Dragons

I got back to running last Sunday but was cautious to write anything for fear that I would have two days back before some underlying injury popped up and benched me for three more weeks. Fortunately, the worst is just a tightness in my left calf (at the point of impact) that will subside after the first mile or so.

Also, my runs have been none too impressive and posting after Dragons 1-man, Jason, who is popping off sub-5 mile repeats and IS UNHAPPY ABOUT IT -- well, it just makes me feel like my training really pales in comparison.

As I read ChampionsEverywhere yesterday I saw that I matched one of his runs for the week and that really pumped me up and motivated me to get back on the horse. Sure, it was his easiest possible day against a day that practicaly put me in bed for this entire weekend -- but who wants to get all caught up in details?

So I'm excited. When I get out for a short jaunt this afternoon, it'll give my first six day week including one reasonable effort.

Sun 9/24: 25 minutes on ODC Parkway with Train. As my firstday back, I was sore as shit but still we probably went too fast.

Mon 9/25: 40 minutes to Reid Park and back. My knee wound opened in a few spots during this run and that really killed my focus.

Tue 9/26: Off. No reason other than poor scheduling really. I am not quite to getting up early every morning just yet.

Wed 9/27: 30 minutes to UA track and back. Calf was really acting up I was planning on WOGing on Thursday so I thought it might just be best to chill.

Thu 9/28: I took a nap after classes and woke up too late to WOG. It was probably for the best as, right now, I need miles, not 600s. So I laced up and went an hour around Reid Park/Randolph and back home. I was surprised that I lasted the whole time without 'bonking'. It made me proud -- like I had earned me a day off.

Fri 9/29: 30 minutes easy on ODC. Really tight (especially the calf) from last nights' run.

Next week I am going to try to make at least one WOG session and have two legit runs over 50 minutes.

Then we'll just go from there.

Yesterday marked our first interval session of the season at the golf course. We were assigned to do 5 x a mile with the first one at 5:05, the next two at 5:00, and the next two AFAYC (as fast as you can). Because the recovery was a long 3 minutes, I wasn't too worried about the workout but rather eager to get down to business and have a promising workout.

For interval #1, we hit a pleasant 5:06 which felt extremely easy and almost too slow. For #2, we hit 4:57 followed by 4:52 for #3. At this point, I felt like I was still getting warmed up and not straining too much at all. However, given the fact we were instructed to run AFAYC, I knew that the workout was merely getting started.

For #4, my strategy was merely to run medium-hard and just hold on. So, when I crossed the line at 4:43, I was happy about the effort and ready to run the last one even faster.

However, on the final one, my body did not respond as I would have wished. I was not on my toes and my right calf was cramping slightly. Thus, I ran an unimpressive 4:52 to cap off the workout.

Granted, if I had ran this identical workout last year, I would have been pretty stoked about the effort but, yesterday, I was bummed that I went backwards on the last interval.

Oh well, I still have ample room for improvement and a good month to get prepared for Pac-10's and the other post season races.

peace

Yesterday felt like summer for some reason. Not only was it super hot out in comparison to recent weather but I also ran a total of 16 miles for the day. I really haven't run that kind of mileage since the summer and believe it was something I was lacking coming into the past few races. Granted, my mileage did not drop significantly but I don't think I had a super hard long run in some time.

After an easy 4 miles in the AM, I spent the whole day at class attempting to hydrate and thinking about the run in the PM. According to the schedule, the team was to run 12 miles at 6:15 pace on the Riverpath which would be somewhat difficult but nothing I haven't done before. However, after I got a mile into the run, 6:15 probably would have felt like I was jogging.

So, we ran the first mile in 7:20ish as a warmup and then, for some strange reason, we dropped a 5:40 immediately after the introductory mile which explained why my legs suddenly felt heavy. From thereafter, we began turning miles between 5:45 and 6:00 pace without much difficulty. However, once we hit the 9.5 mile mark, I suddenly began to fall apart.

I think I ran the last 2 miles a little under 7:00 pace bringing my total run time to 1:14 which puts me at about 6:10 pace for the effort.

I am still a little dehydrated.

I think I am going to get a glass of water.

I spared Dragons readers of the previous week, which was relentlessly uneventful and really just doesn't matter. This week was a decent piece of work, though.
MONDAY: Dave and I set out in the early morning for a 25 minute job taking "my way," which means running west on 10th from the 821, then snaking over onto 5th Ave going north. This was the longest I've ever gone on this route, and it took us into some funky neighborhood just north of Speedway which was one of the few midtown tracts with which I'd been unfamiliar. I was crashing and burning on the way back, but Dave's presence helped me along and instituted this wrinkle into my mid-20's approach to training: the possibility does exist that having a training partner can sometimes actually be sort of beneficial.
TUESDAY: Something about Monday night ruled out a morning session. I don't remember exactly, but we can assume it had to do with desperately groping for some sort of maturity and purpose. I went to work, then sucessfully convinced my cells that pushing through a workout wouldn't rob me of too many pleasures of sedentary life. I ran over to the field by the middle school and ran barefoot for 12 minutes. While running, I thought about glossy magazines.
WEDNESDAY: Are you kidding? I didn't run three days in a row.
THURSDAY: Thursday morning I hit the 'Moc. I used that first half mile or so as a warmup, then stretched a little at the first switchback, then did repeats from that one crack in the road up to the No Smoking sign. These took 45 to 48 seconds, and I did four. Then I just ran back to the car.
FRIDAY: I think Thursday night was much like Monday night, so I ran in the early evening. I managed 20 minutes out and back toward Drachman Stadium.
SATURDAY: Instead of running, I just tried to convince a young man that bad things happen in threes, and that getting a cigarette put out on his chest, losing his cell phone and getting punched in the face should have him in the clear for a while. Had I been more of a tough love type, I would have just told him to grow the fuck up. Coming from me, obviously, that's a pretty grim diagnosis.
SUNDAY: Dave and I ran in the morning again, but his training partner capacities had been limited by some sort of sedan. Much like Haile Gebrsellassie in today's Berlin marathon, I finished the last quarter of the run on my own. It was another 25er.
Weekly mileage was about 14.5

Oh, MAN!!! I just listened to Tad Kubler's guitar riff on "Sweet Payne," and that shit is THE JUICE!!! That'll power me through the coming week, for which I have high hopes.

Perdon.

It has been a long, long time since I updated the good old training blog so I will just hit you with the fast facts instead of an in depth analysis of my training.

First and foremost, I have been suffering from a tweaked foot for the past 2 weeks. Basically, it boils down to pain at the top of the arch near the front part of the foot. So, unless I am well taped, well iced, and well medicated with ibuprofen, I experience a little bit of pain while running. I am just going to live with it as I can run but it certainly adds a large amount of inconvenience into my daily routine. Treating an injury is an involved process that is just annoying but, in the long run, well worth the trouble.

Anyways, in regards to training, I still feel like we haven't hit it too hard yet. On Monday, we did some longer intervals on the riverpath near my neighborhood which were quite painful. We were assigned 2x1.5 miles and 2x800 with 2:00 rest. I ran the first 1.5 mile interval in 7:28 and then the second in 7:25. For the 800's, I ran 2:19 and then 2:17 for the last one. Because my foot became slightly irritated at the end, I held back on the 800's and then just worked on kicking the last 100 meters which was my first introduction to speed work this year.

After a solid interval session on Wed, I knew that I was physically ready to race at Griak but my legs/body in general felt like garbage. I had a super hard week in school which usually translates to little sleep and this week was no exception.

Roy Griak:

After a long day of traveling with no water (stupid FAA) and absolutely no food, we arrived at the course in cold and rainy Minneapolis around 4:00 PM local time. After jogging the course and doing some strides, I realized that I would need a miracle to happen if my legs were going to feel better.

Unfortunately, a miracle did not happen and I felt like garbage the whole race. After a 4:53 first mile, two miles at 10:25 and 5k at 16:08, I knew I was going backwards. Between 5K and 7K, I felt like I was trotting and before finally picking it up and running a somewhat strong final mile to finish in 26:30 and 123 place.

I was not happy with my place or time at all but the team did manage to pull out the win thanks to Bob, Obed, Moses, and a great run by Echa. I finished 7th on the team but ran horrible. ASU's 9th man outkicked me and I was dominated by their 7th who I recently beat at our home race (ASU is the only team we have raced twice so I am just using them as a measuring device).

Getting the team win was certainly cool as most of us agreed that we have a long ways to go and look forward to hitting it hard in the next couple of weeks in preparation for pre nats.

I hope everyone's training is going well.

Bear Down!

J raced Roy Griak yesterday. Arizona won so you don't have to scroll down very far to see his finish.

Remember how my bad luck comes in threes?

1. I ran too hard on Sunday so I had to use Tuesday as part of a recovery day as well.

2. Walking to class, I got hit by a car. No joke. Like some bitch ran me the fuck over. I ended up missing my class and PM run.

3. Now I'm all sore as shit and I don't think I'll be running anytime soon.

Irony, payback, Karma, God, whatever you believe in, he/she/it is not on my side at this point in time. Literally 2 days after finally kicking a virus that had inspired a bacterial infection that lasted around 3 weeks I went and got myself hurt. I stepped on a rock very wrong last Thursday. The issue that bothered our trainer is that my ankle had not swollen meaning that the damage I had done was deeper inside the joint and possibly had affected the cartilidge. So for the past week I have been unable to run bringing the grand total of practices that I have actually fully participated in over the last month and a half to about 15 total days.


I have realized a funny thing through this season. You never ever how much you enjoy anything until its gone. Being hurt is pretty miserable. Instead of being out running in some pretty beautiful weather, I am in a trainers office with a giant rubber band. I also have to ice. I absolutely hate icing. Icing hurts, and I really do not care about the benefits. The worst of it all was I had to sit out a race that my parents were going to come out and watch.

Hopefully I'll be ship shape by the end of the week to attempt to right my ship

I'm cautiously optimistic about my latest return to running. In the past, my issues of bad luck seem to have come in series' of threes.

Too many recovery days followed by illness followed by injury from taking too much time off.

Poor training then tapering for an unimportant race concluding in a poor (and unimportant) race performance.

Changing my focus from marathon base mileage to an 800m focus to 5k training...all in the same week.

Anything, anything, burning out.

I think it all boils down to an issue of poor scheduling (read: poor self-coaching). Of everyone on Dragons, I probably have the least amount of discipline and, inversely, the most freedom over my training.

This has not proven to be a solid equation in the past. I'd like to think I am finally setting things right. I've actually drawn up a legit week-long schedule that I'm more than one run into following.

Baby steps.

For example, I only have one WOG session included this week. Partly because I am in no rush to get into speed sessions, partially because I am slow, partially because no one even told me WOG was going on until I ran into one Doc Randy Acceta on Friday at the UA race. Mainly, however, it's because there is an event on television I really need to watch on Tuesday evening.

I don't even remember what time WOG is...maybe 6:15, I think.

Anyways, this morning was 25 mins with Train so this evening will probably be around 35. I think I need to run on some grass. My legs are feeling pretty heavy.

So no one has really been updating.

Me -- I got sick mid-last week, pussed through an extra couple days then fell behind in school. For the most part, bad excuses, but I will be back on the horse this evening.

I know Train has been running...but that is all I know.

Apparently Petie has an ankle issue. I'm coaxing him to write.

J probably because he is too busy running. Below are the results from his 6k on Friday.

Since my training is, at the moment, tiny in every way, I've decided to take after British R+B crooner Craig David and post it seven days at a time.

MONDAY: See "I RAN FOR TWENTY MINUTES TODAY"
TUESDAY: I took advantage on my eastside house sitting location to return to my first true love, Snyder Hill. Snyder Hill is quite possibly the steepest motherfucking hill in the city. The upper reaches of Tumamoc might match it. Blackett's Ridge matches it, surely, but Blackett's is in a category all its own. I managed four repeats of thirty seconds. If you look at Snyder Hill (Snyder Road immediately west of Kolb), you will see a guardrail more or less halfway up. On a good thirty second repeat, I make it to the beginning of this guardrail. On a desperate, lactic acid-soaked thirty second repeat, I come up about five meters short and then stagger over to the driveway on the left side of the road just to be able to stand on flat ground with my hands behind my head. This shit tears me to shreds.
WEDNESDAY: Shakeout day. After twenty four hours, the Snyder session had me feeling positively wrecked, so I managed 10 stiff minutes around the nieghborhood just to get the blood flowing. I believe runs like this encourage the recovery process.
THURSDAY: A day of rest
FRIDAY: I returned to Snyder Hill in the evening. I felt pretty well recovered. I managed the same workout, and felt that I did a better job (my first repeat was especially spirited), but I could barely jog back to the Walgreen's where I park (just under a mile away). Truth be told, I Gallowalked more than once in about 1500 meters.
SATURDAY: Another post-Snyder shakeout was out of the question due to the rather rude lower back pain inflicted by two sessions in a week. I felt very geriatric.
SUNDAY: The back is still dodgy, but much better. I ran the same route as Monday, but a little longer. I planned on 25 minutes, but I was done at 23. I started at nine, and it was kinda hot.

Just for grins, I put my weekly mileage total at 13.

Like Petey, we were forced to race in Flagstaff this past weekend to conform with the unusual and often petty rules of the NCAA. Because we began offical practice just 3 weeks prior, we had to compete at an NCAA sanctioned events. The meet we choose was the George Kyte Invitational at Buffalo Park.

After spending over 6 hours on the drive up to Flag on Friday afternoon/evening, we still had to get in our second run of the day which meant circling the parking lot of the Residence Inn for 30 minutes. To make matters worse, there was a Purina dog food factory situated right next door to the hotel so we were inhaling dog food fumes for the duration. I guess we really shouldn't have complained as Coach Ryan indicated that in Fayetteville (where he attended college), the Purina factory relentlessly produced dog food causing the city to be of such an odor all of the time. In addition, during the cold, Arkansas winters, they had to do 10 miles run on the 200 meter indoor track so we had no room for complaining.

On Saturday, we headed to the Park for an easy 5 mile run while the guys not competing did a very difficult hill work. After the run, we returned to the hotel for a nap, some college football, and anticipation of our "tempo run with a bunch of people".

At 5:00, the race finally began and we rolled out quite conservatively but faster than we were told to. After a 5:20 first mile, I was still comfortable and still holding back in a tempo run type of fashion. Three miles later, I think I passed the point where I was in control but I was not at the point of racing. This feeling lasted until the last 300 meters where I passed an ASU guy and finished in 8th place overall at 26:31. Our team won the meet and I won a long sleeve t shirt so I was pretty stoked.

The next morning, we did a 13 mile run on a forest road which was a refreshing change from the desert of Tucson. When all was said and done, I ran 81 miles for the week with 3 workouts and two moderate paced 10 mile efforts. So, needless to say, I was happy to take a rest day on Monday.

You all know I don't run on National Holidays.

Running is probably going to have to take a hiatus as my doctor is coing GW on whatever infection is tainting my body. I am taking an antibiotics in pill form large enough to traquilize an large show-hog. What started as a minor virus has, in 3 weeks time, become a secondary infection from hell. Running has been interrupted by wheezing and stopping to hack up particulate pollution that has no place in the lungs of a healthy, non-smoking young man. My doctor has quite unprofessionally perscribed me medication while I am out of state. This is only because my mother and sister are at home getting blood work done and x-rays of their lungs taken. Oh and I also race in about 48 hours.

I have to say that I am a bit more than reluctant to attempt to race after taking more than a week off to try and kick this. Racing is hard and uncomfortable and I can't say that I am completely ready for it. That said, my very low tier cross-country team is in a bit of a bind. We have to finish 5 runners in this first race or there is going to be issue with our eligibility to compete the rest of the season. As it is now, there are 2 guys on the team that will probably break 28 saturday, 3 sophomores with short, albeit injury plagued histories who are wild cards to finish, a random walk-on since monday and me. I'd say we are at about 7o% to finish all seven, 85% to finish six, and 95% to finish five.

A guy cleaning up behind Maloney's extolled the virtues of the morning. I concurred. Was glad to see the Twelve Tribes Reggae Shop is still going strong. Shoes on.

I don't know when J will be back to post about his race but here are the results from NAU.

He's 8th in the second race. It looks like a pretty good showing.

George Kyte Cross Country Classic 2006 Results

This evening I went running on the ODC Parkway Path at Aviation Parkway. I haven't been on it in a while because I've been generally trying to avoid checking my mileage during my runs much. With ODC being marked every 400 (and in some places 200) meters, I'd decided to set that aside for quicker days or something.

There had been no quick days since.

I picked up Running the Lydiard Way and was curious to see what kind of pace my 70% to 100% effort that he spoke of, equated to in terms of minutes per mile. Frankly, 70% seems a little fast to me -- so I kinda translated it to, "What pace you can go tough for the duration of your run but still could have gone harder/faster."

In which case, I would have to say 100% would be based on your max effort (as in race pace?) for the distance of your run?

I don't know.

Regardless, I think I broke the system when I heard a bicycle pull onto the pathway and trail behind me at about 20 meters. I expected him to pass by but he seemed to be peddling and then cruising.

I could hear the buzzing that bicycles give out when they cruise, being cut up by the squeaks of peddling. I (thought) I held my pace while I waited. Afterall, I was going at an alright pace. Maybe it was just another case of a slow biker

Next thing I know, there is a different bicycle coming at me on the opposite side of pathway. I was already on soft dirt shoulder of the path when he and I passed next to each other.

It was here -- in the chaos of the wind in my ears with the buzzing from the bicycle paired with the sound of my footsteps crunching on the dirt -- that the fellow behind me made his move and zoomed right past.

It made no sense. He wasn't going all that much faster than me (given that he was on a bike) but he was opening up a gap and quick.

Knowing better, I held back at my current pace and watched his seizing red light blink away into the darkness.

When I finished I checked my watch and discovered that I was significantly faster for the trip back. Meaning, I either held a faster pace while he tailed me, or I didn't let him go when he passed me.

Based on the way my legs felt with a mile left compared with how little he had gained on me, I think it was the latter. He had psychologically ruined my run by defeating me with Sebastian Blax's first rule of running; pass with authority.

Maybe I'll try that 70% to 100% business again this weekend.