Happy Valentine's Day!

Bernard Lagat is a stud - new U.S. American indoor 2 mile record holder, now holds 5 American records currently! Also, a Runners World chat with him. Here is a name to keep on your radar - Isaiah Koech, a 17 year old that just ran a stunning 12:53 5K in a meet in Germany! Kim Smith ran 1:07:36 in New Orleans, just ridiculous. And more on the Meb/Boston controversy...

Friday, Feb 11 - 5 miles - 8X600. Got this one in after work - ran up to the track to bust it out, and discovered what used to be the track was basically an ice skating rink. Jogged part of it, decided there was a chance of decent traction with the slightly warmer temperatures. Started rep 1, quickly saw that the other side of the track was as icy as it gets, went through the quarter split at 1:27 while slipping and running flat footed, then called it quits before things got ugly. Ran back over to Village Circle, measured out the distance, had some major Garmin problems before estimating. Long story short, just a mess, felt awful and never got into a rhythm at all. Splits were all over the map - 2:05-2:15, cooldown with Pat and Crystal who joined for moral support and company.

Saturday, Feb 12 - 5 miles - Big River Truffle Shuffle! Went over to St Charles for the Inaugural Big River Running Truffle Shuffle. Long story short, was a complete success and had an amazing turnout! Lots of fun, had a great time and would highly recommend for everyone to do next year. Did not race it, but Tim did great and had a very good race recap on our other site.

Sunday, Feb 13 - 12 miles. Team Sullentrup in full force with a fun group run over in Village Circle. Gorgeous day outside, got above 60 degrees and very sunny! Tim, Mike, Pat and Crystal all participated, so great company. Legs felt like complete garbage, and just motored along and got the mileage in. 8:37 average pace, glad we didn't push it because I don't know how long that would have lasted.

48 miles for the week (ok) - legs feel like poop, and have another aggressive week of workouts so let's see how this goes. Mother Nature is cooperating though, so may not be as bad as advertised...

9 more weeks till Boston!

The Boston Marathon releases its elite field! A 75 year old Kenyan STUD. And girls benefit from training with boys :)

Wednesday, Feb 9 - 10 miles, 1 mile up, 8 at MP (avg 7:11 according to me, 7:07 according to Crystal), 1 mile down. Another bloody cold day, met up with C at Forest Park, which was inhabited with the other Big River Runners doing their Wild Wednesday workouts. A balmy 16 degree evening with a slight breeze. 10 minutes up, did a 2 mile loop over and over and over and over again. Wasn't too flat - first mile net down hill, second mile was rolling hills, but could definitely feel about 4 miles into it. Got faster as the workout progressed, go figure. Anyways, felt decent and got through the workout, but legs were a little rubbery afterwards. Wings and beer at Buffalo Brewing Company afterwards!

Thursday, Feb 10 - 4 miles - nice and slow - legs were feeling the strain of the last few days, but got through it ok. Got to try some amazing pizza at Blackthorn Pizza - looks kind of trasky at first sight, but a fun place to go! Chicago style deep dish pizza - say no more!

Speedwork tonight, then some excess mileage planned over the weekend...

Meb, Meb, Meb

NYC 1/2 Marathon is coming up, and already a stacked field with Ryan Hall, Abdi, Meb, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher already entered! Meb's possible plans for the year, and a chat with him from Runners World. Finally, for those who saw Hood to Coast, an interview with the Dead Jocks team...

Monday, Feb 7 - 6 miles. Easy run around the neighborhood, legs felt like complete garbage and went pretty slow. Ankle was still sore, probably from the uneven ground. C-O-L-D outside!

Tuesday, Feb 8 - 6 miles. A glorious, windy 14 degrees. Bundled up, and literally froze my buns off. Looped around Village Circle 4 times to stay away from the wind. Ipod saves this run, because I was focused more on my Sportsguy Super Bowl podcasts than the bitter cold. Felt a lot looser when I was done.

Tonight, headed to Forest Park for the scheduled pace run. Looks like the Big River Wild Wednesday workout will be ongoing, so will be nice to have some company.

Shalane!

Brent Vaughn and Shalane dominate, diary of Ryan Hall talking about Houston. And a pretty cool article about my Big River teammate Julie Lossos!

Friday, Feb 4 - 4 miles. Got home from work, had dinner plans at Laurie's with a group, so had to kick it into high gear to get this done. Roads were better, but slushy in parts. Did my Village Circle Loop due to the only roads being clear. Pulled a Sullentrup, and killed the first mile - felt pretty decent, and kicked it into the next gear on the second half of the run. 26:32 overall (13:52 first half, 12:40 second half)

Saturday, Feb 5 - 0! Had a rockstar night with Tim, ended up sleeping most of the day, and the 5" of snow in the morning just detered me from going out later. Kicking myself for missing, but needed to save up energy for Sunday long run.

Sunday, Feb 6 (Super Bowl Sunday!) - 20 miles. Got a nice group out for our long run. Because of roads, did the Village Circle Loop which was awesome for Crystal to get a simulation feel of her upcoming marathon (Last Chance for Boston is a 1 mile loop course). Pat and Tim also ran opposite of us, so first half of our run went flying by. Weather was decent, and felt pretty awesome all around. Total time was 2:50:32 (8:28 average pace, I think), had a lot of problems keeping a slower pace so ended up negative splitting. Left ankle was really sore afterwards, so may need to watch that. Afterwards, hosted an impromptu Super Bowl party and got to watch a pretty decent game, as well as undo all my running through an impressive eating and drinking display.

So a so-so week of running (45 miles), but most importantly nailed the long run pretty easily, and managed to get in some small speedwork as well. Easy mileage tonight, but the big run will be the marathon pace run at Forest Park on Wednesday for Crystal and I. Should be challenging on a hilly venue, but I think we'll be able to hit it....

Super Bowl Weekend Eve

The Krispy Kreme Challenge! This is definitely on my list of races to conquer over the next few years. USA Cross Country Titles is on this Saturday in California, and quite the stacked fields! They have broadcasted this on NBC the last few years, so excited to see if they do the same this weekend. The lovely Miss Kara Goucher will be in attendance as well, so will be interesting to see how her training is going. Bernard Lagat is shooting for the 2 mile indoor record at the new Balance games next weekend. Apolo Anton Ohno is running the NYC Marathon this November! And finally, Lukas Verzbicas is racing in the New Balance mile - a definite can't miss prospect that will be dominating for years to come.

Wednesday, Feb 2 - 6 miles. Went out pretty late in the nasty cold. Roads were still a bit sloppy, so took it easy. Negative wind chills made it a tad bit nipply.

Thursday, Feb 3 - 7 miles. Trekked out there nice and late again. Did my Village Circle Loop, which is quickly becoming a favorite since it is pretty flat and almost like a mile circle, as well as very little traffic. This might change when the weather gets nicer - this used to be a pretty dangerous area (just a bad area because it's almost like the hood) but I think it's cleaned up now. We shall see. Anyways, roads were better, but still slushy at points. Worked the slight hills initially, then did my 270 loop to finish it out, picked it up substantially at the end to get some speed work since it's been almost impossible this week. Fat negative split, and felt in control. New mechanics are slowly starting to sink in, and don't feel as awful and sluggish as before. Can't wait to get on the track to really push it. Total time out was 50-56 minutes, last 3 miles were sub 7 minutes, dropped the last one around 6:15.

So Part 1 of my master plan is about complete - get in some mileage and build up some strength. I am ready to transition into some hardcore speed work to get ready for AOH Top of the Morning 5K and possibly St. Pat's. Will be running in the inaugural Big River Truffle Shuffle 4 Mile Race next weekend for fun (registration spots still open, sign up!), and start gearing up for late February race or pacing duties (TBD) for the Last Chance for Boston race which is gearing up to be a really fun weekend with Mick, Ken, Pat, Crystal, and Tim committed already. January 2011 is in the books - ran 181 miles, which is a lot more than I expected considering the impromptu non-running last week and compared to my crazy running partner Crystal's totals. She hit 248 miles, which is just amazing, and definitely starting to peak at the right time! Weekend plans involve running (possible 20 with Crystal, 6-10 on the other day), cheering on the....wait for it.....Pittsburgh Steelers! Should be an amazing game, and definitely amped up for a fun evening of festivities.

Snowocolypse!

Ryan Hall outkicked, but not his wife! Great performances from the Halls - not too disappointed about Ryan, as he ran well and just got caught at the end. This is the beginning for his buildup for Boston, so he has a few more months to kick it into gear. Sadly Bernard Lagat was unable to win his 9th consecutive Wanamaker Mile, but a great attempt nonetheless...

Fri, Jan 28th -5 mile fartlek, 2 minutes on, 1 minute off. Felt ok.

Saturday, Jan 29th - 4 miles - ran with Tim around his area, did out and back in Maryville roads. Got faster on each mile, and felt overall decent. 33:15 I believe was the overall time...

Sunday, Jan 30th - 12 miles. Ran first 7 with Tim at pretty easy pace, looped around my neighborhood and town. Last 5 did solo, hit MP effort and felt decent doing so. 43 miles total this week, ok for now.

Monday, Jan 31st - SNOWOCOLYPSE!!! 0 Miles, Mother Nature wins with her ugly sleeting, so stayed inside all day/night instead.

Tuesday, Feb 1st - 8 miles - the guilt of not running caught up to me, so strapped on the shoes pretty late. Roads were covered, but not awful. Looped around the neighorhood, then ran around town. Streets were clear of cars (awesome!), so ran on the roads. Wind was brutal, but got through it. Coolest moment of the run was getting pulled over by a cop (flashing lights and all), and getting called "crazy" by him.

Houston Marathon Eve

Lukas Verzbicas picks Oregon (absolute stud if you don't know him, defintely worth following), Ritz out of London, thoughts from Bernard Lagat and Peter Gilmore. Lagat is preparing for an attempt at a 9th consecutive victory at the Wanamaker Mile (Millrose Games in NYC tomorrow night, I believe), and is still quite the icon in the running scene. Shane forwarded this to me - a beginners runner program for Boston. Can't believe that is only 3 months away!!!

Ryan Hall has an AWESOME beard, cheat sheet for the USA 1/2 Marathon Championships, and Hall's outlook going into this weekend. I have to say, there is a ton of controversy following Hall with his decision to leave Terence Mahon and use religion as part of his training regimen (???), but there are some things to say about his new training and my thoughts on his running future...

- Elite runners know how to train themselves - coaches obviously help a ton, but Hall has been coached throughout his entire career by amazing talent and has a plethora of workouts/philisophies to incorporate into his own training. He knows his body better than anybody else, and I think he knows what works best for him.

- He took a day off of his training week (per the Bible). As crazy as it sounds to be using the Bible as a training reference, any runner will tell you a day of rest is a good thing. Your body needs to recover at some point!

- Less mileage, body is going to be fresher. Hall limited his tempo workouts, but worked a lot on on/off workouts (mile on, mile off) to work on strength running. A different philosophy, but I think he is banking a bit on some of the mileage he has sustained in past training blocks to get him through for endurance purposes. Not a bad assumption to make, so this is more like a calculated risk to me.

- I love his philosophy of running really easy on easy days to prep for running hard on the hard days. Just my personal opinion, but would rather be closer to 100% on hard tempo/track days then have dead legs and try to bust out sub 6 minute miles. Granted, you're simulating races (towards the end at least), but I strongly feel you lose potential for increasing speed.

- Ryan Hall is Ryan Hall - last year in Boston, he ran 2:08 which would have won almost any year except that year. He ran pretty poor Phoenix earlier, but the Boston time was still amazing and just happened to run it on a day when records were broken.

Not sure Hall will win this weekend, but he is clearly the most talented runner in the field. I'd be surprised if he didn't break 1:03 though, and there are only a couple runners in the field capable of doing so. So stay tuned, we shall see! I believe runnersworld and running times are live-blogging the events (Sat. morning 7:30 a.m. CT, 1/2 championships; Sun morning 6:45 a.m. CT, marathon).

Wed, Jan 26 - 7 miles. Did a neighborhood loop, then a loop around town. Sidewalks/trails are still covered in snow, so ran on the roads and shoulders where I could. Since temps were still below freezing, had to really watch myself for slick spots. The heavy irony is I made it through the run unscathed, but completely wiped out walking up the steps to my place. Not hurt, thank God. Concentrated on form and posture the entire run, ended up hitting the workout in 53-54 minutes - too fast, but I felt good so I'll take it.

Thur, Jan 27 - 0! Switched day off because of late work dinner, no biggie.

Going to do speed work tonight since I am feeling pretty good and need to hammer this workout out. Planning on long mileage over the weekend, and finishing off a decent running week. Good luck to all Houston Runners!