I.T. Band Fun

During the last two years, I have been combatting sore knees during training, which I correctly diagnosed later as IT Band Syndrome. With a little research online, I found a few stretches that have limited the frequency of the soreness, but it does come back from time to time and usually affects the mobility in my knees. Here is a little info concerning this "wonderful" condition that affects runners frequently.

IT Band Syndrome (ITBS) is one of the leading causes of lateral knee pain in runners. The iliotibial tract is a superficial thickening of tissue on the outside of the thigh, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, moving from behind the femur to the front while walking. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexing and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed.

Below is a good video on some stretches to help out IT Band issues. And an article here detailing some other stretches. A must-buy for runners is a foam roller - amazing tool that aids in stretching and working out soreness/stiffness in your leg muscles. I bought one last fall, and has helped substantially with muscle soreness. It completely beats you up, but totally worth it!!!



Tuesday, got home really quick and dragged Crystal out for a quick 6 - another easy day, as both our legs were still pretty sore from the heavy running weekend and in major recovery mode. Weather was pretty gloomy - cool but humid, and we were racing a pretty heavy rainfall according to weather.com. Did an out and back flat, tried to keep pace somewhat easy. Nothing major to report, felt like a 100 year old man at the beginning, and definitely took a little bit to feel comfortable. Run went by pretty fast (I LOVE easy days), and last mile we picked it up a bit when the rain drops started to fall. Hit the last quarter at 6:20 pace, felt pretty decent. Total mileage: 6 - splits were: 8:19, 8:22, 8:25, 8:19, 8:18, 7:39.

Wednesday, ITBS was rearing its ugly head, and was noticeably hobbling around work. Didn't get home until pretty late due to late meeting with dinner with Stacy and on top of it, started RAINING (will it ever stop?!) so opted for a night's rest and stretching. Thursday, more ominous clouds in the air, so wanted to get the workout in pretty quick. Left knee was still pretty sore, but could run ok. My right knee was starting to bug me as well, so am starting to get concerned if this is from lack of support from my new shoes or just crappy stretching by me. Another possibility is general soreness from the hard mileage from Saturday to Tuesday (~32 miles, including race and long run). Anyways, wanted to get in a tempo run quickly - weather was cool and windy, probably in the low 70's. Out and back towards the trail, pretty hilly route at the beginning but flattens out. Didn't feel particularly good starting out, and felt myself definitely working a bit. 2nd mile, felt better but had the comforts of the trail and the trees to block out a lot of the wind, albeit downwind. After the 2nd mile, the trail opens up from the woods (I ran a little more out, just so I could adequately cooldown coming in instead of running further out later) so a quarter mile into it, turned around, ran straight into a swirling winds. My God, my legs pretty much were zapped after the 3rd mile, then completely gutted out the last mile. I have never wanted a run to end so badly. Total Mileage: ~5 (with warmup and cooldown) - splits were: 6:30, 6:33, 6:27, 6:23.

Felt pretty awful, in fact, worse than when I raced over the weekend. Pretty discouraged that workouts I did easily in March are so difficult now but with the actual marathon training segment coming up, I guess I should just concentrate more on being efficient in training and taking care of my body until I transition to endurance training. Legs feel ok today - left knee better, right knee sore but not too bad. This weekend, long run scheduled for Saturday, and pace run on Sunday. Nothing too crazy, just want to rest up and get my legs back into good working order!

What is on my Ipod?

A common question that is asked by many people to me is "What is on my Ipod shuffle?" Runners World has been profiling people's playlists every so often, so I thought I would contribute my own little playlist. Quick music background - I have a pretty simple taste in music - I like pretty much everything, except for country. I played the cello since 2nd grade, so classical music is actually a strong favorite. The station on my car radio is stuck on 107.7, which plays the popular hits on the radio, so able to keep up with most of the current trends. My Ipod is full of everything, so picked out everyone on my current shuffle that I could think of. As you will see, very eclectic:

"1812 Overture" - Tchaikovsky: My prerace song that gets me in complete focus. I am ready for battle once the trumpets start blaring.

"Bye Bye Bye" - N Sync: Not quite sure how this song made my Ipod, but it did and I got used to it. Great song to start a run off with

"I Ran" - Flock of Seagulls: My running theme song - poignant and nostalgic, and summarizes the reason I started running again.

"Olympic Fanfare and Theme" - John Williams: Totally inspirational, who doesn't get chills listening to the Olympic Fanfare? It symbolizes excellence, only the best of the best can be considered Olympians.

"Your Love" - The Outfield: Don't know what it is about 80's music, but always a picker-upper for me. This song is one of the more underrated 80's songs out there

"Summer Love" - Justin Timberlake: Fun song, great beat. Ran to JT a lot last year, quite honestly can listen to any of his stuff while running

"Alive" - POD: song that makes you feel good

"Without me" - Eminem: I don't think any song list is truly complete without Slim Shady

"Beautiful People" - Marilyn Manson: Angry song, very intense - makes me run a lot faster when I hear it

"Pon de Replay" - Rihanna: Really clubby feel to it, definitely gets me going. Actually have quite a few songs of her

"Toxic" - Britney Spears: Britney got me through some of my earlier races - she is a piece of work, but her music is amazing to work out to.

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" - Starship: Another cheesy 80's song that I actually like. "Take it to the good times, see it through the bad times, whatever it takes is what I'm gonna do"

"Turn Me On" - Kevin Lyttle: Total dance song - not a big dance song fan typically, but perfect for running

"Send Me on my Way" - Rusted Root: Goofy song, but fun as well. Great for the middle of the run as a pick-me-up.

"Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand: Entertaining song, completely different style but somehow very fascinating to listen to

"Fort Battle" - Last of the Mohicans Soundtrack (Trevor Jones): If you can't heard this, go buy this CD immediately! An intense, nonstop orchestration and I'm ready to run through walls after hearing this theme.

Last night, waited through a pretty nasty rain storm to get in an evening run. Weather was cool, breezy, and slightly humid. Crystal and I were both extremely sore from the hard weekend running, so decided on a flat out and back on the trails. Did 4 total, don't have the splits handy but I think something like: 9:02, 8:58, 8:47, 8:38. Legs were very tight, took a bit to get going but felt pretty decent towards the end. Light corework and stretching at night. Tonight, will do 6 easy, no desire to bust my butt on the track so will keep a nice, easy pace to get legs back to normal. Still sore, but definitely getting better!

Run for the Stars 10K Race Weekend

Whew!!! What a whirlwind of a weekend! Busy times with the Run for the Stars 10K, friend’s wedding, and miscellaneous errands. Friday ended up being a pretty long day with the rehearsal dinner for my friend Jody’s wedding, so ended up missing my scheduled run. I wasn’t too overly upset about this, because the race was the next day, but was pretty disappointed in general with erratic running this week, not to mention terrible diet. That WILL change moving forward. Got home late on Friday from the wedding rehearsal, completely passed out on the couch.

Race Morning

Woke up bright and early, ate a quick breakfast of yogurt and peanut butter crackers, then headed over to Pat and Crystal’s to ride together for the race. Decided to give my old 903’s one more shot at glory before race retirement - hadn’t touched them since the STL Half Marathon mess so cleaned them up for their final performance. Got situated, surveyed the scene, and started warming up. Crystal, Stacy, and I did a 10 minute shakeout run, then a few strides right before the race. Weather was in the 70’s and pretty sunny – slightly humid, but all things aside pretty nice conditions considering how St. Louis usually is in June. The race was in Forest Park, right by the St. Louis Science Center, and had a pretty decent turnout of around 600 runners - the course was pretty much light rolling hills, and got a good idea of the start/finish during our warmup.

At the Start

Lined up in the front, talked race strategy with Crystal. Talked with one of the guys from my running team that was running, and exchanged pleasantries with a few other runners that were closeby. Watched an eclectically dressed runner warm up in front of us, and whispered to Crystal that there was no way we were going to let this guy beat us (he didn't). Set my MP3 player to radio, and tried to get focused for the race. Had a few butterflies since I hadn’t raced in a couple months, and was nervous since I didn’t know what to expect never having raced this distance before.

Weird runner guy

Mile By Mile Report

Mile 1 – Gun went off, and away we went! Went off with my team member and two other guys, and pretty much blazed through the first mile. Stride felt relaxed, but was kind of worried since I noticeably felt dehydrated. We started on long, slight downhill, and worked into a flat area before making our way up a longer hill. Saw my pace was pretty quick (~5:30) and kind of chastised myself for running with the 5K lead pack, and made myself slow down and run my own race. [Mile Split - 6:03]

Mile 2 – Watched the 5K leader break off and completely separate himself from everybody, and settled in following a couple runners. Legs still felt ok, and the faster pace felt fine at this point – still a bit dehydrated. We were weaving through Forest Park, and had some decent scenery to distract us while we were running. Hit a few steep hills that slowed me down, but recovered from the most part. I think two people passed me at this point, but kept my position behind my “pacers”. [Mile Split – 6:07]

Mile 3 – Hit a few hills, legs started to get heavy. My pace group was starting to speed up, so was struggling to keep the aggressive pace. The 5K and 10K broke off a little past halfway of the 3^rd mile, and I was in 2^nd or 3^rd place at this point. I had evil thoughts of just running the 5K since I was on 5K PR pace and had a bit left for a massive final kick, but motored on the 10K route. At this point, the turnoff became a really small, rocky trail, so was a lot different than running on the road and had to adjust my stride. The leader of the pack was pretty far ahead of me, so was pretty much pacing myself at this point. Kind of running into a slight wind, so felt myself slowing down trying to settle into a better rhythm. A couple runners passed me at the end of this mile, and my hopes and dreams of a top 3 finish were rapidly disappearing. [Mile Split – 6:29]

Mile 4 – We finally exited from the rocky trail, and made our way back onto the roads again but right into an uphill. Definitely wasn’t feeling too good, and heard a couple runners gaining ground on me. Was slowly passed by three runners, and hung on the coat tails of that group. Crystal was behind me about 30 seconds behind, and I found out at this point that those runners were working off me for a while - race tactics, I would have done the same thing. Pretty tired, slowed down a bit on the straightaway but regrouped and caught back up to the pack on a long uphill. [Mile Split – 6:40]

Mile 5 – Was feeling like crap at this point, and was still working with the same group. Ran stride for stride with one of the runners for a while, and I checked behind and didn’t see anyone too close. I asked him what age group he was in, and he said he was about to ask me the same thing – he was in the 40-49, so I told him “have fun”, and dropped pace. Wasn’t really feeling it, and didn’t want to really kill myself and suffer through the last 1.5 miles, so fell back to a serviceable pace. My goal of top 3 overall was pretty much doomed at this point, so that factored in my decision. We merged with the remaining 5K runners/walkers partway through, and had to weave a bit but felt a little better for the most part. [Mile Split– 6:37]

Mile 6 and Finish – Felt pretty tired, but was motoring along. Saw Pat and his parents on the side of the road which was very nice to see some friendly faces. My friend Dave and his girlfriend (they ran the 5K) were at the last quarter mile as well, so glad to see them too. The pack that I let go was about 100 meters in front of me, but didn’t have much of a kick to catch them especially with the uphill finish (almost half a mile) so just cruised in. [Mile Split – 6:37, 2:01 for last 0.2]

RESULTS
Peter Kim M29
Clock Time 40:38
Chip Time 40:34
Overall Place 8/230
Gender Place 8/?
Division Place 1/17

Pace 6:33/Mile (Garmin had 6:27 pace, course might have been 0.1 miles long)

Final Thoughts

Had mixed feelings about the race, but overall was pleased with the result. Probably should have tried to hang with the pack at the end, but most likely would have been outkicked at the end anyways as my legs weren’t feeling it that day. A little disappointed in the time, but ran hard so it is what it is. Immediately after the race, went to get some water then watch everyone else finish. Crystal came in shortly after, and we walked to get some refreshments. One of the race directors came running up after us, and got her name and hometown – turns out she was the first female finisher, and she won the race!!! Awesome job by Crystal, and I was absolutely ecstatic for her and thrilled she brought home a victory! We went back towards the course, and waited for Pat’s brother Jeff (his first race as well) and Stacy to finish. I totally missed Jeff, but did see Stacy – ran in with her with Jeff and Crystal, and she kicked hard to finish. Fantastic effort for her, and she broke her own personal time goal! (so did Jeff!). Way to go, Jeff and Stacy!!! Stayed around for the awards ceremony – Crystal got a nice plaque for her win, and I found out later that I won my age group (a plaque also) so was nice to bring home some hardware :)

Group photo

Proud winners :)

Hung out in the parking lot for some celebratory beers, and went to get lunch in the University City Loop at a pizza place called Dewey’s – great pizza! Afterwards, went home and got ready for my friend’s wedding, and had a very nice time at a beautiful wedding and reception. Stayed out somewhat late, and had quite a few adult beverages throughout the night.

Sunday morning, got some early texts from Crystal trying to get me up for our long run. Definitely wasn’t feeling too hot, but decided it was better to get it over with. Weather was warm – overcast, and prob in the 70’s. We did an out and back loop, running towards Glen Carbon. First 3 miles, I felt like complete crap and was worried about the three miles of uphill that was approaching. Got into a better rhythm, and got to the turnaround without any problems and was cruising. Enjoyed coming downhill on the way back, but was starting to feel it by the 9^th mile. Started laboring a bit the next couple miles, as the terrain leveled out. Last 4 miles were uphill, and was WORKING to get home – the sun came out, and was starting to get pretty humid so didn’t make it much easier. Happy with getting in the run, but legs were pretty much done. Total Mileage: 15 – splits were 8:15, 7:51, 8:01, 8:08, 8:12, 8:06, 7:59, 8:04, 8:06, 8:06, 8:07, 7:51, 8:01, 7:47, 7:41.

So the week’s running was very inconsistent, but somehow plentiful - 4 days, 39-40 miles, with an awesome 22 miles on Saturday and Sunday. Next week will be a lot more light, as we definitely worked our butts off at the end. Calves are pretty shot right now, so am going to enjoy a couple easy days we decided to schedule to start the week.

NYC Marathon Lottery

The New York City Marathon Lottery is being held today!!! It brings back some exciting memories for me a couple years ago, when I beat the 7 to 1 odds and officially became an entrant for the 2007 NYC Marathon. I remember checking my bank account that morning, and noticing a $120 withdrawal from "NYRR", but excited to what it might have been. I was going out to an off-site meeting but had my sister, Barrel, and Shane check on the site to see if my name came up in the lottery. It was pretty exciting to get their texts confirming my entry, and the rest is history. Tim actually applied for the lottery, so hoping he too beats the odds and gets the opportunity to race in the greatest marathon in the world! Congratulations to Jeff Mead of New York, and Anette Hagen of Virginia Beach, Va, who were the first 2 names selected in the lottery this year!

Here is another interesting article I found on the New York Times website concerning marathoners. Marathoners are a pretty strange breed - our will to complete our goals is something that most others don't have, and it is pretty difficult to explain in words why that is. I will say it would take a major injury for me not to complete a race, no matter how bad I was running - there is no other option. It is interesting to see the amount of pressure runners put on theirselves for these big races - I have done the same with myself, and hopefully I can work hard enough and motivate myself to see it to the end.

So last night, went out for an easy run around town. Temp was 60 - breezy, and cool - absolutely perfect! Didn't really push pace, went pretty easy and just ran on the sidewalks/shoulders in Glen Carbon and Edwardsville. Felt myself picking up the pace on the 4th mile, and had to slow myself down. Legs felt good - pretty light, opposite of the run earlier. At the end, saw a couple walking that were about 200 yards ahead of me and pretty close to my street so practiced my finishing kick and picked them off - in the process, scared the crap out of them :) Felt awesome, quite frankly could have ran another 5-6 miles without breaking a sweat. Total Mileage: ~5 - no splits to report, didn't wear a watch.

Tonight, scheduled small tempo but subject to change. Left knee is starting to act up, so considering taking the day off especially since I'm on pace for almost 45 miles this week. But if weather is perfect again tonight, will do some sort of run. Basically, there won't be too many more days like yesterday night with the oppressive STL summer humidity dangerously looming, so need to take advantage of this...

Happy National Running Day!!!

Happy National Running Day!!! Hope everybody got out and celebrated with a nice, relaxing run today :) Articles are everywhere concerning this national holiday - here's one and another...

So last night, passed on a good opportunity to run on a nice, cool evening due to overall laziness (and a sore right knee), and decided to do a 2-a-day workout in today's honor. Just came back from my fartlek, out and back on a HILLY venue - weather was windy and COOL, high 60's and rainy, actually better than the crap I've been running in all week. Didn't wear my Garmin, but brought my Nike watch to keep track of minute intervals. Did kind of a hard warmup, then went at it. Hard efforts for my minute hard (high 5, low 6 minute pace), and I swear I started every single time on an uphill! At my turn around, had to stop for a minute to catch my breath - hills were absolutely killing me! Suffered on my way back, walked half my cooldown, and jogged in. Amazing how easily I can have bad days, I don't understand it at all. Total mileage: ~5 in about 40 minutes. Ugh

Tonight, going to do a very slow run, mainly to work on form and run out any kinks in my legs. Knee feels less sore, but not 100%. Probably an intense session with the foam roller, and good corework to end the evening.

National Running Day is tomorrow!

From Runner's World this morning:

Yes, Wednesday Is Going to Be National Running Day

It's the first time around for what we're told will, by next year, be World Running Day, and there are major activities planned in Boston, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Little Rock, and....okay, name an American city! Go to www.runningday.org to find out what's happening near you. In Cambridge, you can warm up with four-time Boston Marathon king Bill Rodgers and run a mile with him at a meet on MIT's track. More . In New York, Deena Kastor will run with a Mighty Milers group of youngsters in the morning and do a slow run (I think it's called a jog) with adults in Central Park later in the day, and there are other events on tap in the mysterious "outer boroughs."

Pretty cool there is an actual National Running Day. Unfortunately, not too many activities planned in our area according to the website, but I definitely encourage everybody to get out and get in a run! While we're on that subject, here is an AWESOME Nike commercial I found on youtube:



Fun little theme they have, and I am thinking about signing up! Pat and Tim, we're counting on you to bring up the count for the males! I think Crystal and I are pretty much going to cancel each other out, but Stacy is getting in some impressive miles herself :)

So last night after a wonderful dinner of grilled vegetables and jalapeno burgers (thanks Pat and Crystal!), did our Monday run. Weather was pretty humid, and there wasn't much of a breeze at all. We started pretty late in hopes it would cool down, and it was still nasty outside - at 9 p.m., it was still 82 degrees!!! Did a loop around Glen Carbon - started out first 4 miles on the trails (out and back), then traversed around town. First half was ok, kept up a pretty easy pace, and found ourselves having to slow down a bit. Animals were out and about everywhere on the trail - raced a rabbit who jumped on in front of us, almost ran over a meandering frog early on, got stared down by a deer who clearly didn't know what to do when he/she saw us approaching (we thought for a second the deer was going to run into us!), and ran past the monstrous villain, Pat who was doing a shorter loop :) Barely made it off the trails before it was pretty dark, and the still, humid air didn't really help much. Felt ok on miles 5,6, but last 2 miles were eh. Picked it up on the final mile, and felt ok but overall pretty tired and worn out. Had a dog jump at us in the neighborhood, so was a nice way to jump start our hearts at the end of a run. Total Mileage: ~8 - splits were: 8:02, 7:58, 8:11, 7:55, 7:47, 7:52, 7:38, 7:18.

Legs are beat this morning, so today's scheduled fartlek may be interesting, especially with another 90 degree day in store for us. Race week, so was looking thru some old race pictures to get me pumped up!

Pre-Disney Marathon

NYC Marathon Alumn :)

Post 08 Chi

Is it really Monday already?!?!

Starting to find that the weekends are going by waaaaay too fast - pretty busy every day, and basically wore myself out! Fri night, hung out with Pat and Crystal and watched Role Models which was absolutely hilarious. Saturday, wedding day for my friends Mike and Tiffany, and had a pretty crazy night at the reception! Beautiful wedding and lots of fun to hang out with friends. Sunday, got invited to an impromptu golf tournament over in Caseyville, so enjoyed a beautiful day out on the links. Tournament took forever though, and was literally gone from noon until 9 p.m., so pretty much collapsed in heap after a long, hot shower at home.

Weekend running went ok - Friday, was scrambling to get things done after work, so forced myself to get in my tempo as soon as I got home from work. Temp was 80's, and it was pretty hot and a little humid outside. I guess a little part of me was interested to see how my body held up in averse conditions, so away I went. First mile was a lot faster than the effort felt like, so that was good. 2nd and 3rd mile in the shade of the trail, so ok but was definitely tiring a bit from the heat. Last mile, completely crashed, had to really suck it up and kick hard to keep the splits even. Felt like complete crap, and legs were pretty drained. Total mileage: 4 - splits were 6:22, 6:25, 6:25, 6:29.

Saturday morning, went for long run with Pat and Crystal. Weather was ok, sunny and a little humid, but cool. Was raining earlier in the morning, so a little soggy on the trails. Hit up a different loop on the trail going towards Troy, which is pretty flat but has a gradual decline in the further miles. Started out decent, felt ok for the most part. Pat parted ways with us 3 miles into it, and we picked it up a little. Felt hard picking up the pace, and then started to rain so made things a little interesting. Fortunately, never rained too hard, and felt absolutely awesome the last 5 miles - kind of kept us refreshed. Steadily picked up the pace, and started to target and pick people off on the trail. Legs weren't feeling too good at this point, and really had to give myself a mental pep talk to get through it. Progressively got faster, then dropped the hammer the last half mile. Legs were pretty fried at the end. Total mileage: ~10 - splits were: 8:49, 8:58, 9:05, 8:24, 8:02, 7:44, 7:28, 7:29, 7:13, 6:43.

Took yesterday off after long wedding night and looooong golf tournament. Talked it over with Crystal and decided to do an easy 8 today, and figured out this week's workouts for race week. Legs feel pretty good this morning, and got in a great night's sleep so thinking the decision was correct. Got in 32 miles despite the 2 days off - a little pissed at myself for missing yesterday, but probably better off in the overall picture as any run last night would have been a struggle and just rough. Mileage could have been better, but this week will definitely make up for it with a race and a 15 mile long run on Sunday.

My "dates" :)

Group photo

Just for fun :)