64

Had a great week of training last week. I got in 64 miles, two high quality days in addition to a moderate quality day.
Tuesday:
I met up with a group and did 8 x 1k with 400m recovery in 3:03. It was great to back into pack of runners around the track. It made a big difference for my confidence to finish up the workout with a few K's at or just under 3 minutes.
Thursday:
70 minute run at a moderate pace (6:08). This was on a fairly hill route and I would imagine a flatter course would have been more around 5:45 pace.
Saturday:
5 mile race on a very fast (short?) course. Less than a week after barely breaking 26 for 8k, I managed to run 25:17 for a full 5. For now, I will say I am in 25:17 shape and try to improve my fitness week by week.

Still Learning

Emotionally high. I was heading into the week atop a peak, renewed with vigor, and ready to really start training. I took the first part of the week easy to help recover from Sundays effort and planned to attack the back half with a tempo and a long run. I went out for the tempo on Friday and by the time I was done, I had fallen. I was quickly reminded that everyday would not be perfect, in quite a cruel fashion.
I headed down to "The Point" (hains point) for a nice 5 mile tempo. After feeling tired all week from the race, I felt like I was floating on the warmup; this was going to be a good day. After some stretching and strides, I got started on the tempo feeling just as good as I had on the warmup. After two miles around 5:30, I picked it up and finished the next mile in 5:18. Unfortunately all was not well. I developed a side stitch in the third mile that would get worse with each step. After about a minute into the fourth mile, I had convinced myself that I would not be finishing all 5. After two minutes, the pain of the stitch was forcing me to go all out to keep the pace tempo worthy. With each right step, my body would bend to the side and I would attempt to convince myself of the futility of the effort; with each left step, I would regroup and convince myself to wait for the stitch to disappear. The stitch stayed and I did not complete the 5. I came close, 4.95 before I broke and called it a day. Of course there is the part of me that would have loved to complete the final .05, but then there is the smarter side that realizes that I am not in any worse shape as a result. In the end, I averaged 2 seconds a mile faster than when I did the same workout two weeks ago. Considering the improvement and the stitch, I am pleased.

Three Years

Time flies. It really does. Im not sure how I finally made it back to standing behind a timing mat after numerous injuries that hampered my running to the point that I could not build up to a level of fitness where I felt comfortable toeing the line.

From here, who knows what happens next? Im hoping to finish up an entire season of racing and continue onto another. At the moment I am enjoying the accomplishment. The completion of my first real 5k.... in 3 years.

As for the actual race, I was disappointed after I finished. I was hoping for a time unbeknownst to me. I was looking ahead picturing myself in the lead pack. I was looking head anticipating a magical occurrence of a blast of forward thrust to shrink the distance between myself and the leaders more and more until my ultimate victory. Not today, no. Alas, I arrived back at the mats 15 minutes and 44 seconds later strangely feeling both weak and strong, the undertaking of a formerly less foreign task complete. Its funny, right after the race when the air stands still and the world slows and all you can do is smile. Im sure its kind of like the feeling the kid last off the bench on his rec team feels as he catches fire and finishes the losing effort with 8 points and 2 assists. A memory stained that is readily recovered decades down the line.

Later in the day, the disappointment receded and I started to feel like I thought I would. The effort was great, as was the time. I am certain that in just a few weeks I could hold the same pace for twice the distance. As for a few more weeks after that, I am less certain about the time I could run, but I will have the opportunity to figure it out on April 17th.

The disappointment was nice. Looking back on it, I see the fire. I see the hunger that just a couple of weeks ago I thought may never feel again. Its funny that nearly two years ago to the day (2/7/9), a former JMU runner told me to look at this way "whenever you get healthy, you will feel fresh". How right he was.

Splits for the race went something like 5:02, 5:03, 5:04

DNF pt. 2

DNF? I did a workout this morning and ended up cutting it short. The planned workout was 5x1 mile with 1 minute rest at tempo effort. After a two mile warmup, I jumped into the first repeat (which I was aiming to be around a controlled 5:40) and kept things under control while managing not to peek at the pace. There were a few icy bridges which broke up my rhythm slightly. As I finished I looked down in shock at my first split: 6:11... "oops, i guess that really was like an extended warmup. the next one will be all business". I waited for a minute and took off with a little more oomph for the second mile. I looked down about a minute in and I was at 5:40 pace "uh oh, lets open it up a little". I attempted to pick it up to no avail and my second mile was right around 5:40. At this point, I was doing my best to ignore pace and convince myself the effort was where it needed to be. As I started the next interval, I thought maybe I will finally be warm. After a minute, I attempted to pick it up again and then acid start flowing through my legs similar to the intensity of a western wave or a wayward flame. At this point, I pulled the plug and settled into 7 minute pace. After one final flicker of motivation where I contemplated picking it back up, I let my pride sink from my head through the rest of my defeated frame. After a couple minutes of thinking about retrying the workout, I settled to go at it again the following week.

The reason behind the DNF is that my legs are just fried. Last Thursday and Friday I did 19 miles, then followed that up with a time trial on Saturday (3 miles in 15:46) and topped it off with a 40 mile bike ride on Monday where my body shut down mid ride. I knew I would be hurting from the combo, but I purposely made this a down week and am just realizing I need a few more easy miles to clear out my system.

Silver Lining: I just got in 8 great days of training.

DNF pt. 1

As I was logging in, I noticed the last post was in May! I thought to myself "really, nothing since May?". That would make it 3/4 of a year since I had any blogworthy running. What has happended since May? A lot of the same injury. At the end of April, I began having issues with my hamstring which then moved to my calf and then a mixture of the two. After a few months of varying degrees of injury, I finally went to see a chirpractor. He quickly diagnosed a sciatica, which conveniently explained how both my hamstring and calf bothered me (basically the sciatic nerve was jacked and it was telling my muscles "to stop working...now!" and "good work haha"). I went to see the chiropractor for a few months and left about 85% healed. During this time, I purchased a bike and resigned myself to possibly turning to biking full time if I was not able to race in the spring. I kept running easy (plus strengthening and increasing range of motion) after I finished up with the chiropractor and surprisingly started to feel better. At this point and time I would say I am between 90-95% healthy.

Forgot to add a video

Hamstrung

This current week has been pretty interesting. I have not only felt strong on my runs, but the pace has been noticeably quicker than runs from last month. The only problem is that my hamstring has been tight since Sundays long run. On the second half of my long run, my right hamstring started to tighten up. The next day my left was tight when I was doing strides (which I probably should have cut short sooner). I have done two moderate 10 milers this week and the same thing happened. I felt tight to start, then it loosened up after a couple of miles and then I finsished with it tighening up. The first of the 10 milers, I ran easy and didnt look at my watch until I finished and ended up running just under 65. The second was last night and I felt really good from the start. I gradually picked it up as the run went along and eventually started to ease up when my hamstring started to tighten up. Both of the routes were hilly, the first being a little moreso than the second. Last night was actually impressive because the pace was only 18 seconds per mile slower than a 6 mile tempo I did on the same route 3 weeks ago.

I am anticipating that a week off for the cruise might be just what the dr ordered.