Back on Track

The last week I have been playing it a bit cautiously with some pain in my left achilles.  I have been seeing a PT for Active Release Therapy, Graston Tech Massage and guidance for my progression with this minor injury.  Dr. Beck told me that it is a nagging situation but not one that will hold you out for battle come 3 weeks from now.  I had to make some modifications in my regiment and have learned what works to keep the pain away and what does not. 
Sunday: 2 miles shake out.
Monday: 6.5 miles (felt good on the trails)
Tuesday: 10 miles (felt solid on the roads... little to no pain)
Wed: 3.5 am (a bit of pain starting out that subsided)
         10  pm: Workout
                       2 up
                       2 mile (9:49)
                          400rec
                       800 (2:26)
                       800 (2:25)
                       800 (2:24)
                       800 (2:23)
                                                                                                        all with 400 rest.
     *** I felt zero pain on the 2 mile.  I started "feeling it" on the 3rd 800 especially and the fourth 800 was painful throughout the duration.  I called the workout at that point and cooled down where the pain subsided after 5 minutes of running... I didn't feel any pain in last weeks workout because the run was continuous... The stop and go irritated my achilles.  As long as I don't stop for nature breaks or for small conversation with philly folk, I should be fine on race day.
   Thurs:  Meeting, PT appointment and got home late.  Took the day off (which with the achilles is probably smart). 
   Fri:  10.5 miles from Lake Needwood on Rock Creek Trail with Sloane.  Felt good throughout... A few of the steep ups in Lake needwood cause a bit of discomfort but nothing that broke stride.  However, my quads were unusually tight...
   Sat:  16 miles...
 

Precaution is not a bad thing...

I am fit... and I am ready to race.  However, the only way to get to the line on 9/23/10 to give my best performance is to get there in one piece.  Just over the weekend, my achilles began to get tender.  It wasn't a sharp pain like my injury in the fall but a noticable soreness.  It would be there at the start of a run then taper off to the point there was no pain at all (common muscle problem most likely).  I ran 20 miles on it on sunday and i could feel it a bit but it wasn't bad.  I iced after the run in an icebath and it felt good after i warmed my legs back up.  On monday I took off from any long running and opted for a 45 minute aqua run and a 3 mile easy shake out run in the late evening.  Tuesday, I put in 12 miles in the evening and the tightness was there a bit more at the start of the run but again, it tapered off and I was rolling good to go 15 minutes into the run. I ran my first key workout of the summer 6 mile alternating pace workout and it was sore on the warm up and during the workout I did not feel one bit of strain.  However, the cooldown was much different.  It was really sore once I started running again.  I iced after dinner wed night.  Thursday came through and after an am golf game, i came home and iced up, rolled my calf muscles and then 2 hours later went out for a run (looked at getting 10 miles and only got out 2.5 miles.... It started hurting to the point that it was not loosening up on the run so I turned it around and ran easy.  Its no where near what i felt in the fall but at the same time it could go that way if i don't nip this in the butt.  I have decided to do long pool runs for the next 3 days.

 This AM i met Jake Klim for a 60minute pool run.  This felt great and was a good workout... again, when we pool run we do not use the belts so the workout is intense... Tomorrow I will go 80-90 minutes in the pool (shoot me please) and sunday I will get in another 60 minutes.  My goal is to be able to ice once every 2 hours this weekend and get my calves massaged tomorrow in Arlington by this recommended Physical Therapists named Barb.  My doctor from PA that I have 110% faith in told me this morning that you just need to pool run and ice.
       I am taking my ice pack off my achilles right now and will do some core strengthening today to supplement not running.

Key workout # 1 is done.

"WILD IN THE STREETS" of philadelphia 4 weeks from sunday!  Ready or not  the chase willl be on!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN1ko6wo4wM  (minus the skateboards, this is what it is gonna be like)

I ran the on and off half marathon/marathon workout last night on the CCT with a small group of GRCers as well as Paul Zwama (dirk's friend from Netherlands visiting).  We warmed up extended 3.5 miles. Once we were at the 2 mile mark of the trail we began the workout.  This workout has been used by Ritz, Jay Hartman, the Torres bros and several other elite us athletes.  Brad Hudson is the master mind behind this workout and says that does a better job than trying to run your goal race pace for half and marathon because you can make your body get the race pace down while running at a nice effort for a longer duration (therefore making you more race ready and confident).  We did 6 miles of the on and off miles gradual uphill miles for me and Paul were at 5:40-5:44 and once we turned around we were to hit 4:47... then repeat this 2 more times.  Mile 45 sec slower than goal pace the go right into a mile 10 sec faster than goal pace... that is it in a nutshell.  I ran this workout 2 years ago 4 weeks before philly gearing towards a 5:10-12 pace goal for the half and came out with a 5:11 average.  So, i have confidence in this tough workout.
    It was great having Paul to run with.  He kept right with me and even gave me some nice encouragement en route.  I can't beleive this was his first workout of the summer!  He hung in there really nicely!!!  Im calling a sub 29:20 this year!  Charlie had a breakthrough workout today!  He stayed tough and got faster each of his miles! awesome job.  Mike and Dirk worked real well together.  Mike is a rhythm runner and is looking really fit right now.  He is going to surprise people, especially himself at Chicago!  Dirk is easing back into his running and I cannot wait until he is back in form along with the rest of our GRCers that are not in peak shape right now.

   Workout went great.  I felt controlled the entire time and punched the last mile a bit.  I will do this workout again next week and this will be my final "key" workout of the summer... but i will do 8 miles of this next time.

   5:40
   4:46
   5:38
   4:45
   5:44
   4:34
   31:10 for 6 miles.
       We cooled down 1.5 miles after and called it at an 11 mile day.  Ban, myself and Mike Cotterell hit up Burger Joint for some red meat and shakes.  good times.

ahhh I could get use to this....

Yesterdays Recovery day was a success. I aqua jogged 45 minutes with Jake in the AM, vegged out the remainder of the day and then went out for an easy 3 mile shake out run just to make sure my legs didn't feel weird for todays 12 miler. This morning I woke up at 5:45am and was out the door by 6:10 with my golf bag to meet up with my buddy Sammy for a round of golf up in Mt. Airy, MD. The weather was beautiful and my game started off the way I needed it to. I had this bet going for the summer with a co-worker that I would break the 100 barrier by the start of school... This was only the second time I went out this summer to play but on a hard course I was able to come through the half way point at 51. I was on track and just needed a few puts to go my way on the back 9. This unfortunately wasn't the case... I shanked the first two drives on holes 10 and 11 (this included a temper tantrum at hole 11 where I threw a club in anger). After cooling off I was able to get something together for the next 4 holes... but I was still in "the hole" due to the terrible performances on hole 10 and 11. I got to the 17th and knew I needed a par and a birdie(I have never hit a birdie in my life in golf). I got a bogey and then a triple bogey on the 18th to finish out the day with a 111. Not what I looked for but a tough course.
Playing golf today made me really think about the half marathon I have coming up... My game started out just as planned.. I was arrogant because everything was going my way. At points I was not even worried about breaking 100, instead looking to maybe close in on 90... and then suddenly, it crashed and was really not able to be mended back in order. It simply just continued to get worse. This race on the 19th cannot be run with the same mindset. I cannot go out "on pace" I need to stay back and trust my strengths (the second half of the race). I need to stay in contact with what I want to do but know that if i get carried away and too ambitious before the 8 mile mark, I am going to not come out of the race with anything positive. The trials simply need to be secondary... The goal: To hit 5's as long as possible and if I have a pack to do this with, that will only help make it a slight bit easier. No matter how you look at it... It is going to be the most pain I have ever endured and the grass outside the finish corral will be where I will lay down knowing I did my very best.

A cool long run and a recovery day

Sunday: 20 miles from "The Line".
I met up with a small group of GRCers at "The Line" for a long run heading south into D.C towards the zoo. After about 25 minutes of easy running on Beach Drive, we decided to jump up on the trails that run parallel to Beach. I was nervous about getting on the trails with the carnage in the forest that I observed while taking a nature break prior to the run. I had a hard time finding cover due to all the big trees that were knocked down. This was also the case on the trails today. The first half of the run was much stop and go. Not the best way to run a 20miler... but at the same time i was not planning on pushing this weekends long run. I simply sought out to get the miles and minutes on my feet. After coming back and parting ways with Karl (who was running a bit shorter today), I ran with Texas Paul and Dutch Paul up towards Dirk's house where Dutch Paul has been staying for the last few weeks. I was surrounded by fast and accomplished runners. Texas Paul ran varsity for Alabama (but is from Texas...hence Texas Paul) and has some fast times to his resume. Dutch Paul is still in school and is a sub 30 10k runner for Fresno State. After dropping Dutch Paul off, Texas Paul and I ran back to RCP and jumped back on Beach Drive. The last 2 miles with Dutch Paul were around 6:20's and when we turned back to go to Beach Drive, Texas Paul and I pushed the pace faster. This was not something I planned to do but with the cool rain coming down and running with a fit and fast texas paul, these things just happen. We figured we were running sub 6's for a few miles near the tail end of our run. We ran an easy last mile and stopped the clock at 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Overall, these long runs feel good. They didn't weeks ago... I was out of commission many afternoons... Now I feel the same as I do after a 10 miler. So, i guess that is a good thing. My only goal for the next 5 weeks is to simply get my butt to the starting line in philly on the 19th. This is my NUMBER 1 PRIORITY. The philadelphia distance run!... It sounds selfish but it is what I have been working towards for months... I want this more than anything.

Monday: I met the Red Fox for a 7:45am pool run. We jumped in the cold pool and cursed a bit for 5 minutes but then acclimated to the h20 temps. We aqua jogged 45 minutes and even added some short but hard effort intervals. I forgot how much of a workout you get in the pool. My arms feel it more than my legs :) I have planned to take today off from running... but I may bet out for a shake out this evening.

Pennsylvania

I am returning to Maryland today after being in PA since sunday afternoon. It was great to see family and friends. The trip was a busy one. I woke up at 6am on monday and headed out to the Eagles training camp at Lehigh University. We had a great time watching the team as well as mingling with the crowd. Philly gets such a bad reputation for being terrible fans... If you are one of us, you would see that we are just loyal fans... We are a family in a sense. Everyone talked with everyone on the side lines of training camp and even in the stands. I would talk to people about which players were going to break out, which ones shouldn't even be on our team and of course how we want to absolutely punish McNabb and the skins. It was a great day overall.
Monday evening I got out and ran 12 miles with Sean Keefe and Dan Beck (two former runners I had the opportunity to coach in my one season as head coach at CR south h.s). Sean will be a sophomore at Syracuse U where he is looking to get in that top 9 spots to run at Big East champs in the post-season. Dan will be a frosh at DeSales University and I expect to see some big things from this guy (especially on an 8k XC course). The run was nice and relaxed.
Tuesday i had yet another busy day. I had a scare today as I woke up at 2am with my hip in a lot of pain. I couldn't go back to bed after getting up to try and stretch.... It felt my hip was out of place a bit... like i slept wrong or something... I almost didn't go on the planned golf trip with my dad... but I decided to give it a go. I played a round + of golf with my Dad. I have a bet going with a math teacher at my middle school (who is also a pro golfer) that I can break 100 for 18 holes this summer. Well, I was closing in on a 98-99 score going into the final hole... I needed a double bogey on the final par 4 to hit 99 and I managed to blow it on a 4 foot put and scored an even 100... oh well.. While on the golf course i could feel my hip and that was a lot on my mind... I got into Dr. Derek (who along with Dr. Johnny work on Catherine "the great" Ndereba (one of kenya's most successful female marathoner). He popped my hip back in as it was out of alignment and massaged and got my back in order... I felt ready to go... These guys are absolute miracle workers... if i have any problems down the road... i will drive 3 hours to go to them... rather than try someone in the d.c/metro area!!!
I met with Sean and Dan once again for a 10.5 mile run in tyler park. Felt relaxed but a bit sore from the hip massage.
Wednesday:
I set out to run a workout (plus incorporate the alumni XC 5k at CR south). I warmed up 1.5 miles (it was 98 degrees... therefore you don't need to warm up much). I jumped on the track and paced a 9:59 2 mile... I grabbed some water, jogged a lap and jumped in a mile at the same pace... I hit 4:58 and even with the heat felt relaxed. There was 5 minutes to spare before the race started... I grabbed a water and ran across the field to the XC start. the horn went off and i ran relaxed for 1 mile with the team and alum. We went out nice and easy at 5:39. The first mile is the fastest mile on this course... after that you hit very rough footing plus snake turns practially every 150 meters... It is up and down and never lets up from 1-3. A footlocker finalist has the course record in 16:24... just to let you know how slow this course is... he ran sub 15 3 weeks later on a fast lehigh course. At the mile i decided i was going to start ticking the pace down and progress to a hard but controlled effort in the final 1/2 mile. I ran a surprisingly fast 5:03 second mile through the turny and hilly second mile. I closed the final mile in 5:16 and with the final .1 i came in at 16:40. I felt good and felt like I combined the track pace work and the race really well to get a nice workout in. mileage was low today (9 miles)
Thursday: (double) 10/6.
AM: 10 miles
Ran in tyler and with a spitting rain and low humidity it felt great out. I got to say bye to some of the rock runners both boys and girls teams that were training in tyler this morning. It is always a running reunion in Tyler... If you are a runner in the area, you train in tyler... its that simple.

Two more high weeks to go!

Sunday: 18 miles
first 13 miles easy followed by 4 miles progressing to half marathon pace.
I met Jake Klim, Max, the rep from Accelerade who was in town and Paul Zwama (Dirks buddy from Holland) for a long run starting at "the line". We ran an easy effort for much of the run. Jake was out just for about 6 miles to see how his leg was holding up. He is down a bit right now but will be back and running before he knows it... he is doing everything right (going to therapy, now pool running) I miss not consistently training with the Fox. After we dropped Paul off at Dirks place, we continued back to Beach drive and ran up to the water fountain. Once we got there I took a quick swig and went into my progression. I started out faster than planned but it felt nice. 2 miles into the progression I got back to the parking lot and jumped on the rock creek trail where I could get my mile splits. I ran a 5:04 for mile 3 and ran 4:55 for my last mile of the progression and it felt controlled (considering I was now in 17 miles). I ran an easy 1 mile to make it an even 18 for the day.

Uncharted Territory + a Dance Party = Sore legs

Saturday: (22 miles) w/ progression from miles 10 to 20.
I met 15+ GRCers as well as a few visiting harriers for a long run from the store onto the towpath. The plan was to go out 5 miles, turn around and come back... then repeat one more time. It sounds boring but it was very nice to be able to stay on the natural terrain as well as have water in the opening miles at a frequent rate. I felt very hungry just 20 minutes in (which is not usually a good sign). I luckily brought two gels and took one 30 minutes in. I got some odd looks as to why I was already trying to replenish glycogen this early in the run... After all i still have about 1 hour and 50 minutes of running still to go. I took the gel and within 5 minutes I felt replenished and good to go. We hit ten miles in 1:08.30. I grabbed my water bottle with my GU electrolyte mix and headed out for round 2. almost immediately the pace picked up substantially... A little too fast to be honest. We were hitting between 5:20 and 5:30 right off the bat. About 4 miles in we decided to tone it down a bit... as we did not want to ruin this nice run we had going. Dickson and I worked together throughout the remainder of the run. We still came in for our second 10 mile out and back in 56:45. It felt good. Dickson decided to tack on two more miles... I knew this would be a nice addition to my week so i tagged along and got my longest run ever in my running career.

After vegging out for the remainder of saturday and going to one of the best BBQ restaurants I have ever been to in my entire life with Jessica, I trekked out to South Arlington for "One More Time part trois" or commonly known as "1MT3". I was told an Air Conditioner was to be repaired... I apparently look like an AC technician so I was called upon for the job... After arriving, I was notified that the AC was already repaired... so instead I helped install black lights in various light fixtures as well as going out with Red fox to pick up Ice for the party and Chicken out for myself, Fox and DJ Snizzow. The party started out slow but just before 11 the fireworks came with a bang and the dance party was officially ON. Without a care in the world I danced and had a blast! After an inverted hydration session (for 4 seconds...), I officially called it a night.
PM cross training: (1 hour of dancing = 4 miles of running)

Sunday: (12miles). I went with Jessica to her sunday morning run with the Ladies in Red at Fletchers boathouse. I was amazed to find the rumors true that it is not just ladies on this team. I had a good time running an easier effort in the opening miles. I went out with the group onto the rock creek trail and turned around at the water fountain at the Zoo. From there I came back and extended my run down under the Whitehurst freeway and onto the capital crescent trail. I felt a lot better in the second half of this run for sure. After the run I went out to lunch with Jessica, two of her CAR teammates (erica and cheryl) as well as capital area runners founder and coach George Buckheit. I have been talking to George in recent weeks about possibly coaching me in the future. He has a very nice coaching resume and has experienced much success in his own running. He knows how to get a runners to reach their potential. I am hoping that some of my teammates at GRC would like to jump on this and see if we can make this work... George has offered to meet up with any GRCers interested in talking training and he would even come out to BCC for wednesday workouts.

Monday: 10 miles.
I ran a very easy and relaxed 10 miles this morning. I felt good until about 55 minutes into the run. My left plantar was starting to become sore. I am not crazy over the Brooks Ghosts 3... they seem wide for my foot and I put in 54 miles in 4 days on them... So i am going to continue massaging and icing it... It does not hurt at all at work right now (esp after massaging w/ golf ball). If it continues to bother me, I will be discontinuing my use of the Brooks Ghosts 3.

Tuesday: 10.5 miles
I ran an easy/med 10+ with Chris Sloane on the Cabin John Trails. My plantar felt much better which was a good sign... I seriously think I may have tweaked it on my 22 miler on saturday and sundays 12 miler may have not gave it enough time to rest. I ran early yesterday and late today... plus with much icing and massage, it seems to be better.

Wednesday: WORKOUT WEDNESDAY! 11 miles total
5 mile at marathon pace.
I joined several GRCers for a tempo on the CCT. We warmed up from BCC over to the Capital Crescent Trail. After about 3 miles of warm up, we were ready to jump into the workout. It was BLAZING HOT and the humidity was super thick. We started out conservative (Karl and I) and worked together through the entire workout. We finished in 27:11 for the 5mile tempo which was a nice pace considering the terrible conditions.

Thursday: Recovery day (5 miles easy)
Took a camp field trip to Six Flags America today so i decided today would be my recovery day. I ran an easy 5 this am before the trip.

Friday: 9 miles
Ran an easy/med 9 around Tilden park and up old georgetown and turned it back around... I felt good today.

Saturday: 12 miles
Ran from the GRC in chevy chase with a crew of GRCers. We ran a relaxed run through Rock creek and finished up on the CCT.