The Vacation Influence

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Today was my daughter's kindergarten graduation, tomorrow is my son's last day of school and in less than 2 days my family heads off on vacation with our family-friends to the southern Land of the Mouse.  Needless to say, my household is in high gear prepping for our trip.  We have snacks in the corner of the pantry, piles of folded laundry sorted for trip and non-trip, and stacks of comics and reading material (not all mine, I swear) to be crammed into duffle bags.  My kids have been so ready for vacation, they "packed" a week ago (I"m afraid to go through their bags, but I'm sure they're stuffed with every doll, action figure, Lego and DS game imaginable).  For my part, I have to sort through which running shoes (someone has to run and fetch Fastpasses.  It may as well be me) to bring, how many tech shirts I'll need (I need that breathable fabric for all my profuse perspiration!  Stinky.), and what kind of socks should I wear (I favor the ankle socks, but they leave a funny tan, after all).  At work, I've poured through every paper on my desk to make sure I leave as little as possible unfinished (to keep people from snooping through my office).  All this being said, I've had very little time to train this week (i.e. I'm tired and I want to take a nap).  I'd be upset if it wasn't still so early into my training program (i.e. It won't hurt anything if I have bacon with my pancakes).  I figure that I can afford a couple weeks of recovery time (sleep and eating candy) this summer before I really hit my training hard (to make up for all those pancakes and candy).  I'm still planning on doing some running next week (Ha!), but I figure my runs will mostly be early (Double Ha!  Not unless the trails are in your bed, lazy ass) before we hit the parks.  Probably just easy runs for not longer than an hour (you betcha), but you never know (not really, I do know.  And it ain't gonna be pretty), I may throw in a tempo run or two to spice it up (or just sleep in).

If you've been following Biggest Loser, like me, this season, then you most likely watched the finale last night.  Michael won losing over half his starting weight.  Say what you want about the artificial conditions of the show, but that is a HUGE weight loss in 8 months!  So a quick congratulations to him.  I hope he sticks with the weight loss (he said that he wasn't done yet), because I think the show, at the very least, gives a platform for living healthier lives that the contestants can promote nationwide.  On a side note, anyone else think that Daris's popularity screwed him and Koli?  If America hadn't voted Daris to compete in the final 3, he would have won the at-home competition prize of $100,00.00 and Koli would have beaten Michael by over 3% total weight loss.  Way to go America.  Where was the Samoan love?  

Now for the hard numbers:  Today I did a short set of half-mile intervals with quarter mile recoveries.  I did 5x.50 mi intervals at 3:14, 3:19, 3:22, 3:22 and 3:29 respectively.  My slowest recovery lap was 2:17.  All right, that's all I have for now.  Later kids! 

End of the Week Recap 4/18/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Another week down and now 6 days until my marathon.  This week I ran 30.68 mi at an average pace of 9:03/mi.  I did 1:20:00 of conditioning, and weighed in a bit high at 157.6 lbs.  Last night was the Spring Auction for my kids’ school and I’m afraid that I showed less restraint than I should have.

I got in 2 x 10 mi runs this week but my first 10 mi run, I did with a friend at a 10:36/pace.  I did get in a track workout this morning.  Nothing too strenuous, but it felt good to do a little speed work.  I did 2 x 1600 m, 2 x 800 m and 1 x 400 m at an average pace of 7:42/mi with 400 m recoveries in between.  It felt really good to be back on the track again.  Probably because I hadn’t been on the track in awhile, I went out a bit harder than I should have, but I kept the workout short in honor of taper week.

As I’m rolling into my final week, taper madness has taken full hold on my sensibilities.  I’m trying not to read too many magazines or training guides, because I don’t want to damage whatever fitness that I have left with some crazy training workout.  My anxiousness is at an all time high as I stare at my course map and fly through the miles in my head.  If I’m not doing that, then I’m checking the daily forecast for some hint of change in the weather (currently calling for highs of 81 with scattered showers) or reviewing my playlist for proper cadence and inspiration (by the way, we’re going full-on redneck running for the my hometown marathon.  It seemed appropriate to stick with all country music for the Country Music Marathon after all). 

This is the last week of taper.  I’m still running nearly every day, but I’m keeping my mileage low and my intensity high.  My thought is to not let my body slip into some non-running coma just as I’ve re-found my pace (about an 8 count-beat in my head), but by keeping the workouts short, I maximize my recovery.  All right, that’s it.  Next week I need to give props to my wife, family, and friends for marathon support.  Clearly without their understanding, patience, and encouragement, I would not have made it this far.  But, that as they say, is a topic for another evening (and another, and another).  Later kids!

The Taper Madness Protocol

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  As I sit here and massage my calves, I personally blame Psyche for my current state of being.  If you’re reading this blog, you know that in 2 weeks I’m running the Country Music Marathon here in my hometown of Nashville (Yeehaw!).  As I have 2 weeks left, I am in the throes of taper madness!  Since I’ve started racing, I have been aware of the anxiety that I haven’t trained enough, the anticipation of busting out an awesome new PR, the fear of falling short of goal, and the exultation of visualizing racing among throngs of cheering crowds that comes with those last couple of weeks prior to your big race.  For the uninitiated, we call those last few weeks of reduced workouts to save your legs for the big race tapering.  The wild mood swings of dread and excitement, we would call the “jitters” down here.  However, Psyche gave my jitters a name that I had not heard before, Taper Madness.  And in naming, she gave those feelings bubbling through my head power.  Power over me.  Power that I cannot escape.  Power that forces me to acknowledge it at every waking moment.  Power, that if left unhindered, would surely TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!

At these times of vulnerability and weakness, I do what any obsessed runner does, I hit books!  Or in this case, the internet.  I review my online training log and feverishly copy down my past training times before my last races, so that I can statistically analyze the correlation of my training paces to game day performances.  I scour other running blogs and websites to gleam the secrets of speed and nuggets of knowledge to raise my endurance.  I ponder my diet and curse the 10-second-costing pound I gained from that harmless looking slider at lunch (hmmm…sliders…*slobber*).  I seek out new gadgets, gear, tools, and accessories on every Chinese website that delivers overnight for the Holy Grail of racing that I can ingest, strap on, or doff that will create a magic bubble around me reducing wind resistance and pushing competitors unceremoniously out of my way.  Then I pester anyone with any running experience with reviews of my training to draw out cheap praise for my hard work and assurances that I will, indeed, catch that damn BQ tiger by the tail this time and make him my beyotch.  I bribe my children to pray to the Good Lord to bless me with speed as I’m not allowed to do so (I’m pretty sure that I sold my soul when I signed my admission papers to law school.  If not, I’m sure I traded most of it for my last PR.).  I even invoke the name of Chuck Norris to amuse and distract myself as I blog mindlessly about how I love to race.  What would make an otherwise rational (don’t listen to my wife…if she truly thought I was crazy, she wouldn’t have procreated with me) man adult mature person to act in such a way?  Taper Madness.  CURSES!!!

Now for the hard numbers:  The track was closed so that the track team could get their practice in.  Inconsiderate bastiches.  Can’t they see that I am a man in need?  Anyway, I went to the park and my main workout was 10x.5 mi intervals with .25 mi recovery runs.  They broke down:  03:25.5, 03:26.8, 03:35.4, 03:46.2, 03:32.1, 03:28.6, 03:33.8, 03:27.2, 03:23.7, and 03:30.3.  This was an average pace of 3:31.0/mi.  This was 12 seconds better than I did last week.  A definite improvement, but still not quite where I was hoping to be.  I definitely felt stronger/better today, but I was reasonably rested and the heat was not nearly as bad as last week. Okay time for me to organize my training log by training type.  :P Later kids!

The Track Substitution

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  It’s a good thing that I’m pretty because God didn’t bless me with a ton of brains.  At least that’s what my lovely wife says.  Case in point:  Dumbass move number 1.  Today was supposed to be an interval day on the track.  My interval workout has been 885m intervals with 443m recoveries at the David Lipscomb track.  According to my schedule, I’m supposed to have worked up to 10 by next week to make sure I’m ready for the marathon on the 24th.  Of course, this meant I would do 10 today, because that’s just the way I roll.  Schedules and rules are for the little people who are okay with being limited by society’s “rules” and “laws.” 

Dumbass move number 2.  When I got to the track, the gate was locked.  This seriously bummed me out, and I considered bagging my run today in favor of finding a track tomorrow.  However realizing that I had a fairly busy Friday, I decided to drive to work and do my interval workout around the outside of the stadium grounds at LP Field, Home of the Tennessee Titans.  Intervals on nice cork track;  a hard work out, but manageable due to the softness of the surface.  Intervals on concrete in the blazing sun;  clearly a level of hell that Dante forgot to mention.  Maybe it’s level of hell, 5.75.  The pounding to which I subjected my legs, left me shaking and exhausted after my run.

Dumbass move number 3.  Did I mention that the temperature got up to 75 today?  Well it did.  Of course, this meant I had to wear one of my darkest and  heaviest short sleeve sleeve technical shirts that I own.  When I was done, I had rings of sweat and salt all over my clothes.  Touching my fingers together was like petting salt.

It was a rough workout and I considered quitting my run short several times.  Sadly the little voice in my head kept pushing me on, and like a dumbass, I kept listening.  Alright here are the hard numbers:  The total distance was 6.98mi at an average pace of 8:54.  I did half mile intervals with 2:30 mins recovery laps  My splits looked like this:

03:15.6

03:36.9

03:26.1

03:37.7

03:46.2

03:49.4

03:51.6

04:01.5

04:04.4

03:46.6

My average pace ended up being 3:43.6, which is nearly a BQ time for training.  Not bad, considering that I nearly destroyed my legs to do this training.  Pretty good, considering that I flirted with my puke threshold towards the end.  And definitely stupid, considering that I had run a fast half-marathon just 5 days ago.  All right.  I can barely keep my eyes open, so I’m out.  Later kids!

The Interval Solution

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Last Saturday, I had one of those days where the wheels fell off and I could barely get my act together to finish 6 miles.  We all get a bad day once and awhile.  That day that we can’t focus and we can barely move.  Today was not that day.  Today I had an awesome day!  I went to the track at David Lipscomb University to knock out my 885m intervals.  It was an beautiful sunny, 62 degrees, but it was a bit windy.  Still, I was feeling strong.  I did a mile warmup, and then worked into my intervals.  I did 8 x 885m intervals with 442.5m recovery runs in between the intervals.  I was jamming to my country tunes, getting my inner redneck on.  Easier than you would believe for a a little brown man from the Philippines.  All those years tooling around in my red, Chevy Tahoe in Tullahoma must have paid off.  Anyway, my intervals went well.  I felt strong working through them, but at the end, I was dead tired.  After some gatorade and quick change of clothes at the office, I felt energized again.  There is something about speed work that totally recharges the body and mind.  I felt great pushing my body through the repeats and focusing on holding my pace kept all those negative thoughts from the other day out of my head.  Like I said, I felt, and still feel, great.  I’m pumped for my half-marathon on Sunday, but I’m trying to keep it in perspective.  I’m approaching it as a training run for my full marathon in April, so if I can hold a 8:30 pace, I will be very happy.  The ultimate goal is to finish strong, but not overly sore or injured, so I can maintain my training.  Now that I’ve gotten my big workout for the  week out of the way, I only have one more base mileage run left.  I’ll probably rest tomorrow or do some light cross-training.

Okay now for the hard numbers:  8x885m intervals at respective times of 3:36.19, 3:40.22, 3:36.98, 3:35.88, 3:24.15, 3:32.21, 3:29.61 and 3:28.20.  An average pace of 3:32/885m.  Not as good as last week, but I’m glad that I’ve remained pretty consistent.  Later kids!