I couldn't think of the exact math, but I knew I was inside of 5 minutes from the finish. I knew I was going to PR unless I royally fucked up. Maybe 1200 meters is closer to 4:30?? That's still sub 2:39. I wanted that sub-2:39.

I went all in right then and there.

Didn't think a moment more about the race or my pace; I just went. I passed a guy. He tried to match me. He had nothing. The crowds were huge by now and lined both sides of the street. Saw another guy. I don't even know what happened to him, I went by so fast. I dropped the hammer and kept going. Don't think, just run. Only a couple minutes now... Anyone can run hard for 2 minutes.

I pumped my arms as much as I could. I chanted a quote in my mind... The night before, I saw a Winston Churchill line written on a wall: "If you're going through hell, keep going." Awfully fitting. KEEP GOING!

The crowds were screaming like mad for me.... it had to be for me, because there wasn't anyone else around... I was coming up to the final turn on the Coolsingel. That's their famous final straight. I rounded the turn. Crowds swelled. 300 meters to go. I kicked even harder.

3:36 on my 42nd K (a 5:48/mi pace).

Balls to the wall now. Every ounce of energy to go here. As hard as I could... which as I look back, was pretty damn hard. I can't believe how much kick I had!! Where was this strength in the 39th and 40th K's?? Where did it come from??

Never mind, just go!

I saw German up ahead, but I was running out of course. Give us another quarter, and I might have beaten him. From here it was just a race against the clock.

I could see it was now ticking 2:38:50's.... I had cushion versus my chip time, but how much?!? Get there. 2:39:00 now... Fuck! Get it!! I stepped over the line seconds later. I shut my eyes and slapped my wrist to get the split.

It took me a couple seconds to collect myself. I looked down...

2:38:46.

I closed that 1200M with my fastest effort during the race... My final 200m kick was a 5:37/mi effort.

I was incredibly pleased with the way that ended, incredibly surprised given how tired I was, but equally frustrated with my 39th and 40th K's. It was a near perfect race. Had I not slipped for those couple K, I'd be singing a much brighter tune here.

But alas, it's a damn PR and a damn good one. I split the second half of the race 6 seconds slower than the first half.

Results show me finishing in 90th place, but I believe that's on clock time. Chip time, I believe I was 88. Splitting hairs, I know.

K recap:
1- 0:03:47
2- 0:03:46
3- 0:03:47
4- 0:03:47
5- 0:03:41 (5K: 18:48)
6- 0:03:45
7- 0:03:44
8- 0:03:41
9- 0:03:49
10- 0:03:45 (5K: 18:43)
11- 0:03:46
12- 0:03:45
13- 0:03:47
14- 0:03:45
15- 0:03:44 (5K: 18:45)
16- 0:03:45
17- 0:03:46
18- 0:03:43
19- 0:03:45
20- 0:03:45 (5K: 18:44)
21 - 0:03:50
1st HALF- 1:19:20 = 3:45.7 / 6:03.1 avg

22- 0:03:50
23- 0:03:50
24- 0:03:47
25- 0:03:42 (5K: 18:59)
26- 0:03:50
27- 0:03:39
28- 0:03:51
29- 0:03:44
30- 0:03:48 (5K: 18:52)
31- 0:03:39
30- 0:03:45
33- 0:03:49
34- 0:03:39
35- 0:03:47 (5K: 18:40)
36- 0:03:44
37- 0:03:47
38- 0:03:44
39- 0:03:48
40- 0:03:55 (5K: 18:59)
41- 0:03:59
42- 0:03:37
195m- 0:00:41
2nd HALF- 1:19:26 = 3:45.9 / 6:03.5 avg splits
OVERALL- 2:38:46 = 3:45:8 / 6:03.3 avg splits

Last 1195m were hammered at 5:46 pace.

Rotterdam Bound

Rotterdam will be my 13th marathon. It's hard to believe that I've done that many. After Chicago 2004, I swore I would never do one again (and I've swore that many times since). And look at me now! All grown up.

After NYC I was jaded. I was tired of crap weather and difficult courses. I wanted to burn a fast one. Now it remains to be seen if my recent training has me in tip-top shape, but I'm at least setting it up for an ideal setting...

The lure to Rotterdam is that its ridiculously flat, very fast, uber-competitive, and consistently decent weather. And when I say fast, I mean famously fast...

Since the 1980's, this smaller race has produced 3 separate world record's (one of which stood for over 10 years). Most recently, it's become a destination for wanna-be title seekers, though it doesn't typically draw big name guys due to the lack of payout and/or majors' points. In the last 3 years, 8 runners have post sub-2:06. 4 have been sub-2:05! 8 of the 20 fastest times ever have been produced in Rotterdam (London is 2nd w/ 5, Berlin 3rd w/ 4).

The small field is only about 10,000 deep. Last year, over 100 snagged sub-2:40. To put that into perspective... last year you needed to run 2:52 in Chicago be in the top 1% of 40,000. The cut off time in Rotterdam is 5:30, as opposed to the standard 7 or 7:30! Average finish time is sub-4hr.

In other words: this is a race for runners.

That said, I'm still not sure what my plan is. A wise man once said, "Go out fast, pick it up in the middle, and finish strong." I'm gonna go out conservative with the intention to negative split the thing, but other than that I have no idea what my body will allow.

All I know is that I'm not a shorter distance guy. But after a 16:16 last week, that should tell me something.

Gun at 11am local time. That gives me the chance to catch up on sleep. Weather looks to be ideal too: most likely high 50's/low 60's, clear skies, 3mph winds. (Yeah, that's right... 3mph!)

Giddy up!

Short Taper, Long Tempo, & Big 5K PR

Typically, I like to have 2-1/2 weeks taper time before a marathon. This round however, has been cut short so that I could squeeze in an additional training week. I'm stuck with 10-12 days instead.

Going from 90 to 40 isn't easy. For the last several days, I've complained about feeling like I wasn't getting enough running in, taking too many days off, and feeling "fat"... It feels like this is all coming too quickly. I put the breaks on and took 3 days off last week. It has felt like with each day, I'm losing something.... That was until today: the Oak Park 5K. The CARA season opener.

Before I get to that, I'll say that my tempo run last week was great. A much needed, 9 miles of speed and confidence. The longer tempo is the hallmark of a marathoner's training. It's a nice 50+ minute bad ass run, where you press the pace for as long as you can but save yourself from blowing out. Clearly it can't be as fast as some shorter tempos, but 1/2 marathon pace is ideal.

I usually target a few of them in my training, but for now I'll have to count Cary as a tempo along with this last 9 miler. Most importantly though, by the end of it I felt very strong and hungry for more. A special thanks to Jason for getting me rolling through the first 6, which were into some wind.

Split Recap:

1- 6:00.7

2- 5:52.1

3- 5:53.5

4- 5:49.0

5- 5:47.8

6- 5:44.3

7- 5:48.3

8- 5:45.7

9- 5:36.0

Total: 52:17.9

Avg: 5:48.7

-----------------------

Today brought an unexpected pleasantry: The Oak Park 5K.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I hate 5K's! They're too fast and furious for me. They require a me to go all in right away, and just hang on for as long as I can. They never feel comfortable and almost always end in disappointment. For the first time today, I felt like that wasn't the case.

Oak Park has a great competitive field, stacked with a bunch of guys seeking to tune up for Shamrock, Boston, and other early spring premier races... including Rotterdam!

Decent weather today too, good temps with only a nasty headwind in the last 3/4 mile.

I went out with the goal of shooting for a 5:20 pace (roughly 16:30-:35 goal). The luxury of the field allowed me to hang on to a pack of other runners and let them do a lot of the work early on... and the added bonus of my boy, Erik Rasmussen to help carry me through the first couple miles.

We went through the first mile at a blistering 5:09, as everyone jockeyed for position. Oddly enough, it didn't feel that bad (I say that with surprise and disgust). Erik and I settled down a bit in the second mile, but never fell very far off our pack. We did take a few runners out, as we still clipped 5:19. Partly a result of a little head wind, a small hill, and the pack calming down.

The third mile became my race. Erik fell off, with a bit of a calf problem. I turned a corner, and headed into the wind. I had to make a decision: either hang with him, or suck it up to catch the pack ahead. The pack was left with only a few guys now. I needed them to keep me in the race.

I still felt strong so I made the push and within 30 seconds I drafting off the back of 3-4 guys, including FF'er Dave Strubbe. I hung here as we took a few individual runners, until we rounded a couple more turns, and came to the final half mile long stretch. Head winds were nasty here and killed the whole pack. We clearly slowed up, but nobody wanted to be the sacrificial lamb. I pushed through the pack anyway. Naturally, a few guys grabbed on to me. Then it just became guts and hit it as hard as I could until the finish.

The lead was swapped 2 or 3 times between 3 of us. We swallowed another runner, and I eventually finished in 2nd amongst our pack and final push. Third mile was 5:15, final 0.1 was 0:31... not a huge kick, but I'd say given the head wind there, it was easily a 5/sub-5 effort at the end. Clearly enough to out kick several other top quality runners too.

Final result... a big PR in an event that I hate... 16:16. Average of 5:15 pace. 9th over all, 3rd age group. I felt strong and in control throughout the race. A very nice start to the CARA Circuit season and a HUGE confidence booster for Rotterdam. This little 5K has reassured me that I can gun for a PR next Sunday.

The scary thing is though, I'm actually really excited to run Rotterdam now. I wasn't before. I need to stay calm, otherwise by the end of the week, I'll be crawling out of my skin and driving myself crazy.

Marathon count down has begun yet again.

Time's up

I'm done. 3 weeks at 90+ miles each. Time to recover for a few days.

It was a good stretch. I crammed quality plus quantity the whole way, and so far I'm passing the test. I (definitely) didn't over do it going into this plateau and I'm not busted coming out of it. I'm not sure if it'll be enough to blow out Rotterdam, but I'm guessing that I'm in better shape than I was 1 year ago, heading into London... I cranked a 2:39 there, so that should be worth something.

I'm finally feeling like I'm back in shape. A few more good workouts will help. For now, a big feeling of relief has come as I can finally cut back. I've plugged nearly 300 solid miles in the last 22 days and I still have fuel in the tank. Taking tomorrow off, and dropping the mileage this week. Rotterdam's in 14 days.

2011 Cary March Madness Half Marathon

Cary was amusing. I claimed that I would be happy to produce something sub-5:50 pace. Well, I did just that: 1:16:26 = 5:49.8 pace. That's 2 seconds faster than I was 2 years ago... but 2 years ago wasn't on the heels of 106 miles and had slightly better conditions.

I can say I'm happy with the race, though I'm a little disappointed in how I achieved it. I went out too fast, and didn't come close to a negative split. I'll blame that on some tailwinds after the first few miles, which turned into headwinds during the meat of the race.

The first 2.5 miles were straight into some head winds and I was forced to jockey for positioning to help fight those winds. Hence, the first 3 were a blow out. Then I had mostly down hill, and tail winds from 2.5 through 6.5. Clearly the easiest miles of the race.

After 4 miles, I was all alone for the rest of the race. Even though I wasn't far off the back of Verdo and Jason, that made things significantly more difficult for me as I had to cope with really nasty headwinds and hills in 7, 8, and 10. I eventually lost sight of them after 10, as I held my pace and they pulled the trigger. I eventually picked off 1 runner that they dropped in their move.

We finished 6th, 7th, and 8th places in what was a fairly competitive race.

SO, I am very pleased with my time and how I felt throughout the race. Given the weather/winds, I have to accept how I ran my splits... it was probably an even effort aside from blowing out the first few miles. A few days of taper and I definitely could've gone faster.

Since the race, I'm hanging in there. Still on track for 90 miles this final week, though I'm having to juggle taking Monday off with a couple doubles. I resume speed tonight.

Split Recap:
1- 5:35.3
2- 5:41.1
3- 5:37.1
4- 5:51.6
5- 5:45.3
6- 5:50.8
7- 6:05.2
8- 6:02.1
9- 5:34.4
10- 6:05.2
11- 5:58.9
12- 5:55.7
13- 5:49.7
.1- 0:33.8
Total: 1:16:26
Avg: 5:49.8

Unintended PR

Hit 106 miles in 7 days.

It's the result of cramming in order to give me one recovery day in between my long and the Cary 1/2 Marathon. The week included 2 long runs of 22 miles each. I also had 1 double giving me 14 miles, and 2 other days of 14 miles. It wasn't all just big miles either... I had 7 miles of tempo, and 20x 400's.

I actually handled it all pretty well. No major aches or pains as of now.

Weather for tomorrow's race will be 10-15 mph winds, 40 degrees, and probable showers. On the heels of 106 miles, I'm not expecting much other than a long tempo run. I'll be happy to produce something sub-5:50 pace, though that might even be optimistic.

I still have one final big week of training next week. Getting through 90 more miles uninjured is far more important.

Building a Plateau

After 2 months of basing in the 50-60 range, I've jumped to 90 miles. My goal is to plateau up here for 3 weeks. While doing so, I'm focusing on quantity AND quality. This is my last ditch effort to cram for Rotterdam.

When I attempted something similar for NYC back in the fall (minus the cram), it didn't go so well. I wound up breaking myself. In hindsight, that move was unnecessary as I already had plenty of speed and endurance under my belt. I could've peaked with far fewer miles and been far better off.

This time around, I'm going off a smaller base with less speed, but I am attempting to plateau from a more healthy standpoint. As of now, I have no major aches or pains that are slowing me down. I'm nearly 2/3rd through the peak, and so far so good.

Assuming all things remain equal, after tomorrow, I'll have about 104-105 miles in the last 7 days. Cary is Sunday. That'll be my next test. I'm essentially running through it, so I'm not expecting to come remotely close to a PR, but I'd like to get a solid long tempo from it.

My success in Rotterdam hinges upon me getting through these 3 weeks rather unscathed and healthy. Is my base (short term and longer term) big enough to hammer on the gas for 21 days without over doing it?

Two notable workouts this week:

Monday night's tempo was a confidence booster. 7 miles, and stayed plenty strong all through the run. The first 1/2 was into wind, followed by wind at my back.

Split recap:
1- 6:07
2- 5:55
3- 5:48
4- 5:46
5- 5:41
6- 5:41
7- 5:27
Avg: 46.4

Wednesday night's BITCH of an interval workout: 20x 400's w/ 60sec recovery. It was in the zoo parking lot, which made it even less entertaining. Odd repeats were going into a slight wind. I averaged a full second faster when that slight wind was at my back.

Split Recap:
1- 75.8
2- 73.3
3- 73.5
4- 73.4
5- 74
6- 73.1
7- 75
8- 74
9- 73.9
10- 74.4
11- 74.1
12- 74.4
13- 74.6
14- 72.9
15- 73.6
16- 72.5
17- 74.7
18- 73.8
19- 74.8
20- 71.4
Avg: 73.86