It's Business Time

After the 1/2, I took Monday off. I figured I had earned it. That'll be the last of that for a while. Since then, a double and 3- ten mile runs. Total for the week will be 82 after tomorrow's 20.

I build from here. It's go time. I have 4 weeks of solid training ahead of me. Everything I've run up until now has been merely to prepare me for these next 4 weeks. If all goes well, then those 4 weeks will prepare me to absolutely torch 5th Avenue.

Quantity with a handful of quality workouts. I'll take it week by week - but the goal is to have at least 1 week in the 90's and 2 weeks breaking 100 miles each. In all, I should see 375-385 miles over the next 28 days..... Come to think of it, 395-405 over the next 29 days. (GULP!)

Truly a trial of miles.

Mid-term Aced!

I fretted about this year's Chicago Half Marathon. No idea why, since I wound up blowing the doors off it. Simply put, I just started running and tried to maintain as long as I could. In the end, and aside from dealing with a monster blister on my foot in the last two miles... I killed it.

Weather was ideal for race conditions. I couldn't ask for a better day. Sunny, low 60's, a slight side wind from the west (occasionally annoying, but never hindering). Course was on the south-side of Chicago: looped through Jackson Park, headed north on Lake Shore Drive, then returned south on LSD, and finished in the park. Mostly flat except for a few overpasses.

Gun was at 7am. Pre-race rituals were pretty standard. Got down there with time to spare and everything flowed smoothly right up to the gun.

My initial goal was to go out at ~5:50. I’d either hang on to that, or if things felt good then I'd try to push splits down to 5:45. Ideally, I wanted sub-1:16.

Miles 1-3:
I started only a couple rows back from the line. However, it's a big race. Easily 50 guys took off fast and were ahead of me through at least the first mile. I wasn't sure how many of them actually belonged there, but eventually most would come back to me. Mile 1- 5:43.5... A tad faster than I wanted, but nothing critical. I had settled down after the first 1/2 mile anyway.

Cruised in the 2nd mile. Many of those overly eager soles started to get weeded out. I coasted by a couple packs of 5-10 runners. Nobody wanted to play with me.

By the end of the second mile a small pack formed with 5 or 6 up ahead, but otherwise I was amongst a thin line of runners. I saw a local stud, Jeff Jonaitis jump in with the pack. Either he was pacing or just doing a workout with another runner in that pack. His presence reassured me that they’d act as a steady measuring stick. I chose to play their chase. Mile 2- 5:49.1.

As we finished winding through Jackson Park, I had a handful of randoms around me that were trying to jockey for position. This was pretty annoying, as we didn't quite formed a pack. None of them wanted to work together. Lots of surging by some of them, and then laying off, but we had a long way to go to be messing around. I got cut off a couple times going around turns by one of the guys. Nothing like having to step over someone's heel because he has no respect for your personal space. Maybe I should've clipped him? 5:41.9. Still felt good, but the annoying maneuvers from the other runners upped the pace slightly.

Miles 4-8:
Heading north on Lake Shore Drive now, which meant wide lanes and long sweeping turns for almost the remainder of the race. The tangents would be extremely important to maintain. No sense in making the race any longer than it needed to be. Unfortunately, Gatorade and water tended to be on the outside of the course. Because of this and the fact that it wasn’t blazing hot - I limited the amount of times I took Gatorade (grabbed 3 drinks at one point or another).

Mile 4’s split was waaaaay off - 5:09.8! All I could do was laugh. Last year’s race was horribly mis-marked. Unfortunately, this year wasn't any different. Miles 5- 5:47.3, 6- 6:05.0, 7- 5:37.1, 8- 6:05.7. It felt like I had cruise control set on a 5:45ish pace in here, so mile 4’s error was returned over the next several splits. In this stretch, I simply tried to maintain and not lose too much distance on JJ’s pack ahead of me. For the most part, they were always about 25-50m ahead. As for my little angry pack, it gradually dissolved by mile 7. None of them were of any help, and they were also no longer threats as each of them fell off the back.

Miles 9-11:
The course turned with mile 9 on the 31st Street off ramp / on ramp, and began heading south again. I still felt very smooth and strong at this point, so I set my sights ahead. In my mind, everything up until now was not a race. It was merely getting me to a point where I could possibly pick up the pace. The questions at this point were: How fast was I actually going? And how much could I afford to pick it up?

The pack ahead began to fall apart after the off/on ramps. JJ and his partner were taking off. In the far distance, I could see Joe Guinness’s bright green FF singlet (aka - something was going wrong for him). I hit mile 9 with 5:35.3. The split actually seemed honest too. Since it didn't kill me, I continued to press on. I started to reel in the 4 or 5 guys that fell off of JJ. Each upcoming road kill became my motivation, and I easily passed each of them. Mile 10- 5:38.8. Gatorade. 5K to go. I approached Joe. A great runner, much faster than I am – but just not having a good day. We exchanged a few words, and I pulled the trigger. Mile 11- 5:29.2.

12-Finish:
Last 2 miles. Crowds were a non-event up until now. People all along the sides of the course. Masses of runners on the other side of the median. This part of the race actually became entertaining. Unfortunately, I was too dehydrated and deep to care. It was just noise. After passing Joe and 1 final runner, I had no more road kills for the taking. The next guy up had considerable distance on me.

Somewhere in here, I started to feel an extremely nasty blister on the ball of my right foot. Over the course of the next mile, the pain became quite intense. That's what I get for washing my shoes the night before and running in new socks!! This and a lack of motivation forced me to ease up slightly. Mile 12- 5:46.4. I was to easily hit mid-1:15's, if I didn't fall apart. I passed Sarah. She was screaming at the top of her lungs at me. Without any other motivation though, I just tried to keep my pace and avoid burning the hell out of my foot. Every step hurt at this point.

Turned off Lake Shore Drive onto Hayes. Mile 13- 5:46.8. As I approached the marker, I saw it ticking 1:14. Awesome! Given the blister, any kick was likely out of the question, but I had time. Hold and I can cruise to sub-1:15.

Then, just out of nowhere - some formerly road killed, sand baggin' son of a bitch snuck up and passed me. All I could do was try to get him back and stay with him. My foot was absolutely on fire! Burring him was out of the question. I didn't have the room, the pain threshold, or the will since I could see I was already sub-1:15. We basically crossed the line together – in my mind, I may have had a step or two on him. It turned out, that slag had 4 seconds on me by actual versus chip times, so he got the better placement. To add insult to injury, he was in my age group.

Finish: 1:14:50. 18th overall out of 14,000+, 3rd age group.

All in all – an absolutely awesome run! Well above my 'hopeful' expectations of a mid-1:15 run, in spite of a nasty blister.

The course was identical to last year. I’m not sure what that means... either its total distance is actually correct (depending on how perfectly you run the huge tangents), or it was long again. A couple runners with GPS’s both told me they ran 13.17 miles. Either I can still be upset about last year, or I can have solace in this year’s run and know for sure that I didn’t run a short course. Regardless, HUGE PR! 1:40 under Cary '09, and almost 2 minutes under Chicago 1/2 '09 on the same course.

Split recap:
1- 5:43.5
2- 5:49.1
3- 5:41.9
4- 5:09.8
5- 5:47.3
6- 6:05.0
7- 5:37.1
8- 6:02.7
9- 5:35.3
10- 5:38.8
11- 5:29.2
12- 5:46.4
13- 5:46.8
.1- 0:38.1

Finish- 1:14:50 / Avg- 05:42.5

Mid-term Exam

Front end loaded this week so I can get some rest and recover before Sunday's Chicago 1/2 Marathon. I'm taking a whopping 1 day off (today), and then doing a measly recovery run tomorrow. I'll still be in the low 60's for the week.

Today is much needed. It's my first day off since August 26th and basically my second in the last month. After the PF5 on Monday, I'm feeling it. Looking back, in the last 7 days I have 87 miles. Not ridiculous, but the most I've put in a 7 day stretch in 12 months. Left shin, right knee, left ITB are all tender.

This weekend's half marathon will be my first time running the distance since last year's Chicago 1/2. Unfortunately that course was slightly long, otherwise it would've been a PR for me. Hoping that they've sorted their shit out this year. It pisses me off beyond belief when a race distance is incorrect. (I mean seriously, how difficult it is to measure a course??)

This should be a great mid-term exam to see where I am with my training, but I have no idea what to expect. A) I'm pretty much running through it with 87 miles in the last 7 days, and coming off a mini-peak. B) I've had basically no racing to gauge myself. C) My track work has been handicapped by the summer weather, so I have no idea what kind of speed is under me. I'm just trying to go into the thing with no expectations, and if it feels good then I can go for it.

Park Forest 5mi

I haven't raced much in the last several months, since I've been building my mileage back up. The Woodsmen's 10.?K a few weeks back was the ice breaker, and really just a tempo on hills. Over Labor Day weekend, I ran the Park Forest Scenic 5 Miler.

I went into Park Forest thinking it would a glorified tempo, but unlikely anything all-in. I wound up running a very steady and controlled race.

It was a stacked race w/ some prize money. Something like 9 Kenyans showed up for a 300 person race! Also had a number of guys vying for top seats in the CARA standings. Weather was decent, however, winds were generally tails for miles 1 and 3, and heads on 2, 4, and 5.

Mile 1... Slightly down hill with a tail wind. Pretty much guaranteed to be the fastest mile. Several runners pushed ahead of me. Since I had no idea what I was actually going to wind up running, I just let it unfold. Everything felt good. A group of college / high school kids rolled by me. For a moment, I was impressed with how easy they were jamming. 5:27.

Mile 2... Blew by the kids. I thought they were going to suck on me as we turned into some head winds for about 1/2 mile. They weren't ever a threat. Dumb kids. I was no longer impressed. However, Felipe Lopez passed me (he'd be the last). Up in the distance were Steve Breeze and Mike Egle. All race hogs. Felipe and Steve are in my age group for the CARA Circuit, and they're generally slower than I am. I haven't seen them in a year, so this created a good measure for myself... They shouldn't blow me away. If they did, then I'd really need to start questioning my training. Felipe quickly put 20+ meters on me, and he still had another 20+ before Steve and Egle. 5:38.

Mile 3... Settled into auto pilot now. I still felt good, but didn't know how long that might last. I was slowly getting dropped by Felipe as he pushed to catch Steve and Egle. Maybe 50 meters between us now. Then all of a sudden, it was as if someone pulled in the train. We approached a few turns on the course, and I gained significant ground on their pack. I passed a few other guys that started to fade. 5:37.

Mile 4... I sat on Steve, Mike, and Felipe for a minute now. We turned a corner into the wind, and I immediately dropped them. No body challenged me. Somewhat surprising that Egle didn't step up. He's typically more aggressive than that. Either he had his own agenda, or he's starting to show his age. From here on, I was pretty much alone - one runner in the distance... easily another 100m up. I still felt strong, so I put a little more distance on the pack as I headed into a slight wind. 5:34.

Mile 5... Now straight into head winds, which were very steady and relentless. I still had plenty of gas, but the wind definitely made the final mile a challenge. At some points I was crawling. Other times, I was hammering. I mainly didn't want to get caught by my former road kills, so I just kept pressing. The runner in front of me was initially an after thought, but he started to show pain as the mile progressed. I could see him looking back and gauging me. We hit a quarter-mile long incline, and I started to reel him in. By the final 200m, he became my bitch. I buried him. An unimpressive 5:35 for the 5th mile, but given the evil headwinds, I'll take it. 27:53 overall.

First age for Circuit purposes... 14th over all... loaded w/ 9 Kenyans.

Split recap: 5:27, 5:38, 5:37, 5:34, 5:35... 27:53.

For comparative purposes: Back in the spring, my Shamrock 8k was 28:05 (also treated as a fast tempo versus all-in race). 8k is fractionally shorter than 5 miles. On an 8k basis, I could possibly shave another 8-10 seconds off the Park Forest time. Considering I didn't feel extremely taxed, I would say this was a nice test race.

Adirondacks

Two weeks at the cabin in the Adirondacks. I had the pleasure of spending the time with 5 dogs, 4 nieces, 3 sisters, 3 brother in laws, Mom and Dad, and The Most Interesting Man in the World. I can't really say that the trip was all that relaxing - but it was some much needed family time.

Clearly a whole ton of activities: rappelling off the cliffs from the falls, water skiing, swimming, hiking, 4-wheeling, boating, etc... and of course, my running...

Prior to getting up there, my left calf was starting to nag me. Once again, my age old fight with shin splints was on. They seem to go into hibernation, but never just die away. I took 3 days in a row off to chill things out and recover. (Probably much needed given the heat exhaustion/dehydration I've been experiencing in Chicago too). It would be one of my last opportunities to do this for quite some time. In the process, I loaded up on some anti-inflammatories, and started to stretch the hell out of my big toe (more so than ever before). And in the end I was running splint free by mid-week at the cabin. To note: all but 1 of my runs were in racing flats or VFFs.

I logged an 85 mile week and a 76 mile week. The 76 week was cut short because of a day trip to Old Forge. Every single run was on hills. Weather was very accommodating! Mostly in the low 70s for my runs, and only a couple soggy days. Importantly, no major injuries.

Adirondack Training Circuit:

Most was done on the 8 mile Soft Maple stretch between Effely Falls Road and the No. 4 Road (out and backs for 16). I also added a hill run to Stillwater, a tempo down to Croghan... and for the first time I ran the Woodsmen's Field Days 10k.

Croghan to Stillwater is a 2,000 foot climb, net 3,150 elevation change. My typical 16 mile loop is an 1,100 climb, net 2,100 change.

Workouts included:

16 mile progression run MGP (not so easy given the hills!!)

Woodsmen 10K: Hilly and clearly long by about 0.1mi. I went into it planning on doing a workout and going 35-36 depending on the hills. Sub-37 typically wins this thing. After I saw the first several runners bolt out of the gate (2 clearly belonged in front of me) - I stuck to the workout plan. Splits were 5:34, 5:38, 6:18 (hill+long!!), 5:47 (hill), 5:53 (hill), 5:34, 1:27.

11 miles to Croghan w/ 7 at roughly MGP (most of the MGP was rolling, w/o net elevation change).

20 miles w/ 7 at 6:35 on the hills.

The Chicago Steamer

Word on the street is that this summer is the WETTEST in history for Chicago. Combine that with steady 80-90+ degrees on a daily basis, and you get steam.

It's extremely uncomfortable and flat out sucks for training conditions. If by some miracle it's not ultra humid, then it's unbearably hot. It is impossible to run in this shit. It is also impossible to maintain any sort of hydration. At this point, I'm yearning for those frigid 0 degree days.... (though I know I'll regret that statement soon enough).

In spite of the weather, the last couple weeks' tempo runs have gone well. 6 miles for each of them, averaging low 5:40's. Last week wasn't 88 degrees, so I went marginally slower yesterday.

On the other hand, last Wednesday's track workout was a shit show. It was like 99.9999% humidity and 85 degrees. My 16x400's were at a sloppy 76-77 pace. Pathetic compared to what I should be able to run them in, and pathetic compared to the fact I basically ran the 400's at my 800's pace. I'm a whiny bitch... but it's justified because I haven't had a single decent track workout in this round of training. Each of my 5 workouts have been altered due to the weather.

I only have a few more days to deal with this though, as I'm leaving for the cabin on Friday. It'll definitely be cooler up there, though not necessarily less humid. I'll have 2 weeks in the Adirondack Mountains. When I get back, things should be more bearable and I'll be in much better shape to tear it up.

Hills, Hills, and more Hills.

Quote of the day courtesy of Erik:

"King of the Hills = PR."

I spent another weekend up in Wisconsin... and in between surviving on only the finest foods to be found at a gas station, including drinking enough beer to kill a dairy cow... I managed to run 27 miles... all on the hills in the beautiful country side.

6 miles w/ the guy on Friday. 21 alone on Saturday.

My 21 miler included a whopping 2280 feet of climbing and 4572 feet of elevation change:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=383577

2 WI weekends, + I'm guessing at least 1 or 2 long runs in Barrington, + spending 2 weeks in the Adirondacks, + at least another weekend up in Wisconsin...
= King of the hills = PR.

If I get through all of this... the next time I see 5th Ave, I'm gonna torch it.

Hitting a Wall

Pulling the plug on tonight's run. My running has been going well lately, but mentally I've hit a wall:

I've been getting my ass completely handed to me at work. I can't stop losing money. Today was another doozie. Market goes down, I lose money. Market goes up, I lose money. If the market goes down and then up in any given day, I lose even more money. Shorts are killing me, longs are killing me. It makes absolutely no sense. In theory, I should be slaying it with my bets, yet for some fucking reasons beyond my control (too many to potential to list here), I'm stuck in a horribly perfect storm working against me... The world fucking hates me, and it's been steadily getting worse for the last month and a half. I've had like 8 up days out of the last 32 trading days. Pathetic. Depressing. I feel like there's no cure. It's wearing on me.

Up until now, I've been able to ignore it and run through it. Today I can't. All I can do is hope that tomorrow I can cope with it better.

I've had total garbage for sleep lately. 6 hours a night for the last week+, and it's clearly catching up with me. It's making me even more cranky from work.

Lack of sleep and uber stress with work has my body literally feeling sore and bloated today. This is a wall that I can't run through... at least not today. The last thing I need is to disappoint myself with a shitty tempo run.

My solution: spend the evening with Sarah, make dinner, watch TV, totally vege out, and kill my $100 bottle of Del Dotto 2005 Napa Cabernet. Try again tomorrow.

Tempo

Last night... on a hot and humid evening, after a long day of work, and after running 26 miles of brutal hills in Wisconsin over the weekend... I ran 5 miles of tempo.

5:50, 5:42, 5:44, 5:39, 5:38.

I didn't smash any records, but it was a very respectable run with a nice negative split. I rolled at a good clip, and did it without dying or begging myself to end the run. I actually finished wanting more. Complete satisfaction.

A runner's high.

Summer Runnin'

In general, just lots of easy / steady runs lately. That's gradually changing though...

I'm above 50 for the last couple weeks (actually 69 for the last 7 days). All in all, I feel pretty decent. No significant pains anywhere. All systems "go" to continue rolling up.

Most notable over the last couple weeks:

First ever run totally barefoot!! Very cool! It was a couple miles on some mixed terrain w/ Chris Woods. We went to see Barefoot Ken Bob host a fun run out in Woodstock, IL. He's a totally off the wall, California-hippy that could pass as Jerry Garcia's stunt double... only BFKB's addicted to barefoot running (no need to speculate on any of his other vices). Anyway, BFKB's been 100% barefoot for the last couple decades, and completed something like 75 marathons and countless other races.... and in respectable times too! Let's just say that if anyone knows anything about barefoot running, then it's Barefoot Ken Bob. He started blogging his running back in the late '90s to document his work and hopefully help other runners make the switch.

It was interesting to hear BFKB talk about where people often go wrong when running without shoes. He made some very good points about how the foot strike and lift off can especially lead to injury... and not just about stepping on something sharp either. Toeing off too much or landing too far up on the ball will ultimately produce nasty blisters and potentially stress fractures down the road (yes, I know the feeling). Also, he is fairly convinced that when starting off barefoot, you must run purely barefoot as opposed to in VFFs... VFFs ironically still provide a lot of protection to our feet.

When it comes to running in general, everything's all about reducing impact forces and improving efficiency. Barefoot running takes that to the 1,000,000th degree. I'm slowly learning that these are things I can't naturally feel unless I totally lose protection on my feet. Its very easy to see how your body naturally straightens up, and your stride improves when running barefoot (as opposed to strapping pillows under your feet). It is an awesome learning tool... and cheaper than any coach or expensive running shoe.

So, the bug is back... I ran in my Vibram Five Fingers twice last week. It was awesome! The closest thing to being barefoot without actually being barefoot. It sounds cheesy, but running like this is such a great feeling of freedom. Once you do it a few times, you'll only want more of it. As excited as I am though, I still have to remind myself of the consequences of doing too much too soon. The last thing I want to do is risk another stress fracture. I'm saying no more than 2 runs a week in my VFFs (max of 5 miles each), and maybe a mile or two sans-everything.

Spent this past weekend up at Erik's place in Wisconsin. We went up to watch Myra slug it out with a disgusting 50 miler Dances with Dirt. Huge congrats to her for finishing that damn thing! - It was a ridiculously difficult course on an extremely hot day. That must have been brutal both physically and mentally.

Anyway, over the weekend I ran a 16 miler on Saturday and a 10 miler on Sunday. Both runs were on some rolling hills... OK, so 1,250ft of climbing and 2,500ft of total elevation change on the 10 miler alone. I guess a little more than "just" rolling? I'll be back up there in a couple more weeks for round 2. Hills like that are going to turn me into a monster...