Not literally workin', but runnin'. I've decided that since the weather is beginning to break a little and the days are getting longer, it's time to switch to morning runs (I had been running after work, which is roughly the peak temperature in the winter here). This transition is done one of two ways:
Way #1 (the easy way) - After my next day off, run in the morning. This requires me to hold off until Saturday, as my day off is Friday.
Way #2 (the impatient way) - After a hard evening run, get up and do the next day's easy run in the morning. This requires me to run twice in a 12 hour span.
Which one do you think I chose?
I moved my hard Tuesday run to Monday night - a 4 mile tempo run just under a 7:30 pace. It was brutally windy and chilly for 45 degrees last night. Then I got up and ran an easy 4 miles this morning. My legs are fried, but they get another easy run tomorrow before Thursday's hard run, and my heart rate doesn't indicate over training, so I'll march on...
Morning running helps my schedule a lot. It allows me to go to work later, then get home a little later, but have more free time in the evening when I can use it for something other than running. And I'd been hitting the weight room with only 1/2 hour of rest after running, this will allow me to have all day between the two and cut out that half hour of nothingness.
Also, I love the Rocky and Bullwinkle style of title (such as the one above). Dr. Strangelove is one of my favorite movies. If you see me overusing these, feel free to berate me for being unoriginal, as I probably deserve it.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Sleepwalker, What's My Line
First I'll apologize for using a song lyric as a post title. It's lame. I promise to try to avoid such shameless, adolescent ploys in the future.
The past few days I've been going through the motions. Doing the things I'm expected to do on autopilot. I even bailed out on a run to do something else, then when I finished that early, strapped on my shoes and ran anyway - sleepwalking isn't all bad I guess.
I dropped the long tempo on Tuesday, it was too cold and windy, so I'll be running tonight to make up for it (Friday is my usual day off). I've lifted well all week, and aside from that minor hiccup, the autopilot has been lacing my shoes up and marching me towards my target times pretty well.
Work has been an automated process this week - do a thing, make a small refinement, then do it again. Hardly the exciting life you'd expect from a structural engineer - oh wait, never mind. Am I becoming Dilbert? I'd rather be Wally.
I nearly skipped my run last night, but found myself looking at the clock and saying "I've still got time to do this" rather than "Oh well". I'm not sure if it was dedication, or just doing what I planned to do like a lemming, but either way I'll take it. 2x1.5 miles at just under a 7:20 pace, exactly where I wanted to be - but was it on purpose?
This evening I'll go sleepwalk through a 4 or 5 mile easy run, my dreams filled with visions of warmer weather (which the fortune teller on the morning news claims is coming next week). I've already sleepwalked through this blog post.
But you never saw my best scene...
The one where I sleep
Sleepwalk into your dreams...
The past few days I've been going through the motions. Doing the things I'm expected to do on autopilot. I even bailed out on a run to do something else, then when I finished that early, strapped on my shoes and ran anyway - sleepwalking isn't all bad I guess.
I dropped the long tempo on Tuesday, it was too cold and windy, so I'll be running tonight to make up for it (Friday is my usual day off). I've lifted well all week, and aside from that minor hiccup, the autopilot has been lacing my shoes up and marching me towards my target times pretty well.
Work has been an automated process this week - do a thing, make a small refinement, then do it again. Hardly the exciting life you'd expect from a structural engineer - oh wait, never mind. Am I becoming Dilbert? I'd rather be Wally.
I nearly skipped my run last night, but found myself looking at the clock and saying "I've still got time to do this" rather than "Oh well". I'm not sure if it was dedication, or just doing what I planned to do like a lemming, but either way I'll take it. 2x1.5 miles at just under a 7:20 pace, exactly where I wanted to be - but was it on purpose?
This evening I'll go sleepwalk through a 4 or 5 mile easy run, my dreams filled with visions of warmer weather (which the fortune teller on the morning news claims is coming next week). I've already sleepwalked through this blog post.
But you never saw my best scene...
The one where I sleep
Sleepwalk into your dreams...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Sacrificing the Gift
Anyone who's ever talked running with me probably knows that I don't care for Steve Prefontaine and his legacy - wait, what did he accomplish again? He was before my time, he didn't do anything spectacular (not really his fault, since he didn't get much of a chance), and he talked a big game that he didn't manage to back up (hmm, sounds like someone I know well). My running-centric friends also know that I'm opposed to drawing inspiration from famous quotes - if you can be driven to reach your goals by someone you've never even met, you're either easily manipulated or you need harder goals.
That said, sometimes my brain needs realignment. Occasionally, we all need a story or an idea (or even a quote, as much as I hate that) to reach out and go upside our heads, a gentle but firm reminder that we're wandering off the path without realizing it.
People that know me know I'm a voracious reader when I have the time. Books, science articles, blogs, anything I get my hands on that is of interest. Daily, I stop by to visit 3 or 4 running blogs and a couple of websites that are running-focused, just to see if there is any news in the world of running and to see how some of my favorite fellow runners are doing. One of these sites is called Competitor, and is a collection of articles and excellent blog links about running. Today featured this article by Matt Fitzgerald about Dathan Ritzenhein, a runner who's career I've followed off and on for a while - mainly because he's always injured. I've also got friends who are hurt, dealing with bad injuries and long layoffs preventing them from running. I look out the window and think, "Geez it's cold, I wish I didn't have to run today", but I've got a friend in Canada who is looking out her window where it is much colder saying, "I really wish I could go out for a run today". It's easy to spout about "living in the moment" and being "thankful for what you've got", but it is very hard to actually do these things all day, every day. It's also hard once you slide into the habit of taking things for granted to break that habit. Mr. Ritzenhein is a professional, running is his livelihood. My Canadian friend is going stir crazy for want of a weekend long run. There's an elderly gentleman (be proud of me, I didn't call him an "old guy") with one arm who lives up the road from me, who likes to walk when the weather is nice. Once day last summer he said to me, "I wish I could go running". Even the thought of that still makes me sad, and a little uncomfortable (and even a little ashamed when I think about days I took off because I WANTED a day off rather than NEEDED a day off). Sometimes we need God, or the universe, or Karma, or whatever it is you believe in, to reach down and not so gently cuff us on the side of the head and let us know we're losing sight of something.
I've been running for 14 years now, and I've got exactly 1 DNF on my record. Only one, and until this morning I was pretty proud of that - I caught myself reminiscing about it when reading the latest installment of Adharanand Finn's Running with the Kenyans (for the whole series, click his name in the article and it'll take you to all of his articles). But is dropping out of a race really so much worse than skipping a workout when you don't need to? Anyone can have a bad day and need to stop, but is there any real excuse for not starting? What about when you know that there are others who are burning to be out there, who are struggling with a empty part of their life that can only be filled by lacing up their sneakers and hitting the road, or the "usta-runs" and "never-dids" who are now lamenting an opportunity that has long passed them by...
I've struggled with motivation lately. I've been trying to find my muse, my reason for training outside of just a desire for results - desire is great, but it doesn't lace up sneakers. I'm there. I've found it. I was a training warrior once, and I can feel it, something in me that was missing has returned. It's time to get to work.
Long post, maybe I should talk about my training for a minute in this training blog before I sign off? I didn't run Thursday, and told myself that it was because of the weather and not feeling well - I think we all know after this post that I was lying to myself. I moved my tempo work to Friday, and did 2x1.5 miles at around a 7:24/mile pace - right where I wanted, and I really did need to cut back the distance on those a little. I finally did squats and dead lifts that night, and was sore on Saturday - a legitimate day off because the leg soreness was causing my stride to be funny, and the wind was gusting about 25 mph that day anyhow. I skipped Sunday claiming the same reason, although really I was being lazy. Easy 5 yesterday, with a 4 mile tempo run coming tonight, looking for around a 7:40 pace, but I'd be happy with a 7:50-8:00 in this weather.
That said, sometimes my brain needs realignment. Occasionally, we all need a story or an idea (or even a quote, as much as I hate that) to reach out and go upside our heads, a gentle but firm reminder that we're wandering off the path without realizing it.
People that know me know I'm a voracious reader when I have the time. Books, science articles, blogs, anything I get my hands on that is of interest. Daily, I stop by to visit 3 or 4 running blogs and a couple of websites that are running-focused, just to see if there is any news in the world of running and to see how some of my favorite fellow runners are doing. One of these sites is called Competitor, and is a collection of articles and excellent blog links about running. Today featured this article by Matt Fitzgerald about Dathan Ritzenhein, a runner who's career I've followed off and on for a while - mainly because he's always injured. I've also got friends who are hurt, dealing with bad injuries and long layoffs preventing them from running. I look out the window and think, "Geez it's cold, I wish I didn't have to run today", but I've got a friend in Canada who is looking out her window where it is much colder saying, "I really wish I could go out for a run today". It's easy to spout about "living in the moment" and being "thankful for what you've got", but it is very hard to actually do these things all day, every day. It's also hard once you slide into the habit of taking things for granted to break that habit. Mr. Ritzenhein is a professional, running is his livelihood. My Canadian friend is going stir crazy for want of a weekend long run. There's an elderly gentleman (be proud of me, I didn't call him an "old guy") with one arm who lives up the road from me, who likes to walk when the weather is nice. Once day last summer he said to me, "I wish I could go running". Even the thought of that still makes me sad, and a little uncomfortable (and even a little ashamed when I think about days I took off because I WANTED a day off rather than NEEDED a day off). Sometimes we need God, or the universe, or Karma, or whatever it is you believe in, to reach down and not so gently cuff us on the side of the head and let us know we're losing sight of something.
I've been running for 14 years now, and I've got exactly 1 DNF on my record. Only one, and until this morning I was pretty proud of that - I caught myself reminiscing about it when reading the latest installment of Adharanand Finn's Running with the Kenyans (for the whole series, click his name in the article and it'll take you to all of his articles). But is dropping out of a race really so much worse than skipping a workout when you don't need to? Anyone can have a bad day and need to stop, but is there any real excuse for not starting? What about when you know that there are others who are burning to be out there, who are struggling with a empty part of their life that can only be filled by lacing up their sneakers and hitting the road, or the "usta-runs" and "never-dids" who are now lamenting an opportunity that has long passed them by...
I've struggled with motivation lately. I've been trying to find my muse, my reason for training outside of just a desire for results - desire is great, but it doesn't lace up sneakers. I'm there. I've found it. I was a training warrior once, and I can feel it, something in me that was missing has returned. It's time to get to work.
Long post, maybe I should talk about my training for a minute in this training blog before I sign off? I didn't run Thursday, and told myself that it was because of the weather and not feeling well - I think we all know after this post that I was lying to myself. I moved my tempo work to Friday, and did 2x1.5 miles at around a 7:24/mile pace - right where I wanted, and I really did need to cut back the distance on those a little. I finally did squats and dead lifts that night, and was sore on Saturday - a legitimate day off because the leg soreness was causing my stride to be funny, and the wind was gusting about 25 mph that day anyhow. I skipped Sunday claiming the same reason, although really I was being lazy. Easy 5 yesterday, with a 4 mile tempo run coming tonight, looking for around a 7:40 pace, but I'd be happy with a 7:50-8:00 in this weather.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Buzzer Beater?
I had an "Oh hell!" moment this morning. I thought I had tons of time. Thought I could go through several different phases and cycles of training heading into spring. Thought I had a lot of time to cut time.
Not so much.
The clock is winding down, and the scoreboard says I'm behind.
I adjust my schedule frequently. If I miss workouts, miss goals, I need to continually change my short-term plan to reflect this so I can continue to move forward. So I pulled out my running log this morning (meaning I double clicked on the Excel file, which I use to keep track of everything), and aimed to take a minute or two to review my status, adjust the plan, and check the realism of my goals. I've missed some workouts, had a slow start this year, but I figured I was generally on track and had 15 or 16 weeks left until my first 5k of the year. I have 12 trainable weeks, and realistically only 10 of them are weeks that will move me forward significantly. Then I looked at my times. I'm about a minute short of where I want to be at that race - per mile. Time to change the plan and be a bit more aggressive (had you seen the original though, you'd have thought I was nuts).
I had intended to do tempo work through most of February, then switch to intervals for March, lengthening them though April and sprinkling in the tempo work to keep me accustomed to race-level pacing. Well that ain't happenin' anymore. Week after next, my old enemy and recent friend, the interval workout, will emerge from his hibernation, signifying four more weeks of intense workouts. Then a couple of weeks of tempo work to get back into the groove of sustained effort, while the intervals head to the back burner. This is less than ideal, but if I can get a break in the weather it'll work out.
I'm still working towards a big year. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I didn't expect to fall behind schedule so early. Luckily I'm dropping one early race from my schedule, opting instead for a trip to the Outer Banks on Memorial Day, which has a double positive effect - I can train through that week instead of doing race prep, and I get to run for 2 or 3 days on the beach. Did I mention the beach part?
Tuesday's tempo run went great. I think I should note the freak weather, 55 degrees, cloudy, and windless. February 1st, and I was running in shorts and a t-shirt, feeling OVERDRESSED. Right now, 2 days later, it is 26 degrees and snowing. I've shied away from giving specific times until now out of some bizarre sense of embarrassment about them, but they're training times, and I've hit my targets on the workouts, so why should I hold back? I like to do my tempo runs at around a 30-40s slower per mile than race pace for a continuous effort, or 20s per mile slower if they are long intervals. Tuesday was a 4 mile tempo with a mile warm up and mile cool down, and I hit my goal of 7:45/mile right on the nose - 7:43/mile, with a slow 3rd mile and a faster 4th to make up for it. I estimate this puts me around a 7:15 pace over 3 miles at a race effort on the ridge I live on, and past experience has taught me that I can run about 15 seconds/mile faster on flat courses than I can on the mountain. I wanted to start February 15 or 20 seconds/mile faster than this, but that's just not where I'm at.
Where I am at is a 2x2mile tempo run this evening, hoping to go just under a 7:30/mile pace for both reps. After most of a week off I'm back in the weight room, and I hope to finally incorporate lower-body lifting tonight after my run - these are lifts that I hate, so it has been a struggle to get started with them. Tomorrow will be a sore day...
Not so much.
The clock is winding down, and the scoreboard says I'm behind.
I adjust my schedule frequently. If I miss workouts, miss goals, I need to continually change my short-term plan to reflect this so I can continue to move forward. So I pulled out my running log this morning (meaning I double clicked on the Excel file, which I use to keep track of everything), and aimed to take a minute or two to review my status, adjust the plan, and check the realism of my goals. I've missed some workouts, had a slow start this year, but I figured I was generally on track and had 15 or 16 weeks left until my first 5k of the year. I have 12 trainable weeks, and realistically only 10 of them are weeks that will move me forward significantly. Then I looked at my times. I'm about a minute short of where I want to be at that race - per mile. Time to change the plan and be a bit more aggressive (had you seen the original though, you'd have thought I was nuts).
I had intended to do tempo work through most of February, then switch to intervals for March, lengthening them though April and sprinkling in the tempo work to keep me accustomed to race-level pacing. Well that ain't happenin' anymore. Week after next, my old enemy and recent friend, the interval workout, will emerge from his hibernation, signifying four more weeks of intense workouts. Then a couple of weeks of tempo work to get back into the groove of sustained effort, while the intervals head to the back burner. This is less than ideal, but if I can get a break in the weather it'll work out.
I'm still working towards a big year. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I didn't expect to fall behind schedule so early. Luckily I'm dropping one early race from my schedule, opting instead for a trip to the Outer Banks on Memorial Day, which has a double positive effect - I can train through that week instead of doing race prep, and I get to run for 2 or 3 days on the beach. Did I mention the beach part?
Tuesday's tempo run went great. I think I should note the freak weather, 55 degrees, cloudy, and windless. February 1st, and I was running in shorts and a t-shirt, feeling OVERDRESSED. Right now, 2 days later, it is 26 degrees and snowing. I've shied away from giving specific times until now out of some bizarre sense of embarrassment about them, but they're training times, and I've hit my targets on the workouts, so why should I hold back? I like to do my tempo runs at around a 30-40s slower per mile than race pace for a continuous effort, or 20s per mile slower if they are long intervals. Tuesday was a 4 mile tempo with a mile warm up and mile cool down, and I hit my goal of 7:45/mile right on the nose - 7:43/mile, with a slow 3rd mile and a faster 4th to make up for it. I estimate this puts me around a 7:15 pace over 3 miles at a race effort on the ridge I live on, and past experience has taught me that I can run about 15 seconds/mile faster on flat courses than I can on the mountain. I wanted to start February 15 or 20 seconds/mile faster than this, but that's just not where I'm at.
Where I am at is a 2x2mile tempo run this evening, hoping to go just under a 7:30/mile pace for both reps. After most of a week off I'm back in the weight room, and I hope to finally incorporate lower-body lifting tonight after my run - these are lifts that I hate, so it has been a struggle to get started with them. Tomorrow will be a sore day...
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Quality Over Quantity... or The "Why" of Adam
It is not my intention to drum away at my few readers everyday on this blog. It is meant to be about running, training, and racing, with short sidebars into other parts of my life. I don't want to scare off my readers now that I've got a few (I'll admit, I felt a bit nerdy at how excited I was to get my first follower) with excessively long, opinion-filled pieces about running and life and whatever I have a mind to rant about on that particular day. I feel a blog should be more like dating, less like an interview. Readers should get to know a blogger gradually over time, soaking up little tidbits about the blogger's personality piecemeal. They shouldn't be bashed over the head with a club inscribed with "HERE I AM, THIS IS WHAT I THINK, THIS IS WHAT I AM ABOUT". That being said, today is a sidebar post about my love of running, rather than just about the mechanics of my running.
This post spawns from this article, written by Jeff MacGregor of ESPN, about the recent Millrose Games. It is one of the best pieces about running that I have read in a long time, expressing sentiments about track and field that I have always had. Great ideas, topics that you love, these inspire great writing. This article is great writing. For all my love of the sport, I don't feel I've done much more than adequate writing here. I want to write something great. I want to write something meaningful, something that has weight.
This blog has been great inspiration for my running so far. Knowing that when I say something, others out there can read it and expect me to stick to my word is making it harder for me to slack off and be lazy. I don't know my audience, they are largely anonymous. Maybe they are just reading in passing, maybe they hope to learn something from me. Or maybe they are seeking an inspiration, someone else like them who is trying to get better, who's strength they can borrow in their own training. It is this thought that holds me to my workouts, that leaves me feeling ashamed when I skip a run and have to come on here and fess up.
I've been phoning it in when it comes to writing. So it seems to me the best way to do better is to declare to the people reading my blog that I will do better. I've always felt that there is a writer in me, it's time to work on that, to try to realize those goals.
Easy 5 miles in cold rain yesterday, but no weight lifting. Warm weather today, 4 mile tempo run coming up, but no more posts until late in the week.
This post spawns from this article, written by Jeff MacGregor of ESPN, about the recent Millrose Games. It is one of the best pieces about running that I have read in a long time, expressing sentiments about track and field that I have always had. Great ideas, topics that you love, these inspire great writing. This article is great writing. For all my love of the sport, I don't feel I've done much more than adequate writing here. I want to write something great. I want to write something meaningful, something that has weight.
This blog has been great inspiration for my running so far. Knowing that when I say something, others out there can read it and expect me to stick to my word is making it harder for me to slack off and be lazy. I don't know my audience, they are largely anonymous. Maybe they are just reading in passing, maybe they hope to learn something from me. Or maybe they are seeking an inspiration, someone else like them who is trying to get better, who's strength they can borrow in their own training. It is this thought that holds me to my workouts, that leaves me feeling ashamed when I skip a run and have to come on here and fess up.
I've been phoning it in when it comes to writing. So it seems to me the best way to do better is to declare to the people reading my blog that I will do better. I've always felt that there is a writer in me, it's time to work on that, to try to realize those goals.
Easy 5 miles in cold rain yesterday, but no weight lifting. Warm weather today, 4 mile tempo run coming up, but no more posts until late in the week.
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