3:10:59

USA XC Championships Recap

2012-02-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

Centro, Rupp's new record, Shalane and Kara, Kiplagat is fast, USA XC, the photo finish in the race (see above), and an interview with the champion, Sara Hall.

Lots to catch up on, so here we go:

Saturday, February 4th - 8 miles. Ran with Pat on a overcast and drizzly afternoon. Original plans were to do some xc work, but the heavy rain all night and morning was going to make the course unrunnable, so opted for mileage. Felt pretty good out there. Don't have the overall time, but splits were all around low 9's/high 8's.

Sunday, February 5th - 8 miles. Ran with Crystal - perfect conditions to run. Felt pretty good out there, but legs were a little tired. Home Depot route, which flew by. 66 something overall, I believe. 47 miles this week, 31 miles in February, 196.5 miles for 2012.

Monday, February 6th - 4 miles. Ran easy at home pretty late. Parents were in town, and spent all night cleaning but managed to sneak out late to do this. Don't remember time, but was pretty exhausted. 270 loop plus a little extra - sloooow.

Tuesday, February 7th - 6 miles. Forest Park run with Timmy after work. Misty conditions, and my legs felt like complete garbage. Just really tired, and felt like I could barely lift my feet up. Tim was awesome - had already run his 6 miles, and joined me for another loop. Stomach was in complete knots, so was a painful run on top of my dead legs.

Wednesday, February 8th - 0! Fell asleep into a deep coma after work, and just couldn't get myself out the door. Really disappointing, but the rest wasn't a bad thing.

Thursday, February 9th - 8 miles - ran with Candace at Forest Park. We were both running the USA National Cross Country championships on Sat., and wanted to preview the course. Pretty chilly night - jogged to the Central Fields from the visitors center, then tried to figure out where the course was. It had flags and posts to mark the trails, but had difficulty following them with the chilly conditions and darkness. Anyways, ran a few loops before Ben saw us and told us we were going the wrong way. Ran one more loop the "right way", then did a few more around FP before calling it a day. Course was in good condition - they had been working on it with all the rain, and there were a few muddy spots but very tolerable. Hilly as always, but that's Forest Park.

Friday, February 10th - 0! Immediately after work, went to a sports panel discussion at SLU High School to listen to Ryan Hall and Desi Davila speak! Lots of fun - they had a big pasta dinner sponsored by Onesto's Pizza, and we had a nice group there to listen to the speakers. Ryan Hall was really funny - told a few hilarious stories, and had some interesting insights on running. Got to meet both briefly, and got some autographs. Very cool when Hall asked me about Boston (wore my Boston 1/2 zip), and funny when Crystal called him out on the "supposed tailwinds" from 2011 Boston. She will hear that one for awhile.

Saturday, February 11th - 10 miles (USA XC CHAMPIONSHIPS 4K - 15:49, 40th place). Coldest day of the year by far - 16 degrees, 20 mile per hour winds, and just FREEZING. Drove out to FP early, and parked at the Visitor's Center since the bastards were trying to charge me for parking. Warmed up the course, and ran a little more just to get some feeling in my feet since I literally couldn't feel them. My race was pretty early - went ok, but just rough conditions to run with the cold and the wind. First quarter mile or so, you run in a flat open field before turning around and looping around the perimeter of the park, which is moderately hilly - you come back up a huge hill, then back onto the flat portion before looping back around. Anyways, started out pretty quick, but literally had the winds taken out of my sails because of the wind. Nasal passages were completely clogged, and felt like I was having an asthma attack (very reminiscent of 2010 Fast and Flurryous XC race) so slowed down a little to catch my breath. Eventually got it back, but was hurting from the wind and cold. Had a few footing issues on the back stretch, but then hit the 2nd loop and really had it in cruise control where I was working but not killing myself. Couldn't really get myself to go into the next gear, which was disappointing, but what can you do? Time was ok, nothing great, but got in a nice workout at the very least. Afterwards, cooled down, ran back to my car to change and bundle up, then proceeded to watch the next 6 races running all over Forest Park and hiding in the warm tents when I could. Ran into Desi in the Big River section and hung out with her for a bit (super cool!), then Pat and I ran into Ryan Hall out on the course, who was cheering his wife. Talked with him for a few minutes, and got a picture with him. Watched Crystal run the women's race - very proud of her performance, and she represented STL very well! Watched a thrilling ending to the women's race, then cooled down with Crystal before watching the end of the men's race. Ran a few more miles looking for my car since I forgot where I parked. All in all, a very fun day, and can't wait till next year when the USA XC Championships are back!!!

Sunday, February 12th - 10 miles. Ran with Pat (and Crystal and Candace - well sort of) on a cool afternoon on Old Faithful. The plan was an easy run, but Pat and I knew that wasn't going to happen with the Killer C's, so hung back and formed our own "chase pack". Anyways, felt pretty good out there, and helped pace Pat to a solid run. Ran back on the trails to catch Megan at the end of her long run, and ran her in. 7 mile time (with Pat) was 1:01:24, I think. 38 miles this week, 69 miles in February, 234.5 miles in 2012.

So had a really fun week with some decent running. With that said, all focus is now on gaining speed and strength for my aggressive March racing schedule.

Coming down the stretch in the USA XC Champs

Crystal tearing it up on the first loop

Desi and I

Hall and I

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

2012-02-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Watch out Meb!, Desi, Hall, Hall's coach, Ritz, and how I am going to get my 6-pack back.

Fell way behind on blogging, so lots to catch up on so bear with me and my short-term memory!

Friday, January 27th - 4 miles. Ran late at night after a wonderful dinner at Farmhaus with Megan (paid for by my mad fantasy football skills). If you ever have a chance to try some amazing food, check it out. Served almost like tapas and very fresh, organic food (try the "breakfast"!). Anyways, getting back on the subject, ran the 270 loop and tacked on a little extra. Don't remember time. Felt a little sluggish.

Saturday, January 28th - 5 miles (1 up, 3x1 mile, 1 down). Went to SIUE Mud Mountain course to get in some XC work for the USA National Cross Country Championships in a couple weeks. Obviously not much time to prepare, but wanted to get my legs reacquainted to xc running. Too lazy to get up early to run the Forest Park course with the group, so figured that Mud Mountain (very tough and hilly) would suffice. Basically ran the 5K course with 3 minute breaks in between reps. The course was a muddy mess, with a ton of debris everywhere. Had to stop a couple times because of fallen limbs, and a rotweiller who jumped all over me at the end of my 2nd rep (why the dog wasn't on a leash is beyond me). Other than that, the workout really sucked. Forgot how goddamn hilly Mud Mountain was. Hard to get any grip on the terrain since it was so slippery, and I was taking any downhills and corners very cautiously for fear of completely wiping out. Effort felt a lot harder than it should have, but it was pretty slow conditions. Splits were: 6:22, 6:39 (dog gets credit for messed up split), 6:21.

Sunday, January 29th - 11 miles. Ran with Crystal in the morning. Home Depot to Meridian to Old Faithful, good weather, tired legs. Supposed to be 90 minutes, but we had picked the pace up and didn't let up. Finished out the last mile since we have about a quarter mile left to round it out, and felt pretty good. 92ish minutes, overall - negative split fo shizzle. 37.5 miles this week, 133.5 miles for January, 133.5 miles for 2012.

Monday, January 30th - 8 miles + drills. Ran the Big River group run 7 mile loop with Crystal, Justin, and a few others. Branched off to get some drills in, then a nice group dinner at the Mack postrun. Felt ok, but tired overall. 1:06:27 overall...

Tuesday, January 31st - 8 miles. Ran after work with Crystal on the trail. Her headlamp is starting to pay off. Nothing special here - felt pretty good and in control. Legs were tired starting out, but felt progressively better as we kept going. Hit the last mile hard. 1:06 something overall. 149.5 miles for January - not too great, but not bad considering how much time I took off.

Wednesday, February 1st - 5 miles (3x(2x200, 1x400), 2 down). Major traffic jam on I-270 East going home caused me to be uber late for my track workout with Crystal. Got to the track, then immediately jumped into a fast 400 meter repeat which we went out too hard, so had a hard time trying to get in sync with the pace (mile effort: ~5:05). Effort felt really hard, and it's clear I don't have much turnover nor strength. But the lack of warmup probably hurt too. Couldn't keep up with Crystal, so tucked in behind her and worked off her - much, much better. Slow cooldown afterwards felt awesome. Splits were: 36,37, 1:16, 35, 37, 1:14, 35, 36, 1:15.

Thursday, February 2nd - 6 miles. Got Mike to come out for this. Felt like poop. Did Village Circle Loop, then 270 Loop to finish it out. Just felt like I was pushing it most of the way. Talked nonstop sports, which always makes time fly by. 50:56 total.

Friday, February 3rd - 4 miles + strides. Early morning with Crystal, first one of the year. Not a happy camper getting up at 5:40 a.m. (assist to Franklin for kneading his paws into my shoulder and stomach for attention), and begrudgingly drove to the track in pitch black. Both of us forgot our Garmins, so ran 2 mile loop nearby, then 2 miles on the track. Strides afterwards (6 total on the straightaway) - focused on form mainly. Felt like poop overall, but glad this was over with. 34:40 overall for the run.

Some XC work tomorrow, then long run Sunday (Happy Super Bowl!). Hoping the rain stays away, and the weather stays exactly as it has in the 60's...

Ohhhhh, sometimes I get a good feeling...

2012-01-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

Meb and hitting the wall, running doesn't suck, Top 10 travel marathons, Bernard Legat, Ritz is moving on, how will the U.S. marathon team do in London?, Mo and Paula training in Kenya, more on that, interval workouts and rest times, Paula running a half in Vienna, Ryan Hall, Abdi, Hendrick Ramaala qualifies for his 5th Olympics, and Ethiopia dominance in Dubai.

Thursday, January 19th - 4 miles. I can't remember this. I do remember getting yelled at by Coach Crystal about taking some time off to recharge, plus more importantly getting healthy again.

Friday, January 20th - 0! Time for a break

Saturday, January 21st - 0! Break continues

Sunday, January 22nd - 0! I can get used to this. 16 glorious miles this week, 96 miles in January, 96 for 2012.

Monday, January 23rd - 4.5 miles. Group run with Crystal and Tim. Ran a couple laps around Francis Park, then headed back in. Felt pretty good out there, and I was probably pushing the pace more than I'd care to admit, but it felt good to be out there. Back felt better but still tender on the lower right side. 34:21 total time.

Tuesday, January 24th - 6 miles (1 up, 8x400 meters, 3 down). Ran with Tim over at DuBourgh. Target to hit around 5K pace (1:25-1:27 lap pace), and it felt much better than the 1:17-1:20's we were hitting before. Legs felt generally good, but I could tell that I need to build on strength since they were getting tired the last 100 meters or so. 1 minute in between reps, 3 minutes in between sets. Had some major stomach issues, so ended up calling it a day early. Got a little lost running back in, which was fine but was worn out at the end. Battling a cold/sore throat, so energy level was low. Splits were: 1:26, 1:23, 1:25, 1:25, 1:24, 1:25, 1:26, 1:24.

Wednesday, January 25th - 0! Rain + 30 degree temps = no run. Not the end of the world since I still felt like poop, so went to bed early instead.

Thursday, January 26th - 7 miles. Got home a little early, so decided to try to hit the Troy route on the trails since there was still some daylight. Well, miscalculated a bit, and it was pretty dark once I turned around. Then it started to rain. So running in the dark with foggy/wet glasses in the rain and into the wind = sucks. Not surprisingly, booked it home with all these awful conditions. Good part of this run was running with an mp3 player - got a good signal to FM 107.7 (ohhh sometimes, I get a good feeling!!!), and was listening to a great mix they were playing. Bad part - in my dancing/running, started too fast, then really had to hightail it the last few miles to get home. Dead legs coming in, and 0 energy. Crawled into the shower, I was so tired. 48:20 total; splits were: 7:15, 7:13, 7:04, 6:52; 6:45, 6:37, 6:33. And yes, I will inevitably be yelled at, but was just in a good mood and should have checked my watch to regulate.

Signed up for a few more races - USA Cross Country Championships in a couple weeks (open 4K), and Crystal, Mike, Gabe, and I signed up for the GO! St. Louis Marathon relay! Should be a fun time, and works in perfectly in my schedule to hit a good 6 mile tempo. Going to run at SIUE this week to get in a little XC work, then easy long run on Sunday.

Houston 1/2 Marathon/Olympic Trials Recap

2012-01-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

Kara, Meb, Amy, Gotcher, Wardian, SI pics, Ritz, Desi, US Men, Mens race analysis, Women's race analysis, Nick Symmonds selling ad space on his shoulder, US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Jenny Simpson, competition can be kind, great places to train, Blake targeting Bolt, and Kenyan Olympic marathoning teams.

Back after a long week of travel. One of the biggest weekends in running ever so without further adieu, here we go:

Monday, January 9^th – 4 miles. Ran the Big River Monday group run with Crystal, Pat, and Timmy. Kept the pace honest, nothing crazy here. 9-9:30 pace, I believe.

Tuesday, January 10^th – 5 miles. Ran in Tower Grove Park with Tim after work. Pretty cool park to run in, and have never ventured in that area. Chilly outside, and we looped around the perimeter and through the park. Had a nice pond, and some cool light displays. I’ll be back there. Last mile, was looking for my car – felt like it was taking forever to find it, and I was pretty pooped. Back was still pretty sore.

Wednesday, January 11^th – 0! Plan was to run mile repeats early. To my defense, I was up and ready to go, but rain in the morning killed any chance of running, mainly because of the fear of slipping and wrenching my back even further. Time to take some time off to heal up. Bring on some Advil!

Thursday, January 12^th – 0! Feeling about the same as yesterday.

Friday, January 13^th – ~2 miles. Travel day to Houston. Flew out of Lambert in the morning with Pat, Crystal, Tim, and Megan. Got settled in during the afternoon, then Tim and I stepped out to get in an easy 20 minutes. We were staying downtown, very close to the start and finish of the races. Ate lunch at the Grove (yummy), then went to go do packet pickup. Tim and I squeezed in a quick run, and looped around downtown. Ran around Minute Maid park, and hit about a billion stop lights. Seemed like an ok part of town, and the architecture reminded me of STL a lot (little big city).

Got dinner at some small bar at our hotel bartender’s recommendation, then met up with Ben and the rest of the Big River crew over at the Hilton, where all the athletes were staying. Had a few adult beverages to celebrate Ben’s birthday, then hung out with Adam before he turned in for the night. Sounded like he was amped and ready to go for the marathon on Saturday. Went out to the Flying Saucer for a quick nightcap, and hung out with some of the BRR crew. Ran into Brian Sell over there – super cool.

Saturday, January 14^th - ~2 miles. Looped around downtown with the group during the afternoon. Nothing crazy to note, and felt ok but still sore as heck. Woke up bright and early to meet up with the Big River crew at the Hilton. Waited for the group to come down, when I noticed Bill Rodgers standing behind me. Super cool! Went over and talked to him for a few minutes about the Trials, saw Joan Benoit and Meb’s brother walking around the lobby, before we left.

Walked over to the convention center, where we literally ran into Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan doing some dynamic stretching. Totally in heaven now! Made our way to the start, and watched the men’s start. Kind of cool where they released the men into the corral right before the start of the race, which sort of reminded me of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. After the start, made our way to the 2 mile marker, where we watched Ryan Hall lead the pack of men through. Amazing how fast those guys are in person! Anyways, ran back for the women’s start, then set camp around the 10/18/26 mile mark where we could watch everything. With the staggered start between the men and women, we saw people every 20 minutes or so, so it was virtually nonstop.

Coolest things I witnessed were (a) Meb passing a group of women on his way to the win – the women cheering for him as a group, then him cheering right back and pumping his fist. Gives me goosebumps just writing it. (b) towards the end, Adbi checking over his shoulder at what seemed to be every other step, looking for a charging Ritz who had closed a 30 second gap to 8 seconds. Ritz gave it everything he had, and you could totally tell given his body motion and his face, which was absolutely contorted because of the effort he was giving. (c) Watching Adam, who was a machine. We got an “Adam” chant started on his last lap, and it was great to see him run a PR and finish in the top 40. Very thrilling to watch, and an amazing accomplishment. Went to dinner at McCormick and Schmidts, and had a good meal of stuffed salmon. Watched the NFL playoffs, then turned in early.

Sunday, January 15^th – 14 miles – HOUSTON ½ MARATHON – 1:28:27 (296/~9400 overall). Woke up early and did a 10 minute shakeout run with Tim and Crystal. Back was very tight, so wanted to loosen up a bit. Walked down to the start, and lined up in place with Crystal not too far from the front. Got very annoyed at the many runners that were trying to force themselves up to the very front, even though we were about to squashed in tightly as possible. Was very cramped up from standing in place like a statue, so the start wasn’t very pleasant. Quickly weaved our way into position, then tried to settle in. First mile, you go up this huge hill over the Elysian Viaduct, then work your way into some neighborhoods. Felt ok on the first mile (fast), then about a half mile further, grabbed some water. Next thing I knew, I was a few seconds behind Crystal, and we hit a fast second mile. She was looking smooth and in a zone, and I wasn’t going to hit anything much faster than what I had been, so tried to get myself locked into pace. Made it through the next couple miles fine (split 19:48 5K, 25:32 4 mile), but started to have some problems with my back. Fell a little off pace, but was still trying to hold on. So around mile 5-6, you weave through a few long rolling hills, and then I started to fall apart. Tried to adjust my form, but really just ended up ruining myself and killing my legs since I was running very flat footed with this adjustment. Split the 10K in 40:34, and it was pretty much over – I couldn’t believe how fast it took to fall off pace. I just couldn’t move my legs the way they needed to at this point.

Contemplated dropping out, but I was so far out that I would have had to walk back anyways, so just tried to hang on for the sake of the team competition. Got passed by at least a million people, and glumly trotted forward in my low 7 minute miles. There is a hairpin turn around the 9.5 mile mark, so you got to see the leaders run by for a mile or so – saw Crystal later on (she was about a half mile ahead of me at this point), which helped perk me up. When I looped around, started looking out for Tim, Pat, and Megan which really helped me concentrate and focus on something positive. Timmy looked great, and I tried to calculate where he was at after we fistbumped, and thought he might be on pace for his goal; missed everyone else, then we took a right hand turn and run towards the city. Made it through mile 11, and was just a mess – quads were shredded, back felt like knives were stabbing me every step, and I just tried to focus on making it through these last couple miles. Calculated that I needed to run the last 2.1 in 14 minutes to break 1:29 – I tried, I really tried. Last mile, I was running to the cheers of the crowd, and did everything I possibly could. I couldn’t feel anything - it was the weirdest feeling ever and don’t know if it was just adrenaline or what. Passed a few runners going in (probably the only runners I passed all race), then finished the race.

Found Crystal, who set an amazing PR (1:23:37 – CONGRATS), and was so happy for her – she worked so hard for this, and ran extraordinarily well. We went back to the hotel to change and grab clothes for the others. Found out that everyone else PRed (CONGRATS Pat, Tim, and Megatron!), and started the celebration! Watched more of the runners finish, then headed to Lucky Strike Bowl – met up with Adam and Brian there, bowled for a while, ate dinner at Guadalajara (Tex-Mex) for some yummy Mexican food, then bar hopped around downtown. Ran into Josh Cox and Amy Hastings at the Flying Saucer which was very cool – both super nice people, and would have liked to have hung out with them all night.

27 miles this week, 80 miles in January, 80 for 2012

Monday, January 16^th – ~3 miles. Last night’s celebration took its toll, as Tim and I were a complete mess. Got up eventually to run around town for a bit. Ran through downtown on a very warm and sunny day (70’s), and just felt like complete garbage. Flew back in the evening – sad to leave Houston, but was a very fun weekend.

Tuesday, January 17^th – 4 miles. Uber cold outside. Ran very slow, and very bundled up. Looped 270 then tacked a little extra.

Wednesday, January 18th - ~5 miles. Ran with Tim around Francis Park after work. Freezing cold. Ran for about 41 minutes - legs were sore, but felt a little better afterwards.

Well, the race was very disappointing on many levels, and I wish I could have done better. I physically couldn’t have done much more, so that is my saving grace. I usually try to take something out of every race, but I didn’t really achieve anything so not sure what to think. I know I’m somewhat fit, and I know I can do better. My legs are still a bit of a mess, so plan on some light running for the next week or 2, then start on the speed block for AOH 5K, Shamrock, and hopefully blaze through a good PR in D.C. for Cherry Blossom. I split high 1:06’s in Houston despite virtually jogging the last 4 miles of that, so I know I can PR there on a decent day. I think I am going to sign up for the USTA Cross Country Championships in February, which is being held in Forest Park – it would be great speedwork, and fun to do the course that the pros are running the next day.

I talked with Crystal today, and going to start working with her on my running plans and training for the next few months with her as my consultant/coach. We train together, so it won’t be difficult to work out, but there are a lot of other areas I need to improve on, starting with doing better corework and nutrition. I need better accountability moving forward in my running and training, if I hope to improve. I’ve been better at being disciplined over the last couple months, but quite honestly there is still a long way to go. I want to PR in the ½ before this year is over – I know I can do it, and just need to work hard enough for it.

Hello Houston!

The lovely Miss Kara Goucher in person

Shalane stretching prerace

Bak leading the chase pack

Here comes Adam!

Quite the duel

Megan and I

Crystal and I coming between Miles 1 and 2

Hello?

Tim, Amy Hastings (the future Mrs. Timothy Allison), and I at Flying Saucer

6 more days!

2012-01-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

Rupp withdraws from the Trials, Meb gets ready, Hall, 12 Fun Facts about the Olympic Trials, Makau talks about his record, Tips for racing at the trials, and Brent Vaughn.

Friday, January 6th - 7 miles. Ran after work around. Got in a pretty good rhythm and later on found out I negative split every mile. I sensed a little frustration in myself during that run from Thursday's failure, but felt decent for the most part. Splits were: 7:54, 7:43, 7:38, 7:28, 7:15, 6:36.

Saturday, January 7th - 5 miles (4 miles - 25:22). Last opportunity for a pace run before it was too late. Slept all afternoon, then got up early evening to hit this. With a little bit of yesterday's run lingering in me (and technically the 2 miles at pace on Thursday), I just wanted to hit 4 miles at pace and feel comfortable just for my own confidence. Ran a little hillier to make it more challenging. Well, mission accomplished. Had a lot more energy (more sleep and eating more iron/protein foods helps amazingly), and felt pretty good out there. Could have kept going, which is always a great sign. Perfect weather to run (40-50's and cool, barely any wind), and ran in my flats which I decided I'm going to run with in Houston. Splits were fast because my Garmin was jumping around so damn much, and it was dark outside - 6:22, 6:20, 6:21, 6:17. 10 minute jog to cool down. Wrenched my back, so was in discomfort all night.

Sunday, January 8th - 8 miles (1:08:27). The Twinkie Run. Mike came over in exactly the same shirt, so we hit the trails for an easy run. Back was still a mess, but not as bad when running. Kept it pretty steady, and felt ok for the most part. Long stretching postrun, then literally sat on the couch the rest of the day. Had visions of running again easy at night, but failed miserably. 45 miles this week, 53 miles in January, 53 miles in 2012.

Back is still really sore, but getting a little better. Easy running all week, LOTS of stretching, LOTS of eating good food, and LOTS of rest. Fly out on Friday morning with everyone, and super excited!

More Trials

2012-01-06T07:14:00.000-08:00

Ryan Hall, Ryan Hall training Ryan Reynolds, defending Boston champs returning in April, Ryan Bak's return, American runners to watch, RW preview, a new world record this spring?, NYC Marathon to be televised next fall, Mo running for the 2 mile world record, Houston 1/2, Meb is ready, Kevin Hanson chat, and the Olympic Trials for all US sports.

Tuesday, January 3rd - 6 miles. Ran with Pat and Crystal after work. Did a few miles on the trail, then finished up with a couple loops around the neighborhood. Pretty standard - sped up the last couple miles, but felt pretty natural. 51:10

Wednesday, January 4th - 6 miles. Same as yesterday, but did it all on the trails. 49 something total?

Thursday, January 5th - 7 miles. Scheduled 8 mile tempo at half marathon pace with Crystal. Had a bad night's sleep, and woke up early to do this workout. Warmup went ok, but was definitely sleep walking a little. Plan was to loop around Home Depot-GC loop. Pace never felt good, and my form started to go at about 1.5 miles. Then with each step, the effort became harder and harder to the point where I was done. Stopped at mile 2 for a minute, then restarted but couldn't get any pace under 7 minutes. Stopped again, tried to figure out what to do, then ultimately decided to jog it in since I was in no shape to run another 8 miles completely on empty. To makes matters worse, my stomach was a mess, and I basically walked/jogged it in. I don't know what happened, but lack of sleep and lack of food in the morning may have contributed. Mile splits were: 6:24, 6:31, blah.

Well, my death on the trails on the key indicator workout is not a good omen for next weekend. The last few weeks have been borderline disastrous, so I need to work on getting back to good health and getting my legs back. Saturday, going to do some pace work, but not 8 miles - I think there is enough time to fully recover but not going to chance it, so aiming at 4 miles pace then some strides. I need a good workout to wrap up this block and feel confident going into next weekend.

I also need to really watch my food intake (quality) and get some rest - sleep has not been good (nor enough) lately, and I feel lethargic at almost all points of the day. Going to work hard on eating good nutritious food, and load up on iron and protein in the next week to try to gain some more sustainable energy.

2011 in Review

2012-01-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

Track end of year review, Brent Vaughn, Emerald Nuts Midnight Run.

Wednesday, December 28th - 6 miles. Don't remember much of this run quite honestly. Had dinner with Stu who was in town, so fun to get a lot of us together for a fun night at Laurie's.

Thursday, December 29th - 5 miles, another blanker. I have 39:04 on my Timex, so a little quicker than usual.

Friday, December 30th - 5 miles. Ran at lunch with Ryan at Creve Couer Park. WINDY. 43 and some change, I believe...

Saturday, December 31st - 11 miles (1 up, 2x3 mile tempo, 4 down). Last run of 2011! With my rearranging the schedule around, decided to hit this one on the trails since I missed it last week. WINDY again (30+ mph winds), so jogged out to the start point. Plan was to hit race pace (6:25), since I didn't think I had 6:15s in me that day, nor did I want to do slower than 6:30's. Wanted to run 1.5 out and back for the first rep, but I literally had the wind taken out of my sails (ran into a tornado), and was defeated bad. Hit 2 miles, and was on empty. Cursed at myself for awhile, and had already quit (started jogging back home) but somehow talked myself into sucking it up and trying to get at least another mile or 2 at tempo so I felt better about myself. Ran towards Home Depot (hillier but at least downwind), and felt remarkably better. Decided to hit the entire rep - trail winds around so had a strong cross breeze, but still not as evil as directly into the wind. 2 minute break, then decided to hit the mile I missed earlier. Well, the last third of the mile, it runs back open directly into the wind, so was in survival mode. Hit a good split, and literally was done. Walked/jogged it back in - legs felt shredded. Splits were: 12:52 (6:27, 6:25), 19:05 (6:23, 6:23, 6:19), 6:18. Bittersweet, as I was very pleased about coming back and finishing the workout when I had already quit, but really shouldn't have felt so hard. December mileage: 191 miles. 2011 mileage: 2071 miles

Sunday, January 1st - 8 miles. Happy New Year!!! Team Sullentrup run with Crystal, Timmy, Devin, and Pat. WINDY yet again, but sunny. Legs felt like garbage, so wanted to go easy. Timmy made a pitstop at the turnaround point, so waited for him while Crystal and Devin ran it in. Felt better with the small break, and progressively got looser as each mile went on. 1:09:04 total. 35 miles this week, 8 miles in 2012.

Monday, January 2nd - 6 miles. Ran with Crystal and Tim in mid afternoon. WINDY yet again, will this ever end? 30 mph winds = sucks for running. Felt like poop starting out, but got into a good groove rather quickly. Solid run, all in all. 49:26, I think (8:18 avg pace)

So here is my 2011 review. Pretty disappointing all around. Had some good workouts early, but was working off some banked mileage from the past, and never got into a good level of fitness. Really let myself go, until the later part of the year when I picked it up.

Favorite Workout: A tie - this crazy workout with Crystal earlier this year in Forest Park, and the more recent 2x2 miles a couple weeks ago. The long workout was grueling and tough, but a great confidence booster. The 2x2 mile tempo was one of the few times this year that a workout felt good, and I remember not feeling too great starting it out but hit some fabulous splits.

Favorite Race: There wasn't much to be proud of this year, but Boston is always the most special. Got to toe the line with Shane and Crystal, and run basically the coronation of running. Arguably, the race that means the most to me. A close second is the GO! Halloween 10K - while this was just a pace run for me, it was still a PR and one of the few times where it felt easy.

Favorite Long Run: Always a plethora of candidates, but this one will have to go to the D.C. Landmark run when we were in town for Shane's wedding. Got to see some amazing monuments, and had some great company as well. As I always say, the best way to see a city is to run through it!

Favorite Restaurant: The Block in Webster - go there!

2011 PR's:

2 Mile: 10:52 (Trot for Tots)

4 Mile: 26:02 (Steamboat Classic)

10K: 40:08 (GO! Halloween 10K)

2012 goals - anything better than 2011. I would like to PR in the half marathon (hopefully the next few weeks), 4 mile (maybe Steamboat again), 8K (Shamrock), 10K, 10 miler (Cherry Blossum), and gain some better speed again so I can race those 5Ks faster!

The end of 2011...

2011-12-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Watch more video of USA Olympic Marathon Trials 2012 Houston on flotrack.org

Brooks in the Olympic Trials, Masters runners in the Trials, Marathoners of the year, Jenny Simpson, 2011 recap.

Above video is my Big River teammate Adam MacDowell's workout - pretty amazing splits, and a very tough course that he ran! As for my running, took a bit of a break this week, but got in a couple good workout so here we go:

Monday, December 19th - 3 miles. Big River Christmas Lights run! Very rainy day, and pretty frustrating to run in the dark and rain with over 700 people. Ran around Francis Park, then hit up the neighborhoods and saw some pretty awesome Christmas Lights display, especially on "Candy Cane Lane". Almost bit the dust, when I got my foot stuck on some lawn ornaments, and Megan took a pretty nasty fall as well. Fun times, regardless of Mother Nature.

Tuesday, December 20th - 6 miles (2 up, 6x800 meters mile pace, 1 down). Note to self - never eat Thai food on the day of a tough workout. Crystal and I had been dreading this workout after the last week's toughy (400 meter repeats at mile pace), and the thoughts of 800 meters at the same pace was a little frightening. Anyways, quick warmup, decided to trade off the inner lane, and got started. Got through the first rep, but stomach was super upset so had to run to the Y to remedy the problem. Next few were tough, but was hanging on by a thread. Died on the 5th rep, but hung somewhat strong on the last rep to hit the workout, well as much as I could have. Really difficult, but did as much as I could have. Slow cooldown, felt like poop. Splits were: 2:35, 2:35, 2:36, 2:35, 2:52 (died after first mile), 2:40. Have honestly never hit a workout this fast before, so was very happy but it took a tremendous effort. Completely dead afterwards.

Wednesday, December 21st - 6 miles. I don't remember this run, but was scheduled 6.

Thursday, December 22nd - 10 miles (2 up, 5 mile tempo, 3 down). Crappy weather (spitting rain and windy), but decided to do on the track where we would be battling a tough wind, but running on a soft track and the ability to work together. And I needed all the help that I could get, with me struggling through another workout. Goal was to hit 6:20-6:25, which was a little more aggressive than scheduled, but thought with running on the track that we wanted to make it a little tougher. Felt ok starting out, but shoe became untied which really messed with my mind. Miles 3 and 4 were a struggle, but knew I was going to make it on the last mile. Crystal was a machine, and really helped pull me through by ceding the inner lane earlier on her laps on the last mile and a half. Hit great splits, better than planned, but worked harder than I would have liked. Splits were: 16:24 warmup (8:12, 8:12), 6:17, 6:17, 6:16, 6:18, 6:16 tempo, 8:48's for 3 mile cooldown.

Friday, December 23rd - 6 miles. Wanted to do long run, but wasted the day resting, and got out late. Perfect day to run - legs were a bit wrecked, but pace felt fine. Ran into Megan who was finishing up her long run, so ran her in. Wanted her to hit pace the last few miles, so worked with her to hit this. Crapped out on my desired mileage, but got something in. Really feeling fatigued - both mentally and physically

At night, went to this wonderful restaurant called "The Block" in Webster. Hands down one of the best meals I have had in 2011. They butcher their own meat on the spot, so the meats are as fresh as can be - something I appreciate greatly since I work in the food industry and consider myself a bit of a foodie. Cozy restaurant, with some basic but nice decore but not intimidating. Great atmosphere, which always helps (I can't stand places that are stuffy, or have a "dead" atmosphere - really ruins the experience). We split a salad, which came in 2 separate smaller bowls (very nice touch as opposed to sharing off one plate which tends to be sloppy), and the salad was full of components which were very tasty (plain salads suck). I ordered the pork chop, and Meg got the salmon which was one of the specials of the day. I tend to never order much seafood in the Midwest, since it never seems to be fresh enough, but her salmon was literally melting on my mouth - tremendous flavor (almost buttery), and cooked to perfection. Sherry and Steve both ordered the trout, which was also amazing - firm, yet delicate, and seasoned well but not too aggressive. Typically not a trout fan, but this was clearly different. They did enough to the fish to give it a great flavor profile, but not lose the integrity of the fish flavor itself. My pork chop was pretty amazing itself (seasoned well, and cooked perfectly), and the portion size was generous. Sweet potato hash on the side, and I was in a happy place. I don't think I have ever ordered dessert based soley on meal performance, but I HAD to find out how their desserts were, so ordered their bread pudding which was heavenly - served with what tasted like cinnamon ice cream, and literally had me eating like I was a starving Kenyan despite being stuffed from the main course. Beer and wine selection was decent, and we had a good bottle of pinot noir which I wish I remembered the name. Anyways, I never write much concerning the places we eat, but I have also never been this excited about a meal before and strongly urge you to try this out! Amazing place!

Saturday, December 24th - 0! - travel day home to Peoria. Had to run many last second errands, then had to get to late afternoon Christmas mass, then immediately to cooking steaks for dinner, so never had time to run. Not sweating it, as the day off was nice and needed a day to rest my dead legs. Seriously gained 2-3 lbs. from eating and drinking the night away.

Sunday, December 25th - 4 miles - Merry Christmas! Fun day of doing nothing but eating. Eventually made it out for a quick run solo (everyone else was being uber lazy), and forgot how damn hilly Peoria was. 29:32 was the time - picked it up coming back, so I would feel better about myself, but felt like a fat kid who had never exercised a day in his life. Seriously gained another 2-3 lbs. more from yet another gluttonous meal. 35 miles this week - ugh

Monday, December 26th - 0! Travel day home - slept terrible all weekend, so went to take a massive nap upon arrival in the afternoon thinking I would get in some mileage at night. Well when I woke up 3.5 hours later, it was raining, and literally didn't stop. Raining too hard to get out, so another day off it was.

Tuesday, December 27th - 0! Let the excuses continue. Marc and Trish in town, so met up with them after work. Went to Gian-Tony's on the Hill for dinner (tried Cunetto's, but an hour and a half wait - on a Tuesday night???). Alleged 15-20 minute wait, which was much longer, then took literally forever to get the food out. Meals were ok, but wasn't blown away. My chicken parmigian was tasty, but there was nothing that made it particularly special. Because dinner took so long, we didn't get out of there till 9:30, and I didn't get home till almost 10:30 which meant no run. Bah

Well, 2011 is almost up, and it's been pretty much a wasted year. I will review the very few highlights I had later this week. The most important thing is I'm back in better shape, and headed in the right direction in what I want to do. Houston in 2.5 weeks!!!

2000!

2011-12-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

Terrence Mahan, Greg McMillan, another Trials article, Galen Rupp running?!, runner helps catch a bandit, and Desi.

Friday, December 16th - 4 miles. Ran with Crystal late at night after work. She had already run 3, so tacked on another mile after we were done but couldn't make myself run anymore. Time to start the weekend! Don't remember the time, but it was pretty easy effort.

Saturday, December 17th - 8 miles. Ran with Timmy around town on the trails. Ran the Home Depot route on a nice, sunny day - perfect for running! Felt pretty good - picked it up coming home, and got in a nice run. Tim looked really strong out there. 8:38 average pace, don't remember the total time.

Sunday, December 18th - 13 miles (a.m. 2 up, 6 mile tempo, 3 down; p.m. 2 easy). A.M. - Met Crystal, Megan, and Cristina in Forest Park for the 6 mile tempo. Warmed up with Crystal to hit #2000 for the year, then back to stretch and change since it was getting hot outside. The idea was to hit a hilly venue for this half marathon pace run, as well as get some a good strength workout as well. Felt ok starting out, but hit Dinosaur Hill around the Science Center which took the wind out of my sails. Struggled going up Forest Park, and had to slow it down or risk complete death. Legs were pretty shot, and it was a rough day. Hit the long winding hill past Hampton headed up Skinker, and completely fell apart. Took a 4 minute walk break to get my legs back, then scampered back and finished the workout hard. Wanted to hit the last 2 under pace just so I felt like I had accomplished something, and managed to do that. Cooled down with Crystal, then caught Megan for a couple miles. Not a very good workout, but did the best I could. Went to Schlafly Taproom afterwards - beer tastes so much better after a hard workout! P.M. - ran recovery miles with Crystal in her neighborhood, to try to shake out as much of the workout as possible. Windy as heck, but the very slow pace felt fantastic! Tempo splits were: 6:20, 6:25, 6:28, 6:37, 6:17, 6:16.

44 miles this week - seemed like a whole lot more for some reason

Big River Running Christmas Lights Run tonight! Crazy trackwork tomorrow, which may be the hardest workout on our block, so stay tuned...

Closing in on 2000...

2011-12-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

Desi, Ryan Bak, the Trials, Clint Verran, holiday wish lists, what will it takes to win the Trials, Shalane, the most expensive running shoes EVER, Trials qualifier, Bolt, way to cheat a marathon (don't get any ideas), Tim Nelson, Ryan Hall.

Monday, December 12th - 6 miles + drills. Ran with Crystal and Tim on a cold day in Francis Park. Felt like complete garbage, and the slower pace felt like tempo pace. Definitely not the best day, but it got done. 51:43 total...

Tuesday, December 13th - 5 miles (2.5 up, 10 x hills, 1.5 down). Ran with Crystal and Tim again. Repeats were on the same hill in Francis Park, only 75 meters this time at mile pace. Really concentrated on form, and struggled through the last reps. Hit them all in 19 seconds, felt like worse garbage than the night before. Highlight was singing New Kids on the Block on the cooldown, which I'm sure confused anyone within a 1 block radius that heard our ridiculousness.

Wednesday, December 14th - 0! Self-imposed day off. Needed a small refresher, and was just feeling completely worn down. Rain all night didn't help, nor Franklin who was super cuddly so I ended up laying on the couch all night.

Thursday, December 15th - 8 miles (2 up, 2 x 2 miles tempo, 2 down). The day off recharged me to 15% instead of 0, so felt better. Right knee was bothering me, but nothing to stop the workout tonight. Village Circle loop with Pat and Crystal on a cold, windy night. Was super congested, which didn't help much. Warmed up on the trail, then got right into it. Really had problems locking in pace, and fell into that bad habit of monitoring my watch nonstop which made it harder. 2nd rep, relied more on effort and checking not as much, so that wasn't nearly as bad. Last mile of the last rep was hard, but I found it because Crystal was laying the hammer down. Really didn't have much in the tank, so laid off of it but still gave it a hard effort and pleased with the workout, despite not feeling the best. Splits were: 12:28 (6:16, 6:12), 12:14 (6:09, 6:05).

Feeling like garbage again today, and my body feels beat up. Slow mileage tonight and tomorrow, then pace run on Sunday. Mile 2000 for 2011 approaches fast - I think on Saturday!

If you're surging and you know it, clap your hands!

2011-12-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

Foot Locker XC Championships dramatic finish, USA Club Cross Championships, Berlin sold out :(, Paula raced in Monaco (course record!) as a tuneup, Honolulu Marathon, London Marathon, and Shalane wins in Miami.

Thursday, December 9th - 8 miles (2 up, 4 mile tempo (25:09) 2 down). Knee was killing me all day, so stretched it out thoroughly. Still was bugging me, but agreed to warm up with Crystal in her neighborhood in hopes that I could loosen up enough. Well, it worked and went at it. Made it through pretty easily (last mile was a little work), and felt very pleased with the workout. Her neighborhood is a mess of many turns, but we had perfect running weather (high 30's, but very still), and some Christmas lights to look at. 6:20, 6:12, 6:17, 6:16 were the splits.

Friday, December 10th - 5 miles. Out and back in the trail, didn't feel too hot. Took my Garmin into the shop to get the band fixed, and my Timex has been MIA for a week so no watch. Went by my Ipod time, which was 37-38 minutes if it was accurate. Grueling run for some reason.

Saturday, December 11th - 13 miles. Old Faithful after a long night out with Crystal and Megan. Just a terrible feeling run, and one of the few times where we were almost entirely silent. I think any distance would have been a struggle, quite honestly, and have been battling a minor cold which never helps. Could feel it every time we picked up the pace, so was singing this blog title to Crystal every single time which was a lot. 1:50:29 total. Sidney Street Cafe at night for dinner with Megan - delicious!

Sunday, December 12th - 6 miles. Waited till really late to get this one in, which was a mistake. Megan and I ran the first 3 miles together on the 270 loop, then looped around town to get in a few miles. Almost went further out, but encountered a pack of animals wandering out in a field, and decided not to chance it. Ran home, and almost pulled the trigger for a couple more, but just called it a night since it was well past 10 p.m. Quite honestly, it was a miracle that I even ran at all, so Megan gets all the props for running with me as I probably would have quit 10 minutes into it. 53:20 total. Wore my new Timex IM NYC Marathon watch - pretty cool, but a little bigger than I thought it would be. Bigger screen is nice though, but the indiglo sucks since I could barely see the time.

52 miles this week - not too shabby.

Christmas is next weekend - where has 2011 gone??? Big River group run tonight, then hill work tomorrow at Francis Park.

Trials!

2011-12-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Trials, trials, Kenya Olympic team, Paula seeks revenge, RNR Vegas issues, great article on GPS accuracy, Ryan Bak, and some super cool news about him.

Wednesday, December 8th - ~6 miles. Forest Park with Timmy after work. Felt ok, nothing too crazy to report. Ran for around 50 minutes.

Knees are killing me today. IT issues, I hope to work out tonight, otherwise I may have to flip flop days for tonight's workout with tomorrow.

37 more days till Houston...

2011-12-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Team Minnesota in Vegas, Paula makes the England Olympic Team, Clint Verran qualifies for the Trials, CIM Trials qualifier, one more, Simon Bairu tries to hit the standard, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher.

Monday, December 6th - 7 miles. Big River group run. Got roped into the 7 mile run, so ran with Crystal and Craig. Didn't feel too hot, and my left knee was bugging me. Cold outside too. Did a little faster than I would have liked, but nice to have good company. 55:29 total, had a huge group at the Mack which is always fun.

Tuesday, Decemver 7th - 6 miles (2 up, 12x400 meters, 1 down). Probably the coldest night in a while (low 30's) with a breeze. Crystal and I made our way to the track and did a quick warmup. Workout was 12x400 at mile pace (5:05-5:10) with 3 minutes rest, so aimed at 1:17 for our quarters. First rep was a rude awakening but figured it was just rustiness + the cold since we hadn't done speedwork like this in a while. Well made it to the halfway point with a good attitude, when it all started to fall apart. Really struggled coming in, but made it. 16:18 for the warmup, 400 meter splits were: 1:18, 1:15, 1:17, 1:17, 1:17, 1:17, 1:17, 1:17, 1:18, 1:17, 1:18, 1:17. Very pleased to hit good splits, but it was very hard.

Left knee is still hurting today despite some heavy stretching. Hoping tonight's run feels ok, then tempo tomorrow which is going to hurt.

First week of workouts complete!

2011-12-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

California International Marathon (congrats Ryan Bak for 2nd male overall and Olympic Trials Qualifier!), RNR Vegas.

Thursday, December 1st - 7 miles (2 up, 3x1 mile tempo, 2 down). Nice cool evening for a workout, and had in a weird way been looking forward to this one since it had been awhile since we had a workout. Ran with Crystal to Ebbets, and did some quick dynamic stretching before doing the workout. Usually I start to crap out after the first rep, but felt pretty strong the entire way through. Last quarter of the last rep, worked on sprint form which sped it up a bit. Great workout, very pleased. 16:20 up, 6:14, 6:13, 6:02 mile splits, 16:08 down.

Friday, December 2nd - 6 miles. Solo in Forest Park after work. Didn't feel too hot starting out, but went at it and ran at a decent clip. Wanted to get this done as soon as possible so I could go home and start the weekend. 44:59 total.

Saturday, December 3rd - 8 miles. Ran with Pat, Crystal, and Mike. Wasn't feeling very good (too much fun playing Kinect Sports 2 the night before), and was dragging like no other. Pretty sure any pace would have been torture, quite honestly. Glad to get this one over with. 1:14:52 total.

Sunday, December 4th - 12 miles. Last 2 at Half Marathon pace, the workout that I had been dreading ever since I saw the schedule. Old faithful/Home Depot route, which eliminated any out and back and kept the last 2 miles fairly flat. Raining lightly, but decided to bite the bullet and get at it. Amazing how a good night's rest makes a difference, as we were moving pretty good starting out. Mother Nature decided to have fun with us, and kept raining harder and harder as we got further and further out. I was pretty soaked 6 miles out, and my shirt felt like a heavy towel at that point. Saw Megan about 9 miles out, sped up instinctively to catch her, and worked the pace up to half marathon pace. My Garmin was playing some evil games with me (showed 7:00 min/mile pace when it was actually 6:40's), so was about to have a meltdown thinking I had to drop another 35 seconds/mile when I was already struggling. Crystal got me through though, and we hit her neighborhood for the last mile. Her Garmin strap broke, which we stopped to pick up and cost us a few seconds, but still pretty happy all in all with the workout, despite the hard effort. 1:31 something total time: 6:45, 6:22, 6:23 were the last 3 miles. Pretty sure we almost negative split every mile. Watched/followed online the RNR Vegas Marathon at night. Had a lot of fun following Ben race the marathon. He was 2nd at mile 16 and catching the leader, but unfortunately had some awful stomach cramps which ended his race. Hell of an effort, nonetheless!!!!

49 miles this week ( almost went out to hit one more for 50 but was pretty dead all day afterwards). Very pleased with the first week of workouts.

Big River Monday run tonight - nice and easy is the plan, as my legs feel like I raced hard yesterday. The cold weather moves in, so need to break out all my winter running apparel!

Happy December!

2011-12-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

Fall marathon insights, Bolt, Vegas, more Vegas, cool gift ideas for runners, and Mo.

Monday, November 28th - 5 miles + drills. Big River group run with Crystal. Was running late, so Megan and I ran up to the park and met everyone else. Did a few loops, then headed to DuBurgh to do drills on the track. Nasty drizzle, cold, and windy, so not the best conditions. Felt ok - ran hugh 7's, low 8's the entire way.

Tuesday, November 29th - ~5 miles (2.5 up, 10x50 meter hills, 1.5 down). Crystal and I met at Francis Park for this run. Hill repeats in the park at mile pace - worked on form. Quick drills before hand, then jumped into the workout. Glutes definitely felt the workout. Hopefully this work helps on turnover and my kick...

Wednesday, November 30th - 6 miles + drills. Did at home at the middle school track with Crystal. Broke in a new pair of shoes tonight (Brooks Adrenaline), and it felt pretty good. Cold and breezy, but made it through ok. Definitely picked it up a little on the way back, but what's new? 49:59 total.

176 miles for November, 1883 for 2011

Good month for me with some good races and good mileage. On track to hit 2000 in mid December, so need to keep up the efforts. Mile repeats with Crystal tonight - first workout of this block, so will need to be on top of my game this evening at Ebbets Field!

Trot for Tots Race Recap

2011-11-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

Turkey Trot participation up this year, Rock N Roll Vegas growth, that's it.

Wednesday, November 23rd - 4 miles. Crystal and I did a late run. Pitch black outside, and Crystal wanted to try out her new head lamp, which made her look like coal miner. As she was adjusting it, I kept making mechanical sounds and calling her a Transformer which I'm sure didn't please her. Anyways, to avoid any traffic, suggested going on the trail since it would be open and we could truly utilize the light. Got onto Old Faithful and wanted to work our way towards Home Depot route, since that trail is paved and pretty flat. So we're running on the trail, and I was commenting on how cool that headlamp was (since it was like a damn spotlight and we could see everything), when the light went out and I heard a huge thump! Crystal tripped over some uneven pavement, and just bit the dust. Fortunately, she wasn't seriously hurt, and we laughed for the rest of the run. But when we got back and took off her gloves and coat, she was a bloody and bruised mess! Regardless, it was truly a "Warrior Princess" moment, and Crystal earned her stripes that night. 32:31 outside, which includes a good minute of non running from her fall and checking on her.

Thursday, November 24th - 5 miles. Happy Thanksgiving! Did my parent's neighborhood loop, then tacked on some more in a closeby neighborhood. Long, rolling hills - not the most fun, but nice to get in especially with dinner coming up. Felt ok, but hills definitely make you work harder. 37:59 total.

Friday, November 25th - 7 miles (1 up, TROT FOR TOTS 2 MILER (10:52 - 5th place (out of ~350)), 1 down, 3 p.m.). Drove over to the Peoria Riverplex with Anne and picked up my number and warmed up around downtown. Windy and cool, and legs felt very tight so spent a good amount of time stretching. Waited inside for a while before we all shuttled out to the start line. I've run downtown before, so had an idea of the course which proved to be correct (uphill first mile, downhill second mile). Found out that the Santa Claus parade took place immediately after this race, so we had spectators galore which is always a nice touch. Talked with a few college runners who were home for the holidays, before lining up and taking off! Those 3 college runners were immediately gone, so came out hard. Got immediately passed by an overzealous runner, so just waited and caught him within a half mile. Another guy zoomed by, and I lost him immediately so was running solo most of the way. First mile, we ran through most of downtown (uphill) and made a few turns before it flattened out. Hit a good first mile split, before making a turn down a pretty big hill. Almost crashed into an idiot woman and her children, who decided to cross the street without looking, so exchanged some unpleasantries with her before taking off. Caught up to one of the parade cars, and got a ton of encouragement from the many spectators and high-fived as many of the children as I could. Turned onto Hamilton St. (same enormous downhill as Steamboat), then shot down that hill hard before turning onto the river trail which is a slow downhill. Could sort of see the finish, so kicked hard and blasted through the finish with no one else in sight behind me. Great time/PR, and was on cloud nine! Jogged back to cooldown, then ran Anne in who ran a huge PR herself (17:10!). Garmin had 1.96, so might have been slightly short but I'm taking it nonetheless. 3 miles solo in the p.m. - legs were tired, but kept it slow for 25 minutes.

Saturday, November 26th - 4 miles. Travel day home, crappy weather, made it out for 4 slow miles. Out and back on the trail, poop. ~36 minutes, I think? Our friends Mick and Anne were in town, so had a long night celebrating Pat's birthday.

Sunday, November 27th - 12 miles. Long run with Crystal on Old Faithful. Cold, breezy, and overcast. Felt tired and wanted to keep it slow, but immediately started out pretty fast and never slowed down. First long run in a long time that felt pretty easy, and the night before certainly didn't help but oh well. 1:37 something - all our miles except one mile coming in was sub 8 minute pace.

43 miles this week - decent mileage, and a great race so I'll take it!

So a month of running with no workouts have passed, and feel pretty good. Had a few good races, and have generally felt decent on a lot of my runs. The Houston workouts start this week, so hoping we didn't lose too much half marathon fitness during this time. But it begins today, so time to get to work!

Thanksgiving Eve

2011-11-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

Tera Moody, Haile, NCAA Championships, Brett Gotcher, Jordan Hasay, and Desi.

Monday, November 21st - 7 miles. Big River Monday group run with Matty D, Ryan, and Brad. Didn't feel too particularly good, and struggled when the group picked it up with a couple miles to go to try to catch one of the other runners. Caught up to him at the end, but felt like crap. 51:25 for the total time, definitely negative split this one.

Tuesday, November 22nd - 6 miles. Ran in Forest Park after work on a dark, windy day. Not too many people out there, except the crazies like me. Went pretty slow and felt better. Out there for 50-60 minutes, not sure exactly.

So Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I successfully found a race in Peoria that my sister and I will run on Friday. There are a billion turkey race options in STL, but almost none in Peoria - so frustrating. So hopefully I don't gain 8 lbs. on Thursday night, and hopefully I can put together a nice performance assuming a flat course. Will run at 5K pace as a workout is the plan. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Turkey Day Week

2011-11-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Geb wins! Racing world is pretty quiet, so I got nothing else other than Miss Goucher :)

Monday, November 14th - 7 miles. Big River Monday run with Gabe, Matt, Kyle, and Pat. Nice showing out there for the 7 mile loop, and a chase pack formed behind the others that went out blazing. Eventually, we caught them and picked it up coming in. Legs felt like garbage, and wasn't feeling the best in general but made it through ok. Total time was 50:40.

Tuesday, November 15th - 6 miles. Looped around town late at night solo, and did my Glen Carbon covered bridge route. Lots of traffic, so definitely was running faster to get back home. Felt ok for the most part - weather was ideal fall weather, so helped a lot. Ran for 43:01 (23:01, 22:29 were my splits).

Wednesday, November 16th - 5 miles. Ran around town late at night. Parents were in town, so had dinner with my mom, then ran late. Another nice evening to run - 37:57 total.

Thursday, November 17th - 5 miles. Ran with Pat after work around Boeing. Nice and hilly, and windy outside as well. Found a nice monster hill, that will be a good candidate for future hill workouts. Ran for around 40 minutes.

Friday, November 18th - 0! Travel day to Rockford, then late night trivia. Blah

Saturday, November 19th - 10 miles. This will be named the Survival Run. Big River group run at Forest Park. 20-25 mph winds made this run very difficult. Started with a big group, but whittled down to Crystal and I. Tried to keep it slower, but failed miserably. Last couple miles, we looped back up Dinosaur Hill by the Science Center - running uphill into the wind was just crazy. Negative split hard, but a great workout nonetheless. 1:20:32 overall.

Sunday, November 20th - 10 miles (5 miles a.m., 5 miles p.m.). Trail out and back in the morning - overcast and cool, felt ok going out but kept it slow. At night, wanted to make up for previous mileage I missed, so did the 270 loop and ran to the trail and back. Was flying for the first few miles (sub 21 first 3 miles), but basically jogged the last 2 coming in.

43 miles this week, will take it.

Looking for a Turkey Trot in Peoria for Thanksgiving, but can't find much. Alton 10 Miler is a possibility (pace run), so need to think about what I am going to do since I have some itchy legs and want to bust one out before the hard training begins...

Girls on the Run 5K Recap

2011-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

Shalane wins!, Kim Smith, prize money issues in San Antonio, Verzbicas and his triathlon calling, funny story about a guy losing his car after the NYC Marathon.

Friday, November 11th - 0! Tried to get a run in the morning with Crystal, but failed miserably. My sister was in town over the weekend, so had to pick her up after work so that added with the morning race = unscheduled rest day. Went to a great restaurant called Farmhaus - highly recommended. Congrats to Crystal for her 2000th mile of 2011!

Saturday, November 12th - 6 miles (1.5 up, GIRLS ON THE RUN 5K (19:20, 8/~4000, 6th male, 1st age group 30-39), 1.5 down). Nice day to run in Forest Park. Got there early to warm up around the course, and stretch. There were a crapload of people participating in the event, so lined up front thinking we had to get ahead of this angry mob. Nice to have a course tour the night before, so great to know the lay of the land (not too bad 1st mile, uber hilly 2nd mile, downhill finish). Game plan was to run a hard first mile, then drop back to tempo pace the rest of the way since the course sucked and just wasn't feeling it. Got out of the blocks ok, and blazed through the first mile. First time in a while that it was feeling easy. Had a girl who was shadowing Crystal's and I's every move, so "tactically" got her off our butts because it was getting pretty annoying. Dropped pace a bit on the 2nd mile - a little too much, as I missed the desired split badly. Crystal was moving ahead, chasing the first female, and I was in my own world with the next runner a good 20 seconds behind me. Last mile, just cruised in - completely thought there was one more major hill but there wasn't so next thing I knew, I was cruising towards the finish. Totally hammed up to the crowd, and finished the race. Fun times, and felt great! Cooled down, picked up our awards (C and I won our age groups, 7th and 8th overall (C was 2nd female)), then headed home. Mile splits were: 6:01, 6:31 (jesus), 6:00. Ate at Bailey's Range at night, located downtown. Great burgers, but the wait time was a little ridiculous. Would still go back though!

Sunday, November 13th - 10 miles. Long run with Crystal and Mike on Old Faithful. 75 and windy, not the best combination. Shirt came off 20 seconds into the run, and the sun was definitely making it warm. Was pretty tired from not much sleep, and not very focused. Took awhile to get into rhythm, but eventually did. Last few miles, was dragging a lot, and we (meaning Crystal - we got strung along for the ride) definitely picked it up trying to catch Megan and Cristina on the trail, who were running ahead of us. Soooo hot, legs felt like poop and glad to get that over with. 1:20:44 overall (41:38, 39:06 were our 5 mile splits). 41 miles this week - not bad.

That might have been my last race of the year, but a lot of fun nonetheless and some pretty cool bling. Another week of basic mileage, but may throw in an impromptu workout in there if my legs are feeling good.

Happy Friday!

2011-11-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

Verzbicas leaving Oregon to train for the triathlon!, Lisa Koll, Kebede finished 3rd in NYC with minor training, and some awesome NYC blogs.

Thursday, November 10th - 6 miles. Ran in Forest Park with Pat, Crystal, and Megan, and looped around for the course tour for tomorrow's race. Cold weather, but perfect for running. The course is pretty hilly, and there will be no time goals tomorrow other than survival. The second mile has a few steep hills, but has a fast finish coming in to the end, so the game plan is to save a little bit of energy, then unleash whatever kick I have left. Sub 19 would be awesome, but really no pressure other than get in a good workout.

Crapped out this morning on the early run - supposed to run mile 2000 with Crystal (Congrats to her!), but just couldn't get out of bed and slept through my alarm. Need to get in a few miles tonight, race tomorrow, then long run Sunday. Happy Weekend, everybody!

History Stands

2011-11-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

History Stands, Olympic trials to be telecast (super cool!), rumor that Verzbicas is leaving Oregon, Shalane, and Lauren Fleshman part 2.

Obviously, the Paula Radcliffe marathon record is a very important milestone in running. Pacers or not, she still had to hit the time. London 2003 was one of the greatest performances ever in the sport - one that should be celebrated, not scrutinized. Bravo to the IAAF for reversing their decision!

Wednesday, November 9th - 7 miles. Forest Park run with the Big River Group. Started out with Crystal, Tim, Gibbs, Craig, Ryan, and Hillary. Ran the FP Loop starting at the Visitor's Center. Kind of chilly at first, which got us out fast, but we settled into pace. Fun with the group, and Gibbs took us on a detour which added a little extra length. Ran a little more to even out the mileage (you're welcome, Crystal), but felt pretty good all in all. Long stretching afterwards, then Timmy and I hit up Cicero's for dinner and a bucket of 312! 57:49 total, felt really good.

My new stretching program has me feeling pretty good and fresh, and I no longer feel like a crippled old man every morning. Although we haven't had too many killer workouts lately as well, so enjoying the easier mileage and perfect weather. Group run in Forest Park again tonight, and the weather looks perfect again!

More NYC

2011-11-09T07:13:00.001-08:00

Evolution of a fast marathon, how did the celebrities fare in NYC?, Marathon Majors winners, Mutai the best?, Patrick Makau, Lauren Fleshman, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher and her marathon tips.

Monday, November 7th - 6 miles. Francis Park loop with Timmy. Started from his house, and ran to the park and did loops. Tim was having some stomach issues, so dropped out a couple miles into it so I finished solo. Ran with a group of people for a little bit, but took off and kept a decent pace. Felt pretty tired, but more from a hard weekend of running. Ran for 50 minutes.

Tuesday, November 8th - 6 miles. Forest Park loop with Cristina. With the time change, not as many runners out there anymore. Ran pretty conservative, and reversed the usual route which seemed to make it go by faster. Felt ok, long stretching afterwards to loosen up. Abs are still screaming with soreness from Sunday's workout, so deferring corework to Wednesday night. 57:51 total.

Tonight, going to do FP with Crystal. Enjoying the fall running, as the weather is absolutely perfect outside :)

NYC, Lung Cancer Connection 5K Race Recap

2011-11-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

Geoffrey Mutai - NYC Marathon Champ, Meb PR's, Americans from NYC talk, Sara Hall wins, Lauren Fleshman, Shalane to Rock and Roll in San Antonio, and James Kwambai wins in Seoul.

What an amazing NYC Marathon this year! Women's race was pretty crazy with Mary Keitany going for broke, but ultimately fading at the end. The men's race was not too surprising, but showed that Mutai's performance in Boston was legit. NYC's course is a beast, and he took it to a level that was not ever dreamt of. Very strange that NYC's course record is now faster than the much flatter Chicago's, but I foresee that changing in the next few years as the assault towards a sub 2 hour marathon seems a lot more feasible now more than ever. Geoffrey Mutai has established himself as the man to beat (assuming Kenya picks him for their Olympic team), and will be a force to be reckoned with for many more marathons to come.

Friday, November 5th - ~3 miles. Ran after work - was stuck in traffic forever due to a major accident on I-270, but was anxious to shake out the legs a little since I hadn't felt all that great lately. Definitely did the trick and felt pretty relaxed afterwards. Ran for 20 or so minutes easy.

Saturday, November 6th - 7 miles (1 up, LUNG CANCER CONNECTION 5K (1st place!), 1 down, 2 miles). Saw this race via a flier hung up at work, so decided to run since one of my colleagues has lung cancer and it was definitely for a great cause. Crazy morning, and crazy race. Woke up early and drove to Creve Couer Park to get my race number and warm up. Only there wasn't anyone there except for a clueless volunteer who had no idea where anything was, what direction we were running, and most likely he wouldn't have known his own name had I asked. Right before I was about to start warming up, he comes running towards me and tells me the race is on the other side of the park. Crap. So I hightail it to the location, where there were several hundred people already there engaging in the festivities. Make it in time to get my race shirt and number, run back to my car to change (parked a good half mile away since I had gotten there late), ran back and met up with some friends for a few minutes. The race was not organized very well, so when I saw the cluster of runners walking towards the start (not marked), I ran over really quick to line up front. Asked the starter where our turn around was - he said just follow the signs, then immediately started the race. Thanks buddy. One other guy came shooting from the blocks, and was seriously sprinting like it was nobody's business. I thought he was gone, but a half mile out I was already reeling him in (he was turning around every 10 seconds to check on me, so figured he was already tiring), so just waited and tried to settle into pace without losing him. At the halfway point, he blazed through the turn around cone, and I shouted for him to turn around (should have just let him go lol), and me being a good sportsman, waited for him to catch up and ran with him for awhile. Felt ok at this point, then started to strategize where I would lay the hammer down. At the 2nd mile marker, picked it up and never looked back. Definitely gapped a bit, then was settling in for victory when suddenly I noticed the upcoming trail had about 20 ft. of water that was a good 6 inches deep coming up. So I was going to wrong way, and didn't know what to do! Ran through the water, ran into some muddy field and came to a stop trying to figure out where the hell I was. Saw the parking lot, so started running through there, then saw the trail a bit ahead and started running for that. Seriously stared to panic, because I thought I was going to lose because of the idiot race director who didn't mark the turns correctly. Eventually made it back despite my long detour around the course, and crossed the finish line amazingly still in first place. Had a "nice chat" with the race director about not marking the course (seriously????), went to cool down and change, then went to hang out with friends and coworkers afterwards. Cool for my coworkers to see me win, and poignant to win for Chuck (see picture above) who is my coworker/friend that is battling lung cancer. Definitely the strangest win I have ever had, but a win nonetheless. Got home, ran 20 minutes more, but stopped because my right foot was killing me (probably from running through the "adventure course" trying to get back onto the actual course, which was uneven as it gets). 5K official time is unknown, but definitely wrong since I ran a good extra quarter mile, but I am going by my Garmin splits which were pretty accurate on the course (hit all the mile markers dead on) - 18:44 (5:50, 6:10, 6:08). Lots of R&R on Saturday, but had a mini celebration at night with dinner at a nice restaurant in Central West End called Salt, then a few cocktails at various places in the area.

Sunday, November 7th - 10 miles. Glad for the extra hour of sleep with the time change, and wasn't feeling too hot from the night before. Crystal dragged me out nice and early for our scheduled long run. Not the best weather - windy, overcast, and cool, but warmed up during the run. I overdressed, so was a bit uncomfortable later in the run. Felt like garbage and my foot was still hurting, but eventually snapped out of it and my foot felt better on the second half. Out and back on Old Faithful, but hit a pretty nasty headwind by Casey's which made Crystal and I laugh at how ridiculous it was outside. Pretty exhausted by the time we finished, but we kept it nice and slow thankfully. Ran into Pat on the way in - so squeezed in a mile or so before finishing. Ran for 1:27:27, laid on the couch the rest of the day, then did a good 20-30 minutes of stretching and corework at night which has caused some unwelcome soreness all over my body today. NYC Marathon afterwards - awesome race, and so happy to watch. Really want to run there again someday. Big congrats to my buddy Gabe who ran 3:02!!!

40 miles this week, I'll take it.

So trying to make a concerted effort to work on flexibility and corework for this block, and nutrition and rest as well. Happy about the race for the most part, but still don't have very good strength which is something to work on. Nothing crazy this week, but did sign up for the Girls on the Run 5K in Forest Park this Saturday, which will make for a good speed work session.

Happy Birthday Crystal!

2011-11-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

NYC favorite Mary Keitany, Ritz, Deena, NYC preview, great story about a runner and some divine intervention, and Kenya will pick their Olympic marathoners after Sunday.

Thursday, November 3rd - 4 miles. Got home from work on a nasty, rainy, windy evening and busted out a quick 4. Out and back on the trails - legs felt ok, but needed to get this in because of dinner plans with Pat and Crystal. Afterwards, went to Global Brew and Tap to celebrate Crystal's birthday. Happy Birthday Crystal!!!

Racing tomorrow. I have a small run I want to get in after work, then relax for tomorrow's race. Would like to run something strong, as this will probably be my best attempt at a 2011 best 5K time so we shall see. I know the course pretty well, and it's flat so I'll give it a go. At the very worst, a good opportunity for speedwork. NYC is this Sunday - best of luck to the runners, and a special shoutout to my buddy Gabe who is shooting for an aggressive time. GOOD LUCK RUNNERS!!!!!!!

3 more days!

2011-11-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

Kim Smith, NYC nostalgia, Mary Wittenberg, Sam Chelanga joining OT Elite, NYC Marathon over 2 days?, Jen Rhines, Bobby Curtis, dropping pacers hasn't hurt the NYC Marathon, more Kim Smith, and the evolution of the marathon.

Tuesday, November 1st - 6 miles. Nice and easy in Forest Park with Timmy and Cristina. Lots of people out on a nice, fall day. Sadly, probably our last run with much daylight with the time change this weekend. 58:22 total.

Wednesday, November 2nd - 6 miles + drills. Team Sullentrup reunion, as Mike joined us again. Finally had a run that felt ok, and I got yelled at a few times for pushing the pace. Part of it on the trail, the rest in the neighborhood as we did 4-5 loops around. Drove to the track to do drills afterwards. Total time: 50:35 (negative split every mile, I believe).

Running a 5K this weekend in Creve Couer park with some coworkers. Not much time expectations, but would like to run well as I know the park and it's pretty flat.

NYC this weekend!

2011-11-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

Meb's preparation, NYC elites, where to watch the marathon this weekend, Deena wins in LA, 2:03:42 for Wilson Kipsang, Kenyan Olympic debacle, bad weather in NYC.

Tuesday, October 25th - 6 miles. Ran Forest Park loop very slow. Amazing how dark it is getting after 6 p.m. Legs felt like poop - ran for 56-57 minutes.

Wednesday, October 26th - 0! Rain + couch's strong gravitational pull = no run.

Thursday, October 27th - 4 miles. Ran with Pat and Crystal on the trail, then around the neighborhood. Definitely tired, ugh. I think we ran for 33:21.

Friday, October 28th - 1 mile. 1/2 day at work, then slept for a while. Went to Game 7 with Timmy, which killed my evening and any hopes of running. But I left my bag at Papa Johns, and had to run back there which was a good mile so I'm counting that.

Saturday, October 29th - 0! Slept forever, then Halloween party at night.

Sunday, October 30th - 0! Rams game bright and early, then got home in the late afternoon. Was too exhausted to do anything. Very sad.

15 glorious miles this week, and at least 5 lbs. gained. God bless the off-week!

Monday, October 31st - ~4 miles. Big River Halloween costume group run. Fun times, but tough trying to run around Francis Park in my Batman mask. Awesome to be running with the devil, Mario (from Super Mario Brothers), Joe Dirt, the Riddler, Mr. and Mrs. Kara Goucher, and the pregnant Chi Marathon runner. Nice day to run, drills at DuBourgh afterwards, which were painful. Ran 4.2 miles in 35:16. Congrats to Pat for winning the Big River Costume Contest - he was dressed up as a gigantic beer bottle lol

139.5 miles for October. 1707 for 2011. Can't screw around too much, or I'll miss 2000 this year.

Back to a new block. Trying really hard to work on corework, good nutrition, and a lot of rest. Hoping I can pull through this time around, and give it a good go for Houston in a couple months.

STL Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon Recap

2011-10-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Kara changes coaches/groups, STL RNR, results, Michael Wardian, Matthew Kisorio makes his marathon debut in NYC (he won Philly RNR 1/2 in a blazing 58:46), Geoffrey Mutai, and Haile wins again.

Saturday, October 22nd - 2 miles easy. Out and back with Pat and Crystal for a shakeout run. Felt ok for the most part, Home Depot trail route.

Sunday, October 23rd - 15 miles (STL ROCK N ROLL 1/2 MARATHON - 1:28:10, 85/~14,500, 19th in age group). Ugh, not what I hoped, and pretty much a disaster of a race. Got downtown bright and early, and warmed up for 20 minutes or so with Crystal. Got to line up front which was awesome, so the 22,000 runners weren't too much of an issue. Started out with Crystal, and ran the first couple miles with her. Gabe jumped in to pace for a while, but I fell off a little and was trying to get settled in - very difficult with the hills and many, many turns. Had already fallen off pace slightly on the 5K (20:23 I think), and was further off at the 10K split (41:02), and basically lost complete focus and mentally shut down. Legs weren't responding, and I was getting passed left and right and was getting very demoralized, so was a very long run back in at this point. Tried to rally towards the end, but just didn't have it in me, and was very disappointed all around. Amazingly, still finished in the top 100 overall, so I guess there was one goal I hit (try to get in the top 100). Crystal smoked it with a huge PR (1:25:09), and 5th woman (48th overall), so really proud of her - she put in some great work, and ran a great race. Congrats to Megan, Stacy, Pat, Tim, and Jeff who all gave great efforts on a tough day. Demolished some PI pizza to finish out the day, which was delicious as usual.

40 miles this week. Really surprised I got this much, didn't feel like 40.

Monday, October 24th - 4 miles. Big River Monday group run with Crystal, Megan, and Tim. Legs felt a little sore, but gorgeous afternoon and did 2 loops around Francis Park. A little over 4 miles in 41:07, I believe. Afterwards, went to the Mack to watch the World Series game. I got whupped in power putt golf, and so did the Cardinals.

Easy week this week. Had a long talk with Crystal after dinner to try to work out the kinks of what went right/wrong in this block. Ready to put in some good work, and try to get to the next level again.

Rock and Roll Eve

2011-10-21T09:10:00.001-07:00

More on marathon cheat Rob Stone, more on the 100 year old marathon runner, how quickly is water absorbed after you drink it?, Patrick Rizzo, Haile prepares for a half marathon this weekend, NYC's elite marathon field, Paula will continue on past London 2012, and Ritz prepares for the trials with a 5K tuneup.

Thursday, October 20th - ~4.5 miles. Got talked into running with Tim in Francis Park. Nice and slow. Pretty windy outside, but kept the pace pretty honest. Legs still a little tired. 41:27 overall.

Friday, October 21st - ~3.5 miles. Treadmill for 30 minutes. For some reason, just didn't want to run, and it was about the longest run ever in my mind. Pace felt ok, but just mentally not there. 8:34 pace, ugh.

Easy 20 minutes tomorrow, then the 1/2 on Sunday. Looking forward to getting this race over with, and hopefully a small break. I can feel a slight mental burnout right now...

Wrapping up this Training Block...

2011-10-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

Run with your cat, Ryan Hall and his mind, 5 new shoes coming out in the fall to look out for, Bobby Curtis NYC blog, Caroline Rotich, Khalid Khannouchi going to India, long run double by Running Times, what does stretching really do?, Ed Whitlock is ridiculous - 3:15 marathon?!?!, NYC+Olympic Trials too much?, predicted record breaking in London 2012, fat to fit to fat.

Monday, October 17th - ~4 miles. Ran Big River group run with Tim and Megan. Kept it slow, but legs felt like crap. Chilly outside, but felt good. Got in roughly 4.25 in 41:25.

Tuesday, October 18th - 5 miles. Ran with Timmy after work in Forest Park. Freezing at first, but warmed up a mile into the run. Amazing how early it gets dark now, which is sad. Once again, legs felt sub par, but made it through ok. I think our total time was 44:25.

Wednesday, October 19th - 6 miles (2 up, 2x1 mile 1/2 marathon pace, 2 down). Early a.m. run with Crystal. Dark, drizzly, cold, and windy - not the most optimal conditions. Busted out the tights for the first time since last winter, and we ran to Ebbets in a nice whirlwind. Miles felt ok, but definitely a little more harder than it should have been. 1 minute rest in between reps, workout went by very quickly and got home pretty fast. Not sure of the warmup and cooldown splits, but I know they were fast because of the cold weather (Crystal had us at 7:38 pace coming in). Mile splits were: 6:29, 6:25.

Nothing but easy runs going in from this point. Good nutrition, good rest, and hopefully we are all feeling good for Sunday's big race!

GO! Halloween 10K Race Recap

2011-10-17T11:38:00.001-07:00

2 hour marathon?, Paula and Nike, streaking at the Olympics could be costly, Ed Moran makes his NYC debut in a few weeks, 100 year old man runs a marathon, and Kim Smith kills it in Hartford.

Friday, October 14th - 4 miles. Ran with Pat and Crystal after work. Gorgeous day outside, and we did the G.C. loop. Felt better than in days past, but still lethargic. 33:33 total time (16:55/16:38 splits).

Saturday, October 15th - 4 miles. Early golf tournament in Eureka, and was definitely a bit pooped afterwards. Nice fall day, did out and back on the trails very slow. Ran for roughly 40 minutes.

Sunday, October 16th - 11 miles - GO! STL HALLOWEEN 10K (40:08 PR; 40/~3900 overall, 7th in age group) - Woke up bright and early to head down for the race. Plan was to run at half marathon pace and to get in a nice workout. Course has changed a bit from the first year we spectated - start on Market, head south and loop through Soulard and the brewery before heading back downtown to Soldier's Memorial. Hilly the first half, but levels out a bit going in. Weather was ok - very sunny and a little warm, and very windy. Lined up front, quick chat with my teammates, then took off. Started out way too fast, and leveled it out early. Fell into a small group, and worked with them as I tried to get locked into pace. Hills through Soulard were definitely a pain, and my splits were all over the place. Ran through the Brewery and finally caught a long downhill, and started to feel better. Last couple miles felt good, and I felt completely in control. Worked with a couple girls going in - one was struggling pretty bad and trying to catch the other, so helped her reel the other in for my good deed of the day. Went back to watch Tim finish, met up with Pat and Crystal to see Stacy, then jogged out to run Megan and Cristina in. Brunch at Hammerstones, lots of football/sleep in the afternoon, then a late run at night. Got in 4 miles (~40 minutes), legs were definitely a little tired. Very pleased overall - I split 20:23, 19:45 for the 2-5K's, so a great workout/race. 42 miles this week - I'll take it.

Race week is this week. Easy running, with the exception of Wednesday's small workout with Crystal, and trying to eat healthy and get some good rest. Easy run at group run tonight to shake out my tired, old legs.

Dragging

2011-10-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

Next for Liliya, Olympic Trials qualifier in Denver, Paula trying to keep her record, chat with stud U.S. runner Ben True, Haile racing in the UK, Haile aims for Tokyo, Brett Gotcher, Kim Smith working hard, Japan's finest, NYC raises its standards, a disgrace of a runner, and finally the lovely Miss Kara Goucher.

Monday, October 10th - 7 miles. Got home late from work, and Monday Night Football was rapidly approaching so decided to get this one in as fast as possible. Meaning not blazing fast, but pick up the pace and finish a 6 mile run below 50 minutes. Well, 41:06 later, I was done and really tired. Had to jog an extra mile as a cooldown, since it became almost an impromptu tempo. Tried to slow down in the middle, but my body wouldn't listen. Really tired afterwards, still felt like poop. Splits were: 6:59, 6:48, 7:19, 7:00, 6:42, 6:16.

Tuesday, October 11th - 6 miles. Felt like garbage still. Slow 6 miler around Forest Park, and it didn't feel very good. 57 and some change for the time.

Wednesday, October 12th - 6 miles. Got home late again, had nothing in the tank and felt like crap and laid down when I got home. Managed to force myself out the door for an easy run. I still feel like my body got hit by a freight train - ugh. Didn't have a watch, but it was slow. Thanks to KMOX and the Cardinals playoff feed for getting my through that run. Skipped workout tonight - not the end of the world, as the 10K is this weekend and will use that as a workout.

Thursday, October 13th - 4 miles. No energy, starting to wonder if I'm sick. 36 minutes felt like 360 minutes, and just was dragging.

Still exhausted, run tonight is questionable. Sleep is a high priority right now.

Congrats Adam!!!

2011-10-10T10:40:00.001-07:00

Moses Mosop sets Chicago course record, Paula training in Kenya, more Moses, Shobukhova three-peats, Hall finishes 5th, tragedy, crazy story of one of the Chi runners, great article on combo workouts, and last but certainly not least, Big River runner Adam MacDowell qualifies for the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials!!!

Thursday, October 6th - 7 miles (1 up, 4 mile tempo, 4x200, 1.5 down). Dreading this workout for days, and kept pushing it back. Met Crystal at the track on a kind of thick-aired night. Goal was to hit tempo at 6:15 pace, but I was thinking more 6:20ish. Made it through 1.5 miles or so with Crystal before falling off a little to conserve some energy. Felt really tired through 3, but found my second wind and pushed through. Legs were a bit trashed for the 200's, but made it through ok. No turnover whatsoever, and the left part of my groin was hurting bad at the end. Tempo splits were: 6:04, 6:02, 6:14, 6:02. 200 meter splits were: 37, 34, 36, 34 (can you tell which ones Crystal led?). Posted my workout on Garmin Connect, which I recently started using - pretty cool.

Friday, October 7th - 0! Travel day to Chicago for the marathon, and needed a day off anyways to recover. Legs felt like poo, even just walking around.

Saturday, October 8th - 10.5 miles. Lakeshore long run with Pat, Crystal, and Tim. Pat wanted to get in a pace run, so we ran with him on Lakeshore past Navy Pier and back. Ran ~3 more miles with Crystal to finish it out. Weather was 80's, and just uber-sunny - not good conditions whatsoever, and didn't help that my legs felt like complete crap. But still fun nonetheless, and got in a 90 minutes at roughly 8:40 min/mile pace.

Sunday, October 9th - 4 miles. Chicago Marathon day! Woke up to watch the start of the marathon on tv, then headed outside to set camp at the 15K mark. Watched the elites zoom by, saw Ben and Adam trucking along, then Gabe, Gibbs, Carter (who was pacing his friend), and my buddy Andy. Warm and very sunny morning, was intentionally standing in the shade since I was burning up. Watched most of the sub 4 hour marathoners go by, before retiring back inside to watch the elites finish and track everyone. Got to watch Adam on t.v. for a while running with Shobukhova (eventual female winner), and sat for an agonizing few minutes to see if he hit the trials qualifier, which he did!!!!!!!! Tracked everyone else's finish, then jumped out to Lakeshore for a quick run. Legs were still garbage, so opted for 4 miles with Pat and Tim instead of 6 with Crystal. Headed out at a pretty easy pace, then turned around. Saw a runner that really looked like Desiree Davila, so we all went after her to see if she was. Dropped it to high 5/low 6 pace for a couple minutes and realized we weren't making any ground, but luckily she turned around and granted us some reprieve. Confirmed it was indeed her, and all of us were pretty geeked to see arguably the top American runner out there on the trails with us. Dropped a few surges coming in for fun, then long stretching before calling it a day. Football, then a long late night train home. Exhausted. Total time of run was 35:24.

39.5 miles this week, bah

Great weekend up north! Congrats to all the runners that ran this weekend, and a big congrats to Adam for his qualifier (see you in Houston!). Awesome to see the Big River jersey so prominently displayed around Chicago :) Exhausted from too much fun over the weekend, and will opt for much sleep and slow running, other than my scheduled workouts. Running the GO! STL Halloween 10K for a workout this Sunday - this will be a good indicator for the 1/2 next weekend, so we will see how the pace feels.

Chi this weekend!

2011-10-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

Mosop shooting for world record this weekend in Chi, Korir wants a Chicago win, Ritz working on nutrition, Kipligat out of NYC, Ryan Hall, Mo Farah is European athlete of the year, ESPN's Body Issue (with Ryan Hall), and how long to recover after hard workouts/races.

Monday, October 3rd - 6 miles + drills. Big River Monday group run - started out 3 miles with Megan, then met up with Crystal and ran to the track for drills. Felt ok, but definitely tired. No idea on time, forgot to start my watch, but 8-9 minute pace overall.

Tuesday, October 4th - 6 miles in Forest Park. Nice evening to run - felt ok, but still tired. Obama was in town for a private fundraiser, so had to wait awhile to cross over the Highway 40 overpass between Hampton and Skinker, so that was a huge pain in the butt. Less than 2 minutes from the car = 30 minute delay. Somewhere between 54-60 minutes overall.

Wednesday, October 5th - 6 miles easy with Pat and Crystal. Pat ran most of the run with us as his tempo, and looked strong. Nice evening to run, and felt a little better but still fatigued. Total time was 50:54.

Tonight - tempo run with Crystal. Headed to Chicago tomorrow morning to watch the marathon. Temps look a little nasty (70-80's), so hoping it cools down soon and fast!

Race for Lymphoma 5K Recap

2011-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Meb and Deena win RNR San Jose, Kipligat aims at the women's marathon record, Kim Smith and her NYC Marathon tactics, bio on Bernard Lagat, Haile warns British media about too much pressure, USA 10 Mile Championship results, and a Runners World Brief Chat with Chicago Marathon director Carey Pinkowski.

Forgot this last week ; 168.5 miles for September (awful), 1557.5 miles for 2011.

Saturday, October 1st - 5 miles (1 up, RACE FOR LYMPHOMA 5K (18:52 - 4th overall, 3rd male, 1st in age group), 1 down). Woke up a little tired from going to Big River's Brooks Pure Launch party the night before, but ate a quick breakfast, picked up Pat and Crystal, and headed to STL for the 5K. Chilly in the morning, but perfect for a race. Quick warmup with Crystal and Tim, Tim and I got impromptu recruited for the Team Competition, drills and strides, then lined up. Strategy was to go out in 5:50's, then run 6's in for a good time. Course was flat with a lot of turns, and basically went around the perimeter of the St. Louis Mills Mall, which is sort of scenic but basically a mall. Went out a little fast with Crystal, but slowed down to even it out. Pack had separated to the first 2 runners (way out front), Crystal, me, then a runner who was working off me. Crystal had worked a good gap about halfway through, so it was just me and the straggler who was hanging on. This race turned tactical for me, since I wasn't going to catch Crystal, so relaxed a bit and geared up for some surges on the last mile. Threw in a couple surges to open up a bigger gap, then cruised in. Lost track of time, and kicked too late and ended up with an ok time but sub 19 nonetheless. Crystal won the women's (18:11 PR, 3rd overall), then we watched Tim finish (21:04 PR), then went to catch Megan finish (27:05 PR) and caught Pat finishing (he ran the 10K - 50:12 PR). Tim and I ended up using our times in the team competition, and won that which was pretty cool. All in all, a very fun day with a lot of success for our team!!! 5K mile splits were: 5:55, 6:10 (relaxed a little too much), 6:03.

Sunday, October 2nd - 8 miles (4 miles a.m., 4 miles p.m.). Exhausted from just a long 2 weeks, so slept in and missed Crystal for the Big River group run in St. Charles. Gorgeous afternoon, got in 4 easy in the a.m. (started late because football was about to start!), and felt like complete garbage. Out and back towards Troy, slow and poopy. Evening, got out on the same route and felt 150% better. Had some stomach issues, so pushed it slightly coming in, but felt very relaxed and smooth. Crazy how much different earlier vs. later felt. A.M. run time was 36:58, P.M. 30:18. 42 miles this week - not too bad for race week.

Lots of congratulations to go around - congrats to Ben for winning the inaugural Mo Cowbell 1/2 Marathon (1:08:42 I believe), congrats to PR's for Brian and Margaret Lyons at the Twin Cities Marathon (2:19:22 - B, 2:49:58 - M). And finally, congrats to Stephen for a 14th place finish in the USA 10 Mile Championships (48:04)! Great races for all!!!

Big Racing Weekend!

2011-09-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

New York Marathon field starting to shape up, some good runners doing ESPN's Body Issue, Makau aims for Olympic title, Chicago Marathon's elite field, Geb wants an earlier start to the Olympic marathon, higher temps suck, Sally Kipyego, Kenyan Olympic team needs to pick 1 more male (very controversial - many deserving runners that will be left out), Geb is motivated for more, German Fernandez on the comeback circuit, and the USA 10 Mile Championships this weekend.

Wednesday, September 28 - 9 miles (1 up, 7 mile tempo (45:50), 1 down). Important run for me, as I missed last week's tempo and needed to get in a good long tempo to see where I was at. Big River Wild Wednesday workout with Crystal and Tim on Grant's Trail. Nice weather, but the air was noticeably heavy. Kind of felt like poop, but made it out there and hoped to get in 6-8 miles at 1/2 marathon pace. Quick warmup with the group, then got under way. Felt great the first couple miles and ran with Crystal, but hit a few traffic lights which disrupted my rhythm. Fell off a little bit, and made the turn around feeling ok. Hit both stop lights again, which were killer, and was working hard to hit pace coming in. Last mile, felt a little better, but had some stomach pains which sucked. Made it in, thought about killing myself for 1 more mile, but called it a day. 1 mile cooldown with Crystal and Tim, and called it a day. Tempo splits were: 6:25, 6:26, 6:32, 6:41 (eek! Turn around, lost a few seconds from being lazy), 6:38 (stoplight), 6:35, 6:27. Feel ok about this workout, but was beating myself up a little bit for falling off pace (final avg was 6:32 min/mile). Big kudos to Crystal for hitting her 10 miler right at 6:25 min/mile avg pace, and Tim for hitting his 3x2 mile at 7:45-8 min/mile average pace.

Thursday, September 29 - 5 miles (44:53). Out and back on Old Faithful on a brisk fall evening. Ran with Pat and Crystal. Legs were heavy and left knee was bothering me a little. Negative split this every mile, albeit we started with a first mile of 9:12. Went 2 out and 2 back, but looped around the neighborhood for an extra mile. Original plan was 6 total, but both of us have some collective fatigue so cut back slightly.

Friday, September 30 - 4 miles (36:28). Early morning run with Crystal. Kept it at recovery pace to have fresh legs for tomorrow's 5K. Amazing how dark it is at 6 a.m., and this morning was cold and windy. Legs felt exactly the same as yesterday, which isn't the best sign, but glad to have the run out of the way. Skipped drills to conserve some energy.

Had a dream last night that Crystal and I finished 1-2 in tomorrow's 5K (Race for Lymphoma 5K). Would be awesome if that came true. Big weekend of races with my teammates Brian and Margaret Lyons running the Twin Cities Marathon for an Olympic Trials berth. Both have been killing their workouts, and have a great chance to do so. The USA 10 Mile Championships is also this weekend - Stephen Pifer is competing, so hoping he can finish high there. Good luck to all!

More Boston Commentary

2011-09-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

Kenya's Olympic selection issues, Patrick Makau's rise to fame, Paula having surgery, chat with Nick Symmonds, almost a world record in Berlin, Moses Tanui predicts sub 2 hour marathon sometime in the future, high school rankings in Illinois, and the Boston Marathon registration breakdown.

I was upset about the Boston Marathon breakdown, but upon further thought I am 70% ok with them taking the best of the best within each age group range. My biggest beef with this is skimming from the 3:10 qualifiers - they should be rewarded! Toughest qualifying time to hit, and you are penalizing runners who ran 3:08:47 and giving runners who ran a good 5 minutes (and a lot more) and opportunity to get in. Just makes no sense to me. I understand that the age groups are given prorated times to give themselves better chances, but 3:10 equal for a 34 year old does not equal 3:15 for a 35 year old (ok I am being a little dramatic, but trying to make a point). So they should allow all the 3:10 runners to run the most prestigious road race in the world - reward the BEST runners, not just the best of the age groups.

Monday, September 26 - 5 miles + drills. Did SIUE Mud Mountain XC course run with Stephen and Brad on pretty dead legs. Their idea of easy run is not the same as mine, and the XC course is pretty hilly so was very challenging towards the end. Ran a loop of the course, then came back in and hit a couple more miles on it. Met up with Crystal at the track for drills afterwards - legs were pretty dead. Total mileage: 5 miles or so (36:02).

Tuesday, September 27 - 6 miles. Met up with Tim impromptu in Forest Park for a run around the perimeter of the park. Tired, so wanted to keep it slow. Absolutely gorgeous night out, and lots of people out and about. Kind of sucked that it is starting to get dark by 7, but I'll take what I can. Ran for an hour or so? Afterwards, went to some dumpy bar and grill (don't remember the name) to watch baseball, and made friends with the owner who gave us free shark appetizers!

Tempo run today. Pray for mojo

Makau - New World Record!

2011-09-26T11:16:00.001-07:00

Stud - beat arguably the greatest runner ever in his world record efforts. Here is a cool look at his efforts versus the former world record - not taking anything away from Makau, but he did slow down a bit coming in, but still a world record nonetheless. Paula finishes 3rd in her comeback race, qualifying for the Olympics. Controversy with the women's world record, and Lagat and Simpson triumph in the Fifth Avenue Mile.

Friday, September 23 - 6 miles, too fast. Needed to get in a quick run before dinner, so headed out and did my Troy out and back loop. Felt pretty good, went waaaaaaay too fast and was more of a workout then it should have been. Went to Pi for my birthday dinner, then spent a fun night downtown which ended up in a very late night at Lumiere Casino. Last 4 mile splits were: 7:07, 7:07, 6:55, 6:08 (eek!).

Saturday, September 24 - 8 miles, too fast. Crapped out on trying to get in my tempo, so settled for 8 miles. Slept most of the day away, and got out pretty late. Same loop as yesterday, with a Village Circle mile and a mile added at the end. Pretty much was rolling out there, and never slowed down. Last mile, forced myself to slow down because I was going waaaay too fast. 7 mile split was 51:09, if that gives any indication.

Sunday, September 25 - 16 miles. Forest Park run with Crystal, Mike, and Coach Tim. Started from the Visitor's Center, went about 2.5 miles out on Lindell, then jumped on and toured the Rock n Roll STL 1/2 course. Legs felt pretty crappy starting out, and didn't get much better. Started picking up pace a little bit, then rolled through most of the back portion of the course which was rolling hills. Coach Tim broke off to head back, and we finished out the course then started it back up. Ran through the hood and many "fun" hills that should make the first 5 miles of the race pretty tough. Felt like complete garbage 11 miles into the run, and questioned if I could even make it in, but pushed through and got my second wind. Great morning to get out, had Rooster for breakfast with Megan and Crystal afterwards, then football at my place for the rest of the day. Berlin Marathon viewing party was a bust, as Universal Sports showed maybe 15 minutes of coverage and it was basically showing highlights. Still, a fun day. Total mileage: 16 miles - total time out was: 2:06:57 (7:56 average pace), Crystal mapped our workout out on Garmin Connect for those who are interested in the loop.

52 miles this week - very good, despite missing a key tempo workout. But plan on making it up this week, and have a 5K race at the end of the week in STL that will be a good speed tuneup.

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-09-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Blazing Philly 1/2, more about Philly, Rudisha loses in the 800?!?!, more success with Rupp/Salazar team, 44:34 in the 10 miler, chat with Galen Rupp,

Marathon rankings, year by year (awesome!!!), Paula, Paula, Mo, Mo, Mo in the marathon?, Jenny, Jenny, Jenny, 5th Avenue Mile this weekend, more about the 5th, and the Berlin Marathon this weekend as well.

Friday, September 16 - 6 miles. Did Troy route and back. Tired legs, intended on being pretty slow. Looked down at my watch and realized I was hitting 7:40 pace for a while, and needed to slow it down. Coming back home, spotted a bright neon yellow jersey and noticed that I was gaining. Saw 2 bikers in annoying orange jerseys and decided I was going to catch them. Hit a sub 7 minute split, then decided to maintain going in the last mile. I ran a 6:24 last mile - failed brilliantly in my endeavors, but a great easy run/impromptu workout nonetheless. 43 something - splits were: 7:40, 7:45, 7:20, 6:52, 6:24.

Saturday, September 17 - 4 miles. Went to go watch Pat and Crystal run the Run for the Hills 5k - PR's for both and the win for Crystal - congrats!!! Went home and ran a quick 4 before heading back out to St. Louis for Schlafly's Hop in the City beer festival. Awesome times, had a few too many adult beverages.

Sunday, September 18 - 0! Rain, rain, more rain, then just crapped out. Ugh

29 miles this week, terrible

Monday, September 19 - 6 miles + drills. Big River group run with Crystal and Tim. Drills at Dubough. Felt pretty tired, but got through. Timmy kicked hard at the end, so worked a bit to finish the workout.

Tuesday, September 20 - 6 miles. Caught up with Tim after work, and headed to Forest Park and did a loop around the park for an easy 6. Gorgeous evening, was fun to see so many people out. Very easy pace, we averaged 9-10 minute/mile pace.

Wednesday, September 21 - 46:51 on the Watershed Nature Trail. Got home late, my buddy Stephen Pifer was in town and texted me to see if I wanted to run, so met up with him impromptu and got in some miles with him and his friend Brad. Have been worn down from work, and the "easy" 45 minutes at high 6/low to mid 7 minute pace seemed a little more difficult lol Fun times regardless, and good to catch up. Got in somewhere between 6-7 miles I am guessing.

Thursday, September 22 - 4 miles. Happy Birthday to me! Easy run after work. First day of fall, overcast and cool. Loved every step of it (nice and slow, no watch). Out and back towards Troy, pretty standard. Afterwards, ran down to Global Tap with Pat, Crystal, Stephen, and Megan for a couple birthday drinks. Fun times!

Have delayed and put off this 8 mile tempo run, and hoping it gets done at some point this weekend. Feeling worn down from a rough work week, and ready for a relaxing weekend!

Rupp!

2011-09-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

Galen Rupp is a stud, Great North Run this weekend, marathon training recipes, Chi Marathon field starting to bulk up, Paula, Berlin Marathon showdown, Mr. Kara Goucher chases Olympic qualifying, Deena Kastor running this weekend, Bolt aims for a fast time to end his year, and a Runners World chat with Tyler McCandless.

Wednesday, September 14 - 0! Major I.T. Band issues plus torrential downpour all day equals much needed rest day. Could barely walk, this happens from time to time where my I.T. bands flare up so stretch, stretch, and stretch.

Thursday, September 15 - 7 miles (2 up, 3 x 1 mile, 3 x 400, 1 down). Fall is right around the corner, and loving this cool weather! Worked late, then headed to South City to do my track workout at Bishop DuBourgh High School with Timmy. Dreading this workout, but the weather was awesome and had good company. Felt ok on the first mile, blah on the second, then was hanging on for dear life on the last rep. Legs were destroyed and was chafing like no one's business, so changed the scheduled 1000's to 400's. Felt progressively better as the reps went on - last one, went out quick, then turned on the jets on the last 150 meters for a fast split. Always fun to do that. Tim ran every other quarter with me (thanks Tim!), and did the 400 meter repeats as well. Slow cooldown back to his place. Good workout, I will take it. Mile splits were: 5:52, 5:49, 5:41. 400 meter repeats were: 1:28, 1:25, 1:14.

Easy mileage the rest of this weekend. Had thought about racing, but opting for basic mileage and resting my legs for an aggressive October!

Jenn-ay!

2011-09-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Jenny Simpson, Ryan Hall, Yohan Blake continues his mastery, U.S. strives for 30 medals in London, How money came into running, and the state of the marathon. Carbo loading rules, Bolt wins again, NYC Marathon field starting to shape up with Martin Lel and Emmanuel Mutai throwing their names in the hat, and Boston registration continues (as does the controversy).

Friday, September 9th - 10 miles (3 up, 6x1 mile tempo, 1 down). Planned workout with Crystal, and the rain made scheduling a little tricky. Wanted a 1 mile loop (as opposed to running circles all night), so settled on my trail 1 miler, since it was flat and no turns. Jogged down with Crystal from my place, and did an extended warmup thinking it would be better for later (it was - Good call C!). Planned workout was 7x1 mile at tempo pace (6:25-6:30) with 1 minute rest. Felt really good on the first few, but started to struggle afterwards. 5th rep - crashed pretty hard and had an awful split, and died a horrible death on the 6th mile. Stopped at the halfway point, ran it in with Crystal on her 7th rep at a pretty blazing pace. Legs were done, yuckity yuck. Not the best workout, but got as much out of it as I possibly could. Definitely still feeling the after-effects of Shane's wedding week(end), and it was a shock to my system to be running like this. Mile splits were: 6:23, 6:24, 6:23, 6:29, 6:34 (ouch!), 6:15 (3:20, 2:55).

Saturday, September 10th - 6 miles + drills. Late morning run with Crystal, legs were absolutely demolished. Drills felt awful. Very difficult run, amazingly done in 51 minutes or so but it was definitely rough. Sun was brutal coming in, but made it ok. Wedding over in Chesterfield - one of the coolest receptions I have ever been to at Kemp Auto Museum. Not a big car buff, but very classy and saw some awesome vintage automobiles and had a great evening.

Sunday, September 11th - 14 miles. Devin was home for the weekend, so we did an out and back on Old Faithful at 9 a.m. Legs were still mush, so made it a point to keep it slow. Weather was a little bit of a factor, as the heat moved back in. I knew this was going to be a struggle, as I still felt like crap 2 miles in. Kept a decent pace, and made it through ok but was definitely tired at the end. Kept thinking of 9/11 and the events of 10 years ago, and wasn't going to quit for one second. My watch strap broke with 1.5 miles to go, so was pretty pissed about that. Don't remember total time, but kept 8:40 min/mile pace. Spent the rest of the day welcoming back the NFL on my couch and enjoying every single second of the NFL Sunday Ticket! 47 miles this week - will definitely take it, considering travel week!

Monday, September 11th - 6 miles + drills. Delayed this one as long as possible because of the weather and crazy U.S. Open men's final (Djoko is ridic!), but eventually made it out with Crystal for our customary 6 mile run and drills. Not much to say - felt ok, a little better than the weekend for sure. 51:34 total time.

Tuesday, September 12th - 6 miles. Woke up to some painful I.T. band issues in both legs. Tried stretching, but definitely felt crippled throughout the day. Finally at 9 p.m., dragged my lazy carcass outside for some mileage. First mile was rough, but eventually settled in as I did my 4 mile Glen Carbon road loop for the flatter ground. Got chased by a dog, and ran into a dead skunk. Got home, did a very slow 2 miles (out and back to the trail) since I still felt like crap. Glad to get this in, long stretch session afterwards. 31:59 for the 4 miles - shut off the watch and jogged the final 2 miles at a really slow pace.

Legs are a mess today, and so is the rain. Planned track work is probably getting shifted back a day, as I recover from these nasty I.T. issues.

Mother Nature is no longer a hooker

2011-09-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Whew! Much to catch up on, so here we go! Is Bolt trying as hard as he can?, World Champion Jenny Simpson, Sarah Palin (my former employer) runs in Iowa, Hall is 4th in Virginia Beach, Geb goes for another Olympics, Mo Farah, and Boston registration opens on Monday :(

Monday, August 29th - 6 miles and drills. Had to think back about this one. Crystal, Tim, and I ran to the track on a muggy, humid evening. Kept it pretty slow, pretty tired and felt like poop. Don't remember the time.

Tuesday, August 30th - 10 miles (1 up, 4 x 1 mile tempo, 4 down). Late work dinner in St. Louis, so got ahold of Gabe and met him in Francis Park to work with him on his workout. Another warm evening in the 80's, and was battling some stomach issues from just having had dinner. He was hitting 10x1 mile at 6:00 min/mile pace, so after a small warmup I caught him halfway through. Tired, and had to work hard for the last one, especially as Gabe was taking off for a fast last mile. Long cooldown around the park a few times, nice night to be out and glad to get this workout in. Mile splits were: 5:50, 6:04, 6:00 (split), 5:58.

Wednesday, August 31st - 6 miles. I don't remember this run, but remember I was pretty militant getting in mileage before heading out to Washington D.C. for Shane's wedding.

198 miles for the month of August, 1389 for 2011.

Thursday, September 1st - 0! Planned on trying to get in some afternoon treadmill mileage, but alas work was too busy. Travel day, made it to D.C. with Megan and Tim for a fun wedding weekend!

Friday, September 2nd - 9.5 miles. Was staying at Josh's who lives in Columbia Heights (3 Northwest of the Mall). Intended on running out and back, but got sucked into the awesomeness of the Washington Monument, then decided to run the Mall towards the Capitol Building before heading back. Realized we were on Pennsylvania Ave., so ran over to the White House before heading back. Awesome morning of sightseeing, and hit up a few major points in the area. Running back was rough with the stop and go traffic, and going literally straight uphill for 2+ miles. Megan and Tim went with me, so a fun crew and we kept it at a slow pace. When we got back, probably walked at least another 3-5 miles in further sightseeing around D.C. (many, many more monuments, awesome times). Overcast day, but humid.

Saturday, September 3rd - 2 miles. Rehearsal morning, slept in too late because of a late Friday night, and did a quick 2 miles around Columbia Heights with Tim. Warm morning, felt like poop.

Sunday, September 4th - 0! Wedding day, just ran out of time from sleeping in yet again. Awesome day with all my friends, and got to stand up at the altar for one of my best friends. Congratulations Shane and Katie!!!

34 miles this week, not the best but not awful considering travel week. Scheduled off week, so not very upset.

Monday, September 5th - 0! Recovery day, the wedding and reception and bar crawl afterwards was pretty crazy.

Tuesday, September 6th - 4 miles. Long travel day back, but to some ridiculously AWESOME fall-like weather! Got out late, and jogged it slow. Felt like crap.

Wednesday, September 7th - 4 miles slow. First day back at work, felt like crap (residuals from the weekend?). Determined later that it was my allergies, and change of season. Time for a refill of Singulair! Auditioned for a Scottrade commercial (very random) in Webster Groves, then headed over a few miles to meet Timmy at Schlafly Bottleworks for dinner and drinks. Stayed late, as a result had a late night run that was very slow and very tiring.

Thursday, September 8th - 9 miles - 4 miles a.m. treadmill, 5 miles p.m. with Crystal (still need to be done). A.M. treadmill sucked - felt like complete garbage, and struggled to run. Absolutely zero energy. 30:44 total so probably a little fast, but haven't had a hard workout in almost a week and a half so shouldn't have been so bad.

Race for a Child 5K Recap

2011-08-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Great articles today - Top 10 reasons to own Brooks racing flats, controversy at the World's (Bolt's DQ), is Rupp fast enough to medal in London?, Ryan Hall and his new training (also running Virginia Beach this weekend), Mo Farah and a thrilling World Championship 10K final, Bekele pulls out of the Worlds, Symmonds advances to the 800 meter finals, more Bolt, and a Japanese running tribute to Steve Jobs LOL.

Saturday, August 27 - 8 miles: 2 up, RACE FOR A CHILD 5K (18:52 - 8th overall), 3 down. Ridiculously sunny and a little warm morning - headed to Soulard to go run a 5K for the heck of it, but more importantly a test to see where my level of fitness was at. Not too much expectations after a hard week and tired legs, but felt pretty strongly I was back to sub 19 5K shape after Thursday's hard workout. Top 5 male and females got cash prizes, and there were some cool attendance prizes like a 32" LCD TV. Got there early with Pat, Crystal, Megan (late addition to our group per Crystal's cajoling) to register, then warmed up on the first couple miles of the course. Many turns, very hilly, legs felt very tired and not good. C led us out in 7:59, 7:52, so felt a little better as to why I felt tired. Saw O'Connor and Gabe, and did drills and stretching before the race start. 5 minutes before, totally remembered that I forgot my inhaler so sped back to the car to get a few puffs. Shot of adrenaline, and was ready to go! First mile, ran with Crystal and Gabe and cruised through the many turns around Soulard. Felt pretty good surprisingly, and was holding on ok. Caught a nice long hill on the 2nd mile, and cruised down it as a gap opened up between Crystal, Gabe, and I. Was 5th male at this point, with a guy roughly 5-10 seconds behind. Hit the 2nd mile with a great split, and was feeling ok before we started up a long slow hill which didn't seem to end. More turns, headed towards the Brewery, and I made it a point to surge hard on these turns to try to lose the guy chasing me. Halfway through the 2nd mile, had opened up a considerable gap and realized I was closing in on Gabe. Started working towards him, but was running out of time and my legs were pretty shot from the uphill last mile. Cruised on in - a little aggravated that I didn't break 18:50, but just nitpicking at this point. 1 mile cooldown solo, then 2 miles with Gabe. 5K splits were: 6:07 (my split was called at 5:56, so my Garmin was off a little - updated firmware FINALLY at night), 5:59, 6:23 (straight uphill). Very happy with this race, definitely showing some progress in training. Crystal and I were both pretty thrilled at hitting good times with dead legs and hot and hilly conditions, so celebrated at Pi afterwards with Pat and Megan :) Big River Dominance at this race - O'Connor won overall and set a course record, Gabe 3rd male, me 4th (and $35 prize!), Crystal 3rd overall female (6th place overall in 18:35), and Megan won the t.v.! Welcome back to the sub 19 minute 5K club, me!

Sunday, August 28 - 14 miles (1:49:59). Forest Park run with Pat, Crystal, Mike, Megan, and I. Gorgeous morning for a run (60's and sunny, not humid), and had a decent showing of people out there. Had talked about doing arch run, but the group was doing the Clayton loop so tacked on some extra and joined the others. Harry joined Mike, C, and I and we looped around the park before running through Clayton. Hilly, and legs felt tired at first but never got any worse. Kept yelling to slow down, but no one listened and we just cruised through the run. Last 9 miles, definitely got faster and faster but felt exactly the same. Intended 9 minute/mile pace run became 7:51 minute/mile. Forgot how hilly STL could be, but definitely happy with this run. Splits were: 7:58, 8:01, 7:55, 8:10, 8:03, 8:05, 7:52, 7:53, 7:47, 7:42, 7:38, 7:40, 7:47, 7:27. 51 miles this week - great week!

Easier week this week with travel week (D.C. for Shane's wedding). Will do a workout tomorrow night to make up for last Tuesday, but cruising with easy mileage the rest of the time. Definitely going to enjoy it!

Tempo Thursdays

2011-08-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

100 Days of Real Food blog (wicked cool), World Championships start tonight with the Women's Marathon!, Bolt wants to be a legend (he isn't already?), start lists for Daegu, women's 10K preview, a day in the life of Meb, and see the video above on Ryan Hall pre-Boston.

Thursday, August 25 - 6 miles (1 up, 3 mile tempo, 1 mile easy, 1 mile tempo). Important workout for me in my mind to see where I was at speedwise and to help with confidence. Met up with Pat and Crystal at the Village Circle Loop pretty late at night on a pretty nice evening. A little still for my tastes, but the temps were pretty nice. Quick warmup, dynamic stretching, then laid out strategy for the workout (3 mile tempo, 3 minutes rest, 2 miles tempo, 2 minutes rest, 1 mile tempo). Crystal wanted to hit 6:20-6:29 range pace; I was thinking more 6:25's, and secretly hoping to hit 6:15's. Started the workout, and my Garmin battery died 0.18 miles into the tempo. Dropped a few f bombs, then decided it was best to sit on Crystal and hope for the best since I had no watch and didn't want to fall too far behind. Fast first mile, but felt really good and kept going. Fast second mile, but felt really good and kept going. Last mile, had to work a little harder, but found out we killed the last mile so was pretty happy. I deviated from the workout (wanted to save a little for Saturday's 5K), ran a mile, then caught up with Crystal to hit the 2nd part of her 2 mile (much harder effort), and the first part of her hard mile so I could get to my car since I was running uber late for dinner plans. Paced her through the second half of her mile in my car, which was much more fun than running. Pretty happy with this workout, and Crystal absolutely annihilated her end as well. Props to Pat for hitting his tempo. 3 mile splits: 6:15, 6:12, 6:05. 1 mile split: 5:50. Crystal hit 5:49 before that, then 5:41 for her mile - ridiculous.

Friday, August 26 - 4 miles. Bright and early for recovery run with Crystal on Old Faithful. Recovery run, but we ended up speeding up naturally. Analyzed the heck out of yesterday night's workout, then talked small strategy on tomorrow's race. Ran through 3 disgusting spider webs, and still picking out web remains from my hair as we speak. 35:43 total (2 mile splits - 18:09, 17:34 (including complete stoppage for running face first into a huge spider web))

Legs are tired but feel ok. Hoping I have some juice for tomorrow's race, and praying for cooler weather for tomorrow morning!

Mother Nature is a hooker

2011-08-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Kara running at the World Championships despite injury, Martin Lel is back, Ryan Hall and the extra 1%, Hanson's Mike Morgan talking about the upcoming World Championships, David Rudisha, Asafa Powell all talk, and great 5K workouts from prominent high school coaches around the U.S.

Monday, August 22 - 6 miles and drills. Big River group run with Pat, Crystal, Stacy, Tim, and I. Did Francis Park loop, then headed to the track for drill work. 34:19 with Crystal, then finished Megan and Lara's track work to round out around 6. 8:15 pace for most of it - pace felt easy, but legs didn't respond very well.

Tuesday, August 23 - 3 miles. Track work was scheduled, but couldn't get up in the morning. Ended up treadmilling quarter mile repeats at 5:52 min/mile pace, and it wasn't very easy. Fantasy football draft with Tim killed my evening, but it was a scorcher out there. Kudos to Pat and Crystal for braving it out in that slop and hitting respective great workouts.

Wednesday, August 24 - 10 miles: 6 miles a.m. treadmill, 4 miles p.m. trail. A small heat wave has moved back to the Lou, so opted for treadmill and air conditioning. Amazing how awesome the cool air feels and having ESPN to watch. Started at 7:30 pace with all intention of slowing down, but felt so easy. Flew by this workout and some long stretching to try to activate my hop flexors which have felt jammed for a little while now. 45 minutes, 7:30's all the way. P.M. - jumped in on Pat's 3 mile run (also with C), and did the trail towards Marine and back for the first time in forever. Very humid outside, and got attacked by a swarm of these grasshopper/butterfly hybrid looking creatures. C and I looped around the neighborhood to finish out the run. 36:12 for the 4 miles, felt pretty good albeit a little tired.

Well crapped out on the a.m. tempo, so planning to get that in at some point today. Off-week next week, so will try to work the track workout in that day before heading to D.C. for Shane's wedding. Possible 5K this weekend - praying for cooler weather!!!

Is it Fall yet?

2011-08-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

Mo Farah, Liliya for a Chicago 3-peat, Asafa Powell gunning for Usain, and RIP to John Kelley - 1957 Boston Marathon winner. Also, a cool training tip video on stretching from Big River Running's Ben Rosario and Julie Bokermann.

Wednesday, August 17 - 0! Got home late, missed the run. Going to switch with Friday off-day.

Thursday, August 18 - 8 miles (3x2 miles tempo, 3 down). Late night at work, managed to coordinate this workout with Crystal. 2 mile repeats at tempo, 2 minute break in between. Not a fun one, and a pretty warm and humid evening for it. Crystal's tempo repeats are at 6:15/mile pace, so I figured I was good for 6:20-6:25 to be safe (still developing strength at this point). We started out together, but she quickly got ahead and I was content lagging back slightly thinking we were on pace. Felt really good the first mile, but was definitely getting tired on the second mile and tried to keep it honest. Pretty tired, and the 2 minute break felt like 2 seconds. 2nd rep, just pain and tiredness. Fell way behind Crystal and was struggling all the way through the first mile. Got a quarter mile into the 2nd when I dropped off. This workout was going to be done without a break. Jogged/walked back to the rest point, then jogged back to catch Crystal and run her in. Last rep - made it a mental point to try to hit 1/2 marathon pace (6:30/mile) and call it a day. Felt much more relaxed, and zipped through the first mile. Had tired legs, but enough to make it through no problem and was very pleased with the final split. At this point, had gotten very dark and I had taken off my glasses due to the sweat (sooo humid), so at some point made a wrong turn and ended up on some street I had never been on before. I finished my rep then realized I had no idea where I was! And I am blind, so even worse. To make a long story short, jogged in circles for about 20 minutes before finding someone to give me directions. Found Crystal (who was off looking for me), then jogged 1 mile cooldown. Didn't hit the workout 100%, but pretty happy nonetheless. Splits were: 12:25 (6:08, 6:17), 6:27 (eek!), 12:31 (6:16, 6:15).

Friday, August 19 - 6 miles. Worked from home today - ran out and lunchtime with Pat and Crystal to get in a quick run. Uber sunny outside, hot and humid. Legs were pretty beat from the hard workout, and kept this one pretty conservative on the G.C. trails. Legs were officially toast on the turnaround, so had to work to get back home. Ugh. 50:07 total time, probably a little quicker than I would have liked.

Saturday, August 20 - 4 miles. Didn't have enough time to get in the 8 miles I wanted because of busy day, but managed to get out for a quick run. Out and back on the trails, sunny and hot but kept it slow.

Sunday, August 21 - 10 miles (1 up, 8 mile 1/2 marathon pace, 1 down). Big River Group Run at Grant's Trail. Early morning over in South County, and was pretty muggy at the start so knew this would be rough. First time on Grant's Trail - very nice path that is pancake flat and shaded. Crystal and I's goal pace for this run was 6:29/mile, which I thought was going to be very challenging. To make a long story short, started out pretty quick, and struggled the rest of the way. Quick water stop at the 2nd mile, mile splits were all over the place and didn't feel too hot. Coming back in, hit a few long patches that were exposed to the sun, so was dying in those areas. Another water break, traffic light stop, and kicked my butt making it back. Ugh, not the best run, and definitely worked for it. 8 miles - 52:45. Time was ok - I'll take it, but wish it wasn't that hard. Hammerstone's for brunch afterwards, then a much deserved nap! 40 miles this week - eh.

Another toughy this week - thinking about Race for a Child 5K this weekend, which will be nice to see where I am speedwise.

Back to the grind...

2011-08-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Stretches in the pool, Shalane interview Part 1, Shalane interview Part 2, "winning is contagious" claims Mo Farah, Falmouth recap, and the much anticipated return of Kenenisa Bekele at the World Championships.

Friday, August 12 - 4 miles treadmill. Travel day for me to Chi, so squeezed in a quickie during lunch. 35 minutes I think?

Saturday, August 13 - 0! Got in uber late on Friday night, stayed up till 4 a.m. or so having a few adult beverages and catching up with the sister. Late start to the day, missed a Lakeshore opportunity so was kicking myself.

Sunday, August 14 - 4 miles. Lakeshore , my favorite place to run. Enough said. Nice group run with Ben, Megan, and I on a pretty windy day. Headed north with a strong tailwind - on the way back, was pelted by sand and ended up detouring through the park and zoo. Fun to get out, felt pretty good albeit we were going really slow. 36:38 total time I think?

32 miles this week - not very good, but had some solid workouts so not too mad at myself considering travel weekend.

Monday, August 15 - 6 miles and drills. First run with Crystal in what seemed to be an eternity. Nice evening to run, typical track work and drills. Felt pretty good for the most part - a little concerning that 8:20 pace feels like I'm going fast, which means I'm doing my easy runs too slow. 49:35 total time, picked up the last mile a bit for fun.

Tuesday, August 16 - 6 miles? (1 up, 3 x (2 min on, 2 min off, 1 min on, 1 min off, 30 sec on, 30 sec off), 2 down). Nice group to the track (Pat, Crystal, Megan, Lara, Tim and I), as we ran with a bunch of people and the middle school football team practicing on the field. Legs felt like poo, so opted to do C's workout instead of the grueling 1200's (plus some hard workouts scheduled later this week and need some juice for the legs). Easy warmup with Tim, hit the workout pretty easily. Didn't feel too bad, and spent the majority of time chasing Crystal as she took off like a moped. Last set - started to have some massive GI issues, which are never fun. Paces for the hard portion of the fartlek were 5:30-5:50 range, so happy. Ended up leaving the track to go to the bathroom, easy 2 mile cooldown around the neighborhood with Tim to finish the workout.

Legs feel like garbage today, as does my body probably from allergies which have been severely acting up as of late. Easy tonight, Thursday 3X2 miles at tempo will be rough.

Who's the man?

2011-08-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

This guy. Lolo - pay special attention here. I think could be an amazing match (just sayin')...

U.S. World Championships roster in South Korea, and Jordan Hasay. Lots to catch up on my running world, so let's just get to it.

Wednesday, August 3 - 0! Impromptu day off, quite honestly don't remember why but will make it up.

Thursday, August 4 - 6 easy. Felt like complete crap. Now I remember why I took Wed off is because Timmy and I went out at night. Hit the easy mileage, went straight to bed.

Friday, August 5 - 10 miles (5K 19:38, 3 min rest, 6:03 mile, 2 easy, 4 easy). Crapped out in the a.m. to meet Crystal, so ended up breaking up this crazy workout. Heat was a huge factor (again), so opted for the cooler indoors. Didn't have enough time to hit the actual workout (2x2 miles tempo, 1 hour easy, 3 miles tempo), but improvised and did what I could. Did speed on the treadmill (new treadmill at my buddy's place!), hard effort but felt really good. The 5K split was definitely a confidence booster, as I had a decent amount in the tank. The mile hard, I definitely worked for. Came back in the p.m. to hit an easy 4 to get me to 10 for the day.

Saturday, August 6 - 10 miles (1:25-1:26). Watching Pat and Crystal's cat while they are out of town, so took the opportunity to get in some easy treadmill miles since it was beyond ridiculous outside. Started watching Lord of the Rings: Two Towers and Unnecessary Roughness on t.v., lost track of time and next thing you know I had blown past the intended 6 miles. Finished at 10, easy effort and felt good.

Sunday, August 7 - 15 miles. Early group run at my place with Mike, Candace, Devin, and I. Broke the run into 2 parts so we could refill on water and gatorade. Another hot and humid morning. Intended on doing 8 and 8, but was feeling good and extended the first portion to 10 miles keeping 8:30's pace. Did Troy route out and back (impetus being we could handle the open roads earlier than later when the sun would be a factor). Felt pretty good until the 9th mile or so, when the legs started to feel weird. Got back in for a refill and quick breather, then headed back out. Took a different, hillier route to the trail towards G.C., and pretty much crapped out on the group 2 miles into it. Jogged half a mile, then started back because I was done. They caught up to me, ran it in with them. Legs had nothing in the tank, just another horrible death on the trails. Not sure the overall time, but 8:30 pace overall. Talked with Candace and Mike afterwards - they suspect I might have iron deficiency? Not sure why I have crapped out the last couple long runs - I have trained in awful heat before, so this isn't anything different. Hoping it was just fatigue from the high mileage weekend...

53 miles this week! Very pleased.

Monday, August 8 - 3 miles. Late night run (270 loop), actually cooled down a little bit so was nice to get out. Plan was 6 miles and drills. Couldn't feel my legs by the end of the 1st mile, and considered walking by the 2nd. Wasn't going very fast, but was just dead. Called it a night and went right to bed.

Tuesday, August 9 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIMMY!!! - 5 miles (1 up, 3X1200, 1 down). Got together a nice group to the track (Timmy, me, Megan, Lara) to do our respective workouts. Plan was to do 4x4 minutes at 5:46-5:52/mile pace, but was so close to the end of the lap that I just finished it out. Legs still felt like wet noodles, but pushed through. Small breaks in between reps, really a nice evening to run. Been nice to have hardly any humidity this week (thus far). Blazed through the last rep, very pleased with this workout even though I was pretty tired. Splits were: 4:21, 4:19, 4:19, 4:13.

Wednesday, August 10 - 6 miles (1:00:08?). Absolutely gorgeous outside, and successfully recruited Tim to get in a few miles. He biked over, then we started late but was high 60's/low 70's at that point. Ran through town, but traffic was a mess and detoured through the backroads heading towards Edwardsville. More traffic back there, was definitely hugging the shoulders the entire way. Legs felt like garbage, and Tim had a sore hammy so we kept it very slow and enjoyed a nice run on the nicest evening this summer thus far.

Thursday, August 11 - 10 miles total. 6 miles a.m. Had to talk myself into doing this workout (was considering pushing to Friday because I still felt like poop). 5 mile tempo at 6:30-6:35 pace. Big indicator workout (see where I am at), and a decent mileage tempo which really hasn't happened much this summer. Legs felt like garbage, and struggled out of the gate but found my rhythm after the first mile. Played a ton of mind games coming back in, and coasted through the second half. Picked it up slightly on the last mile for fun, felt pretty decent for the most part and very thrilled at the end since I hit the workout despite not having my best day. Annnd, had some in the tank, so thinking my fitness level is definitely improving! 1 mile cooldown (needed to get to work), need to get in a few more this evening. Splits were: 6:45 (oops), 6:31, 6:30, 6:31, 6:24. 4 miles p.m. Tim came over, and we did out and back on the trail pretty slow. Felt pretty good at the end, but legs definitely felt like wet noodles.

Headed to Chi this weekend. Not sure I am going to get in a long run, but would love to get in some basic mileage tomorrow and a couple easy runs on my favorite running trail!!!

Bix 7 Recap

2011-08-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

More suffering heat in the Midwest, but have worked hard despite Mother Nature's efforts to derail all. Ran the Bix 7 this last weekend for the first (and probably not last) time, and had a great time hitting up one of the biggest road races in the nation! More Bix recap, Geoffrey Mutai continues to dominate, Emmanuel Mutai to run in England, Meb signs with Sketchers (had no idea they had a running line), Bolt, Adam Goucher, and his lovely wife.

And finally Lolo, if you read this blog, I have a friend for you that I want to hook you up with. Solid runner, smart, funny, handsome, and perfect for you. He has houses all over the nation, so we'll make sure to get Baton Rouge on the rotation :)

Lots of work travel, and Bix weekend but kept up with some good running despite the awful conditions. Here we go...

Wednesday, July 27 - 6 miles p.m. (50:32) Cleaning and packing before my trip, did this one really late on a nasty humid late night. Did G.C. road loop but ran a slight variation down a hilly road I hadn't done before. Pushed it coming home, felt like crap quite honestly. Splits were definitely more aggressive then I intended, but it was late and wanted to get home. Splits were: 7:52, 7:22, 7:30, 7:28, 7:31, 7:04.

Thursday, July 28 - 6 miles treadmill. Made it to Rockford, IL for work. Hopped on the Hampton Inn treadmill in hopes to get in a few miles before dinner. Had a few engage me in a treadmill pace competition, which made the monotonous running a lot more fun. Broke 3 people overall, while watching Man vs. Food on the television (perfect motivation!). Last guy kept picking up the pace, but I made it a point to pick it up twice as much as he did. I broke him when I started texting my sister while running, and literally threw in the towel at 2.73 miles of his run lol. Fun times, felt a lot better running inside in controlled conditions. Splits were: 7:53, 7:53, 7:30, 7:30, 7:30, 6:46.

Friday, July 29 - 2 miles. Made it to Bettendorf, IL for work and Bix. Met up with my buddy Ryan, and did an easy 2 miles (well more like 1.6) on the roads. Hot and humid like everywhere else, made it a point to run pretty slow. Felt ok, but breathing was definitely an issue with the thick air.

Saturday, July 30 - 10 miles - BIX 7 - 7 miles - 50:59. Made it downtown bright and early for the 37th running of the Quad Cities Bix 7! Weatherman predicted "hot and miserable for the runners", and he wasn't kidding. Just nasty hot and humid and sunny outside, and knew it was going to be a rough going. Walked to the start with 18,000 other runners and squeezed into the back of my corral. Tried to work my way closer up front, but pretty much couldn't and sweated away a few lbs. waiting for the start gun. Bix is a pretty hill course - you start on Brady street, and run up a HUGE hill (9 degree grade) to start the race, before weaving through a hilly neighborhood and coming back. Really reminded me of the Newton Hills of Boston - same type of scenary and tough hills. Anyways, the plan was to go out in 6:20-6:30's and see how long I could hold on, but knew it would be tough with the weather. Had many problems trying to work my way through the massive crowds, and after a 7:56 first mile I knew my competitive race was already over. Really aggravated at some of the people in my corral who clearly had no business being in there, and consequently made it much more difficult for the serious runners. Picked it up on the 2nd mile, but hit a nasty hill on the 3rd mile and just cut back on the pace and into survival mode. - legs were just done and I felt like garbage. Got hip checked into the water station volunteers who broke my fall. Battled through the next few miles which was all rolling hills, then a long steady uphill grade for a while, and hit the huge downhill on Brady street. Saw I could probably break 51 with a fast last mile, so took off. Turnover felt great, flew down the hill but very cautiously as the grade was ridiculous and I had just clipped a runner at the top of the hill (sorry!) and a wipe out would have been pretty bad. Kicked to make my mini-goal - pretty awesome finish with a big crowd. Cooldown, soaked in the misters while waiting for Ryan and Megan to finish. Really fun race and great support all around - just wish it wasn't so damn hot but it is the Midwest in July. Splits were: 7:56, 6:57, 7:30, 7:28, 7:27, 5:58. Fun night in Davenport - they had an estimated 60-100K extra people with the race and some big bike ride across Iowa finishing that day, so lots of people out and about.

Sunday, July 31 - 7 miles (56:02). Back to the Lou - intended on long run, but came back late to some miserable heat and was pretty tired from driving home. Crystal had us over for dinner and Entourage, so after a long nap jumped onto their treadmill and nailed some good mileage. Wanted to get 6, but felt good and ended up picking up the pace steadily and squeezed in an extra mile. So much more easier running in a cool basement and having a fan blow cold air on you while watching the Hangover. Started at 8:30's, ended up at 7:30 pace.

43 miles for the week (woo-hoo!), 149 for July (eek!), 1191 for 2011. Fallen off pace, need to pick it up.

Monday, August 1 - 6 miles and drills. Evening run with Crystal - had taken a week sabbatical from drills, and definitely could feel it halfway through. Legs felt tired and definitely rubbery on the way back, but picked it up pretty naturally. Ironic that our total time was 50:59, which was my Bix finishing time.

Tuesday, August 2 - 6 miles (8x800 at half marathon pace). Because of the 100+ degree temperatures, Crystal's 5k time trial was cancelled and she was given a new workout to do, which I also jumped in to as well. Nasty humid evening, had a nice group out with Pat, Crystal, Tim, Megan and I. Quick warmup, jumped into the repeat. Goal pace was to hit 3:14's for the splits (much easier than the 2:40's we had been hitting), and felt really good for the first half of the reps. Did 200 meter jog in between, and traded off the inner lane. Took a water break 4 reps into it, then started it back up. Started to feel a little queasy after starting back up, and tailed off after the 5th rep to take a 2 minute rest in between reps instead of the jog. Finished the rest of the set, then jumped on Megan's last rep. Cooled down with the group, happy to hit the workout especially in awful conditions. Felt very controlled, but legs were pretty rubbery towards the end. Splits were: 3:11, 3:10, 3:09, 3:10, 3:09, 3:06, 3:06, 3:06.

Easy run today - methinks I will find a treadmill to give my body a rest from this heat, rather than sweat it out. Not holding up as well during this heat, but definitely getting in some good outdoor mileage despite it all...

Heat Wave Continues

2011-07-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Kara, Galen's fall in Monaco (ouch!), Lagat didn't win but he's still really fast, what a track meet last weekend in Monaco!, is Bolt in trouble?, London is awesome, new Nike sportswatch review (not impressive to me quite honestly), Hall, running in heat, running in heat, and more running in heat.

Big River Running has a small group trying to hit the Olympic standards for the Houston Marathon in mid-January. Awesome to see Ben making a run at it for an unprecedented 3rd straight time, and BRR's page has a section dedicated to it that I think everyone should follow.

Been a whirlwind last week and a half, and a lot to catch up on. Went to Austin, TX on a bachelor party, where I am pretty sure I got sick as this last week or so has been tortuous. Not to mention the current heat wave that we have experienced, so quality workouts have been few and far between. Here we go...

Wednesday, July 13 - 6 miles + drills. Ran with Crystal, quite frankly don't remember much of this.

Thursday, July 14 - Sunday, July 17th - 0! Heat + bachelor party + crazy weekend = bad

19 miles this week, awful.

Monday, July 18 - 6 miles + drills. P.M. run with C, instanely hot outside and felt like complete garbage. Drills were rough as my legs felt like complete rubber. Something is definitely wrong with my body.

Tuesday, July 19 - 7 miles (2 up, 4x(2x200, 1x800) (improvised), 2 down). Another insanely hot day (how many 115 heat index days can we possibly have???), started at 8:45 p.m. and sweating bullets within 3 minutes of the warmup. Very little air movement on the track, so just tough to be outside. After the first speed rep, determined I wasn't going to hit the 800's going in so changed to 400's. Tim and I traded off 400's to pace Crystal through, and made it but felt rough doing so. Splits were: 200's - 38-40 seconds, 400's - 1:18-1:20, 800 - 2:39. Pace felt fine, just felt like garbage and the intense heat/humidity didn't help.

Wednesday, July 20 - 6 miles. Saw Harry Potter 2 with Pat, Crystal, and Megan after work. Got dragged into a late 6 mile run with Crystal in discussing the movie (pretty awesome!). Hot and humid, felt a little better but definitely was swimming in the heat. Amazing that it was still 85 degrees (95 degree heat index) at 10 p.m. Just disgusting. 50:32 was total time out there.

Thursday, July 21 - 0! Intended on treadmill, ended up passing out for many hours. Still feel sick.

Friday, July 22 - 0! See above. Sleep > running. Ken and Erin were in town, but was able to catch up with those guys on a night out. Sad that I can motivate myself to drink a few, but not run a few. But to my defense, I still felt pretty crappy.

Saturday, July 23 - 3 miles. Ran at 9:45 p.m. in yet again disgustingly hot weather. 270 loop, lost a few lbs. in sweat I am guessing. Ran anywhere from 21-25 minutes, surprisingly faster than it should have been.

Sunday, July 24 - 14 miles. Ran with Crystal, Candace, and Devin. Met up around 5:45 a.m. (already 83 degrees and getting sunny), started out pretty slow trying to get into a rhythm. Lost the girls pretty quick in, but not really surprised and tried to keep a somewhat even pace. Turned around, made a pitstop at Miner Park to splash some water on me, but a fateful mistake as the stopping and going kind of killed me. Last 4 miles were pretty tortuous, as the heat/fatigue was getting to me. Averaged high 8's, low 9's total, threw up all my Gatorade afterwards. Gross.

36 miles this week, crap but all considering not bad.

Monday, July 25 - 4 miles. Done late, and quite honestly not sure why I even attempted this. Really hot outside, and felt like crap. Ran very slow, not sure the pace.

Tuesday, July 26 - 6 miles cutdown tempo a.m. Treadmill, not my favorite but needed to be done with busy evening and oppressive heat. Thought about quitting a few times, but I have determined that I have been the biggest baby and need to make it hurt every now and then, so blasted through and hit the workout I wanted. Last mile, the treadmill wouldn't go any faster, so I jacked the incline up. Definitely felt that, but blew through it. Feel pretty good. Splits were: 6:57, 6:57, 6:46, 6:46, 6:40, 6:28.

Going to try for for a later run this evening if I can get to it. Easy mileage, nothing too crazy.

So race week is this week,

Hot, Hot, Hot!

2011-07-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Shalane interview, Andrew Wheating and Leo Manzano hit the "A" Standard for the World Championships, Galen Rupp and Mo Farah continue to impress, more on Mo, Deena on the comeback trail, and Walter Dix's bold statement.

Thursday, July 7th - 7 miles (1.25 up, 4x(2x200, 1x800), 2.75 down. Flew back into STL on a crazy rainy evening. Got up late to the track to do Crystal's workout, which was predictably going to be tough. Quick warmup, crapped out in the middle reps of this workout just from dead legs. Just couldn't hit to 800's, and not used to doing speedwork at 5:20 min/mile pace. Really put all I had into the last rep to come close; long, slow cooldown on the track afterwards. 200 splits were 36-39 second range, 400's (2nd and 3rd rep) were 1:18, 1:19, 800's were 2:40, 2:41. All in all, gave it a great effort, so I'll take it.

Friday, July 8th - 0! Scheduled off day.

Saturday, July 9th - 12 miles (1:33:06?), last 4 at marathon pace. Out and back on a sunny day on the G.C. route. Felt somewhat decent, and we were cruising after a small bathroom break at Casey's roughly 3.75 miles into it. Started picking it up coming home on the downhill, so the transition to marathon pace wasn't too bad. As usual, overachieved and picked it up more than we needed to. Last mile, was getting really tired but wanted to keep it in check and nailed the fastest mile split of the run - always fun when that happens :) Lots of people on the trail, was nice to have company. Very pleased with this run. Average pace was 7:46 min/mile, last 4 were 7:00, 7:10, 6:58, 6:50.

Sunday, July 10th - 8 miles. Heat wave started on Saturday and lingered on. Tim and Devin joined for Troy loop out and back, then Village Circle mileage. In a nutshell, this run SUCKED. Started at 8 p.m., 89 degrees and 110 Heat Index. Seriously almost died out there. Averaged low 9 minute pace, just felt awful the entire way. 46 miles this week - woo-hoo!

Monday, July 11th - ~4.5 miles + drills. Big River Running group run, Crystal talked me into running on a 100+ degree evening and 115 Heat Index. Still didn't feel right from the night before, and running at 6 p.m. with the sun still out wasn't very wise. Started out with group, but struggled the entire way, literally from the first step. Not a day to be a hero, so sloooooow pace. Stopped at the track to do drills, very little air flow and literally felt like we were roasting out there. Did drills on the curve (hint of a breeze), and finished these drills faster than we ever have. No conversation, only the random curse word here and there. Made it back, drank a ton of Gatorade, then headed to Buffalo Brewing Company to drink literally a pitcher of water and have a fantastic meal with Pat and Crystal. Glad this was over, and this run will go down as a "remember when" moment. Total time out was 39-40 minutes, 8:46 average pace.

Tuesday, July 12th - 7 miles (2 up, 8x400, 2 down). Supposed to be Big River Time Trial, but after the last couple days, rescheduled back home. Crystal was supposed to hit 11 minutes for her 2 mile run, so recruited a group to pace her through while we improvised our workout to shorter distances (not a good heat runner). Mother Nature granted us a reprieve, as a storm rolled in and lowered temps to 80's (sad when 80's feels sooooo good). Nice wind, great night to run but still humid. Pat, Mike, Tim, Megan, Crystal, and I rolled out to the track and conducted this workout. I ran every other 400 to pace Crystal, and Mike and Tim ran every other after me so she had pacers the entire way. Led her out a second off on the first rep, but got all messed up on time and worked with her for the rest. She started to get tired on the 2nd mile, but regrouped to finish really strong so we were all proud of her for running a great time on a hard day (11:33). Warrior princess she is, she jumped in after her cooldown and hit 2 more fast 400's with us. Last rep, turned into a race between her and I, with Pat running the last 100 meters with us at full speed. Couldn't catch him, but a valient effort and hell of a split. Fun times, great group workout! 400 splits were: 1:24, 1:24, 1:26, 1:30, 1:20, 1:21, 1:18, 1:15.

Leaving for Shane's bachelor party in Austin on Thursday, so trying to get in as much mileage as I can before then!

G.I. struggles

2011-07-06T07:40:00.001-07:00

A shout out to the super masters runners in the World Championships in Sacramento, Ed Whitlock continues to amaze, a Runners World chat with Matt Gabrielson, and Berlin with Geb and Paula.

Tuesday, July 5 - 9 miles (7 miles - 56:04, 2 miles at 8:30 pace on the track). Warm evening to run, but was nice and shady on the trails. Out and back on the G.C. loop which was littered with randoms here and there, always nice to see. Started with Pat, but Crystal and I picked it up after he turned back. At the turn around, my stomach started acting up and considered running to the gas station bathroom but figured I could work through it. Note to self - always go with your first instinct. Started having some major G.I. issues with a little less than 2 miles to go, which didn't help with the picked up pace. Dropped the hammer the last half mile, which was one of the most miserable experiences in a while for me since my stomach was literally about to explode. Not fun keeping up a low 5 minute pace in absolute misery and half a stride (for fear that any movement would cause a really bad accident). Good news is the run felt really easy. Nice negative split on the way back (splits were: 29:02, 27:02). Ran up to the track to work with Megan on her 800 meter repeats. Paced her through a few at 5K pace, she hit good splits (4:09-4:15) so good workouts for everybody!

Wednesday, July 6 - 6 miles (50:03). Crystal dragged me out this morning for run and drills. My purring cat, Franklin tried to drag me back to bed for cuddling. Crystal won, but barely. Legs felt a little sore/tired, so not as easy a run as Tuesday night. A little surprised to see quite a few people at the track (including a runner doing drills (I thought Crystal was going to elbow him for working on our turf)), but nice to have company. More G.I. issues on the way back, which totally sucked. Legs felt like jello coming back home - with stomach issues, I was once again in misery. Happy to get this in, despite all my whining this morning (sorry Crystal).

So headed to Detroit for work today. Quick trip, nothing much to miss, but hope to get in a small, easy run just to explore a new area since that is one of my favorite things to do! I am guessing that my ridiculous 4th of July weekend and awful eating/drinking has been the main reason behind my recent G.I. problems - as any runner can attest to, it absolutely SUCKS running with stomach issues. On a brighter note, with my recent casino earnings, I ordered my new Garmin Forerunner 610 yesterday! After extensive research, I determined this was the one, and am anxiously awaiting its arrival! More to come...

Macklind Mile Recap

2011-07-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

Paula Radcliffe interview, Jordan Hasay interview, and Sammy Kitwara wins Peachtree again on a nasty, humid day.

Friday, July 1 - 0! Scheduled day off - wanted to run for some extra mileage, but didn't work out. Timmy and Mattie are back in town!

Saturday, July 2 - 4 miles. Waited until the last possible minute to run, just suffocatingly hot/humid outside. Did a quick 4 miles from Tim's place on the trail towards Drost Park and back. Shade helped, but on the parts that were exposed to the sun felt like roasting in an oven. Surprisingly, didn't feel awful and when we sped it up, felt perfectly fine. Spent the rest of the day in the pool, the reward for a hot, hot run. Splits were: 9:00, 8:30, 8:04, 8:14.

Sunday, July 3 - 1 mile. Supposed to get in 20 minutes easy, but the residuals of a late night out plus some awful storms cut this one short. The good news is our late night visit to the casino ended up being a great idea (99.9% of the time, it isn't), and I won enough money to pay for a new Garmin!!! 31 miles this week, ugh.

Monday, July 4 - MACKLIND MILE - 2 miles, 5:25 mile time. Great morning to run in South City, and was pretty pumped to be part of this fun race! Not my best effort by any means, and really not much to say. Forgot my inhaler before the race, which pretty much spelled doom for my day. But had a very even split run, and held on as much as I could. Legs felt great, so the work we had put in coming up to this race is clearly working. Congrats to Tim for a fat PR (5:20), Pat for a fat PR (6:34), and Crystal for a fat PR (5:04!) and winning the women's open title!!! Long celebration ensued afterwards.

Great 4th of July weekend with some great friends, but absolutely exhausted from the craziness. Have a pretty full week of work coming up, but will manage to get in some quality runs in between!

Is it really July already?

2011-07-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Boston Marathon, Allyson Felix the savior of US women's racing?, Asafa Powell rounding into shape with a 9.78 100, 80 year old Ed Whitlock continues to amaze, and Lukas Verzbicas is not only a great runner but a great friend.

Thursday, June 30 - 5 miles. Funny thing happened to me at work on Wed - sampled some meat with bourbon peppercorn seasoning, then all of a sudden started breaking out into hives which led to an emergency hospital visit, some heavy medication of benedryl and steroids, and consequently me passing out for 12-13 hours. Crystal dragged me out of my coma the next morning to meet her and Candace for scheduled 2x2 miles at tempo pace. Because of my grogginess, met them up at our Ebbets Field loop instead of subjecting myself to a fast warmup, which it typically is with those two masocists. To make a long story short, was a rough workout. Didn't feel too great, and was running on empty. Hit the first 2 miler in better than tempo pace, but the Killer C's had gapped me quite a bit so was pretty much running solo. Completely dead, started the 2nd rep but suffered a horrible death halfway through the first mile and knew I was done. Slowed it down for 5-10 seconds, but regrouped to finish strong and hit the goal pace. Jogged to meet them so I could run them in for their last quarter, and successfully did so. 2 miles down, did what I could with what I had so happy all in all. Splits: 12:45 (6:25, 6:20), 6:36.

Summer weather officially hit later this afternoon, so was very happy to get that out of the way.

170 Miles in July, 1042 for 2011.

Hopefully get in some deecnt mileage this weekend. Macklind Mile on Monday, and Timmy is back in town! Happy 4th of July everybody!

Rock and Roll Expands!

2011-06-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool news that RNR is expanding overseas to Edinburgh, Scotland! David Rudisha, and Lance running Chicago??

Tuesday, June 28 - 9 miles (2 up, 3x(400,300,200), 4 down). Warm evening for a track workout that eventually cooled down. Met Candace and Pat up at the track, 2 mile warmup (~15:40), then stretched out for what was a modified workout. Legs have been dreadfully dead every single day the last few weeks, and need some juice for the Macklind Mile this weekend so opted for more of a tune-up workout. Had a lot of problems locking in pace, but hit good splits all around with the exception of the first 400, which I had to literally slow to a walk at the end to hit 1:16 (eek!). Cooldown afterwards - we jumped in with Megan to work on her 600's which she hit in good pace. Good workout, but definitely a little tired. Splits were: 1:16, 1:03 (pretty sure we measured the 300's long since all the splits were off), 39, 1:18, 1:02, 38, 1:18, 57, 36.

Wednesday, June 29 - 6 miles. 5:30 a.m. comes pretty fast when you finish your track workout at 9:30 p.m. Literally dragged myself out of bed to meet Crystal for our customary 6+drills. Not much to be said, nice morning to run and my legs felt like complete garbage. Drills were borderline tortuous as well. Recovery sox and The Stick is my diagnosis for the rest of today. Glad to get it out of the way though :)

Run for Cancer 5K Recap

2011-06-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Nick Symmonds = stud, THRILLING 1500 at the USA Outdoor Championships, Morgan Uceny - women's 1500 champ, Geoffrey Mutai kills the Boston 10K, fast women and babies, the Boston Marathon, cool little piece on Nick Symmonds, and Ryan Hall doing Peachtree (sadly not Bix).

Saturday, June 25 - 7 miles, KICKING CANCER 5K. 19:22, 5th overall, 1st 30-39. Made the last second decision to run, woke up pretty early to go pick up Crystal on an overcast 70 degree morning which was pretty awesome. Drove over to Woodland Park in Collinsville, where I had raced before and actually started talking to Mike a few years ago on that specific course. Also the scene of my first sub 19 minute 5k effort, so was channeling good thoughts for Crystal in her quest. Registered for the race, went to go warmup when I realized I forgot my shoes!!!! Unbelievable. Quick trip back home (thank God for no cops), managed to get in a pretty crappy warmup before starting the race. Legs felt like garbage less than a mile into it, and knew this wasn't going to be a good day for me, especially on a hilly course with a ton of turns. Went out with Crystal on the first mile, but then scaled it back a little. Worked with Mike for a mile, then slowly worked back up and caught a couple guys coming in for the finish. Lots of steep hills, but pretty fun nonetheless. Crystal ended up winning the women's overall in 18:26 PR, a very big congrats to her and awesome to joined the sub 19 5K club at the same place I did :) Team Sullentrup Sweep at this race with Mike finishing 2nd in our age group as well. All in all, very pleased with a consistent race. I'm definitely making progress, and on my way back. Splits were: 6:10, 6:19, 6:15.

Sunday, June 26 - 9 miles (1:16). HUMID morning, early long run with Mike, Crystal, and Tom. Out and back on the G.C. trail after a couple nights of nasty storms. Legs felt like garbage. Played golf in the p.m., cart path only and hit the ball all over the world so probably walked another 3 miles walking in circles trying to find my ball. 38 miles this week. Mileage sucked again, but what can you do on race week?

Monday, June 27 - 6 miles (49:59). PM run with Crystal. Drills at the track, then headed back. Picked it up at the end for fun to break 50 minutes. TONS of people outside on a warm evening, but cooled down on our way back. First time in a while where my turnover matched Crystal's, which is encouraging. Felt like poop on the way out, but felt awesome on the way back in.

Track work tonight. Big River Running Macklind Mile next Monday, and Tim and Matt are back in town so a fun holiday weekend is rapidly approaching!

Mile Repeats

2011-06-24T06:47:00.001-07:00

Happy days for a running nerd like me! USA Outdoor Championships, Shalane wins the 10K in a course record time, Galen Rupp/Shredder also wins the 10K with a tremendous kick at the end, and some awesome pictures from the event.

Thursday, June 23 - 8 miles (3 up, 3x1 mile tempo pace, 2 down). Another fantastic day outside (70's, sort of overcast but windy). Candace joined Crystal and I for the workout which was awesome. Was taking my trash out before going over to C's when I realized I locked myself out of my place. Because of time, jogged over there for an extra mile and then ran up to Ebbets for our workout. Me being a realist, I figured that 6:36's weren't going to hold up and announced I was aiming for 6:25-6:35 and not going for the glory of some crazy splits. Well, that didn't hold up either, and we demolished those standards on our way to a fantastic workout. Held back a bit and pretty much coasted through the repeats (minute rest in between) without pushing too hard. Had some breathing issues on the last one, but not enough to slow me down. I'm 4 weeks overdue on refilling my medication, and need to do that ASAP. Ran 2 in, called it a day. Very controlled effort on tired legs, very pleased. Mile splits: 5:58, 6:03, 6:04

Off today, stuck on 999 miles for the year!!! Probably running a 5K for fun over in Collinsville on Saturday. Need to take advantage of the great weather, and Mike and Crystal are running too so hopefully we can bring in some bling for Team Sullentrup!

Poopy McPoop

2011-06-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Shalane training for the 10k again, Mo Farah helping out Galen Rupp, US Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend, and a Runner's World chat with marathoner Dot McMahan.

Monday, June 20 - 0! Fell asleep at night and never woke up. Dah

Tuesday, June 21 - 8 miles (2 up, 5x(2x200, 1x400)), 2 down. Organized a group track work late at night with Crystal, Mike, Candace, Devin, Pat, and Megan. Weather was really nasty and humid during the day, but a cold front moved in on the evening and was very overcast, cool, and breezy. Warmed up together as a group (well sort of, Crystal and Candace decided to do a tempo warmup), then stretched out. Crystal was doing 10x400 at mile pace, so we jumped in here and there to help pace her and worked very well collectively as a group. Anyways, the workout went great - form felt good, and felt very controlled. Splits were like clockwork, and hit them all within a couple seconds of each other. Best track workout I have had in a long time. Afterwards, Pat and I finished Megan's workout with her (10x300 at a little faster than 5K pace), and got in 6 with her at 1:32-1:33. Got in 8 total - 200 splits were 37-39 seconds, 400 splits were 1:17-1:19 so very consistent.

Wednesday, June 22 - 6 miles. Got up roughly 9 hours after our last workout to do easy mileage and drills at the track. Cool morning, lots of people outside early in the morning. Took a new way up to the track, and knocked out the drills before heading back. Legs felt very rubbery, and we took it nice and slow. 54:59 total for 6 miles.

Doing mile repeats tonight with Crystal and Candace. Considering doing a local 5K this weekend in Woodland Park in Collinsville, but just depends on how I feel. Very sluggish and tired today, but the weather is very cool so it should be good to get out there. Really going to make it a point to keep it under control pacewise instead of getting caught blasting through miles in high 5-low 6 minute pace, which would trash my legs for a few days.

Steamboat Classic Recap

2011-06-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

Moses Mosop running Chicago, US Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend, Alan Webb moving to Virginia, and Grandma's Marathon results. Good luck with my buddy Steven Pifer in the 1500 in a stacked field this weekend, and a shout out to my Big River teammate Adam MacDowell who ran an amazing 1:05:24 in Grandma's 1/2 Marathon this past weekend in Minneapolis!

Tuesday, June 14 - 12 miles (10 miles, 2 mile track work). Substituted long run since I was going to be away this weekend. Legs felt pretty shredded, and it was a warm day outside so warned Mike this was going to be slow and easy. Did 5 out and back on the Home Depot loop and had problems keeping up an 8:30 pace. Last couple miles felt like the last couple miles of a marathon. Ran to the track afterwards to do Megan's workout with her. Reverse ladder which we hit very even splits. Very pleased for her on that workout. 10 miles - 1:26:51, Reverse ladder - 1600 - 8:26, 1200 - 6:15, 800 - 4:04, 400 - 1:52.

Wednesday, June 15 - 0! Legs were done, need a day off.

Thursday, June 16 - 8 miles - 2 up, 4 x mile (6:18, 6:24, 6:27, 6:08). Ebbets Field workout with Crystal - mile repeats at 6:35 pace (1 minute break in between) was the plan, but I knew it would be faster. Jogged 2 up, legs just didn't feel good at all. Definitely a bit warm and humid, but it's only a mile at a time, right? Did mile repeats which felt just awful the first couple. Went out too hard the first one, and really slowed it down to try to keep it closer to pace but still shot the moon. 2nd and 3rd rep just felt progressively worse and my breathing was a mess. Had to sit out a rep sadly because I was literally done at that point. Small jog to get my breathing back, then jumped in with Crystal on the last rep. Felt a ton better and definitely kept it in control. Pushed a little to hit the last split, cooldown felt fantastic. Not sure why the Dr. Jekyl, Mr. Hyde thing happened, but I'll take it.

Friday, June 17 - 0! Scheduled day off, travel day to Peoria for Father's Day weekend and racing Steamboat the next morning, Legs felt about the same - really worn out.

Saturday, June 18 - 7 miles, STEAMBOAT CLASSIC 4 MILER - 26:02, 133/3358, 3rd Clydesdale Class. Woke up bright and early and drove down to the race which was in Downtown Peoria. Met up with Candace who was in town running, and did a quick warmup. Steamboat is a pretty awesome race - almost like a big time marathon feel, and a cool scenic finish. One big hill right at the beginning, then it flattens out and you do a loop around town, then basically come back and finish on a huge downhill (same hill as beginning, just opposite). Very flat and fast, and attracts some big names because of the great hospitality and prize money. Weather was very humid, but overcast and roughly 75 degrees so not awful. Lined up at the start with 5000+ other runners (there is also a 15k race). Felt ok on the first mile, but my legs were getting really tired really fast, so slowed it down about 10 seconds and tried to run it in consistently. Pretty much accomplished that going in, and mistimed my kick and missed breaking 26 minutes. Not the best race, but a good workout and a really fun time. Candace killed it - 24:27, 8th overall women and 1st in her age group - congrats to her! 2 mile cooldown with her, stayed for the awards ceremony and had a nice time at home with the family. Total mileage - 7 miles. Race splits were: 6:15, 6:38, 6:37, 6:30.

Sunday, June 19 - 3 miles. 18 holes of golf in the morning (so some walking), church, watched the U.S. Open all day and got home at 9 p.m. to a ridiculously humid STL. Got out for a late 3 miler, humid every step of the way and was just awful. Cut it short because I was soaked from head to toe. No idea of time, didn't push it. 36 miles this week, eh.

Route 66 10K Recap

2011-06-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

Kara, the NCAA Championship recap, Emma Coburn up and coming star, Lolo looking for love, and Lukas Verzbivas breaks 4 minutes in the mile in his final race!

Saturday, June 11 - ROUTE 66 10K - 8 miles, 10K time - 43:05, 28th overall, 2nd 30-34 male. Woke up to some crazy rain, and was happy thinking it would be an awesome day to run. Drove over to the race, and got in a 1 mile warmup while the sun started to peek out and make it a bit hotter. Was sweating bullets, so knew this would be sticky. Went out pretty fast and tried to slow it down on the 2nd mile and hold 6:30's, but dropped off a lot more than I wanted and made a decision on the spot that this wasn't going to be the day to suffer for what was going to be a mediocre time at best. Dropped to marathon pace as soon as we hit the trail (first couple miles weaved through the city (hilly), but ended up on the trail) and enjoyed the ride in. Last mile, picked it up a little for fun and picked off about 6-7 runners on the last half or so. Started to rain which felt awesome - seriously, where was this earlier??? Good workout all in all, the Metro Milers put on a good show with lots of spectators, cheerleaders, and kids all around on a pretty fun race. Found out later that I placed in my age group, which was a welcome surprise. Mile splits were: 6:13, 6:40, 7:11, 7:15, 7:09, 6:43.

Sunday, June 12 - 10 miles (1:19:32). Old Faithful out and back early in the morning. Stomach issues in the morning, eek. Milestone run for Crystal today as she was sitting on 999 miles for 2011, so we celebrated her 1000th mile immediately into the run! On the way back, got overcast and cool - perfect running conditions. Saw Pat with 2.5 miles to go, and made a move to catch him - we had scheduled last 2 at marathon pace, so worked out as we naturally sped up. Unfortunately, we kept going much faster than scheduled, so needless to say my legs were fried at the end. Last 2 miles were 6:55, 6:20-6:29 (not sure). 44 miles this week - I'll take it!

Monday, June 13 - 6 miles (50:06) + drills. Another cool day (loving it!), and had our friend Devin join us. Pretty standard workout, legs felt pretty rubbery starting out and the drills didn't help. Crystal dropped us pretty fast going back, and it didn't feel too great.

Legs feel like complete garbage tonight. Scheduled track work, but probably not going to happen and probably going to replace with easy long run.

Curses to you, Mother Nature!

2011-06-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

Bolt, Lagat, running in the heat (eek!)

I'm back. Work travel killed my time to update this, so here we go...

Saturday, May 28 - 0! Flipped with Friday off day...

Sunday, May 29 - 12 miles. Mike, Crystal and I on old faithful (G.C. trail out and back). Started at 6:30 a.m., realized shortly that we had started an hour late because of the HEAT. Don't remember the splits, but kept it somewhat honest. Dropped it sub 8 minute pace coming home, but didn't feel too bad. Mercifully, ran into Megan who was struggling on her way in from her 9 miler, and ran her in. Guessing 8:20 pace on average, but don't remember. 48 miles for the week, solid.

Monday, May 30 - 6 easy. Don't recall anything crazy here.

Tuesday, May 31 - 9 miles (2 up, 5X800, 8X400, 2 down). Speed work on a nasty evening with Mike. 5X800, goal was to run around 2:55-3 min reps. Nailed it, and let it loose on the last rep (2:54, 2:55, 2:55, 2:55, 2:52). Felt pretty damn good in the process, despite the nasty humidity. Did Megan's speedwork with her, then cooled down. (137 miles in April, 696 for 2011), 176 miles in May, 872 miles in 2011.

Wednesday, June 1 - 7 miles. Happy National Running Day! 5:30 a.m. with Crystal. Stomach was killing both of us by the end of the run, but nice to get this in early. In the evening, went over to watch the Big River Festival of Miles at SLU High. Great to see my buddy Steven Pifer, and he broke 4 minutes in the elite mile for an exciting 3rd place finish!

Thursday, June 2 - 6? Can't remember but definitely didn't do any speed work.

Friday, June 3 - 0! Day off, Tim was back in town so pool party at this parents, and much debauchery and craziness ensued.

Saturday, June 4 - 6 miles. Intended to run the Hornet Hustle 5K in Collinsville, but one step outside into the 85 degree humid weather at 7 a.m. changed my mind quickly. Flew to Anaheim, CA for work, and into 65 degree and sunny weather. Of course, I grabbed my shoes for a quick 3 mile session after we landed, then 3 miles late at night after the Angels game. Our hotel was right by Disneyland, so awesome to run around the park. A big thumbs down to the two idiots that heckled me as I ran. Really classy...

Sunday, June 5 - 6 miles. 3 miles a.m. (time change helped me get up early!), 3 miles p.m. Did my Disneyland loop in the a.m., then tried to do the same in the evening but went down a different path into what appeared to be the hood. Quickly changed my mind, and circled around a few blocks instead. The weather continued to be beyond amazing. Right shin pain was starting to come back - eek! 40 miles for the week, I'll take it.

Monday, June 6 - 7 miles. 4 miles a.m., 3 miles p.m. This time, took a different path in another direction, ran towards the Angels stadium and did a loop around there. Got warm in the morning because of the sun, but I'll take 70 degrees and dry over the 99+ and humid back in St. Louis. Got in a few after dinner, felt like complete garbage especially after having a few cocktails with dinner.

Tuesday, June 7 - 3 miles. 3 miles a.m. Another gorgeous morning. Slow, easy run, right shin was killing me!

Wednesday, June 8 - 6 miles. Chilling in the LBC for a night before retail checks in the morning, found a great loop alongside the beach towards the Queen Mary so ran around there on a brisk morning. Gorgeous scenary, slow, slow, slow for me. I know I ran for an hour, and it was at a pedestrian pace. Shin was bothering me again, may be time for new shoes. Flew home at night, was not pleased to see how humid and nasty it was at 9 p.m. when I stepped off the plane.

Thursday, June 9 - 5 miles (2 up, 6X200, 2 down). Back at home, track work with Crystal. Did 2 miles warmup on the roads, was soaked in sweat after 10 minutes. 200 repeats at 5:20 mile pace (40 second repeats), told Crystal to tuck in behind me but in true Sullentrup fashion she blasted off and I was chasing her in the fast lane which shouldn't be so. Got her to settle down, and hit some solid splits. Took off on the last rep which was fun, but felt like garbage on the cooldown. Actually felt slightly dizzy and disorientated afterwards, so drank a ton of water and Gatorade. Splits were: 35 (thanks Crystal), 37, 38, 38, 38, 34.

Friday, June 10 - 5 miles (37:55). Was supposed to run with Crystal in the a.m., but overslept and missed that opportunity. Treadmill instead, but actually wasn't that bad watching Sportscenter and hammering out some miles in the cooler gym all to myself. Went too fast, but was on a time crunch. Fortunately, felt pretty easy and happy to get in some easy miles. Started first 4.5 miles at 7:30 pace, cooled down the last 1/2 mile.

10K tomorrow in town. Effort will depend on the temperatures in the morning.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

2011-05-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Great way to help out the fine citizens of Joplin, MO after their tragedy. Please sign up for this race if you can. Obviously, with the city in complete shambles, it isn't going to happen but the money is going to a great cause. Bolt is awesome, and an interview with Angela Bizzarri.

Thursday, May 26 - 9 miles: 4 up, 6X100, 4.25 down. Quite possibly the last cool evening for a while, so eager to get this in. Met up with Crystal, ran over the to Edwardsville High School track for scheduled track work. Legs felt like garbage (probably going to feel this way for a while until I get into better shape), but good to run with Crystal and it made it go by much faster. Workout was 6 x (100 meters (20 seconds), 100 meter jog). Once again, had issues measuring out the 100 meters (this shouldn't be that hard), and really struggled to hit the 20 second splits but hit them all. After we finished, finally saw the markings, and we were running probably a good 10 meters too long which made us feel better. Pat joined us for a few miles back, saw so many animals on the trail (deer, rabbits, birds, possibly a snake, etc.) that it made me feel like I was a part of Bambi. Tired, but a solid workout. Splits were: 8 miles (31:24, 34:20); 100 meters (well 110) (20, 20, 19, 19, 20, 18)

Friday, May 27 - 9 miles (8:10 average pace - 39:20, 37:49). Summer time is approaching, so time to try to get used to the earlier runs. Crystal and I are going to attempt to do Monday and Wednesday easy mileage/drills in the a.m. moving forward (basically to save our evenings), so thought this would be a good one to get in just to get out of the way. Met her at 5:30 a.m. on a brisk morning, and did our Home Depot route towards SIUE. Felt ok at best, really sluggish and turnover was awful. Definitely was running on fumes and tired legs. That being said, it got done rather quickly, and dropped a fat negative split coming back.

Going to enjoy a day (and a half!) off and let my weary legs recover a bit. Sunday, Team Sullentrup long run, and Monday easy mileage and drills. Happy Memorial Day weekend to all!

Bye Bye Oprah

2011-05-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

Farewell to Oprah - as much as I quite honestly am not broken up like many others, she did promote the marathon through her own efforts which is very commendable. A hell of a run regardless (no pun intended), and much congrats to a legendary career. Ryan Hall comments on runner's amnesia, Sammy Wanjiru's legacy, what ever happened to Daniel Komen? (only sub 8 minute 2 miler), Kenenisa Bekele on the comeback trail, interview with the Pittsburgh Marathon winner rabbit, and a preview of the new Brooks line (PureConnect) coming out later this year.

Tuesday, May 24 - 7 miles: 2 up, reverse ladder (5:50 - 1600, 4:33 - 1200, 2:54 - 800, 1:25 - 400), 3.5 down. Recruited Mike to pace me through some of this workout. Nice evening, a little muggy but very tolerable. Legs were dead from drills, so had some concerns going in that I wasn't going to hit good splits. Didn't want to push it (this being my first real speedwork this summer), but also didn't want to flame out either. Quick 2 mile warmup on the roads before jumping into this workout. Mike paced me through 2:56 at the halfway point of the 1600, and finished 2:54 solo for a 5:50 mile split. Pretty decent considering on tired legs, and quite honestly a tired mental state. Don't know what happened on the 1200 - felt tired, but not bad enough to dip over 6:00 min/mile pace. Went through the 800 in a 2:59-3:00, so figured I should have broken 4:30, but I guess I wasn't paying attention to my watch. Ran a comfortable 800 and 400, never really pushed it but made it through ok in decent splits. Did Megan's speedwork as a cooldown (4x800), then tacked a little more at the end.

Wednesday, May 25 - 4 miles (~8:10 average pace). Reoccurring theme this spring/summer has been awful weather, and last night didn't fail to repeat. Storms, storms, and more storms postponed Crystal and I's early morning attempts, but it eventually cleared out by late evening and gave us a small window to get in some mileage and do drills. Met up with her at the track, did 3 mile warmup on the roads, quick bathroom break at the Y (not smart to have eaten a fried egg with my chicken for dinner (I was craving an egg for some reason), and my stomach rebelled after our warmup, thus the emergency pitstop), then a session of drills. Drills felt good but leg strength has definitely dimished, and lunges never felt any worse. 1 mile cooldown to finish the evening, and I owe 3 more miles at some point during this week to catch me up.

On a side note, 8 year old boys are the worst. When I made my Y pitstop, I was unfortunately next to a kid who was taking his talents to South Beach in the stall next to me. His nasty friends proceeded to pound on the door, kick the side of the stall, and heckle him relentlessly until he had finished up. I seriously wanted to stangle each and every one of them. Nasty little critters...

National Running Day is June 1st!

2011-05-24T07:18:00.001-07:00

Mark it down on your calendars that National Running Day is June 1st! Not too many articles today, but Paula Radcliffe is back in action this weekend!

Wednesday, May 18 - 7 miles. Ran Creve Couer park with my buddy Ryan during lunch on a pretty warm, sunny day. Hadn't done this route in a while, and was nice to run around the scenic lake as well as have some company since there were a decent amount of people around and about. Hit roughly 4 miles in 33 minutes, felt pretty good. Got in 3 more late at night, very slow.

Thursday, May 19 - 4 miles? I honestly don't remember this day, but I know I didn't get in much.

Friday, May 20 - 0! Scheduled day off. Chicago weekend!!! Ate with Anne at the new Graham Elliot restaurant. Supposed to be fine dining, but more laid back and modernized, and was a pretty trendy place. We did the 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings, and was pretty amazing - these were served more amuse-bouche style, and it was crazy how much flavor you could pack into such a small serving portion! 3 hours of this and wine - heaven.

Saturday, May 21 - 11 miles. Woke up feeling like garbage, stumbled over to the New Balance store to run with the training group. Started with the group, ended up running with Vicki, who was training for the Soldier Field 10 Miler over Memorial Day weekend. Ran a little more aggressively than I was expecting, but pulled through ok (~7 miles in 46:18 I think). Hot morning with the sun, but felt great to get out on Lakeshore. Met up with Anne and Ben shortly
afterwards, got in 4 easy with them. Anne is training for the Chase Corporate Challenge (3.5 mile race), so was good for her to nail this long run. Chill and Grill Festival afterwards, got to sample some great food from the local Chicago restaurants!

Sunday, May 22 - 4 miles. Procrastinated on this one, got out to Lakeshore around 2 p.m. on a hot, hot day. 85 degrees and sunny when I started, I am pretty sure I lost 5 lbs. in sweat. Wouldn't have dared this run at home, but it's Lakeshore and was my last day in Chi, so went ahead and did it. ~33 minutes of suffering, but there were plenty of people outside to feel my pain. 41 miles this week, not bad.

Monday, May 23 - 7 miles. Got out pretty late, and ran on what seemed to be cool at first, but pretty humid. Did 3 out and back on the trail, and 1 Village Circle Loop to hit 7. Felt my body wanting to push, but kept it honest. Hills at the end felt a little eh, but all in all a great run. Drills on the neighborhood street afterwards, sweated away another 5 lbs. or so.

More Wanjiru

2011-05-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

This whole tragedy is starting to get weirder and weirder, and Sammy Wanjiru's mom is claiming he got murdered. Hopefully, security cameras in his estate can clear up this debacle, but for now he is still mourned through many around the world including his fellow runner and friend, 2009 Boston Marathon champion Deriba Merga. Toni Reavis did an amazing tribute on him, and here is a wonderful bio on him from 2010.

Kara may be running the World Championships in Daegu (only if she doesn't qualify for the US Team in the 10k), Green Bay marathon runner gets her money, breakfast options for the runner, and diagonals.

Tuesday, May 17 - 8 miles. 2.5 up, 3x(400,300,200,100), 8x100 hard, 2.5 down. Sounds a lot more complicated, but combined a couple of workouts together. Ran up to track on a gorgeous evening for some speedwork. Working with Megan to increase her speed too, so ran with her to get in some additional mileage and work on her turnover - went well and progressing on schedule. Got confused trying to map out the 100 meters (I swear the distance seemed short), so ended up starting on the curve to offset any discrepancies (would rather run longer than shorter). Goal was 20 seconds for 100 meters, to work on turnover. Hit the splits, but worked for it, hopefully because I ran long. Ran back, long stretching session, and passed out like no other. Not the most fun to get back in after 10 p.m., but it has to be done. 100 splits were: 20, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 18, 17.

Quick Picture Diary from the last month...

2011-05-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

Walking down Boyleston before the race

Chilling in Athlete's Village

Pre-race

Hereford to Boyleston

Possibly the greatest finishing line shot ever

Hail to the Victors!

Madison Lake Front/Bike Trails

I ran this every day for a week!

Boston Commons

R.I.P. Sammy Wanjiru

2011-05-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

Speechless and shocked at the news of Sammy Wanjiru. I knew that he was having domestic problems, but this has jumped to an entirely different level. Wanjiru was one of the greatest marathon runners ever, and I had the privilege of watching him (on t.v. and in person) run two of the greatest marathons ever (2008 Beijing, 2010 Chicago). Sammy had one of the most aggressive running styles ever, and never hesitated to push the pace and throw in some monster surges. He was only 24, and the world has lost one of the greatest racers ever to live, and I am deeply saddened for the loss of one of my favorite runners. May your running in God's Kingdom be swift, and I hope that you have fun dropping some of your patent surges in your training runs/races in Heaven. I am pretty sure no one can catch you. R.I.P. Sammy Wanjiru

Ryan Hall to run BolderBoulder, Paula Radcliffe to run Chi this fall?!, Geb wins in Manchester.

So after a nice, long hiatus, I return. Not much running has been done, and I have slowly undone a lot of work this year. But I have enjoyed this extended honeymoon, and have set my sights on my "comeback" to regain some speed, but most importantly have as much fun as I can while doing so. Hall's performance in Boston this year really hit home, and I am working to improve my craft as well as enjoy running as much as I can, while reaping in the benefits :) The most important thing at this point is weight - I am 15-20 lbs. heavier than I was last year, and it doesn't feel good and has not helped my running. I am working to fix that immediately.

April 11-17: 16 miles. Eek. Boston Marathon week, ran very light during the week at home, but got in very little during the weekend. Shane and I had a fun run around downtown Boston, hitting up the Boston Commons area which is pretty much a very dummed down versoin of Central Park in NYC. Very scenic though, and fun people watching in general.

April 18-24: 40 miles??? Monday - had a small 26.2 mile jog from Hopkinton to Boston, 2 small runs over the weekend when I got back. Legs were beatdown a bit from the hills, don't remember the hills being that bad but I was in better shape last year too.

April 25-May 1: 24 miles. A run here and there, nothing special. Legs still very heavy. Headed to Madison, WI for a week for work. Gorgeous trails, will post pics. Day 1 in Madison - ran around the city trying to find the trails around the lake, ran up and down many hills and tired myself before eventually finding what I wanted. Got to talk to Ken during my run on the phone - congrats on his great performance in the Illinois 1/2 marathon!!! (1:26:06, I think?)

May 2-8: 36 miles. Made it a point to run everyday during my stay in Madison. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised about the infrastructure of the city, and how gorgeous it was. The lakefront trail reminded me of a poor man's version of Chicago's lakefront, but a quieter, smaller scale. Regardless, gorgeous, and fun to see so many people out. Beautiful city skyline and going over a bridge when the UW Crew Team was practicing was super cool. Very inspiring to think of the many miles that Chris Solinsky was logging in out there, so made the most of it. 50 degree weather felt amazing. Legs felt a little better, so that was a big positive.

May 9-15: 28 miles. Eek. Rain, and oppressive heat killed motivation. Did my first track work on Tuesday or Wed. Paced Megan through some 400's, then hit 4X400 of my own to gauge my level of fitness. In a nutshell, not great, and I was huffing and puffing like a fat, old man. Splits were ok, but felt very difficult. (1:24, 1:23, 1:23, 1:15 (let it fly, not a good idea as my legs were shot)). Sunday - long run with Team Sullentrup. 10 miles on the trail on a dreary afternoon. Did GC loop on the trail, was muddy and nasty, and they are doing some work on it so the top layer on portions of the trail were literally just packed mud. Felt ok going out, but we definitely picked it up coming home. Crystal spotted a guy about a quarter mile up when we were within 4 miles of home, and we steadily gained ground until it suddenly became an impromptu Indian Run. One minute on, rotate. Ugh - hit 6:30 for the mile which did not feel very good, blazed past the guy (early brunch for Crystal) before ending that bad idea. Legs felt like garbage. 1:18:36 overall (41:06, 37:30 were the 5 mile splits)

May 16 - 7 miles, drills afterwards. 4 miles after work on an absolutely beautiful evening, 3 miles and drills after dinner. Legs felt tired from the Sunday workout, and drills felt rough. Cheated and only did the first half, but wanted to save a little for tonight's track work. A little at a time, need to be patient...

Tonight, mileage and track work. Weather is gorgeous all week, and need to take full advantage of it with this momentary cooler front in place. Off to Chi this weekend, very excited to get up there to my 2nd home. Already set up a run with the New Balance training group by my sister's place, and will be spending some quality time on Lakeshore!

Back home!

2011-04-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

Insane London Marathoner runs 99 miles home after the marathon, London pictures (warning "mankini" might burn your retinas), Emmanuel Mutai wins London in a blistering 2:04:40 (Keitany wins women's race in a PR (2:19:17), the legendary Grete Waitz passes away, Mary Wittenberg's thoughts on Grete, remembering Grete, Waitz and Lebow and Justin Mock in Rotterdam.

Boston, Americans creeping closer and closer, Boston petitioning for Mutai's performance as a world record, the fun tailwind may have not been so much fun, no wonder why Kim Smith dropped out, Kara, Ryan Hall called it, and the 2 hour marathon doesn't seem as ridiculous as it once did.

A lot to cover with one of the busiest running weekends ever, so here we go:

London: Emmanuel Mutai lived up to his promise with a blistering 2:04:40, and he is truly a force on the running scene. Welcome back, Martin Lel - hell of a kick to get 2nd place, and he is definitely a name to watch in the fall (NYC, perhaps?). Mary Keitany may be the early Olympic favorite as well with the first sub 2:20 female race in a few years.

Boston: Wow, wow, and more wow! Mutai, Hall, Desi - can't say enough of all of them. For anyone saying that Mutai's performance isn't a world record hasn't run Boston. The fact that he negative split on that course the way he did is just ludicrous. The downhill of the first half pretty much hammer your quads and legs, and you can't make up any time whatsoever on the Newton Hills. Also, no pace setters - with all due respect to Haile, his record was manufactured with the help of people paid to go out at a certain pace. In Boston and NYC, you have no pacesetters, and it is truly a race from start to finish. Boston is not known as a "fast course", so even more impressive that they shaved 57 seconds off that record. Scary that Robert Cheriyout's record performance last year would have gotten him 5th this year.

Ryan Hall - the world may need to apologize to you - apparently God has written a pretty damn good plan, and it's pretty clear that he is doing something right. Hope he can keep up the momentum and run a strong qualifier in Houston this January. Loved the fire, loved the aggressiveness, and maybe he can put it all together again on a different day where he isn't upstaged by some mindblowing, record breaking performances.

Desi - you captured the hearts of all Americans. You had the coach of your top American rival screaming for you to win down the stretch! Hell of an effort, even more thrilling when you watch the highlights. She ran according to plan, and made the Kenyans work for the win. She propelled her way to arguably the number 1 woman American marathoner currently (sorry Kara), and can't wait to see her attack the Houston trials course this January on her way to London next summer.

The Field - Kara, hell of a performance, hell of a PR considering she just had a child. Kim Smith - bad timing on an injury, but pretty damn cool to watch her take control of that race. Watching the pack coldly gobble her up and spit her out post injury was chilling. Gebremariam - a force to be reckoned with. NYC winner, Boston podium finish in a stunning 2:04 - he is one of the top runners out there.

Just got back from yet another amazing weekend in Boston. Fun times all around, had the most enjoyable race where I got to enjoy the sights and sounds of what is probably my last Boston. Final time was 3:29:49, but was an amazing ride the entire way, and awesome to be part of a record setting race. More specific race recap to come...

Boston Bound!

2011-04-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Ryan Hall, Ryan Hall, Desiree Davis - America's best hopeful?, Brett Gotcher out, Alan Webb and his new coach, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher. Wed, Apr 13 - 5 miles (3x1 mile MP). Gorgeous evening to be out. Ran the Village Circle loop, and brought out the new cones that Crystal recently purchased for quarter mile markers. Warmed up by measuring out the split points (and dropping cones), then got into the workout. In a nut shell, felt great and we were cruising at conversation pace. Way too fast in fact. Goal was to hit 7:15's - our splits were 6:53, 6:49, 6:32. Highlight of the workout was when I let Crystal pace us on the last mile, and we hit the 1/2 mile split in 3:17. I remarked we were waaay ahead of where we needed to be. She gave the quote of the year, "You just sit back there and look pretty." Consequently, she was fired from pacing us in slower paced runs. Legs felt amazing, really amazing. Afterwards, Crystal made a wonderful dinner - fresh salad, lemon crusted pasta, and a delicious raspberry cake! This is probably the last post before Monday. We fly out tomorrow, and easy runs everyday up to the marathon. No time goals, will discuss race strategy with Shane and Crystal over the weekend. As far as I'm concerned, this is my victory lap, and I intend to enjoy every step of the way. Bib #4158 for those who care to follow. Thank you to all for all your support!

I love you Taper Week!

2011-04-13T12:43:00.001-07:00

Couldn't have phrased it any better, Kara. Competition for Pat and Megan, Mo Trafeh's marathon debut in London this weekend, US struggles in Boston. And Joan-Benoit is running Boston!!!

Tuesday, Apr 6 - 15 miles: 2X6 miles, 3 down. Gorgeous day outside. Hit the trails in hopes of doing the Ben Rosario/Hansons marathon workout of 2X6 miles (5 seconds faster than MP), but completely overshot it big time. Haven't done as much marathon pace runs this training block, so pacing is not the easiest for me. Felt heavy legs on the first rep, (6:33 first mile will do that) but definitely settled in coming back and was locked in. Dropped a 6:30 last mile to finish it out. Splits were very aggressive, and worked for it. Felt pretty tired on the cooldown, but very happy with the workout. First 6 miles was 6:51 average, 2nd 6 miles was 6:46 average.

Wednesday, Apr 7 - 6 easy and slow

Thursday, Apr 8 - 0! Late dinner after work, switch off days

Friday, Apr 9 -6 easy and slow? I don't remember

Saturday, Apr 10 - 4 miles - Go! St. Louis 5K, small warmup and cooldown. 19:50, 7th place. Fun day to be out - huge rain storms in the morning and traffic made it a mess to get to the start line, but eventually parked a ways and made it to the start. Since we were far away, ended up having the wear my cotton race shirt since I had nowhere to store it. Went out with a small lead pack on the Forest Park loop that Crystal and I have done so many times, and was cruising. Let them go a little past the first mile around the Science Center (going up that hill), and settled into cruise control/tempo speed. Maybe settled a little too much, as the 2nd mile split was 10 seconds slower than I had planned. Cruised in at that point, let the 6th place guy go (who was looking over his shoulder literally every 3 seconds to check on me) and ran back around so I could watch Megan finish. Fun times, splits were mediocre at best, but this was a planned workout with Boston so close. Splits were: 6:08, 6:28, 6:31.

Sunday, Apr 11 - 0! Volunteered all morning with Crystal at the Go! St. Louis Marathon. A very hot and sunny day to be out, and unfortunately more hot and sunny than it should have been (75 at the start, got up to 89!). Great to see all the Big River Runners out and about, sucks that Karl got outkicked at the end, but he put up a fight. Sunday at the Masters took over the rest of my evening, and had 0 energy. 36 miles this week - eek!

Monday, Apr 12 - 4 miles. Nice and easy, looped around town.

Tuesday, Apr 13 - 0! Gorgeous day to run, and I skipped out. Got out of work late, just couldn't get myself out the door for the run. Slight burnout for me (physically and mentally), and taper week so not too upset right now.

Tonight, some pace work, then small jogs here and there before the big race. Headed out on Friday, so looking fahrward to a wicked fun time in Baaaaaston!

Wanted: Dead or Alive

2011-04-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Franklin is a dead cat. He stole my medal, and inhaler and mutilated it thinking it was a toy. He may look sweet and innocent, but he is now number 1 on my s*** list. 1 case of beer reward (not $4000) for anybody that can successfully make my cat understand that inhalers are off limits!!!

No hard feelings between Alberto and Alan Webb, Meb is runinng Boston!, Magdalena chat, Cherry Blossum, and a chat with Mary Wittenberg.

Thur, Mar 31 - 4 miles. Tired legs, but felt ok for the most part. 270 loop plus a little more. Slow pace... 209 miles for March (woo-hoo!), 559 for 2011

Fri, Apr 1 - 0! Scheduled day off.

Sat, Apr 2 - 6 miles, 52 minutes. Out and back on the trail, kind of windy. Felt really sluggish. Crystal was unsuccessful in recruiting me on the scheduled long run, but couldn't do anything hard because of my destroyed inhaler. Took me all day to find most of the pieces, not very happy with my cat right now.

Sun, Apr 3 - 15 miles (8:30 average pace). Ran with Mike and Crystal on a warm, windy day. Did out and back trail loop, very windy in open parts. Kept it pretty slow, and it got rough on the way back because of the sun and 70-80 degree temperatures. Highlight was dropping down to marathon pace and catching the group of bikers on the last mile, which has to be embarrassing for the bikers. 49 miles this week - I'll take it.

Mon, Apr 4 - 5 miles. Legs felt tremendous on the trails, and got this in albeit on a late, cold evening. No concept of time, but didn't push it either.

Kara's an author!

2011-03-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Kara Goucher for her new book which is coming out soon! It may be a future purchase for the women runners I know (i.e. Crystal, Tim (jk)). Alan Webb is leaving Alberto, Paula Radcliffe thoughts, London Olympic Stadium is completed, Ryan Hall - future chef?, and a RW chat with Masters runner Sheri Piers.

Wednesday, Mar 30 - ~16.5 miles: 2 up, 2 x (30 minutes easy, 3 mile tempo), 1 down. Talked with Crystal beforehand, and thought if we hit 6:33-6:37 pace on the tempos, we would be happy. Perfect day in Forest Park to run - a little cloudy, but fairly cool and breezy. Ran our warmup around FP before stretching out, then looped around for 30 minutes before jumping into the tempo which we were doing on the 2 mile BRR loop. Felt pretty sluggish starting out (big hill immediately before leveling off), but got locked in eventually and felt pretty good finishing out the first set. Sort of wish we could have kept going, but that wasn't the workout. Looped around some more at an easy pace before jumping into the second rep. Felt tired after the first mile, and started to fall a couple steps behind Crystal towards the end of the second mile but just sucked it up and pulled back with her. Got locked back in, and we negative split the last mile which is always an awesome feeling. 10 minutes down, stretched in the Visitor's Center, then headed for a celebratory meal at the Good Pie with Pat and Crystal. Very pleased with this workout - definitely a tough one, but hit excellent splits and felt pretty strong for the most part. On a side note, noticed a surplus of cops in FP all thoughout the run - saw at least 5 people pulled over on the 2nd half of the workout, and many just parked all over the park. Good to see a ton of runners/bikers out there as well. Tempo splits were: 19:38 (6:37, 6:31, 6:28), 19:29 (6:33, 6:31, 6:24). Everything else averaged around 8:10 pace.

Easy mileage to the weekend. Legs feel tired, but manageable, and will enjoy the easy 4 miler tonight!

3 More Weeks!

2011-03-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

Troy Aikman runs 1:48 in Dallas 1/2, Ryan Hall NYC thoughts, Sara Hall's Olympic event?, Chat with Desiree Davila, Angela Bizzarri is running for Mammoth Track Club, jogging won't kill your knees, Alberto Salazar's methods being studied worldwide, Alberto is coaching Lance?!, Stephen Shay and his great NYC run, Amy Yoder Begley is running the Shamrock Shuffle, Alan Webb is running the Drake Relays, Wanjiru OUT of London (but Martin Lel is in), Jeopardy for runners, and of course, the lovely Miss Kara Goucher.

Been out of the loop the last week, but the good news is still running pretty well and getting in some quality workouts. So here we go:

Wednesday, Mar 23 – 16 miles: 10 minutes, 2 X 1 mile tempo, 80 minutes easy, 2 X 1 mile tempo, 10 minutes down. Met Crystal at Forest Park for this workout. Crazy windy outside, but nice to see a ton of people around. Quick warmup, got right into the workout. Went out way too hard on the first mile, but evened it out towards the end (nice downhill, downwind towards the Science Center to end it). 2nd mile was brutal coming in because of the rolling hills, gradual uphill on the second half, and running straight into a 20-25 mph wind. Took the wind right out of my sails, and eventually recouped roughly 10 minutes into the 80 minute run. Ran all around Forest Park, mainly into the wind which was frustrating, but eventually got better when we were running downwind. Highlight was when Crystal was cursing at Tim (who was out setting cones for his workout), and ran right into a mud, creating quite the splattering mess! Got in about 9.5 miles, then started right back up with the tempo mile repeats. Felt ok on the 2nd set of miles, but just ran out of gas at the very end of the last mile, where my body pretty much shut down on the home stretch. The combination of wind and hills were absolutely brutal, but was overall very pleased at this workout. Fun dinner with Pat and Crystal afterwards and Buffalo Brewing Company, they make an amazing brown ale which I highly recommend! Mile splits were: Rep 1 (6:19, 6:26), Rep 2 (6:25, 6:35), 8:20 average on everything else.

Thursday, Mar 24 – 4 miles. Easy run, out and back on the G.C trails. Legs felt ok, but my calves were on fire. Probably from the hills, as my legs are finally starting to relearn them just in time for Boston. No idea how long I was out there, but probably went too fast judged by my heavy breathing and tired legs.

Friday, Mar 25 – 0! Scheduled Day Off

Saturday, Mar 26 – ~4 miles (4.2 miles in 33:49). Volunteering for the Go! St. Louis Marathon in a couple of weeks, and met Ben and Brian to get our assignments. Afterwards, did the group run route in a pretty crazy thundersnow/blizzard. Had a lot of fun running in the ridiculous elements, minus the snow blowing so hard that you could barely see. C and I were absolutely covered in snow - gotta love spring in St. Louis. Hit sub 8 pace, the product of Mother Nature and us just wanting to get out of her fury.

Sunday, Mar 27 – 19 miles, 2:30. Did the Big River group run with Mike, Crystal, and Candace (Coach Tim jumped in with us). Arch loop (very scenic), then mileage in Forest Park to round it out. Intended pace was easy run (8:30’s), but that got out of hand quickly as the Killer C’s (Crystal and Candace) and Tim immediately took off like a pack of wolves looking for food. Pretty much lost them after the 2nd mile, and Mike and I settled into a decent groove that was still way too fast for the intended workout. Icy spots everywhere, so ran on the roads for the majority of the run. Crystal and Candace came back towards us around the Arch, and we looped around the Arch grounds with them before they took off. Tried to slow down unsuccessfully (locked in at this point), and worked ourselves back into Forest Park before meeting up with the girls again. Looped around Forest Park/Wash U area before they surged away (note the reoccurring theme), and ran Mike back to his car (he was doing 16 miles) before chasing down the girls. Sort of trashed my legs in the process, so the last couple miles were definitely on rubbery legs. Cool to see a ton of runners out there, especially the Big River runners who were in full force. Didn’t feel too hot starting out, but hit a solid average pace regardless (7:50) which is a good sign. 51 miles for the week - not too shabby

Monday, Mar 29 – ~3 miles (3.15 miles in 30 minutes). Supposed to be a scheduled day off, but wanted to work the kinks out of my legs. Went out on the trails with Pat and Crystal, kept the pace very honest and loosened up a bit. Nice, easy run – felt really good afterwards.

Tuesday, Mar 30 – 4 miles. 270 Loop and a little more late at night. My Xbox crapped out (R.I.P. June 2006 – Feb. 2011), so ended up buying a new one plus Kinect, as well as the new Tiger Woods game. This may cause some issues for me, at least for the first couple months because of my addictiveness. Played for a long time, snuck in a run in between, played late and played this morning. Absolutely exhausted.

Forest Park run tonight. Winding down my Boston training as my last “long” run is complete. Doing a few key workouts and mostly maintenance work until the big day!

#4158

2011-03-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Woo-hoo! Just got my Bib # from the BAA, and I am #4158! The Boston Marathon is pretty unique in their bib assignments in that they truly line up the faster athletes up front (based on qualifying times) in corrals by the thousands, so pretty cool to be in the top quarter of the runners. Will be joined by Shane (#4433) and Crystal (#5666 (la diabla)) very closeby, so even more cool!

Sumo wrestler finishes marathon and sets record, Abderrahim Goumri finally wins in Seoul, Paula is training again!, pics of Paula, Shalane (awesome RW article), and the curious case of Ryan Hall and his free pass at NYC last weekend...

Monday, Mar 21 - 4 miles. Very slow, legs felt like garbage. Starting to get warm outside, which is nice.

Tuesday, Mar 22 - 4 miles (32:25). See Monday

Tonight, headed to Forest Park for another killer workout with Crystal. 2X1 mile at tempo, 80 minutes easy, 2x1 mile at tempo. Really don't feel too hot, hoping the warmup will help, but foreseeing having to gut this one out.

NYC 1/2!

2011-03-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Mo Farah is a stud - won the NYC 1/2 with a ridiculous kick down the stretch to take out the NYC Marathon Champ Gebre Gebremariam. Caroline Rotich conquered the women to take the title in a course record, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher finished 3rd, only 11 seconds behind. Ritz just had surgery, the McRunner ends up PRing and also has a clean bill of health!, Shalane finishes 3rd in the World XC Championships, Zersenay Tadese runs 58:30 in Lisbon (7 seconds off the world record!), Markos Geneti wins the LA Marathon, a cool running article in the NY Times (thanks for forwarding along, Marc!), and a brief chat from Runners World with Kara Goucher.

Just some quick commentary - I think Galen Rupp's performance was extraordinary, and even more crazy that he ran 1:00:30 despite falling down during the race! It was his 2nd road race ever (he ran a 5k last year, I think), and the sky is the limit for this runner. Not to mention, he and Mo Farah and training partners, and are both coached by the great Alberto Salazar, so it will be interesting to see how he develops and how he does should he take up distance running someday.

Wednesday, Mar 16 - 14 miles (2 up, 2x (20 min easy, 3 mile tempo), 1 down) All of this done on the track, so 56 grueling laps. Met up with Crystal on a cool day, felt pretty decent starting out but was dreading the tempo portion. Traded off every half mile, but hit great, even splits and was very pleased about this workout. Legs were tired starting out the 2nd rep, but worked through it and finished really strong. Wind was a bit of an issue, but battled through it fine. Lots of stretching afterwards. 3 mile split 1 was 6:32, 6:31, 6:30. 3 mile split 2 was 6:32, 6:30, 6:29.

Thursday, Mar 17 - 0! Switched rest day because of dead legs.

Friday, Mar 18 - 3 miles. Took the day off of work, ran 3 easy in the morning on the trail. Legs felt like poop. Afterwards, watched a billion hours of basketball with friends, prob a little too much fun.

Saturday, Mar 19 - 6 miles. Felt like death from the night before, paid for it on a windy run on a cool, overcast day. Out and back on the trail, very slow. Knees were killing me.

Sunday, Mar 20 - 17 miles (~8:20 pace). 1 up to Pat and Crystal's house. Garmin was dying, so shut it off 4 miles into the run. Mike, Crystal, and I hit the trails on a very sunny, warm morning for our longest run together in a while. Successfully negotiated with Mike to run the entire way (he was only wanting to do 12), and had a fun time the entire way through. Felt pretty good, although started to tire slightly on the final 3 miles probably from the lack of sleep from waking up early to watch the NYC 1/2 streaming online. Pace felt great, could have went faster with no issues, nice to get that over with. Regretting (yet again) not putting on any BodyGlide, as my legs feel like they were burnt from the chafing.

A solid 56 miles this week with some solid workouts. Another killer week to follow, but time to get in some work with Boston less than a month away! 4-5 easy tonight...

NYC Half This Weekend!

2011-03-16T07:14:00.001-07:00

Looking forward to the New York City 1/2 Marathon this weekend! The field is absolutely STACKED, and thinking that there should be a few sub 60 times assuming good weather. Ryan Hall talks about training and God as his coach, Haile Gebresselassie is racing the Vienna 1/2 in April, and more on Lukas Verzbicas.

Tuesday, Mar 15 - 6 miles (anywhere from 50-60 minutes). Did and out and back on the trail twice - first 3 miler was around 24 minutes (a little faster than I wanted), but didn't look at my watch on the 2nd loop and definitely slowed it down. Daylight savings is pretty awesome with it getting dark so late, so trail running will be more prevalent moving forward. Legs were tired starting out, but felt pretty good finishing up.

Really making it a point these last few weeks to work my butt off, but have fun doing so. And it has carried over pretty well, as I feel mentally refreshed and very motivated to run. Working on overall fitness and losing about 5-10 more lbs to get to a more optimal race weight, which will come off pretty quickly as my mileage increases. 33 more days till Boston!

The Dreaded Treadmill...

2011-03-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

A followup on St. Pat's Day, and the NYC 1/2 will be broadcasted on NYRR TV! Excited about having this race broadcast, instead of following blog and twitter feeds - always a thrill to watch any race in the Big Apple, especially with a field that is absolutely LOADED!

Monday, Mar 14 - 8 miles (62:30). My evening fantasy baseball draft combined with the impromptu blizzard/rain that covered the STL area made running outside almost impossible. So I went over to my friend's apartment gym after work to reconnect myself with his treadmill, an adversary I have conquered in the past. A girl was watching the news, so emersed myself in the state of Japan as the first few miles went by pretty quickly. But then the situation got interesting as this other beastly woman decided to hog the gym fan (switched off from oscillating, and pointed the fan in her direction). This, coupled with the 5 or so people working out in a small place, made the gym temperature rise to ridiculous Death Valley levels. Since I am technically not a resident, I couldn't really raise a stink, so gutted it out since it was cold and rainy outside. Legs felt fine, but picked it up when the treadmill, not very reliable as previously documented, decided to shut down with less than half a mile remaining. At this point, this was adding fuel to the fire. Restarted at a fast pace to finish out, got my sweaty butt out of dodge. Light corework afterwards. Lost a good 15 lbs. in sweat from the heat...

So the word of the year for all people out there, whether you are in a gym or on a track, is "etiquette". Everyone should do it. Most forms of etiquette are very simple, and don't need any explanation (i.e. don't steal the fan for yourself in a small, hot gym, don't hog the fast lane of a track if you can't run a 15:00 minute mile, etc.) Please review the definition below, then contact me if you have any questions. And yes, I am a bit salty over this...

etiquette [ˈɛtɪˌkɛt ˌɛtɪˈkɛt]
n
1. (Sociology) the customs or rules governing behaviour regarded as correct or acceptable in social or official life
2. (Sociology) a conventional but unwritten code of practice followed by members of any of certain professions or groups

St. Pat's Recap

2011-03-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Patrick Smyth interview (he is running NYC 1/2 this weekend, then London next month), Kenenisa Bekele is working back to form, Rock n Roll Vegas at night (super cool!), Titans running back Chris Johnson's contingency plan if the lockout continues, Jordan Hasay is a competitor, Mo Trafeh continues his great year, Lukas Verzbicas hits the triple crown, Hansons-Brooks project expands, and finally the lovely Miss Kara Goucher.

Friday, Mar 11 - 5 miles. Jogged the St. Pat's course with Crystal after work. Nice evening to run, a little scary running on Olive at night with some crazy bums around, but made it through ok. I always forget how hilly that course is. Really fun to run around downtown, great city to be outside when it's nice.

Saturday, Mar 12 - St. Pat's 5 Miler - 8 miles: 2 up, 5 mile race (32:26 (105/8988)), 1 down. Gorgeous morning to run, and the sun was pretty intense. Goal today was to run smart, pace Crystal effectively, and have fun! Met up with the other Big River runners, and warmed up as a group around downtown. Did a few strides, warmed up with some dynamic stretching, then lined up. First time I have ever had no issues with the start, and we bounded down Market in a huge pack. Hit a pretty strong headwind, so was tucking in as much as I could. Massive hill on Market slowed us down, worked pretty hard to get up before turning onto Compton then Olive for the way back. At this point, felt controlled, but a little tired (lack of hill work was showing). Last hill on Olive before the downhill, my right calf started to act up, and the downhill was just killing me. My right calf felt like a gigantic knot/boulder. Right before the 4 mile mark, had to pull off - told Crystal I had to stretch bad, then tapered off to the side to stretch it out for about 15-20 seconds. Started back up (C was pretty far ahead), then worked with a small group to move back up. Last mile, much less wind, felt pretty good and enjoyed myself through the finish. Overall, felt decent and had a really fun time. Nice to hit the last mile fast - easiest mile I have felt in any race this year, so maybe speedwork is starting to kick in. Splits were (6:10, 6:45, 6:31, 6:45, 6:07).

Crystal finished 4th in her division, and ran a stellar 32:05! - wish I could have brought her in, but was proud of her strong finish, especially only 12 days off the marathon. My Big River teammates Kyle Cameron and Margaret Lyons won the race, keeping the St. Pat's crown in the Big River family. Awesome job to everyone!!! Celebration ensued afterwards. Lots of friends, lots of postrace beverages, and perfect weather all around. Another successful St. Pat's Day :)

Sunday, Mar 13 - 10 miles - 90 minutes. Long run with Crystal, Mike, and Pat. Did out and back on the trail, kept the pace relatively slow and enjoyed a fun run with Team Sullentrup. Crystal whipped up some strawberry smoothies afterwards which were amazing - can't beat that after a run!

42 miles this week - lower mileage, but a couple strong workouts so very pleased all around.

Crystal and I post race with her "winnings"

Kyle and I - 2011 St. Pat's Day winner

Ben and I

Pat, Crystal, and I

St. Pat's Eve

2011-03-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

FSU Star Pasca Cheruiyot's journey, generous Japanese runner, will never get tired of the McRunner (I swear I want to try this someday!!!), Lukas Verzbicas's triple crown attempt. Five decades of sub 3 hour marathons!!! (all these runners are studs!!!!!), Reno Stirrat taking that to a new level with potentially 5 decades of sub 2:45, and a Sally Meyerhoff tribute.

Very excited to get home last night and see a package from Nathan Sports - they sent a couple of their hydration products for me to review for my blog, so I will be working with those products over the next few weeks to give the most comprehensive and detailed critique I possibly can. Nathan Sports is a subsidiary of PenguinBrands (popular for their laundry detergent for performance apparel), and develops products concerning with hydration as well as reflective, and multisport gears and accessories. Thanks Nathan Sports!!!

Thursday, March 10 - 8 miles: 2 up, 2X2 miles tempo (12:47 (6:22, 6:25), 12:57 (6:29, 6:28)), 2 down. Met Crystal after work on the track to do the workout. Pretty chilly, overcast evening, but was feeling pretty good. Warmup, then went right into the workout. Traded the inside lane every half mile, and was trying to hit 6:30 miles. Started out with a 1:32 first quarter, which through off the first mile, but maintained the pace ok. Stomach started to act up at the end of the first rep, which wasn't ideal. Hit the first 2-miler a little too fast, wanted to keep the 2nd one in check. 2 minute break, hit the 2nd rep. A little tired at the end, but a good tired feeling like I was running a solid tempo run, not the dead legged feeling I have been experience lately. Really pleased with this workout, and felt very strong and controlled. Hoping things are starting to turn around now...

Tonight, jogging the St. Pat's course after work for a quick preview. Because I am just not in good shape, going to attempt to pace Crystal to a PR on Saturday. Small course changes, we don't weave through the city at the start, and just concentrating on Market Street for the first couple miles. Also, we weave onto Washington Avenue on the back stretch, which they had never done before to my knowledge. Regardless, it will be a great event which it always is, and sounds like a record number of registered runners for this year! (12,000+)

Run with Dean!

2011-03-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

Saw this and thought it was pretty cool - an opportunity to run with Dean Karnazes in his cross country run across the nation to promote good health. This crazy guy is attempting to eat McDonalds every day, then run sub 2:38 at the L.A. Marathon!!! 10 high school records that will be tough to beat, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher is back!

On a much sadder note, a very tragic news note that the P.F. Chang's Rock n Roll Women's Marathon Winner, Sally Meyeroff, was killed in an accident during her training. Praying for her family and friends during these tragic times...

Tuesday, March 8 - 0! Torrential rain fall and 40 degree weather don't mix, not the end of the world because my right shin/calf continues to hurt slightly.

Wednesday, March 9 - 4 miles. Nice and slow, and very late. Mother Nature has been on a rampage with some cold, windy weather lately, and she tried her best to manhandle me. Wanted to get in 6 miles, but settled for 4 nice and slow. Calf continues to be a nuisance, not too bad, but enough for me to notice.

Tonight, track work with Crystal. 2X2 miles at tempo, hopefully not too windy tonight!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

2011-03-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Jenny Barringer/Simpson is coming off an injury to have an amazing start to 2011, Chris Solinsky, Brian Sell on life after running, and a new start structure for the Boston Marathon.

Monday, March 7 - 6 miles. Finally made it back to the Big River Monday Run, joined by 20 or so and hit the Francis Park loop. Crystal and I hit 5.5 miles in 43 minutes or so - kind of quick starting out, but fell into a nice groove and felt great finishing. When I got home, small jog to loosen up, drills and corework. It was pretty comedic watching me get out of bed this morning, as I literally had to roll out of bed since sitting up is not currently an option.

More easy mileage this week, speedwork on Wed - all for a quick tune up for a fun St. Pat's run this Saturday!

AOH Top of the Morning 5K Recap

2011-03-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Mo Farah is maturing as a runner, and the Lake Biwa Marathon recap.

Thursday, March 3rd - 4 miles. Done super late, but glad I got it in.

Friday, March 4th - 6 miles (50:48 minutes). Took a 1/2 day at work impromptu, and successfully pulled Pat and Crystal out for a run. Nice day to hit the trail, out and back. Crystal and I picked it up the last 2 miles inadvertantly, but felt very smooth.

Saturday, March 5th - 0! Impromptu day back home in Peoria to help my sister purchase a vehicle, then birthday dinner for my dad. Nice to get back, but had no time at all to get in a run.

Sunday, March 6th - 10 miles: 1 mile up, AOH Top of the Morning 5K (19:11 - 10th place?), 6 miles pm). I would usually be more descriptive on races, but there isn't much good to talk about here. Woke up early feeling decent, drove over to the course where I got a quick warmup in with Candace then lined up. First mile was controlled, but Candace had already gapped me by about 5 seconds or so, so was working to move up. Struggled going up that slow hill, and tuned it back slightly to save some energy for the end. Coming back down, felt a little better but the wind wasn't helping. Candace was gone, so was working off a couple others going into the last mile. Not really sure what happened in my head, but was holding ground ok and but lost all mental focus and let a couple people outkick me. Really disappointed in myself for letting it happen, even more disappointed in myself for not fighting back, not much more to say. Didn't push myself as hard, and not quite sure why. Vowed to work my butt off moving forward, and also promised myself to get stronger. Splits were: 5:58, 6:24, 6:12?, basically crap. On a brighter note, my Big River teammate John Sell won the overall race in 16:12, and Pat set a nice P.R. with a 24:57! Candace won the women's in 18:31 - a great race by her!

38 miles this week, not too great and even worse when you factor in a terrible 5K. St. Pat's buildup has gone horrible, thus the race will not be run in my typical kamikaze fashion. My focus has shifted to 5 more tough weeks of marathon training, so it's time to officially begin work in 2011!!!