65 + DBO XC

I've come to the 65 mile line.

65 in the last 7 days. Nothing spectacular, based on what I need to roll up for Rotterdam. And really, I've only been churning 50 miles in the last several weeks... but it's a right step in my "build back up" direction. My goal has been to simply base in the 50's throughout January, and then step it up in February. I'm getting there.

Last week, I had 3 separate training runs at moderate to faster paces. Each felt decent and I'm starting to reintroduce some shorter tempo work into my regime. I'm a little sore at the moment, but undoubtedly from a couple of snowy runs in the last few days.


First race of the year: I ran my first ever cross-country race this past weekend. The Daniel Burnham Open XC. The race was great, except for the fact that I clearly have no idea how to run XC. Who woulda thunk that I couldn't even maintain my marathon pace over a 2.5 mile run!

The 4k course looped around and over Cricket Hill, here in Chicago. A pretty competitive field with about 35 runners. The kicker, every step was entirely covered in about 4-6 inches of snow.

Needless to say, going out at marathon pace was still too much for those conditions!! I stupidly lead the field through the 1/2, only to get passed by the experienced XC'ers and then barely hung on for the last 2 miles. A sloppy 7th place finish. First mile was something like a 6:10, and that's after I slowed up from the 1/2 mile mark. 16:06 overall... you do the math. Fugly on my part, but still a fun experience nonetheless. I'd love to give it another try sometime... preferably with less snow next time.

Team work in running

The beauty to running with a group comes in the following:

Last night was cold. Not the coldest night, but cold enough and with a steady wind. After a long day of work, the last thing I wanted to do was go run in that stuff. The second last thing I wanted to do was go run tempo.

Needless to say, I forced myself out the door to meet up with the Jason, Michael, Verdo, and a few others... as I felt obligated to... as we have this unspoken reliance upon one another during these freezing temps.

Two miles into our run, they began their tempo workout. After kicking and screaming for a bit, I decided to up my pace, but not quite to their effort. After all, the faster I ran, the sooner I'd finish. They went out in a ~5:50 mile, and I was dropped quickly, but I still managed a 6:01.

Before I knew it, I got into a nice groove and never lost sight of the pack up ahead. Mile 2, I made up ground. Without realizing how much I upped my effort, I went 5:47. It still felt comfortable. I caught Michael and turned after the 2nd mile. We then went through mile 3 at 5:48. I buried mile 4 at a 5:41.

Not a blazing pace, but considering they're the fastest miles I've run in 3 months - I'll happily take it. So 9 miles total, 4 miles of a progressing tempo... when my alternative was to sit on my ass and get fat. Today I feel good about myself.

Getting out the door is 1/2 the battle. And thanks to running in a group of dedicated guys, we'll be able to slug our way through this winter.

14 Weeks

As I said, I'm officially signed up for the Rotterdam Marathon, on April 10th.

To begin with - everything feels pretty good right now, so I'm ready to start bumping up. This week will be >50, since I squeezed in 2x 15mi runs. Calf feels better... Still not 100%, but probably better that at any point in the last 12 months.

I've been thinking about how to train for this thing. I'm only 14 weeks out, so it'll have to be a quick roll back up. One side of me is concerned that I might be under trained, the other side is concerned that too quick of a roll up could have me over train and blow it like I did with NYC.

Since I crammed for London, I looked back to last year's post-SFX training as a comparison. Here's the basics:

- 10/11/09 - 2:39 Chicago Marathon
- SFX 2 weeks later on 10/28/09, didn't run a single step until 1/8/10. Total down time exactly 10 weeks.
- I essentially had 15 weeks of "running" to prepare for London.... 1/2 of which was just literally "shedding weight" running.
- I could probably only call 7 weeks of real training, if that:

Week - Mileage
1 - 21 (began on Sunday, 1/10/10)
2 - 31
3 - 35

4 - 35
5 - 42
6 - 21
7 - 42
8 - 66
9 - 60
10 - 55
11 - 82
12 - 67
13 - 82
14 - 60
15 - 26
16 - 26 (2:39 on 4/25)

The end result was just seconds shy of a PR, and I felt much stronger than in Chicago-09. However, my under training showed up in the last few miles. So, it was a far more aggressive race especially when I consider the lack of mileage that went into it, and my body still allowed me to run well. Adding more up: I only had 2 weeks above 80, and 3x 7-day streaks above 80. I did have 4x 20+ mile runs. A huge difference between London and NYC.

I can comfortably say that if I'm not totally out of shape right now (which I'm not), then I should be able jack my miles beyond London's and run a similar-or-better race. There shouldn't be any concern for getting into shape for Rotterdam... My concern should be over training again.

So in order to not over train, I'll cap on my weekly mileage at about 90 miles AND to spend at least 2 days a week cross training. I'll base in the 55-70 range, then pop it for 4 weeks at 80+. No more than 4-5x 20+ runs. Everything gets topped off with the Cary 1/2 Marathon on 3/20, 3 weeks before Rotterdam.

A lot fewer miles than NYC, but more than London. And to boot: the cross will help to build my core back into a rock, like it was couple years ago. It's not gonna be fun with this winter weather (it's in the 'teens today), but it'll leave plenty left in the tank for this marathon.

If I'm gonna cherry picking this race and go all the way to Europe, then I'm gonna have to change up my training and make sure I do it the right way.

By the end of next week, I should be able to start bringing back the quality.

A moment for Sandy

This New Year got off to a bit of a rough start, but it is getting better by the day....

Sarah and I threw a New Years Eve party and it was an absolute blast!! About 30 people attended at one point or another. Unfortunately you can only control so much, and a couple of jag-off's show up as guests of a guest. We didn't know these guys. Both did seem a bit shifty.

Low and behold, at 2am, my car was missing from the garage!! It turns out that they took the keys off the key rack, walked out while no one was looking, and sped off.

Yep, you read that correctly.... we invite people into our home for a nice little get-together and celebrate the New Year, and they fucking steal my car!!!! Ummm, OK, that's a little different than just snagging a few CD's or an IPod... which you wouldn't think any of your friends would take anyway... but when you throw in a few guests of a guest....

Goods news though: It was recovered the following day (albeit, kidi-corner to Cabrini Green w/ all the keys in it). No significant damage that I can tell, other than some rips to the interior fabric and weather stripping. I'm getting the car checked out next week to determine if any mechanical work needs to be done.

I love that car - I basically own my dream car... or at least my child hood dream car. To have some dick head rip that away from me is unconscionable. I'm still in shock. Fortunately, she came back to me.