Predictions, Geb, Meb - NYC is right around the corner! Getting excited for the last of the World Marathon Majors, and expecting great things. Will offer my predictions later next week. Here are my last 2 weeks of running:
Mon - 4 easy
Tue - 6 easy
Wed - 9 total - 6 with the Big River Group, lungs just died out after 2 miles. Hit 6:42, 6:38, before basically jogging it in.
Thur - 9 easy
Fri - 0
Sat - 2 easy with Tim around Stapleton area
Sun - 0
Mon - 3 easy at the Big River Group Run.
Tue - 3 easy, 2 hard before lungs crapping out (6:51, 7:05), 2 easy
Wed - 6 total, ~4 with Crystal (31 minutes). Trail run at night, hit it harder coming back but felt ok
Thur - 0
Feel like poop still, haven't had a chance to go to the doctor especially since time is nonexistant with the new job. Started taking some antibiotics which will hopefully help! Plan on getting in 10-20 miles over the weekend (incuding today). Weather is phenomenal - my favorite running time!!!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Catch up...
Chi recap, NYC News, Boston shocker, Meb, and elites.
Went to Chi a couple weekends ago to watch a pretty thrilling marathon. Was a super hot day, but still got to see my friends tear it up! Congrats to Candace on hitting a very solid 3:07, and Gabe for just killing it with a 2:55!!! Got to spectate right outside my sister's place, and see all the elites and almost everyone I knew that was running. Jumped in for about a mile or so with Candace, so got to participate somewhat this year :) Pretty thrilling finish with Sammy Wanjiru and Kebede dueling back and forth in some of the craziest tactics I have ever seen, and Wanjiru finishing off his victory with a massive kick!
Well, the big news that is rocking the running community is the 2011 Boston Marathon registration. In order to hopefully accommodate the fall marathoners, the BAA pushed back it's registration time till October 18 (yesterday). Well, as I predicted, there was a mass rush to register, and the inevitable happened. Luckily, Shane, Crystal, and I all registered and were able to get in so it looks like I will be taking my talents to Hopkinton in roughly 6 months! But this is bringing up a pretty big controversy with the marathon filling so fast, and many ideas are being thrown out there - most notably, raising the women's qualification standards by 10 minutes. This, I wholeheartedly agree with, and needs to be done. No way women need a 30 minute buffer - as it is, the elite men are about 15 minutes ahead of the elite women, so 20 minutes is plenty. We shall see how the race directors deal with this, because this situation isn't going to get any easier with the marathon becoming more popular year after year.
Well, a quick update over the last couple weeks. Got in a small Lakeshore run, a tiny bit on marathon day, then headed back home for minimal work to prepare for my pacing duties with Crystal at the Indianapolis Marathon. Headed out there on early Friday to see a few friends, most of whom were running. It was a good day to run, and the course was very pretty with a ton of trees and a decent sized field that wasn't overpowering. Ken, Mick, and Pat all ran the half marathon, and Tim and Crystal did the full. Pretty fun to be on the other side of the ropes, especially since a lot of my friends have come out to support my running efforts so it was nice to be able to reciprocate. Saw everyone at a few different points, then jogged over to the mile 14 marker to catch Crystal. She came out a bit earlier than we had planned, but settled in and started cranking out the miles. Felt pretty awesome, and breathing wasn't too big of an issue.
Went through a trail through the woods around mile 18, then had problems with pacing because of the tiny road and the many turns. Coming back, Crystal started having problems, but worked with her to get her back on track and then engaged in a pretty fun duel with the 4th place girl. Kept passing each other, but finally grabbed control at the end and gapped her pretty good. The last quarter was awesome getting to see everyone, and Crystal kicked hard to drop a nice 4 minute PR in 3:12 and also won 4th overall female! A great effort on a tough day, and I'm proud of her for gutting it out and finishing strong when she was pretty much about to quit.
Came back out to try to find Tim and run him in - ran out a few miles and quickly realized how hilly that course was, especially when I ran the last 2 miles back (pretty much a continuous uphill). He was having some knee problems that hurt his pace, but was able to finish and I got to run him when we decided to stage an impromptu race. He just killed the last quarter mile, and took off like nothing I had ever seen! 4th marathon for him, and a fun one at that - congrats Timmy!
Mick, Pat, and Ken all ran awesome races, and it was great to see everyone and enjoy a fun weekend. Hoping Ken registers for the Dallas Marathon in Dec for his BQ quest, and there are talks about joining him and cheering him on. So I got in almost 19 miles of running around, and ate/drank myself to a stupor over the weekend, effectively undoing everything I had done in roughly a 24 hour span. Back to the grind over here, and hopefully back to some good runs. Going to hit some easy mileage tonight, then hopefully do a workout with the Big River guys after work.
Went to Chi a couple weekends ago to watch a pretty thrilling marathon. Was a super hot day, but still got to see my friends tear it up! Congrats to Candace on hitting a very solid 3:07, and Gabe for just killing it with a 2:55!!! Got to spectate right outside my sister's place, and see all the elites and almost everyone I knew that was running. Jumped in for about a mile or so with Candace, so got to participate somewhat this year :) Pretty thrilling finish with Sammy Wanjiru and Kebede dueling back and forth in some of the craziest tactics I have ever seen, and Wanjiru finishing off his victory with a massive kick!
Well, the big news that is rocking the running community is the 2011 Boston Marathon registration. In order to hopefully accommodate the fall marathoners, the BAA pushed back it's registration time till October 18 (yesterday). Well, as I predicted, there was a mass rush to register, and the inevitable happened. Luckily, Shane, Crystal, and I all registered and were able to get in so it looks like I will be taking my talents to Hopkinton in roughly 6 months! But this is bringing up a pretty big controversy with the marathon filling so fast, and many ideas are being thrown out there - most notably, raising the women's qualification standards by 10 minutes. This, I wholeheartedly agree with, and needs to be done. No way women need a 30 minute buffer - as it is, the elite men are about 15 minutes ahead of the elite women, so 20 minutes is plenty. We shall see how the race directors deal with this, because this situation isn't going to get any easier with the marathon becoming more popular year after year.
Well, a quick update over the last couple weeks. Got in a small Lakeshore run, a tiny bit on marathon day, then headed back home for minimal work to prepare for my pacing duties with Crystal at the Indianapolis Marathon. Headed out there on early Friday to see a few friends, most of whom were running. It was a good day to run, and the course was very pretty with a ton of trees and a decent sized field that wasn't overpowering. Ken, Mick, and Pat all ran the half marathon, and Tim and Crystal did the full. Pretty fun to be on the other side of the ropes, especially since a lot of my friends have come out to support my running efforts so it was nice to be able to reciprocate. Saw everyone at a few different points, then jogged over to the mile 14 marker to catch Crystal. She came out a bit earlier than we had planned, but settled in and started cranking out the miles. Felt pretty awesome, and breathing wasn't too big of an issue.
Went through a trail through the woods around mile 18, then had problems with pacing because of the tiny road and the many turns. Coming back, Crystal started having problems, but worked with her to get her back on track and then engaged in a pretty fun duel with the 4th place girl. Kept passing each other, but finally grabbed control at the end and gapped her pretty good. The last quarter was awesome getting to see everyone, and Crystal kicked hard to drop a nice 4 minute PR in 3:12 and also won 4th overall female! A great effort on a tough day, and I'm proud of her for gutting it out and finishing strong when she was pretty much about to quit.
Came back out to try to find Tim and run him in - ran out a few miles and quickly realized how hilly that course was, especially when I ran the last 2 miles back (pretty much a continuous uphill). He was having some knee problems that hurt his pace, but was able to finish and I got to run him when we decided to stage an impromptu race. He just killed the last quarter mile, and took off like nothing I had ever seen! 4th marathon for him, and a fun one at that - congrats Timmy!
Mick, Pat, and Ken all ran awesome races, and it was great to see everyone and enjoy a fun weekend. Hoping Ken registers for the Dallas Marathon in Dec for his BQ quest, and there are talks about joining him and cheering him on. So I got in almost 19 miles of running around, and ate/drank myself to a stupor over the weekend, effectively undoing everything I had done in roughly a 24 hour span. Back to the grind over here, and hopefully back to some good runs. Going to hit some easy mileage tonight, then hopefully do a workout with the Big River guys after work.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
4 more Days till Chicago!
Just saw Dathan Ritzenhein is doing the Denver Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon for his NYC prep - should be a good workout for him, and any run in altitude is obviously beneficial for hard training. Here's a quick rundown of the Chi contenders - should be an amazing race to watch!!!
Ran last night after eating dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant located over by SLU - pretty damn awesome if I must say so. Did 6 miles (2X3 mile loop). First 3 were really easy and nothing too difficult. Felt awesome, so picked it up - not a good idea. Stomach started to make some awful sounds, and the pain started to come and go. Picked up the pace, and by the end was clenching and almost to the verge of panic as I was nowhere near any facility and didn't have a shirt so couldn't use a public place. It was pretty awful. Hit the last 3 at sub 6:30 pace, my lungs were on FIRE. Barely made it before any accident happened, was sweating bullets. So for all those who read this, never, NEVER eat ethnic foods before any run!!!
Ran last night after eating dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant located over by SLU - pretty damn awesome if I must say so. Did 6 miles (2X3 mile loop). First 3 were really easy and nothing too difficult. Felt awesome, so picked it up - not a good idea. Stomach started to make some awful sounds, and the pain started to come and go. Picked up the pace, and by the end was clenching and almost to the verge of panic as I was nowhere near any facility and didn't have a shirt so couldn't use a public place. It was pretty awful. Hit the last 3 at sub 6:30 pace, my lungs were on FIRE. Barely made it before any accident happened, was sweating bullets. So for all those who read this, never, NEVER eat ethnic foods before any run!!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
5 more days till Chi!
Chicago analysis, and Shalane. We are certainly in the fun part of the racing season, with NYC around the corner as well! Headed up on Friday for the marathon weekend, and may try to swing by the expo if time permits. Took yesterday off (impromptu) after deciding that I wanted to get in as much Chicago running as possible, so switched off days with Friday since I will be there early morning and will definitely have time for my home away from home, the Lakeshore Drive trails :)
On the heavy recommendation of Pat and Crystal, bought a nutee (sp?) pot from Walgreens last night in heavy hopes of clearing up my clogged sinuses. Pretty gross procedure, but seemed to work slightly at least for a few minutes. I didn't add enough saline solution though, so will try again tonight with a heavier dosage. Did a little research on my potential cat allergies and saw that allergies to litter is a possible problem. I have lived with cats before, so it's weird that I am having problems with Franklin, but never thought of being allergic to litter and Franklin's litter supply is almost gone so time to check that avenue...
Looking forward to some nice, easy mileage later tonight. Weather is nice and cool in the evenings, and hopefully the crisp air will relax my lungs and allow for as little discomfort as possible...
On the heavy recommendation of Pat and Crystal, bought a nutee (sp?) pot from Walgreens last night in heavy hopes of clearing up my clogged sinuses. Pretty gross procedure, but seemed to work slightly at least for a few minutes. I didn't add enough saline solution though, so will try again tonight with a heavier dosage. Did a little research on my potential cat allergies and saw that allergies to litter is a possible problem. I have lived with cats before, so it's weird that I am having problems with Franklin, but never thought of being allergic to litter and Franklin's litter supply is almost gone so time to check that avenue...
Looking forward to some nice, easy mileage later tonight. Weather is nice and cool in the evenings, and hopefully the crisp air will relax my lungs and allow for as little discomfort as possible...
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Rapid Fire September 5K Recaps
Found a quick Ryan Hall article, still bummed he is missing Chicago. Headed up there on Friday to watch the marathon, and watch my friends Candace and Gabe tear it up this weekend. Both are shooting for sub 3 hour races, so excited to see them race! Should be a decent weather day (looking slightly warm), and obviously nostalgic for me to be on the other side of the ropes for the race I have run 3 out of the last 4 years, as well as revisit the scene of one of my greatest running accomplishments (09 Chi BQ).
Wanted to talk really quick about the two 5K's I ran last month in greater detail from what I can recall. Ran Italian Fest on my birthday weekend - weather was pretty nice but a little hot because of the blazing sun. Course is dead flat - out and back, and you finish in downtown Collinsville which was getting set up for the annual Italian Fest parade, so pretty scenic. Warmed up for 10 minutes and did some strides and drills. Saw a few people I knew, and lined up with them. Went out pretty hard, but was tired and definitely having some breathing problems. First mile was 5:47, was gapped by 4 people and was chasing. One of the guys was working with me (Harry) and I called him to come up and work with me. He started to gap me on the second mile, and I pretty much hung on to him coming back. No one really close behind me, and I wasn't feeling it trying to catch Harry since he had gotten a good 10-15 seconds ahead of me, so shifted into cruise control (again - I swear my competitive instincts have gone to the toilet!). Finished pretty strong, was happy for the most part. Time - 18:23, 6th overall out of 300, 2nd in my age group.
Midwest Wing Festival 5K - over in Fairview Heights at Moody Park, which I didn't even know existed. Got there on a pretty cool day, but once again the sun was in full factor. Park was pretty nice - gravel paths, decent scenary with a lake and baseball/softball fields, and pretty much just a park. 2 Loops around this 1.5 mile trek, definitely a few hills here but nothing suicidal. Lined up with the very few people that showed up for the rescheduled event (was rained out a couple weeks ago and rescheduled) and off we went! Went out pretty hard, no one around me. Kind of was feeling tired, but moving ok. Went through the first mile at 5:50, saw absolutely no one around me and decided right there it wasn't worth it to kill myself and shifted from 4th gear to 2nd. If anyone was going to catch up, I was prepared to unleash the unholiest of kicks. To make a long story short, no one was within sight of me even after slowing down, and I enjoyed a fun 2 mile victory stroll. About as easy of a victory as you could ever have in a race. Time - 19:58 (yes you read that correctly). 1st out of 20ish? Awesome trophy :)
Well, those are my quick thoughts in a nutshell. Last night, got out with Pat and Crystal and did an easy 4 on the trail. Gorgeous outside, still having some breathing issues (yes I need to go to the doctor), but felt decent for the most part. Hit 8-9 minute pace throughout and sped up towards the end. Got in an extra 2 solo late at night when it was getting really chilly, but I love running in this weather :) Some sort of speed work tonight (nothing too hard) and easy mileage - plan on getting around 40ish this week if my body cooperates :)
Wanted to talk really quick about the two 5K's I ran last month in greater detail from what I can recall. Ran Italian Fest on my birthday weekend - weather was pretty nice but a little hot because of the blazing sun. Course is dead flat - out and back, and you finish in downtown Collinsville which was getting set up for the annual Italian Fest parade, so pretty scenic. Warmed up for 10 minutes and did some strides and drills. Saw a few people I knew, and lined up with them. Went out pretty hard, but was tired and definitely having some breathing problems. First mile was 5:47, was gapped by 4 people and was chasing. One of the guys was working with me (Harry) and I called him to come up and work with me. He started to gap me on the second mile, and I pretty much hung on to him coming back. No one really close behind me, and I wasn't feeling it trying to catch Harry since he had gotten a good 10-15 seconds ahead of me, so shifted into cruise control (again - I swear my competitive instincts have gone to the toilet!). Finished pretty strong, was happy for the most part. Time - 18:23, 6th overall out of 300, 2nd in my age group.
Midwest Wing Festival 5K - over in Fairview Heights at Moody Park, which I didn't even know existed. Got there on a pretty cool day, but once again the sun was in full factor. Park was pretty nice - gravel paths, decent scenary with a lake and baseball/softball fields, and pretty much just a park. 2 Loops around this 1.5 mile trek, definitely a few hills here but nothing suicidal. Lined up with the very few people that showed up for the rescheduled event (was rained out a couple weeks ago and rescheduled) and off we went! Went out pretty hard, no one around me. Kind of was feeling tired, but moving ok. Went through the first mile at 5:50, saw absolutely no one around me and decided right there it wasn't worth it to kill myself and shifted from 4th gear to 2nd. If anyone was going to catch up, I was prepared to unleash the unholiest of kicks. To make a long story short, no one was within sight of me even after slowing down, and I enjoyed a fun 2 mile victory stroll. About as easy of a victory as you could ever have in a race. Time - 19:58 (yes you read that correctly). 1st out of 20ish? Awesome trophy :)
Well, those are my quick thoughts in a nutshell. Last night, got out with Pat and Crystal and did an easy 4 on the trail. Gorgeous outside, still having some breathing issues (yes I need to go to the doctor), but felt decent for the most part. Hit 8-9 minute pace throughout and sped up towards the end. Got in an extra 2 solo late at night when it was getting really chilly, but I love running in this weather :) Some sort of speed work tonight (nothing too hard) and easy mileage - plan on getting around 40ish this week if my body cooperates :)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sorry Part 2!
Well, I have pretty much lost control on my blogging the last couple months. The new job and heavy work travel has kept things pretty difficult to keep up, but there are no excuses and I just plain suck. Sorry yet again, and need to give a quick update on what has been going on. Really quick, here is a Berlin Marathon recap, words from Meb, and Ryan Hall isn't running Chicago :(
Well the last ?? weeks have been very inconsistent, and I have been battling lack of motivation and some health ailments that have hampered a decent amount of workouts. I ran the Italian Fest 5K last month in 18:23 (still working on a race recap and pictures), and actually won the Inaugural Midwest Wing Festival 5K over in Fairview, although this race was rescheduled (less people) and the level of competition wasn't too high (still working on a race recap and pictures). Followed that up with a 44 mile week which was solid and got in a good long run with Mike and Crystal after taking a month off of long runs!
This week was going pretty good - raced the Lewis and Clark 1/2 Marathon, so kept the levels down. Did an AWESOME tempo run with Crystal on Tuesday - we did a mile warmup, then did a tempo run (splits - 6:35, 6:42, 6:41, 6:36, 6:32, 6:22) which felt amazing easy. Mile down, then I added a couple later on for a solid run. Got in a couple runs in Memphis when I was there for work, but nothing too great. LC 1/2 Recap - got there pretty early, did a 10-15 minute warmup with Crystal and discussed strategy. Lined up with Crystal, Mike (who was also running), and Tim (Crystal's coach) and got off to a good start. Weather was cold, but gorgeous - perfect to be out. Went out in 6:26 feeling good, but shortly after my lungs started to seriously feel like they were failing, and almost had to start walking because I couldn't breathe. My lungs seriously shut down - it was like racing at altitude, but 1000 times worse. Needless to say, my race was over. Mike was awesome and fell back with me, and ran the rest of the race with me to see me to the end. Worst pain I have ever felt, and it was a suffering run. Nothing more to note but was proud to have gutted through it and finished pretty strong. The crazy guy that started singing really loud to himself around mile 11-12 gets credit for me dropping a 6:22 last mile to get as humanly far away from him as possible even though my chest felt like it was about to explode...
Crystal, on the other hand, dropped a massive PR and ran an amazing time of 1:25:53!!! Great splits, very consistent, and she looked strong throughout. 4th overall female, first in her age group. It didn't surprise me at the very least, and she put in the work to get to that time. Indy should be the icing on the cake, and I hope I can help steer her to her goals as her official pacer of the final 13 miles. 3:10 shouldn't be too much of an issue for her at this point...
My goals have changed considerably with this latest setback, and pretty much shutting down any competitive racing notions for the rest of the year, as well as planning to see a doctor to find out what the heck is going on with my body. No plans to run hard at Philly - looking like a 13.1 mile jog at this point, but not necessarily a bad thing :) 2010 has been a very up and down year, but I will reaccess my goals for 2011 and reflect on what has happened over the last 10 months.
This all being said, I do not have any plans to decrease mileage - in fact, with the fall upon us (my favorite running weather), I plan on enjoying a couple months of easy running and minimizing tough workouts to try to get back to 100%. Will try my hardest to be back in full blogging capacity!
Well the last ?? weeks have been very inconsistent, and I have been battling lack of motivation and some health ailments that have hampered a decent amount of workouts. I ran the Italian Fest 5K last month in 18:23 (still working on a race recap and pictures), and actually won the Inaugural Midwest Wing Festival 5K over in Fairview, although this race was rescheduled (less people) and the level of competition wasn't too high (still working on a race recap and pictures). Followed that up with a 44 mile week which was solid and got in a good long run with Mike and Crystal after taking a month off of long runs!
This week was going pretty good - raced the Lewis and Clark 1/2 Marathon, so kept the levels down. Did an AWESOME tempo run with Crystal on Tuesday - we did a mile warmup, then did a tempo run (splits - 6:35, 6:42, 6:41, 6:36, 6:32, 6:22) which felt amazing easy. Mile down, then I added a couple later on for a solid run. Got in a couple runs in Memphis when I was there for work, but nothing too great. LC 1/2 Recap - got there pretty early, did a 10-15 minute warmup with Crystal and discussed strategy. Lined up with Crystal, Mike (who was also running), and Tim (Crystal's coach) and got off to a good start. Weather was cold, but gorgeous - perfect to be out. Went out in 6:26 feeling good, but shortly after my lungs started to seriously feel like they were failing, and almost had to start walking because I couldn't breathe. My lungs seriously shut down - it was like racing at altitude, but 1000 times worse. Needless to say, my race was over. Mike was awesome and fell back with me, and ran the rest of the race with me to see me to the end. Worst pain I have ever felt, and it was a suffering run. Nothing more to note but was proud to have gutted through it and finished pretty strong. The crazy guy that started singing really loud to himself around mile 11-12 gets credit for me dropping a 6:22 last mile to get as humanly far away from him as possible even though my chest felt like it was about to explode...
Crystal, on the other hand, dropped a massive PR and ran an amazing time of 1:25:53!!! Great splits, very consistent, and she looked strong throughout. 4th overall female, first in her age group. It didn't surprise me at the very least, and she put in the work to get to that time. Indy should be the icing on the cake, and I hope I can help steer her to her goals as her official pacer of the final 13 miles. 3:10 shouldn't be too much of an issue for her at this point...
My goals have changed considerably with this latest setback, and pretty much shutting down any competitive racing notions for the rest of the year, as well as planning to see a doctor to find out what the heck is going on with my body. No plans to run hard at Philly - looking like a 13.1 mile jog at this point, but not necessarily a bad thing :) 2010 has been a very up and down year, but I will reaccess my goals for 2011 and reflect on what has happened over the last 10 months.
This all being said, I do not have any plans to decrease mileage - in fact, with the fall upon us (my favorite running weather), I plan on enjoying a couple months of easy running and minimizing tough workouts to try to get back to 100%. Will try my hardest to be back in full blogging capacity!
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