Week Recap: 3 to go

It is April and April is also the month during which the Boston Marathon occurs. That said, the priority list has been rearranged with sleep and rest now coming before mileage and speed. This is the point in the process where you can no longer afford to be running with a tired body and heavy legs. Last week was my last chance to push myself to the limit and I tried to make the most out of the opportunity. Unfortunately, I felt stale and uninspired until the weekend logging some forgetful miles and some less than stellar speed work. I ran every run in the evening as my body was too worn down to log 4am miles.

Runs: 7 (no doubles)

Mileage: 90.6

Workouts: 2

Long Run: 20.3 miles (Boston Marathon Course)

Hours: 10.36

Monday -- Miles: 12 (6:49 pace) Course: Central Park. Knowing that the New York metro area was under a red flag warning, I tried to limit my time along the Hudson, using the West Side Highway just to get to the park and back. But, there was no escaping the wind. Even in the park it was like running into a wall. My legs are still a little sore. I wore calf sleeves.

Tuesday -- Miles: 12.25 Course: Central Park. Workout: 5X400 All out. Despite the length of this workout, I really struggled to make something of it. I still have dead legs and that brought my already slow pace to a crawl. I fell off the back of every repeat even though I was working really hard. Intervals were 67, 67, 67, 67, 66 with a jog back to the start. I did 5 miles at just under 7:00 pace to cool down.

Wednesday -- Miles: 15 (6:57 pace) Course: West Side Highway. I met Josh about 4 miles in along the West Side Highway and we headed toward Battery Park. It's starting to sound like a broken record, but my legs are still sore and a massage is badly needed. Unfortunately, I won't have an opportunity until next week.

Thursday -- Miles: 13. Course: Central Park Great Lawn. Workout: 2 miles @ MP, 5X800 @ 2:30. The workout only called for the 800s, but I tacked on the two miles at MP solo just to get the legs moving. The challenge was keeping to marathon pace and not dipping too far below. I ran 5:38, 5:42 then shut it down and jogged back to the store. The 800s were a challenge. I don't particularly love doing repeats on the great lawn because although it is fast, it really tears up my legs. Did 2:28, 2:27, 2:26, 2:29, 2:30 with 400 jog as rest. I considered dropping out of the last one, but at the last minute, went for it anyways. It hurt. The thought of a taper felt really good when this was over.

Friday -- Miles: 7 (7:10 pace) Course: West Side Highway. I haven't felt this bad and uninspired on a run in a long time. I felt like I was carrying cinder blocks. Getting in a solid dinner tonight and hoping this is the end of the slump.

Saturday -- Miles: 20.3 (6:42 pace) Course: Boston Marathon from Framingham to Boston. Full recap here. We started at a slow 7:10 pace, and quickly dropped into the mid to high 6's. Legs finally felt GREAT and the scenery and company of Kevin, Josh, Meagan and Terry made this run fly by. By the end of the course, we were in the low 6's. Successful last long run of the training cycle.

Sunday -- Miles: 11 (6:55 pace) Course: Central Park Lower Loop. Other than a slight soreness in my left quad and the driving cold rain, this was a surprisingly good run. I waited until 5pm to step out the door to give my body as much time as possible to recover from yesterday. I am going to keep an eye on the quad and get a massage tomorrow. Time to start the taper.

Week Recap: 5 to go

As hard as it was to back off the gas, I dialed back the mileage and the intensity this week in order to be fresh for the New York City Half Marathon. Although it isn't the goal race, a solid effort and a PR was necessary as a fitness indicator and a confidence booster.

Runs: 7 (no doubles)

Mileage: 69.3 miles

Workouts: 2

Long Run: 21.1 miles (half marathon in 1:11:19)

Hours: 7.62

Monday --Miles: 9 (6:38 pace) Course: West Side Highway. Felt fantastic on this run. Beautiful weather in the mid 60s. It was like I was floating up the West Side Highway to Riverside Park and back.

Tuesday -- Miles: 9 (6:19 pace - Fartlek) Course: West Side Highway. With a massage in Brooklyn immediately following work, I had no choice but to start this one at 4:05am. Jerry had me doing 1000, 800, 600, 600, 400 , 400 with full rest at VO2 max pace, but since it was too early to get to a track, I did 2 miles warmup, 3:10 hard (1:30), 1:50 (1:10), 1:50 (1:10), 1:15 (:45), 1:15 (:45), then I did 6X :30 on :30 off. Workout was done totally on feel and felt pretty good for how early it was.

Wednesday -- Miles: 9 (6:44 pace) Course: West Side Highway. I definitely felt the soreness from last night's massage on this one. Still, another awesome night. I ran to South Ferry and back.

Thursday -- Miles: 8 (7:07 pace) Course: Chelsea Mini Track. Lauren finished up her midterms today, so I wanted to bang out my workout then take her on a date night. Since the plan was to do 12-14X200, I decided I could do that in my neighborhood. Got in four miles easy on the West Side Highway and then headed over to the little 250 meter, three lane track on 27th and 10th. Did 14 X what I think was 200 all in 34 seconds. Jogged about 50 meters as recovery between each one. Then, took off my shoes and did barefoot drills on the soccer field.

Friday -- Miles: 7 (7:10 pace) Course: West Side Highway. Time to ease off. Went very easy down the West Side Highway with Heidi. It was good to catch up with her.

Saturday -- Miles: 6.23 (6:38 pace) Course: West Side Highway. Absolutely fantastic weather, but I hope it's a little cooler than this tomorrow. Ran to the marina and back, then did 6 strides on 21st Street. I think I spent too much time on the West Side Highway this week. I took an ice bath immediately following the run.

Sunday -- Miles: 21.1 Course: 8th Avenue, NYC Half Marathon Course, West Side Highway. Run and day detailed here . 5k - 16:40, 10k - 33:31 (three second pr), 15k - 50:27 (50 second pr). 20k - 1:07:36.

As of this writing, I am very sore. I need to make sure I don't forget there are four more weeks left of training. Sunday's race was beyond my expectations. Now, it's time to capitalize on the fitness, put in two more solid weeks and then taper for Boston.

Life Recap (with a miniature race recap too)

I won't even call myself an amateur runner. Running happens to be my hobby and it happens to teeter on the edge of obsession. I can admit it. The past six weeks have been a true test of how passionate I am about the hobby and how much I can juggle without letting one of the balls drop.

Life is about prioritizing. My priorities are my fiancee' Lauren and our families, my job and running...in that order. I won't lie. There have been times, perhaps even recently, where running came before work. But, I am in a position now where that would be suicide. The stakes are too high. On top of all that, I am still in the middle of a major move. Since I have moved to New York, I feel like my life is straddling Charlotte in New York. That's a pretty big distance to cover. Getting moved into our new home in Chelsea will be a big relief once it happens.

Running hasn't taken a backseat. Not in the least bit. But, I have had to get a lot more creative with how I keep my training consistent. Gone for now are the days of regular hours at work. In fact, more often than not, I am working long and late shifts making it impossible to get up for a 5:30am run. This was especially challenging during a recent string of days where New York City saw record heat, with the thermometer reaching 100 or hotter three days in a row. To make it work, I went to bed as soon as I got home at 12am, and made sure I was out the door by 7:45am to get the mileage in before the worst part of the day. Some days, instead of a 6:00am easy shakeout, I'll do a 12:00am easy shakeout. Same concept and benefit, different time.

I've had to get accustomed to doing speed work on my own. If everything lines up right, I can make it to the Central Park Track Club's Tuesday night workout, but so far, that's only happened twice. As some one who likes solo recovery runs, but hates solo interval and tempo runs, this has not been an easy transition. Yet, I'm proud to say I haven't bagged a single workout. In fact, I've had some of my best performances.

The long run requires some choreography. The first hurdle is the lack of locations. When you live in Manhattan there are really only two places to run that don't require a subway ride. One is Central Park the other is the West Side Highway. That's not a complaint. Both are among the best, most scenic places to run in the United States. Central Park for the obvious reasons and the West Side Highway because you can see the entire island if you stay on it long enough. On a given long run, you get fantastic views of the Interpid, the Empire State Building, the emerging Freedom Tower, The Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park, Wall Street, Chelsea Piers and the South Street Seaport if you make it long enough. However, just like any other running location, they grow monotonous. A change of scenery means a significant time commitment. I loved my 17 miler in Rockefeller State Park with Dan and Val Matena earlier this month, but the travel time is three hours round trip. Van Cortlandt Park is a little closer, but it will cost about an hour's worth of travel time. That's a lot of hours to sacrifice when your work schedule on weekends is 1pm-12am.

I am still trying to figure out how I will work racing into this new life. I work weekends, but fortunately I work weekend evenings. So, I can race as long as the race is somewhere in the New York metro area. This weekend was my first test. I signed up for a very low-key 5K at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. By low key, I mean it was not a New York Road Runners Club event. There were still about 1,000 people in the race. Getting to the park took two trains and about 50 minutes, so I had to be up pretty early. I got there with plenty of time for a three mile warm up. When the gun went off, naturally, I went out with the leaders. Since everyone was a stranger, I figured I'd see how long I could hang with the front pack and go from there. I hit the mile in 5:07 feeling decent, but then ran smack into mile two which is a steady uphill climb. Even though I picked off two runners on the hill, I was struggling. By the time I hit the downhill third mile, I was pretty well spent and not able to take as much advantage of it as I would have liked. I finished in 16:23 which placed me 10th overall. Not a PR, but it matches my time at China Grove last month and on a much more challenging course. It's progression, albeit slow.

The next couple of weeks will be the real test of time management. I am fortunate to have the very knowledgeable Mark Hadley of Maximum Performance Running coaching me from a far, and encouraging me to stick with the plan. I am hoping to be in peak condition for the Newport Libery Half Marathon in Jersey City, NJ on September 25th, the day before I turn 28-years-old. August will be where I hit my highest mileage, peaking at around 85 miles per week. I don't expect to working in the newsroom fewer than 50 hours on top of the running. Oh yeah, and on September 3rd, I'm getting married to the love of my life.

Juggling isn't easy. If it was, everyone would do it. I'm going to juggle as long as I can. Right now, I see no signs of backing off and hopefully that is the case for many years. But, it's always important to know in the back of your mind which balls you can drop when your routine starts to slip, and which ones you always want to have in your hands.

Stalling...

I don’t want this blog to become the long form version of my training log. The theme is supposed to be how running interacts with my everyday life; relationships, career, etc. But, right now, running is the only aspect of my life I think I can discuss in an open forum. So, at least one more entry will be a recap of workouts and an assessment of how things are going. My apologies for the lack of depth and substance.

I am nearly three weeks into my training plan from Mark Hadley and Maximum Performance running, and feeling stronger with each run. Hold that. Let’s go with ‘feeling stronger with each workout.’ I’ve felt like pure death on a couple of recovery runs, which means I am working hard. With each week, the workouts become tougher, yet I continue to complete them and gain confidence that it won’t be long until I race again.

May 7 (16 mile long easy run at Latta Plantation) – This was the first time in a long time Aaron, Caitlin and I ran together. Just the three of us. There’s something special about getting in a run with my two fellow Charlotte Running Club founders. You might think all we talk about is the club when we’re running together. But, you’d be wrong. We don’t talk about the club at all. It’s very refreshing.

May 10 (20X200 with 200 rest at JCSU Track) – I’d have to go back many training logs to find the last time I did 200 meter repeats. But, I am going to see more fast, short intervals this time around since no marathons are in the near future. On paper, 20 by 200 sounds pretty simple. They’re just really long strides right? Wrong. 200 meters is a long way when you are sprinting and I am not sprinter. I want to exceed my expectations in every workout, and in this one, I simply met my expectations. My fastest was 32 seconds. My slowest was 35. I did have lots of horses to try and keep up with. Aaron, Paul, Eric and Alex, who has quite the kick.

May 13 (4.5 mile progressive tempo from 6:10 to 5:50 from my house to the Booty Loop) – One more mediocre workout. I promise the good stuff is coming. Actually, of all the workouts I am going to write about, this one is the worst. I woke up feeling sluggish, not looking forward to doing this one on my own. I was moving slowly during the two-mile warm-up, and dropping down to 6:10 was a shock to the system. I should also point out it was pea soup humid and I was sweating before I got off my front porch. I hit the first mile in 6:06, but quite taxed. By mile two, I was actually on the Booty Loop and clicked off a 5:57. I didn’t think I had much more to give, but somehow hit 5:55. It did not get any better. My last mile, which even though was all uphill, was a disappointing 6:07 and my last half-mile was 5:58 pace. I trudged home, drenched in sweat and blood. Yes, blood. My socks would not stay up during this workout and the friction from the humidity tore up my heels something fierce.

May 15 (14.6 mile steady state run at McMullen Greenway) – What happens when you put Aaron, Paul, Stephen, Matt and I in the same work out? We crush it. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather on a Sunday morning. We started out on the Great Harvest course, navigating the hilly 5k at roughly 6:45 pace. The goal was to average somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45 and I could tell early on, we’d be much closer to 6:30 than 6:45. As we headed back into McMullen, the pace slowly descended. By midway, we were in the 6:20s, and moving down. At one point, I mentioned I was going to shut it down at the prescribed 14 miles, but when that point came and went, I was still going. It was Stephen who kept us all going, throwing in surges and pushing the pace. When we finished, it was a real sense of accomplishment and I was happy to hang with such a tough crowd for such a long run. We had averaged 6:25 pace.

May 17 (5X1 with 400 rest mile at Providence Day School Track) – I was concerned that this workout would suffer because of its close proximity to the steady state, but it did not. It was raining pretty good when I met up with Paul, Mike, Billy, Stephen and Nathan at Old Bell. We immediately ruled out doing this at McAlpine, and considered sacking it all together. Fortunately, we chose to stick with it and just moved the workout to the oval. Paul was nice enough to slow down and guide me through the first three right on target. My goal for the whole workout was somewhere between 5:20 and 5:30. We went 5:29, 5:27, 5:23. On the fourth, I was pretty much on my own, but was still able to knock out a 5:20. On the final interval, I was able to manage 5:18. Sure, these aren't blazing fast times, but they are respectable and comparable to some mile repeats I did early last fall.

Riveting stuff, right? Don't get used to it. I have a feeling the next couple of entries will have some real meat.

Week 1: Back to the grind

As promised, my summer/fall training program started on May 1st and at this point is off to a good start. Although, I am hesitant to say such things because previous expressions of confidence have resulted in broken bones and twisted back muscles. Below are a few highlights:

May 1 (long run at Davidson trails) -- A big group of runners met to run at one of my favorite local running spots. I had 18 on the calendar, but only to prove to myself I could do it. Common sense prevailed and I ended up doing 16. After all, no marathons are in my near future. Plus, finishing the run sooner meant getting to Summit Coffee sooner, and that is the best reward for a successful long run.

May 3 (1,000s at JCSU) -- This was the first time I had stepped out on to a track for a planned workout since October 19, 2010. The absence did not go unnoticed by the gods of the oval. My plan called for 5X1,000 at 3:15 to 3:20 pace. Paul, who was preparing for a race, was kind enough to slow down and guide me through the first four. My legs felt ok, but my stomach reacted poorly to the hot, humid weather, the evening hours (I have become primarily, a morning runner) and of course, the intensity. I did hit all the marks, although my fastest interval was my second one and my slowest was the last one. I'll have to work to turn that around.

May 6 (8 mile tempo at the Landsdowne Loop) -- I walked away from this workout confident that I might not have lost as much as I feared. The plan called for an eight mile progression starting at 7:00 and working my way down to sub 6:00. I met a big group well before sunrise at Old Bell. Billy, Mike and Stephen had planned to do a 40 minute tempo at sub-6:00, while Paul, Alex and I would lag behind. Secretly, Paul and I had schemed to try and catch them. We started at 6:20 while the others took off. In no time, we were below 6:00 and descending. Landsdowne is a tough 2.35 mile loop, which I have noted in other blogs. Still, we were clicking off 5:45s through the hillier sections. Around 6.5, we spotted Billy drifting toward us. At this point, Paul dropped me on his way to 5:30s. I picked it up to 5:40 and set my sights on the unknowing target. Honestly, I didn't expect to catch him. Billy is fast and in good shape. But my will pushed me through. Around mile 7, I pulled up along side of him. We matched stride for stride for 100 yards or so, and then I took off. Billy ended up extending his tempo and doing the 8 miles as well.

For the first week back (Monday-Sunday), I logged 72.1 miles. Included in that total is the CRC Birthday Tequila 400, which I continue to not be good at.

The early assessment is that the endurance remained in tact better than the all-out speed. It will continue to be a week-by-week process, but for now, the summer looks like it will be a lot of fun!

Back on (the) track

I've never beat around the bush when it comes to the track. I don't like it. There is no special place in my heart for repeated 400 meter loops. Give me a rolling asphalt road or a dirt trail any day. That being said, it was kind of nice to pull into the familiar parking lot that sits above the JCSU track -- adjacent to the giant metal bull -- in West Charlotte Tuesday night.

Actually, Tuesday started with another odd and uncharacteristic first. I woke up at 4:45am ready to limber up, dress up (for the cold) and head to McAlpine for the Miner's Run. But as I limbered, I could tell my legs weren't as fresh as they could be from running both Saturday and Sunday and in an time where caution is king, I changed directions and turned left on Providence toward the Dowd Y pool instead of right toward McAlpine. By 5:20, I was swimming laps. It's the earliest I have ever been submerged in water. By 5:55, I was being kicked out by a gaggle of old ladies who needed the pool for water aerobics.

I've gotten off track (pun). I got out of my car already geared up and launched right into a two mile warmup down to the cemetery and back. By the time I got back to the track and passed by Caitlin and her menagerie of male minions doing a minuter workout, Aaron was there and ready to go. Of course, our workouts were dramatically different. He was doing 3X2000, which for a guy with just nine runs under his belt since eight weeks off, was a bit ambitious. I thought I could probably manage the first 800 of each one, going right into a moderately paced run in between the intervals.

What I wasn't counting on was how good of shape Aaron is in. Adrenaline and the excitement of going fast for the first time since mid-November got me through the first lap with little effort. By the second lap, my body and mind realized just how quick we were moving. It was a shock to the dusty system. Still, I clung to Aaron's shoulder, not backing down. We hit the 800 in 2:34 and I was breathing pretty heavy. Ok, I was panting.

After a two more pedestrian paced laps around the track, I was ready for our next one. We took off with the same force -- shot out of a cannon. Two laps of me holding on for dear life while Aaron seemed to move effortlessly through the turns and accelerate down the straightaways. This time, I pulled up alongside on the final stretch to finish stride-for-stride. Well, I finished, but he had three more laps to go. 2:32. I repeated the motions for number three, finishing in 2:31.

I was winded, but after watching Aaron click off one 75 second lap, I made a go at an unplanned fourth 800. Through the lap, I taunted Aaron with the hopes of being motivational, saying things like "don't let the guy with the broken ankle beat you," and "I haven't run in eight weeks." He was killing the workout, so this was probably useless, but still fun for me. With no expectation of doing anything more than three, I pulled out after a 76 second 400 happy with the small amount of work.

In the grand scheme of things, and in comparison to workouts of the past, this was kind of a joke. But I am measuring success differently right now. I am simply looking for signs of life in the legs. They're there, and that's a good indication that I'm not starting from scratch.