The Life Of Lemon

Moving the blog...

2011-02-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

I have decided to move my blog to the Runnerslife website so it can be more visible to those who are interested in my racing and training. You can find the website HERE

Cross training

2011-01-14T16:53:00.001-08:00

Cross training has been ruling my life for the last 2 weeks now. My ankle tendon pain is still there so I have just stayed on the eliptical, pool, bike and anti gravity treadmill to make sure that it heals completely before I start the training for London in a few weeks time. I actually saw the most amount of progress with the tendon a few days ago when I went down to Phoenix to see Dr John Ball, a man who seems to be able to diagnose the source of every and any problem with your body. He found that although my right toe is flexible, when it is flexed it becomes less flexible so that it is creating a problem elsewhere on my leg. There is also a lot of tightness in my right psoas and hip capsule that is not allowing me to have full extension when I am toeing off also which exasperates the problem. I am still amazed at how quickly he has been able to help me with just a short session with him. He asks questions, tells you to do certain exercises and prods around to find what is tight or inflexible. It seems like the body is more like a math equation to him, here is the problem and this is the answer. He just gets it. Of course the treatment can be quite painful but very worth it as it means less pain in the long run. I was having a lot of tightness and pain when my foot would dorsiflex but by the end of the session with John I was able to do a full painless lunge and that is still the same today, 2 days later. He also got into my left knee that has been painful and inflexible since I was 14 when I developed Osgood Schlatters disease. After sticking his thumbs into it and breaking up some of the scar tissue that had formed over the years, I was able to kneel down far more than I have been able to in 12 years. Its not even sore when I do any kind of quad stretching which was a really tough stretch for me before. I'm going to go see him again next week for a couple of sessions so we can try knock this thing on the head so I can get back to some running. Boy am I thankful for having someone of John's skill level so close to us. If anyone has any problems and is in the Phoenix area, I would call John, he'll sort you out (http://johnballdc.com/).

I have been working really hard in the gym so I know I am not losing much fitness. I am usually training 3 times a day which is tiring but I know it is worth getting in all this work now so once I start the marathon training I will be strong enough to handle it. On Friday I was on the bike for 3 hours and an hour on the eliptical to try and simulate a long run. The most worthwhile sessions I find are on the spinning bike. I usually go on the bike an hour before a class starts and do a workout of some sort and then I do the class. This is really tiring but I was supposed to be doing a lot of hill work right now so this helps to simulate the type of muscular activation I would be if I was running hills. The other thing I have been doing is core and hip/glute work which I know has been a weak area of my body for a long time. I have always done core work but when it comes to my hips and glutes I have almost unconsciously ignored working on them. I have been using a lot of Jay Johnson's drills (http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=16625) to strengthen those areas that are weaker than they should be. The good thing about these drills is that right now I can do them everyday and it doesn't take away from the other training I am doing as I can recover from them quickly. Working on these weaknesses are going to be a big part of my training this year so that I can run pain free in the long run. Luckily I love cross training and don't get bored easily with the workouts so its definitely satisfying my need for endorphins all day long. Of course after all this time on the gym everyday I spend a lot of time doing dynamic stretching and a lot of work on the foam roller to help loosen off the muscles I have been using.

The other big thing that has happened in this last week was that Julie and I got a puppy. We were down in Phoenix last weekend for my uncles funeral so we decided to take a look at some dogs that we had seen in shelters on the internet. None of them were suitable unfortunately which we were sad about but on Sunday we decided to go by the pet store that had a rescue shelter bring a bunch of dogs to be adopted. There were a lot of cute dogs that we really liked but a little Jack Russell mix that we saw really stood out to us. He was so calm and just wanted to love us so we decided to adopt him. This of course meant a big shopping spree in the pet store to get everything he would need. Once we got him back to the house we realised what a good decision it was to get him. He was so well behaved and got on well with Julie's parents dog. He slept the whole way back up the mountain to Flagstaff and did well when I washed him in the shower. As the days have gone by we have fallen deeper in love with him as he is a very caring dog that is very attached to us. His training is going well and he learned his name, Finley, after the first day. I get to spend all day with him which is really nice and I now have a good napping partner in the afternoons.

Update

2011-01-05T11:06:00.001-08:00

The last time I wrote anything was after dropping out of the Fukuoka marathon at around the 33km mark. It was obviously a huge blow for me as I felt like I was really having a breakthrough day. I was felt like I was running easily I only had to run 69 minutes for the last half to run a pb. Obviously just getting a pb wasn’t what I was aiming for. I was aiming to break 2.10 and going through halfway in 64.28 set me up really nicely for that. Getting the stitch was a really tough thing for me. I used to get them a few years ago but the last time I got one when I was racing was back in 2008 during the world cross. They are really tough to get rid of if they are bad enough and the one I had just kept developing into more and more pain. Having to stop was gut wrenching for me. Once I got back to the hotel I talked to Julie and I could hardly say anything. It felt like the biggest disappointment of my career. After a few hours of relaxing and talking to Jurrie, I came to realise that I was having an amazing day and what happened was something that I couldn’t control. I got renewed faith in myself knowing that I can run at that pace and it made me anxious to race again soon.

That night there was a big banquet with some incredible food on offer to us. There was a huge hall with stations all around the room to go and chose your food from and I indulged quite a bit. I think I tasted everything. We headed out to an English pub that was close by but Fasil and I headed back to the hotel pretty early as we started to get really tired. Jurrie and I had an early morning flight the next day anyway so it was probably a good idea to turn in.

I met Jurrie and Taku (Mizuno representative) in the lobby of the hotel the next morning and we headed to the airport for our flight to Osaka. Mizuno had arranged for me to have a couple of days in Osaka to visit the headquarters and do some testing. Once we arrived in Osaka we got a taxi out to the Mizuno headquarters which was a massive building out by the docks. We had lunch on the 30th floor I think which showed you a panoramic view of the whole city. It was quite spectacular. We then headed over to the design team headquarters to get me geared up for some movement testing and foot analysis. This was very cool for me as this is an aspect of the industry that I am very interested in. They filmed me running from behind and captured my foot motion with a high speed camera so that they could slow the image down and see exactly how I strike the ground. It was very interesting to find that I heal strike with my left leg and midfoot strike and slightly pronate on my right. This made sense with areas that I find get tight often after hard runs. I was then suited up in some lycra and had reflective balls placed all over me so that they could capture my exact running motion. This was really cool as once we were finished I could watch a stick figure of me running on the screen. The last thing we did was get exact measurements of my feet by placing them in a box that reproduces a 3D picture of my foot. All the testing showed that I was wearing the right shoes which was good to know.

We then got dropped off in the middle of Osaka at the Hilton we were staying at and Jurrie and I headed out to find some food. We made our restaurant choice by walking down a random back alley, choosing a random restaurant and then pointing at a random item on the menu. This turned out to be great as what we ordered was really good. We had an early night that night and I passed out right away.

The next day, we had a Miznuo employee, Kumiko come meet us and take us to the nearby historic city of Kyoto. We were met at the station by a tour guide and she took us to all these amazing areas of the city that were incredibly interesting. Jurrie and I bought a bunch of souvenirs on the way out and after we had dropped off our stuff at the hotel back in Osaka, we headed into the main shopping area of Osaka with Kumiko and let her decide on where we were eating. I said I wanted to try all the Osaka specialties so we found a place that I had actually seen on the Anthony Bourdain travel show. We had a lot of food that was really tasty and then headed to an Irish bar that I had been to a few years ago when I was competing in the world champs. We had quite a late night so it was great to get back to bed and get some sleep before another long day the next day.

I was met at 8am the next morning by Michiyo, who is the head of running promotions for Mizuno. She wanted to do some filming with me running by Osaka castle and show me a bit more of the city. We spent some time at the castle and then got a water taxi down the river to the big Mizuno store downtown. She gave me a really nice down jacket from the store to keep me warm during the Flagstaff winter. She then walked me to the hotel and then I got ready to get the bus out to the airport for my flight back to the USA. The flight was quite painless as I slept for most of it. I never sleep on planes but I was so tired from only getting a few hours of sleep that it was no problem for me this time.

I arrived back in Phoenix around 3pm and headed straight up the mountain to Flagstaff. Julie and I were leaving for our honeymoon the next day so I had to dump all my clothes and then repack everything for our week in Cancun. I spent most of the next day catching up on work and then we headed down the mountain to spend the night in Phoenix before having to leave for the airport at 5 am. Of course at this point the jet lag kicked in and I fell asleep at around 4 am. I actually didn’t feel too bad off of one hour of sleep as I knew I didn’t have to worry about training for another week or so.

We arrived in Cancun, Mexico in the afternoon and getting to the hotel was amazing. We were greeted with champagne and a room upgrade which set the tone for the week. Our room was overlooking the ocean and there was a Jacuzzi right by the glass doors to the balcony. We had paid for all inclusive and it was a 5 star resort so I made it a mission of mine to get the most out of everything. That meant eating steak everyday, drinking in the afternoon and taking advantage of the room service. We spent most of the week at the hotel as there was plenty to do but we did get out and do a zip line and ATV tour one of the days. That was a lot of fun and we also got to finish off the day with a swim in a cenote, a cove type hole in the ground with warm water and a zip line leading into it. But alas, it had to end sometime and we were both sad to leave. We had to get back to the real world at some point so we arrived back in Phoenix a week after leaving and prepared ourselves for going back to work. The fun wasn’t over though. That night we went to a party at Julie’s brothers house and then the next night was Julie’s work party so that was a nice transition back to the cold weather of Flagstaff.

The next day for me meant the start of training which was a little tough after 2 weeks of doing nothing and doing my best to put on weight. At one point in Cancun I weighed myself and I was 161 pounds. This was quite a shock as I had arrived at my race weight of 143 pounds! I think my body needed it though as I hadn’t indulged like that for years.

The first week back running was fine and I even did a workout of 3*2 miles with Fasil and Scott that went really well. I still felt strong which was a good confidence booster. This last week was tough for me as I was going through some ups and downs with how I was feeling. Some days I was really tired and some days I was fine. It also snowed a lot so I was predominantly in the gym doing all my runs on the treadmill. Mid week, a tendon by my ankle started to get tight but I didn’t really worry about it until I started this weeks training and I could only warm up and had to stop as it was aching quite a lot. I have experienced this same thing last year when I was training for London so I knew what to do. I was still running a lot then as I didn’t want to stop running but this time I have a lot more time so I have just been in the gym working hard on the bike so that it gets 100% better before I start the marathon training in a months time. Julie has been treating my foot everyday and it has made a big difference. I am going to try and run on the anti gravity treadmill today to see how it feels. This way I’ll know if I can transition back into running or not. I actually haven’t minded being on the bike because I work really hard on my cross training so that I can be strong when I start back running. I spend 2 hours in the gym in the morning doing some cycling and circuits and then another 2 hours in the evening doing workouts on the spinning bikes. The one thing that is playing on my mind (although I know it shouldn’t) is losing the last 5 pounds to get back to normal body weight. When your training it’s very hard to eat a little less to lose some weight. I know once I get back to full training the weight will fall off but it is hard not to think about it. I think the key here is going to be not getting on the scales for a while so as not to worry about it.

A few hours later…

This morning I got onto the anti gravity treadmill for 10 miles working my way from 70% body weight up to 100% by the end. I spent most of the run at 90% and my leg felt fine. Once I got home and finished my circuits it started to ache so I am currently sitting with my leg in a bucket of hot water and Epsom salts before I ice it and then head to the Summit center so I can get some iontophoresis on it to reduce the swelling and help get rid of the pain. If it feels ok after tonight’s Alter G run then I will try and run the steady state run that I was supposed to do on Monday in the morning.

Some photos from from the last few weeks

2011-01-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

Post Fukuoka

2010-12-05T01:55:00.000-08:00

I am really disappointed right now so I will write a more in depth account of the race once I get back to the states and I can reflect on things a bit better. I dropped out somewhere between 33 and 34km today after running with a stitch from 29km. It was getting worse as I ran on and kept pulling hard on my urinary tract which was very sore. I don't know what happened. I was having one of the best days of running with everything feeling very comfortable. We went through half way in 64.28 and then slowed up over the next 10km as we ran into the wind towards the turn around point. This was great as I was getting ready for the 10km to go point to really make a push for home. THe stitch came as I hit one of the hills and I just couldn't shake it. I actually couldn't concentrate on anything else and the 2 guys I was running with broke away a little right before the turn around as I struggled to get rid of the stitch. The guy I was running with came in 3rd with a very strong last 10km. Every seemed to drop off the initial pace today as the temperatures rose.

I sat in a bus for an hour after the race beating myself up about having to drop out. I am finding it very tough but I spoke to Julie and she made me feel a little better as did Jurrie. I can't wait to start training for London now.

A few photo's from the wedding

2010-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

Fukuoka Marathon - Pre Race

2010-12-03T15:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a very long time since I updated the blog so I am sorry about this. I have been busy with wedding/thanksgiving/family visits/bachelor party/travelling stuff so the updates had to take a back seat for a while.

The wedding was amazing. Easily the best day of my life. Everything went perfect and the only thing that threatened to ruin it for me was forgotten about. We really couldn't have asked for a better day from the photographs to the ceremony and then the reception. All our friends and family which really made it special for us. Julie and I also nailed the choreographed dance that we had been practising for our first dance. The only thing that was tough was trying to talk to everyone and be able to mingle a little more. We had to rush through that part as we had to get the dance done at a certain point of the night. We will see everyone soon enough though. We head off to our honeymoon once I get back from Japan. We will be going to Cancun, Mexico to an all-inclusive hotel so I will be doing a lot of eating and drinking while I am there. I think my body will need it!

I have been in Fukuoka since Monday and things have been going well. I haven't had that "feeling amazing everyday" feeling that I had before London but I know I just have to time it right to feel good on race day so i'm not worried about that. The last 2 weeks are usually pretty tough as you taper so much that you get crazy thoughts running through your head about having not trained enough or resting too much. I was lucky that I had my wedding and family visiting to take my mind off of the silly mental games that can be played on yourself. Saying that, I am now in Japan with nothing much else to do but think about the race and those thoughts have crept into my mind. The original goal of this race was to go out with the leaders as they were supposed to be going out at 64.00 to 64.30 pace through half way but now this has been increased to 63.30 so I'm having to modify the tactics a little. 64.30 through half way would be perfect but i'm not sure what the group will look like so I am just going to run as I feel on the morning of the race and try and forget about the watch. I am going race rather than time trial and this is one of the reasons I chose Fukuoka to run. I got frustrated running on my own for such a long time at London that I wanted to see how I would do when I am running amongst a lot of other runners. I realise that running solo is a big part of the marathon and I'm not perturbed by that but if I can get the opportunity to run with people for most of the race, then I will take it. I think I am 20th on the list of times of the runners in the race so I am really going to try and grasp this opportunity to run fast.

The weather has been great apart from a few days ago when a tornado came through and brought lots of rain. It was then very windy yesterday but this morning it was quite nice. I have been going to bed at 8.30pm/9pm and waking up at 5am every morning so it has been really nice to run around the lake while the sun is rising.

Jurrie (my agent) and I met up with Taku from Mizuno yesterday and we had a good talk and he gave me a bag load of new gear and shoes. On Monday, after the race, Jurrie, Taku and I will all head to Osaka to the Mizuno headquarters to do some work there. I will fill you all in afterwards what is entailed but I think they are keeping it a secret right now.

Ok…now its time to go get some lunch and relax for the rest of the day. I have got all my coaching work done so I can just put my feet up and watch some films.

Cheers for now. I will try and get some news to you tomorrow if I have time after the race.

2010-11-19T06:32:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I haven't been able to update the blog in over a week, I have been really busy with a houseful of guests and lots of tough training. I finally get married today after a 15 mile tempo in the morning so I will update more after the weekend is over and things have settled down a bit.

Lemon

2010-11-08T15:17:00.000-08:00

Friday - This was an easy day of 2 runs and 17 miles. I can't actually remember what I did that day apart from running with Brett in the morning!

Saturday - Big workout day. I had an 18 mile Tempo run scheduled for the morning but unfortunately Greg wouldn't be there to guide us through the workout and hand us drinks so Julie came out in the car did the job. I met Fasil and Jason at 7.15am and warmed to be ready just after 8am. Fasil was running 15 miles so I started back down Lake Mary Rd for 1.5 miles and back and he would start when I was coming back to the start. I started out well with a 5.12 and 5.13 but then dropped a bomb on the uphill mile of 5.24. That really woke me and I made sure that that wouldn't happen for the rest of the workout. I wanted to keep a steady pace of between 5.10 and 5.13 for the whole workout and I managed that pretty well. I think Fasil was getting a little nervous as he was looking at his watch every 200m and surging if it didn't read the numbers that he wanted to see. This workout was all about how you feel and not by what the watch was reading so I eventually told him just to forget about it and run how his body was telling him to. We both had a great workout. The last 3 to 4 miles we were told to run hard and we managed that with Fasil surging away and looking really strong. I struggled a little on the last 2 miles as we ran into the wind but I got the head down and finished well enough. I finished the run in 1.33.30 for a 5.11.6 average which was 3 seconds a mile quicker than before London. I'm taking a lot of confidence from this workout as that equates to around 4.56 miling at sea level.

I felt pretty good for the rest of the day except that I wasn't able to nap as my body was still wired from the workout. I got in another run later on to shake my legs out a bit and they actually felt really good. Later that night, Ron and Ann Morrison (my coach from Scotland and his wife) arrived to stay with us and we ordered some Thai food and caught up on all the news.

Sunday - A nice easy day today to recover from the day before and my body felt great! No tightness from the day before and the hills were no problem on either of my runs. I took Ronnie on a tour of the trails in the morning (he was on the bike while I ran) and then we headed up to Snowbowl afterwards so that Ann and him could see the scenery from high up on the mountain. We headed out to Karma sushi that night for a feast and then we all passed out pretty early.

2010-11-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Tuesday - This morning we ran out at E3 again. I really like this trail for the easy days as you don't notice the uphill on the way out but you can pick up the speed on the way back as you run gently downhill. I ran with Fasil on the way out and then Jordan joined us on the way back. I was supposed to run 85 minutes but I was tired so I just ran for 10 miles and decided to add onto the run later on in the day. I did some drills and stretching once I was finished and then headed back to the house to get a good nap and do some work.

The evening run was amazing as the sky was a mix of every colour you could imagine. I couldn't stop staring all around because of how breath taking it was.. I ran for 9 miles and then got some good strides in so I would nice and loose for the morning's workout.

Wednesday - Fasil and I headed down to Sedona at 7.30 to get our 8*1mile workout done. We arrived a little early so we did an 800m jog around the track and then we did our stretches. As we did this, Greg arrived back from his workout. We headed out for the warm up and I felt a lot better than I did before the stretching. Also, warming up with Fasil is good because he knows its just a warm up and doesn't try to push the pace like some others do. We got back and headed over to the track to finish our warm up. We did all our drills and strides and were ready to go. It was a beautiful day (see pictures below) so we wouldn't have to deal with any issues of wind or cold. Greg wanted us to start out easy at 4.40 to 4.45 pace and work it down so I took the first rep and ran 4.41. I knew it was going to be a good day as this felt very easy. The next rep was in 4.40 so on the recovery I asked Fasil if he would mind if I dropped the pace to 69 second laps and he said that was fine. 4.36 - Perfect. Again it didn't feel tough so Fasil ran the next rep in 4.34. We were now half way through the workout so now it was time to make it hurt. I ran the next rep in 4.32 and Fasil dropped off just a little and ran 4.36. Greg told him to do just one more rep and he said he could manage a fast one so he lead. We hit half way bang on 2.16 but I could tell he was starting to hurt so I passed him at 700m and kept the pace going. He hung on well and we both finished in 4.32. I would now be on my own so it was going to be really tough so I really took the time to get my head ready on the recovery. I had started to get a blister on my big toe but I stopped feeling it as soon as I started the rep. This rep was really tough. I really tried hard to keep the splits even and I managed it but boy did I have to dig deep to do so. I ran another 4.32 and then I knew I was done. I was happy with the workout so we called it day there. I asked if it was ok to do some 200m's just to get my legs going but I had to stop after one as my toe was too blistered. I did this workout before London up in Flagstaff and it was a lot slower (ok so it was 2500ft higher) so I was happy with how my leg speed had come along. We warmed down barefoot for 20 minutes on the fake grass and then headed to Safeway to grab some food and then drove to the creek to ice our legs.

Once we got back to Flagstaff, I passed out for a few hours and then had to get up right away to go run again and then take Jason for workout. That meant running for an hour and then jumping on the bike for 10 miles. I was really tired when I got home so Julie and I went down to Diablo Burger (one of the team's new sponsors), grabbed some food and then headed home for a long sleep.

Thursday - Today was all about work. After I had run with Fasil at the bagel run for 80 minutes, I came home, had a nap and then spent the rest of the day sorting out the house for all the guests we would be having over the next couple of weeks. I cleared 2 bedrooms, put a bed together, sorted out the office, filed our paperwork, sorted some insurance, vacuumed the house, cleaned the kitchen and then mopped the tile floors. Needless to say I was a little tired on the second run but it felt good to get out and run a new route. Julie's parents got into town so we ran some errands and then went over to their house to catch up with them. We were going over details for the wedding and that got my head buzzing. So much so that I had a sleepless night. I fell asleep around 11pm and was in and out of sleep until 1am when I decided just to get up and do something instead of just stewing in bed. I spent an hour on the computer getting some training programs written and then headed back to bed to try and sleep.

2010-11-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Friday - I ran nice and easy with Brett for 85 minutes in the morning. I was pretty tired from the day before so I didn't really have an option on running faster or not! I spent most of the day tidying up the house and packing as Julie and I were heading down to Phoenix for the weekend. I got in a slow 45 minutes in the evening before we left. I was really unmotivated for this run for some reason. Its not something I usually have a problem with but I think it was from being tired. I had dinner before I picked Julie up at her work. I had totally forgotten they had all dressed up and Julie came out dressed as Ziggy Stardust. She looked great but then had to spend the rest of the night dressed up as we stopped by some shops when we got into Phoenix. She likes to dress up at halloween so she was loving the attention. We went to bed fairly early as I was going to have to get up at 5am to get ready for my long run the next morning.

Saturday - The alarm went off at 5am this morning as I had to start the run at 6am. Julie had a wedding dress fitting at 9.30am so we had to be done by 8.30am (she would be driving with my fluids). It took me a little while to get things ready (coffee and bagel) so I didn't end up eating until 5.20am which only left me around 40 minutes to digest and be ready to roll. I didn't think about this until after the run. I felt great from the start which is always good before a 26 mile run. It took me a couple of 6 minute miles to get into the pace but after that I kept the miles all between 5.35 and 5.45. This felt a lot easier than before London so I was really happy with the way things were going. I then hit mile 17 and I started to get a side stitch. I tried to breathe through it and ease it out but it felt like it was pulling on my urinary tract so I had to stop and try stretch and get rid of it. It felt ok after a minute so I continued on only to stop half a mile later with a sharp pain. I jumped down into a ditch to see if I needed to pee but it wasn't that so I climbed back up to the road. As I did this I stood on a stick that had thorns on it and one went through my shoe and into the ball of my foot. I yelped and then plucked it out of the shoe and checked my foot to see if it was bleeding. It was but it wasn't bad so I painfully started to run again. I got about another 1000m down the road before stopping again. This went on for another few miles and then I thought I had it fixed. It kicked back in and Julie looked quite shocked when I stopped and started swearing and kicking a bush with frustration. She got out of the car and tried to calm me down a bit (she's good at doing that) before I tried again. I lasted one more mile and then called it a day at 20 miles. I ran it in 1.54.30 which was 5 minutes quicker through that point when I did this run before London (of course I lasted until 26 miles that day). The faster pace felt a lot easier this time so I took away some positives from the run but was still a little miffed that I didn't get the 26 miles done. I could only figure that it had something to do with eating so close to the run.

Julie was a way for most of the day so I had a nap and then went around some shops before coming back to the house and waiting for Julie to be done as we had planned to go to the mall. She eventually got back we headed down the road with her mum to spend some gift cards I had been given for my birthday. After a couple of hours of satisfying shopping, we headed back and I headed out to do a 40 minute jog to ease my legs out. I felt tired to start but fine after a few miles. I came home to find that Julie and her parents were doing blind tests of the wines we have a choice of for the wedding so I showered and then joined in the fun. We had a big dinner of steak and vegetables and then started to watch Iron Man 2 but I ended up falling asleep right away and then headed up to bed to pass out for the night.

Sunday - Today was a lazy day. We slept in until 8.30am, which felt great, and then started to write out the table plans for the wedding. Before I knew it I had to head out for my run as I wanted to get an hour in before we headed to church. I felt pretty good but still kept the pace pretty slow as it was just a recovery day. The weather was perfect so that made the run pretty enjoyable. I got back at 11am so had to very quickly shower and change and make a smoothie before getting to church. After the service we had a meeting with the music and wedding coordinators to go over some wedding day stuff. I wouldn't have minded if I had managed to get some food before we left but I didn't so my mind started to wonder as I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible to eat. We got back to the house around 2pm and I just started to stuff as much food into my mouth as possible. A chicken breast sandwich, salad, yoghurt, and a lean pocket I was thoroughly full and ready to pass out. Unfortunately Julie wanted to get up the road to Flagstaff so we could carve some pumpkins and see some trick or treaters. Once we got back to the house, I got changed to go for a run but once I was out the door I started to feel pretty bad and managed one mile before having to stop and walk back to the house. I don't know what was up with me but I have to listen to my body when I am in hard training.

Monday - I had a fartlek scheduled for the morning and I thought Fasil would have been there to do it with me but he ended up staying at home so I did a 5 mile warm up and then changed my shoes to do 12*1 min hard/1 min easy. I felt awful warming up and for my first rep but after that I started to feel good. It got windier and windier as the morning went on and I felt bad for everyone who was doing mile repeats on the loop I was running on. I actually jumped into their workout to help take the wind for them on the windy straight as I know how frustrating that can be. On the guys last rep, I ran the whole straight (around 700m) and I was actually all out to try and stay in front of them and take the wind. I can't imagine how tough it was for them. Quite a few people dropped out of the workout so that just goes to show how demoralising it was for them. I came home and had a good nap before heading out the door again for a 9 mile run as I had a massage with Dana at 3.30pm. The massage was, again, just what I needed and I was able to come home and start getting dinner ready for when Julie would get back.

2010-10-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday - I had the idea of having a really long sleep after a long day of travelling yesterday but that was soon shattered as I woke up 6 am. At least this meant that I could get my run done early before it got really hot in Phoenix and then I could get back up the road to Flagstaff in decent time. I felt surprisingly good on my run and ran the 15 mile loop in 85 mins. My legs weren't tight and there were no after effects of the race lingering in them so that was promising that the strength is kicking in. After having some breakfast I had a good nap before heading up to Scottsdale to pick up Greg's kilt for him and then onto Flagstaff from there. I made it up in good time and headed right out the door for my second run so I could be home when Julie got off work. I just did a loop of Buffalo park from my house which brought me up to 22 miles for the day. I found this out when I was training for London that once i've got a month of marathon training in my legs, 20+ mile days don't feel much different from 15 mile days so hopefully that trend continues for this next 6 weeks. I don't even remember falling asleep as I must have conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Wednesday - I woke up early and headed down the road to a lab to get some blood drawn so I could see where all my levels of iron, hematocrit, blood cells and hemoglobin were at. It took 5 minutes and then I headed back to the house to have some coffee and toast as I had fasted for the test (I did this so I could check my cholesterol levels also). Everyone was working out up at Buffalo so I met them there and just ran very easy on the trails out the back of the park as I needed to recover for tomorrows workout. It was bitterly cold and windy so I was glad that I was sheltered in the woods. I didn't envy the guys doing the long steady state run at the park though as it is very exposed on the loop they run. I got back to the park in 60 minutes and waited for the guys to finish so I could run another 20 minutes with them. They seemed to have had a good workout despite the weather so that inspired me to have a good workout the next day. Jordan and Brett came over to the house afterwards as I had offered to make them some pancakes. I made a ton of them and then quickly crashed as i always do after eating any kind of pancake. I was still really tired for the next run so I ran very easily for 9 miles. I did this out by Lake Mary Rd as I was meeting Jason afterwards to time his workout. I ran on some new trails which was great as I could just switch off and enjoy the run and the scenery. I got back to the car after 40 minutes and Jason had just arrived so I ran with him for his warm up and then I drove him out to the starting point of his workout. Jason had had a bad race a week before so I had given him an easy week of training after it and he seemed to have recovered well as he ran the workout quickly and in control. I was starting to get really hungry (I had an protein bar and some PowerBar Endurance while Jason was running but it wasn't enough) so I headed straight home and cooked a big dinner of potatoes, broccoli and a massive steak I had been marinating. It really filled me up and I felt so much better. I relaxed with Julie the rest of the evening, catching up on emails and watching TV.

Thursday - This morning was going to be a big workout. 20*1 minute hard with 2 minutes recovery fartlek on the urban trail. This seems like a lot of recovery but Greg thinks that I need to keep my speed up so the extra recovery (a minute more than usual) would help to let me run fast for the entire workout. He was right! From what my Garmin was telling me I was flying on the reps and got faster the further I got into the workout. With 20 minutes of warming up and down it meant that I was running for an hour and forty minutes but it passed by really quickly. As I was jogging back to the car, I started to cross a road that another pedestrian was crossing at the same time. I saw a car coming but he had a stop sign so I figured that would mean he would stop. Wrong! Instead he ran straight into me and narrowly missed the other pedestrian. I slammed onto the hood of the car and started giving him all the abuse I could. Luckily I wasn't hurt at all but did get a numb hand and arm for a while. The guy just gave me a plain stare the whole time as if he had no clue what was going on. Once I looked at his car and realised I had made a nice dent in it, I quickly ran on with a big smile on my face.

I got back to the house and made some scrambled eggs with beets in it for the first time. It tasted really good so I think that will be more of a regular addition to my eggs now. After a really good nap, I spent most of the afternoon writing training programs that needed to be sent out this week. I ran again at 2pm as I had a massage with Dana at 3.30pm. I felt good on the run and my legs hadn't tightened up from the morning so I was hoping the massage wouldn't be that painful. Dana only found a few spots that were a little tight and knotted up so that was good as I could relax for most of the massage. I headed home afterwards and (accidentally) made an all white dinner for Julie and I. I made tilapia with white yams and white asparagus. After this Julie and I just ran errands for the rest of the night and then managed to put our feet for about 10 minutes before heading to bed.

2010-10-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday – Today was a nice easy day to recover from the workout that I had yesterday. I ran with the guys at the bagel run for an hour and then headed home to have breakfast and get started on work that I needed to get finished for tomorrow. I started to do some work but got tired so I went to bed and had a good nap. I got the rest of the work finished once I woke up and was about to head down to the YMCA to meet the guys for a run when Greg arrived at my door with a spare bed he was giving me (everyone who is staying with us before the wedding now has a bed!). This meant that the core workout had finished a little early and the guys would have left for the run already so we unloaded the dismantled bed into the garage and I waited another hour or so to get my run in. I ended up running my usual 6-mile loop from the house to Buffalo Park again and then ran a hot bath so I could put some Epsom salts in a have a nice soak. My legs didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as they did earlier on in the year (in my build up to the London marathon) when I had done the 16*400m workout so I was pleased about that. That hopefully means that I won’t have sore legs for my race on Sunday. Julie came home and made a nice dinner of pork tenderloin with broccoli and cous cous for dinner and then we just sat in front of the TV and vegged out for the rest of the night as I was feeling pretty tired and just wanted to put my feet up.

Friday – I ran with Mike this morning out at E3 again (he had never been there) and it was just what I needed. We just talked and ran as it drizzled down on us and I had a good time catching up with him and all his news. Once I got home and had breakfast, I headed over to Julie’s work with a cake that we made for everyone to say thank you for the party they gave us on Saturday night. I went dressed in the tartan knickerbockers, hat and bowtie that they had given me as a joke. I felt like an idiot walking through the building wearing all that stuff but it got the desired effect when everyone saw it. I caught Julie quickly to say goodbye as I wouldn’t see her again until Tuesday when I got back to the Flagstaff. I headed back and tried to have a nap as usual but was just lying in bed forcing it so I ended up just getting up and packing my bag for my trip. I decided to just get on the road and head down to Phoenix so I could get another run in before I left. The drive was pretty quick except once I hit Phoenix as it was rush hour and there was an accident on the road so that really slowed me down. I still got there in plenty of time and headed straight out the door to run for 5 miles before coming back to a nice dinner with Julie’s parents and then heading off to the airport. It was a direct flight to London and I had managed to book an exit row seat so I knew I would be comfortable and hopefully get some sleep over night. I watched a film and then attempted to start another one but fell right asleep once it started. I got around 4 hours sleep which was pretty good for me.

Saturday – I arrived into Heathrow at 1pm and was picked up by one of the Great Run drivers to take me down to Portsmouth. I stopped at M&S to grab some food and then we were off. I ate in the car and then fell asleep for the rest of the journey. Once we got to the hotel I went straight to my room and got changed for a run. My stomach wasn’t feeling great as I still had a lot of food sitting in it and my legs were stiff from sitting for the last 11 hours. This forced me to go really slowly and take about 40 minutes for my 5 miles run. I felt better once I had finished and got my strides, drills and stretches done. Once I was showered and changed, I headed down to the athlete meeting where we were briefed about what the procedure for the next day would be and then ate dinner. They were showing footage of the previous years race so I tried to get some hints of what the course was like. After this I just headed up to the room and both Stuart Stokes and I got ready for an early night as we were both tired. I fell asleep while we were watching TV so I turned it off to settle in a have a good long sleep. That was the plan anyway. I was now wide-awake and couldn’t get my mind to stop racing. I decided the best thing was to get up and head downstairs with my book and phone. I called Julie and we chatted for a little while before I started to read my book. I started to feel a little tired so I headed back to the room around 1am and settled back into bed. Half an hour later I was still nowhere near sleeping so I grabbed my computer and watched a film to see if that would help. I watched the whole thing and then finally around 4am fell asleep. Our alarm was set for 6.45am so I set another one for 7.45am so I could get a little extra sleep as the race wasn’t until 10.55am.

Sunday – Once I woke up I went straight down to breakfast to have some coffee and toast and wake up a little. I finished that pretty quickly so I went back to the room to pack my bag and get everything ready for the race. At 9am we all walked over to the elite tent which was freezing as it was just a tent at a castle by the sea. They had 2 tiny space heaters which did nothing for the level of heat in the area but I wasn’t too bothered as I would be warming up fairly soon. I actually ended up running the mile back to the hotel as I had forgotten my new nose strip that I wanted to try out (it has a new configuration of strips to open up the nose more) and then running back again for my warm up. I did a lot of drills as I knew that my legs really needed to be woken up before I did any strides. With 15 minutes to go to the start we all headed over to the start line and got our final strides and warm ups finished and then lined up. I took myself to the side to sit down and get my head ready for the race. I told myself not to give have any “outs” during the race (meaning never giving myself the option of slowing down) and to feel strong. I thought about how this was the last time I would think about the lack of sleep and how tired I was so it wouldn’t cross my mind during the race. I then said a little prayer and lined up. I was announced to the crowd which is always nice as you get a little buzz with everyone clapping for you right before you start.

When the gun went off, so did the Kenyans. There was no way of running with them as they went off really hard so a group of 8 of us settled into a good rhythm for the first few miles. I was conscious of doing as little as possible for the first half of the race so I stayed at the back of the pack but just after 4 miles, Scott Overall decided to make a break so I had to work really hard to get up to him and get away from the others. There were a few good runners in the pack including the European marathon champion, European 10km bronze medallist and Gunther Weidlinger, one of the most versatile runners in Europe having run 3.35 for 1500m and 2.10 for the marathon. I wanted to try and run hard over the last 5 miles but Scott was staying really strong and making it very hard for me to even get up on his shoulder. I just kept telling myself to stay strong as I needed a good effort today as part of my marathon training. At about 7.5 miles Scott started to move away from me and I thought that he was going to run away but as we came to the end of a long straight I worked really hard to get up to him again as I didn’t want to run solo for the last couple of miles. As we hit the 8 mile mark he moved to the side to let me pass but he was running too fast and I was already doing everything just to stick with him so I remained behind him on the long straight to the finish. I knew I would get to the finish in a reasonable time if I just stuck with him and it became a lot easier once we hit the 15km mark as there was less than 3 minutes of running left. As we hit the last 300m, Scott took off and beat me by 6 seconds…and he fully deserved it. He had run really strongly for the entire race and I had run behind him for the whole time. I like to help out in races but today he just made it too tough for me so hopefully he has a really great season now as he has a great base to work from. I finished in 47.41which initially I wasn’t pleased with as its not very fast, but once I sat down, caught my breath and thought about everything, I was ok with it. I purposely didn’t start my watch as I didn’t want to get caught up in splits during the race and wanted to race instead of time trialling. I had had 8 hours of sleep over the past 2 nights and run 120 miles for the week so to run 47.41 was fine. I became more and more pleased with that as the day went on. I would use this as a jumping point for my last 6 weeks of training before Fukuoka. I was called in for drug testing so I quickly got changed, signed some papers and warmed down for 20 minutes on a 100m straight of pavement where the tester could watch me (you aren’t allowed out of eye sight once you a collared for testing). Once we got to the testing room I got my rope out and stretched for a while until I could produce a sample. I was actually able to go pretty quickly and was marshalled by a former member of my running club who used to live just 10 minutes from where I grew up. Once I was finished I grabbed some food and then headed back to the hotel where I lay down to watch “The Hangover” and before I knew it I was being woken by the closing credits. The nap really refreshed me and I watched TV for a little while before heading out for a 5 mile jog to ease my legs out a bit. My calves were really tight but the run really helped with loosening them off. I got back and had a hot bath before heading down to dinner and stuffing myself on the buffet. I was pretty quiet during dinner as I was getting really sleepy so headed I off to bed pretty early and had a great nights sleep.

Monday – I got a really good sleep in last night and woke up around 7.30am feeling so much better than I did yesterday morning. I made myself some coffee and had a PowerBar before heading out and going for an easy hour run. It was a crisp morning and the sun was rising in the direction I was running so that made it a very enjoyable run. My whole body felt strange for the first 20 minutes for some reason and then I got a nose bleed so I stopped at some toilets and waited for the blood to stop. Once I got back on the road I felt a lot better but still kept the pace very slow. I was just going to stop at 40 minutes but there were some nice grass fields in front of the hotel so I continued on for another 20 minutes. Once I got back, I headed straight to breakfast and filled up on a full English breakfast. I was quickly reminded why I don’t eat a lot of greasy food as my stomach wasn’t feeling too hot afterwards. I went back up stairs to have a shower and packed my bag as I would be leaving in 20 minutes. The top of my nose was bleeding once I came out of the shower as I had peeled off some skin the day before when removing my nose strip. That’s a good sign that the new strips will stay in place as I had to peel off the last one I used during the Great North Run as one side had come unstuck. I headed downstairs to the lobby and the driver was waiting for me already. I felt pretty sick during the ride to the airport so I grabbed my pillow and tried to sleep instead.

The airport was a pretty simple process and I got through quickly as I didn’t have any luggage to check. I bought the usual bagful of Cadbury’s for Julie and her mum and then headed off to the gate. 10 hours of sitting still and watching films, I arrived in Phoenix and Julie’s mum picked me up from the airport. I had every intention of running but once we arrived at the house, I realized how tired I was so grabbed some food and headed straight to be.

Pictures and film from the Grand Canyon

2010-10-21T10:29:00.001-07:00

2010-10-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday: We met out at the trail that I had run on for the first time on Sunday, road E3. I ran with Fasil and Jordan and took it pretty easy as I had a workout the next day and I wanted to feel good for it. A nice and easy 10 miles and then it was time to head home for breakfast, nap and then work. The second run was an easy 8 miles and then I made a dinner of mushroom and provolone burgers (in a beer sauce) and some fried spaghetti. I had never tried this recipe before and I think I will spice up the burgers the next time as it only called for ground sirloin. It definitely needed some garlic or some herbs in there. The fried spaghetti was interesting (taken from ‘Jamie’s Italy’ recipe book) and I think I will make that again as it was very simple. I had a little trouble sleeping that night for some reason. I think that I just wasn’t tired when we went to bed. I think I fell asleep at around 11pm

Wednesday: This morning was a 16*400m workout for me. I would be on my own so I went to Sinagua high school to use their track before any classes came out and I would get kicked off. It was a long workout as the recovery was 400m also so it is 8 miles total on the track. I found it quite tough starting off but I worked my way down from a first rep of 71 secs (whoops!) to 64 secs at the end. I hadn’t been on the track for a while so I knew it was going to be hard going and that my legs would be pretty sore afterwards so luckily I had booked a massage later on to freshen them up a bit. I drove by Buffalo Park to talk to Greg and invite him over to the house to talk about the rest of the marathon training before heading down the road back to the house. I had breakfast, iced my psoas and used my massage stick on my calves while I waited for him to arrive.

Greg and I went over the training and why certain workouts were on certain days. The build up is slightly different to what I did for London so it should be good to see how it turns out. I headed to bed after he had left and had a short nap before getting up and trying to get some work done. I didn’t have much time as my massage was at 3.30pm and I had to get an hour run in before then. I was baking some brownies for our friends and had to wait for them to be ready before heading out the door at 2.15pm. Of course, only a couple of miles into the run I got a nose bleed and stopped and waited for that to stop before running on. I’m glad I didn’t go and get my blood test this week as I would have had hardly any blood left in my body after all the bloody nose’s I’ve had this week. I washed my face up in a puddle by the side of the trail and finished off the run. I got back and quickly got changed before heading down the road to see Dana for my massage. The massage was just what I needed and Dana did a great job and working out all the kinks and knots that had developed from the morning’s workout. Last year after that workout my legs felt really bad for a few days so hopefully the massage will have combated that problem. I headed down to the grocery store after the massage to pick up some stuff for dinner and grabbed 30lbs of ice so I could have an ice bath.

The ice bath was really cold but I felt really good for having had one and then a really hot shower so that I could cook without shivering for the rest of the night. I made some garlic greens beans, potatoes and a ribeye steak for me and a grilled chicken for Julie. I had to eat before Julie had got back from running with her friend as I was starving. Once she got back I headed out to meet Carlson and some friends to say goodbye as he was leaving the next day to go home and train there. We were going to be doing our marathon training together but it will be good for him to start anew and refresh himself in a new training environment.

2010-10-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

My Saturday and Sunday this week were total opposites. Saturday was very busy and Sunday I did next to nothing. I woke up on Saturday morning fairly early to fuel myself properly for the 22 to 24 mile run I would be doing a couple of hours later. Normally I have toast and jam but recently I have been eating PowerBars mainly because our toaster broke and it’s a pain to grill the toast in the oven. I also have a cupboard full of PowerBar stuff so I need to get through them sometime so the toaster breaking has given me such an opportunity. On the longer days of training, I get through a bottle of some sort of sports drink (usually PowerBar Endurance) along with my coffee. I always know if I am hydrated enough if once I start to run, I need to pee. We usually stop 10 minutes in anyway to relieve ourselves so I'm never too uncomfortable. We met at Woody Mountain Road for the run and put our bottles and gels in Greg's bicycle basket (he's rigged a big basket with bottle holders on the back of his bike so we can just grab the drinks as we need on the run. I felt pretty good once we started as we were going nice and easy and it was good weather outside. Greg was having a tougher time than us as the road had got very bumpy over the past week and that didn't make for an easy cycle. The group split up pretty quickly with Brett, Jordan and myself a little bit in front so Greg was cycling between groups to give them all fluids. Jordan turned around at an hour and Brett and I continued to the 10 mile mark. We had run fairly easily out to the point (66 minutes) so we picked it up on the way back a little which felt good. I had a gel strapped to my bottle but I wasn't sure about taking it as it was caffeinated and I wanted to take a nap once I got back but in the end I decided to wait for the hill and until I was out of breath to take it down so I could practice swallowing it down when I am working hard. Of course I split it right down the side again and lost half of it but I got a couple of mouthfuls and swigged it down with my drink. My hands were really sticky so I ended up running most of the way back open handed as it was annoying when my fingers would stick when I made a fist. We got back to the start in 62 minutes (2.08 for 20 miles) and then I continued on a 5 km road loop around the Gore offices. This brought me to 23.5 miles for the morning and I called it a day. Instead of doing the usual drills, strides and stretches, I had to jump straight into the car and head back to the house as Julie was taking me to my birthday helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. I got out of the car and my hip had already stiffened up from how bumpy the road was. I was hoping I could ease it out in the shower and not be limping all day. I got out of the shower to find Julie had made me a huge spinach omelette, which filled me up for the morning.

We drove out to the canyon and arrived with plenty of time at the heliport. Julie gets travel sickness so she bought a dramamine to help with that and then we climbed into the helicopter. I think I got the worst seat on the helicopter as I was facing backwards and my legs really crammed up. Julie was really lucky and got the front seat beside the pilot. It was all judged on weight where you sit so I should have tried to lose a few pounds to get a better seat! The ride was amazing. I only got a little squeamish when we got to the edge of the canyon as the helicopter started to sway with either a temperature change or an updraft. I was fine for the rest of the ride and it wouldn't have mattered anyway as I would have been too distracted with how amazing the ride was. We flew over to the North Rim, where there was controlled burn going on, and then around a bunch of peaks and then back onto the track we flew into the canyon on. We had such a good time and decided to stop by McDonald's for an ice cream and then headed back to Flagstaff. My hip was feeling really bad but I knew it was just really tight so it wasn't going to lead to anything if I stretched it out. We got back and headed to church with Julie's family and then rushed home so Julie could make a bean dip as we were going to our friends house to hang out.

We drove out to the other side of town after I got pulled over by the police for driving too close to the right hand side of the road. I always seem to do this as I learned to drive with the steering wheel on the other side. The cop just wanted to know if I was drunk or not so he quickly let us go and we got out to Ponderosa Trails only 15 minutes late. We rang the doorbell and saw a flash from inside. No one came to the door so I rang again (Julie hadn't pressed it hard enough) and then the door opened. We were totally taken aback as a bunch of our friends were all sitting on the stairs shouting "SURPRISE!" They had put together a surprise bridal/wedding shower for Julie and I. We couldn't believe that they had put it all together for us (it was supposed to be the next weekend but I had changed my plans so I could race the Great South Run that weekend) and Julie's parents were even there. It was such a good night with a bunch of question games and embarrassing moments with gifts such as a tuxedo thong for me! It was such a great way to end a really good day. We were so tired when we got back that I don't even remember getting into bed.

Julie woke up early on Sunday (very unlike her) and I slept until 9.30am (very unlike me). Julie was running with her friend Carriee out on the other side of town to some trails that I had never been on so I said I would come out with her and check them out. We didn't leave until about 11.30am which was a lot later than I would have liked as I had to get in another run later on and wouldn't get that much recovery in between the runs. I wouldn't normally be to bothered but I still had a little soreness in my psoas so I wanted to give it some good recovery time. We finally got on the run and we hit some great trails that I had never been on before. I was glad I came out to see the trails as I know where to go if I get bored with trails near our house. I got 10.5 miles done and had to really slow down over the last half a mile as my psoas got sore. The girls would be another 10 minutes behind me so this gave me the chance to get some good drills and stretches done to try and ease it out a bit.

Once we got home, Julie's parents came around and Julie made a big batch of chocolate chip and apple pancakes. This was just what I needed after the morning's run and it made me brighten up a bit. Once Julie's parents left we sat in front of the TV for a couple of hours watching a Modern Family DVD and basically just being lazy. Once we got to the end of it I decided to head out for my second run. It was just getting dark so I was going to have to run round the streets next to the lights to see where I was going. Of course as soon as I stepped outside, it started to pour down with rain and I got soaked. I just ran very easily for 5 miles as I didn't want to aggravate my psoas and it actually felt ok once I got back. Julie had made some curry while I was out so I scoffed down a big plate of that before we relaxed in bed reading and fell asleep.

I would be training on my own on Monday as everyone else was heading down to Sedona for a track workout and I just had a 90 minute run. I left a little later than usual but that was good as the temperature was a little nicer. I got a nose bleed after one mile so I ran over to Buffalo Park to grab some tissue to stuff in my nose. It stopped pretty quickly and I could get on with concentrating on my run. I ended up running 15 miles in 91 minutes and it felt fairly easy. Usually I would be pushing it a bit at that pace but I was very relaxed and didn’t feel like I would be tired from it. The last 2 miles were all uphill so that slowed me down a bit and that actually ended up really tiring me out. I got home and had a big breakfast before falling asleep in bed and getting a good rest.

I woke up a little later than I would have liked so I quickly made some tea and answered as many emails I could for work before heading down the road to the YMCA for our core workout. We did our usual routine and then headed out for an easy run. The guys were only running 30 minutes so I ended up heading up to Buffalo Park and adding on another half an hour. That was my biggest day of mileage so far in this cycle with 24 miles for the day and it didn’t feel any different to any other day so I took that as a good sign. I headed down to the store right after to pick up some groceries and then picked Julie up from work as it was pouring down with rain outside. We had some leftover curry for dinner and then caught up on the TV shows that we had recorded for the rest of the night. I had a really tough time falling asleep for some reason. I think that I just wasn’t tired and I ended up wriggling around for 30 minutes before finally falling asleep.

2010-10-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

I took Thursday as my recovery day as I knew I would need it after the pounding my legs took the day before. I headed down to the bagel run at 8am and we ran 10 miles nice and easy along the urban trails. It was good to just chat and relax and run slowly. We did get a little amusement when about 30 seconds into the run, a cyclist, who was carrying a tray of brownies, braked too hard with her front brake and she went flying over the handle bars. Miraculously the brownies were safe even though she had done an attempt at a superman onto the road. She was fine but a little embarrassed to say the least.

I had a nice big breakfast when I got home and tucked up in bed for a few hours before heading out the door again to do some core with the training group down at the YMCA (a 10 minute walk down the hill from my house). Its a lot more fun doing it in a group than on my own and its very laid back. Once we were finished we went for another easy run along some flat trails (the guys stopped at 30 minutes and I continued on for another half an hour). Julie got back not long after I did so she decided to make dinner for the night. We had some crock pot chicken (that she had put on in the morning) with some pearl cous cous with some beets and carrots. It turned out really well.

On the racing front, I got an email in the morning from my agent, Jurrie, saying that the guys at Nova had contacted him about me racing the Great South Run next weekend. He wanted to see what I thought about it so I talked to Greg and we decided I should run the race. It fits in well with the training as I would have a 25km tempo run that day anyway and it was a good opportunity to get in a competitive race. It will be a very short trip for me though...arrive on Saturday afternoon, race Sunday, and then fly back on Monday afternoon. It works out well with my training also as I can get a run in on the Monday morning and not miss marathon training. I also don't have to change any of the training leading up to it and will just take a couple of easy days before the race.

Friday morning we met out at Cheshire for the run and headed out the very steep hill that leads to a mesa with lots of trails on it. I was doing 85 mins and Brett was running 90 mins so it was good to have someone for the entire run. I felt pretty good and totally recovered from Wednesday so hopefully thats a good sign that my strength levels are improving with the marathon training. A couple of weeks ago my psoas was a little tender on my runs and would occasionally give out on me and I could feel it again today. I iced it once I got home and stretched it to try and ease it off a little.

Once I had taken a short nap, I headed downtown to meet my friend Martin for a coffee and get some work done. I managed to crank out a few training programs and answered some emails before Martin came and then we just relaxed and talked about running for a while. I headed back up the road around 4pm and started to clean the house while I was waiting to go for my second run. I wanted to run at 5.30 as we were going for dinner at 7pm and that would mean that I could keep the wait between running and eating to a minimum. I was going to do a trail loop that usually takes an hour but I could feel my psoas again so decided to stay near to the house so that if it did get any worse and I had to stop, I could just walk back and not be stuck out in the woods. I stopped at 46 minutes as I didn't want to make it any worse.

I quickly showered and changed and then did something that no guy ever likes to do. I put and ice pack down my boxer shorts to try and help the psoas. Its ok once its down there but its that initial placing of ice anywhere near the groin area that is frightening and very unpleasant. luckily we had to leave pretty soon afterwards and we headed downtown to grab dinner with Julie's family. We had a nice night telling some good stories and we all had a lot of fun. We headed home around 9.30pm and watched the most recent episode of 'It's always sunny in Philadelphia' before heading to bed.

2010-10-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

Wednesday felt like a hangover for me. My quads and hip flexors were sore for some reason so I knew the hill circuits that I was going to be running would be tough. I got to Buffalo Park early so I could do a short jog and then some stretching before everyone got there to warm up. It was pretty tough doing my quad stretches but it was one of those "hurt so good" stretches. Once everyone arrived we headed down the trail for our usual 20 minute warm up. I would be doing the workout on my own and that was probably a good thing as I could have made my legs a lot worse by hammering every hard effort. The circuit is a 2 mile loop with 5 hard efforts involved. A 700m hill, a 100m slight downhill, a 200m steep uphill to flat, 700m downhill and then finish with a 80m flat stride. The long hill was really tough for me and I couldn't really get going on it. I was running against the wind but it wasn't so strong that it would slow me down as much as it did. I ran 2.22 on every lap which is a lot slower than I usually run it. I have run it in 2.03 before but I wasn't too bothered to be honest as no matter how slow you go on the hill, you still get a really good workout. I knew my legs weren't right when I found the flat and downhill strides tough to do but I was happy to get through the 8 miles. The warm down felt good on my legs as it helped them to stop screaming at me. I headed home after this, had breakfast (massive omlette and freshly juiced apple, celery and melon) and then passed out for two hours.

I woke up feeling so much better than when I went to bed so I brewed some tea and had some yoghurt to wake up a little. I pretty much just sat in front of the computer doing work and then watching TV programs until I had to go out for my next run. This was a day where I really needed to keep my feet up. The second run was a nice and easy 8 miles along the flattest trail I could find. It actually climbed slightly for the entire way out so turning round and running downhill felt a lot better. About 400m from the house I had a little stand off with some elk that were crossing the trail. This has happened quite a lot the last few days but they just run on after they have stared at me for a little while. I got back to the house and did my usual drills and strides on the road before heading inside and preparing dinner. I made some tilapia with mashed yams and garlic brussels' sprouts. It turned out well and filled both Julie and I right up. I say that, but there was still room to head downtown and grab a free birthday ice cream with a voucher I had been sent.

I slept well that night!

2010-10-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my birthday so Julie woke me up by making cinnamon rolls and coffee. It wasn't the best way to get the body ready for a 13 mile run but I drank plenty of sports drink to make sure that there wouldn't be too much of an energy drop after the sugar spike wore off. We've recently started giving each other "experience" gifts rather than things you can wrap (I took her to Vegas to see Lady Gaga). She did great this year with the gift of a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. I'm very excited about that as I've always wanted to ride in a chopper and doing it over the canyon will be amazing. I was quickly brought down to earth however with the email I didn't want to get. I wouldn't be going to China to run in the world half marathon championships. Over the past 2 weeks we've had nothing but trouble from the Chinese consulate and it seems like i've been sending extra paperwork everyday to try and get my visa sorted. UKA have been really good and trying their best to help with the process but its very hard from 3,000 miles away. I hadn't been given a reason why I wasn't given a visa and I couldn't get in contact with anyone who would give me an answer. The paperwork that I had filled out just arrived back to me and after double checking it I can see that everything is filled out correctly. This now means that I will just stay at home and train with no races before the marathon. I have over 7 weeks to go until the race so if I feel like I need a little test race then it shouldn't be a problem finding one. It will be good to see how I do off of no races as usually I like to get my competitive side going before my big races but I came out well this summer with the first race of the season so I am not worried about that issue.

I arrived out at Greg's house for the run at 8 am and quickly realised that I had arrived half an hour early. I just relaxed inside and kept Angus (Greg's son) amused before he had to go to school. The run was great as we were running nice and easy in wonderful weather. I added on a 20 minute loop at the end as everyone else was running 70 minutes. My legs felt fine although my quads were a little sore from yesterdays workout. I drove home after the run and scoffed down some granola and another cinnamon roll. A new addition to the house has been a juicer we were given recently. This has been fantastic as I love making just plain old apple juice with it. I have tried some different concoctions with varying levels of success and this morning wasn't really a great one. I added a couple of apples, some melon, 2 sticks of celery and a chunk of ginger. It may have been pretty good had I not added way too much ginger so had to just slam the drink to get it down my throat. My next creations are all going to involve beetroot so let me know if any of you have some good mixes.

I ended up in bed watching a couple of episodes of "Modern Family" that everyone has been raving about. I really enjoyed the show and even made it to the end without falling asleep. As soon as it was done however, I hit the pillow and had a great 2 hour nap. I woke up very groggy but a cup of tea sorted that out pretty quickly.

My second run was an 8 mile easy run along the trails. I wasn't feeling so hot but again, the weather was great so I enjoyed it. I actually felt better as soon as I hit the halfway point as it meant I turned around and ran back downhill the rest of the way. I got back to find Julie was getting dressed up nicely as she was taking me out to dinner. I showered and amused us both by shaving different patterns in my week old beard (it all came off in the end).

We drove downtown and ate at Tinder Box, a fine dining restaurant that is set in a more casual environment. We ordered some wine and toasted another good year before we ordered some great food. I, of course, had to get the pork belly for starters and Julie got a mixed green salad. We shared them both and waited for our main courses to come out. Julie had ordered a duck leg confit with their famous jalapeno mac 'n' cheese and I got a nice steak. There was a plan to go to the ice cream store afterwards but I was stuffed (I ate everything plus what Julie couldn't finish) and just wanted to chill. We drove home and relaxed in front of the new episode of Glee that had recorded while we were out. It was a fantastic evening to finish off the start of my 28th year.

2010-10-12T16:18:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven’t updated for the last few days but its been pretty hectic and then Julie and I took a relaxing day on Sunday so no computers! Its less detailed than usual as I’m really busy today but I thought I would fit something in as I’m waking up from my nap.

I took Friday as my recovery day as I knew I would be tired from the 10 mile steady state that I did the night before. Recovery days for me mean that I run the usual time on my feet but just very slowly. My morning run was 85 mins but only 11 miles so I knew I had done a good job in going slow enough. I was right that I was really tired so it was good to just go easy on the trails and enjoy the scenery. I had a nice long nap in the afternoon and then sent off a bunch of training programs to the athletes I coach. I got my second run in around 3pm and again at a nice slow pace. 60 mins and 8.5 miles later I got back to the house and quickly got changed so I could head out to time Jason’s workout. He was doing a hard run on Lake Mary road and it turned out to be a gorgeous night. The sun was starting to set and there was no wind so he had a pretty good run. Julie headed down to Phoenix for the evening so Carlson came over to the house and we had some dinner and then watched Book of Eli.

Saturday was a very busy day. I woke up at 5.30am and answered some emails while the coffee brewed. I had to be down in Phoenix by 11am to do some wedding stuff so it meant driving for an hour to Sedona (and getting my hour prep time for run out of the way) doing my run there and then continuing down the road to Phoenix. The sunrise when driving down was amazing as the sun was shining off the red rocks. I parked at Beaver Creek and did an easy 18 miles on the dirt road. The run was shorter than usual as I’ll be running the World Half Marathon Champs next weekend. It was nice just to tune out and run easy on the road all alone. It was very scenic and so quiet. I got back in just under 2 hours and then jumped into the creek for 10 minutes to cool my legs down a bit. I got changed and back on the road pretty quickly. I stopped at Camp Verde to grab a coffee and some oatmeal from Starbucks and then finished off the trip down the mountain.

I arrived in Mesa right at 11am and met Julie and her parents at our wedding reception venue, Regency Garden. We were finalizing the last details and I was actually seeing the place for the first time. It was really nice but I wasn’t being very enthusiastic as I was really hungry and tired from running and driving all morning. We left and headed straight to a deli to get some food and life was suddenly all better. As soon as I started to chow down I felt good and had energy again. We stuck around for a few hours so we could go to church with Julie’s family and then headed back up the road. We grabbed some food on the way up and then went to bed soon after we got back as it had been a long day.

I woke up early on Sunday morning to watch the live stream of the Chicago marathon. The finish was incredible and I didn’t know how I was going to run after watching that without going all out the whole way. Unfortunately the guys from the training group that were running didn’t have a good day but that experience will make them stronger and they’ll be back to fight again another day. My run was really nice as again the weather was perfect and I was trying a new route. It turned out that the run from door to door was exactly 10 miles so I guess I have found a new easy run route. I got back to find Julie getting ready to head out the door for a run so I made some pancakes while she was out. When she got back she made some apple pancakes, which put me right to sleep. I passed out for about an hour in front of the TV and woke up to find Julie painting in the back room. She has been working on a painting for above our fire place and it’s turning out really well. After having some tea and waking up a bit, we went for a drive up the mountain to see if all the aspens were turning colour yet. There were some but I think next week will be a lot more golden. We took a walk on the trail and had a really nice time just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery. I decided to take the evening off training as I was already at 125 miles for the week and I didn’t want to do much before the half marathon next week. We got home and made some pizza from scratch. Garlic, peppers, mushrooms, chicken and some eggplant chips that I fried up were all added as toppings and it filled us right up. That meant that we really sleepy right away and we just passed out early.

I met Carlson in the morning for our usual pre race workout. We were running 5*1km with 2 mins recovery on Trina’s loop. It was a perfect morning for training so that made it easier for the both of us. We actually didn’t run that quickly but it was good to get rid of some of the rust in our legs. We ran between 2.58 and 2.49 for the reps and we both felt good to have got it done. It was a strange feeling to be putting in a lot of effort into the workout but not running that fast. We weren’t bothered by this but it was just a strange feeling. I headed back to the house quickly after the workout so I could have some breakfast before getting a massage at 10am. It was great as it was putting me to sleep right at the end of it so luckily I only had a one minute walk back to the house where I could just crash into my bed. I had to do a lot during the day as I would be heading out to China the next day so once I was awake I was in work mode. I got all my washing done and wrote a few training programs before heading out for a second run of 50 minutes. I then headed out again to ride the bike beside Jason as he went through his workout. The gears slipped at one point and I smacked my knee against the handle bars. It was really sore and I was worried that it was going to be tough to bend my knee for a few days but I think because I kept riding and continuing to move my knee, it didn’t stiffen up. We had leftovers for dinner and then headed out to do something that I have to keep secret as it’s a surprise for our friends. It was a really long day for me so again I headed to bed pretty early.

2010-10-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a strange day as Carlson and I met up at Lake Mary Rd to get our workout done and ended up scrapping it to do it later when the wind would be less strong. Neither of us felt very good so instead of being demoralised by slogging against the wind for 12 miles, we just did an easy run and do it later when we would hopefully feel better. Carlson wanted to do his on the treadmill and break it up a little so I figured I would be doing it on my own either way. That would be good as I wanted to do something that would be mentally tough as I am working on that side of performance. I ran 6 miles and then we went out to the 12 mile mark where we had dropped Carlson's car off and then drove home. I rested up and tried to sleep but ended up just watching episodes of Breaking Bad on my computer. I ended up getting out of bed around 1pm and had my usual cup of Yorkshire tea (i'm loving having decent tea in the afternoons now) and a Power Bar to get ready for the workout. I killed some time by cleaning the house and realised my legs were quite tight. I wanted to feel good for the workout so I took a hot shower so that my legs would be warm and I could do some foam rolling and stretching. This worked a treat as I felt so much better afterwards and drove off to Woody Mountain Road for the workout.

Carlson was going to meet me at there at 4pm so I arrived early and warmed up on the road so I could see what kind of condition it was in (its a forest service road). I got back to find Carlson waiting for me there so I changed clothes and grabbed my new racing flats and he drove me out to the 10 mile point. It seemed so long driving the route especially as we couldn't drive that fast because of the ruts on the road. I was dropped off in the middle of nowhere but at least it made sure that I was going to have to run all the way back. I did some drills and strides to get ready and started off quite easily. I had never realised how hilly the route was for the first 5 miles but at least it made sure that i'd started off controlled (after all it was a steady state run and not a tempo). I got through the first 5 miles in 26.38 (5.21s) which was great considering it was almost all uphill. I then started to run pretty quickly as there is a mile long down hill and only small uphills from there to the finish. I had read a quote from Bill Bowerman during the day that kept me going through the workout - "there is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people". That just repeating and I started to feel very easy right to the finish. I ran 25.22 (5.04s) for the final 5 miles and finished in 52 mins flat. That was a 5.12 average and it felt easy. That was great for my confidence as my legs didn't feel beat up and I know I could have kept pushing on for a while. My new flats were great also. I wore the Mizuno Ronins and was very pleased with how cushioned they felt and how comfortable they were, even on the rutted road. After a 20 minute warm down I drove home and Julie and I quickly got dinner together as we were having our friends Rob and Jill over for a mini birthday bash for Rob. He said early happy birthday to me and I was a little confused about that until I realised that its my birthday next week. We had a really nice night with a good dinner and good wine. We relaxed and chatted all evening and then fell asleep very quickly when we climbed into bed.

2010-10-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was supposed to be a big workout day with a 12 mile steady state run in the morning but Greg cancelled it last minute due to weather conditions (impending tornadoes). I was a little frustrated by this as I was feeling great and really wanted to get the long workout in as delaying a day meant that it was a day closer to the world half marathon champs. I spent most of the morning filling out more visa forms and sending my passport off to Washington DC so I can get into China. I then headed out for an 80 minute run on my own around the country club area of town. The weather was pretty good and the wind was behind me on the way back so I got a really good run in...until about 60 minutes in. It started to rain pretty heavily and then the hail started. It started off light and then started coming down really heavily. I was getting torn to pieces so I found a tiny tree to hide under until it died down. 30 seconds later it laid off a bit so I started running down the road again only to be hit by a second wave of bullets. I stood flat against a wall and was well protected from the hail until it stopped again. I was only 2 miles from home so I ran pretty quickly back to the house to try escape anymore onslaughts of weather. It felt so good to get back and have a nice hot shower and some breakfast. I fell asleep in front of the TV and got a good hour nap in.

Once I woke up I got a bunch of work done and then headed out to A1 to meet Jason for his long run. I had him do a 21 mile run on the A1 loop and I was going to join him for the middle 7 mile loop. He got up to 7 miles without much incidence and then I parked the car and joined him. About 1 mile in we hit a section of the road that was blocked by a fallen tree. We didn't think much about it and continue on the road ahead. We then witnessed what the mornings tornadoes had done to the forest. You could see the path of the tornado where all the trees were knocked over and covering the road for quite a section. I had never witnessed anything like this before so it was pretty cool to see the power of mother nature. After we got through that section the rest of the run was fine. I finished the section of the run with Jason and quickly got into some dry clothes and followed him in the car as the light was starting to fade. Within a few minutes it was pitch black and Jason was running by the light of my car. He had a good run and had come back well from a hill workout he did on Monday. I rushed home as I was really hungry and arrived at the same time as Julie. We made a really tasty dinner of crusted stuffed pork chops with garlic greens beans and mashed golden yams. It really hit the spot so we relaxed in front of the TV watching Ocean's 13.

2010-10-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's running was interesting to say the least. We met up at observatory mesa (we have an observatory above the town that is the reason behind Flagstaff being a low light city so it doesn't affect the telescope's star gazing ability) and headed out on a rough trail. I don't know who's idea it was to meet there as it had been raining throughout the night so it was going to be very muddy no matter what. We slogged through the sticky mud for a mile and a half until we got to the forest service road where it was a little better under foot but still had a lot of soft slippy patches. It was the kind of mud that when you take 2 steps forward, your taking one step back. This was frustrating as I was wanting to get a decent run in. Although we met as a group I actually ended running on my own as everyone had either raced at the weekend or are racing this weekend and were running pretty slowly. I was also going longer, doing a 90 minute run so I was going to have to add on loops somewhere in the forest. I did the usual loop but then strayed off on a path I hadn't been before. I started getting a little worried about where I was but I had my GPS on so I could always check which direction I was running in if I really got lost. I was a little relieved when I saw a car driving on the trails and started to follow it. I actually passed it pretty quickly which tells you about how muddy the trail was. I could see some light shining through the trees so I followed that and I finally knew where I was. I still had 20 minutes of the run to go so I followed the trail down to railroad tracks and followed them back to the town. My shoes had gotten so heavy at this point as the mud had caked onto them and wasn't shifting. It started to come off once I hit the road and I suddenly felt like I was running in racing flats. The only problem with getting back to town is that I would have to get back to the observatory which meant running steeply uphill for a mile to get back to the car. This was really tough and I must have been running around 15 minute miling at that point. I finally got back to the car at 88 minutes and 13 miles behind me. I was covered in mud but luckily I had some dry clothes in the car. The mud had really hardened up on my socks and shorts so much that I couldn't even pick the chunks off. It felt so good to get into some dry shoes and a warm car and head home. I took a nice hot shower and felt so much better.

I made some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and ate it while I did some work on my computer. I took a nice long nap on the sofa and felt a lot better afterwards. I decided to finally unpack my bag from the weekend and get all the loads of washing done before Julie got home. My second run was to be just 30 mins very easy so I was holding off until it stopped raining and lightening to do it. I then got an email about my visa application for going to China. I have been having a really hard time with this as they keep sending me stuff saying that I am missing documents or information. The process was supposed to take around 5 days total and it is already 9 days and I still have other things to be processed so it is going to be very tight to get my passports and visas back to me. The email said that they now needed my US passport as well as another $110 processing fee to prove that I was living in the US legally. They said they only needed a photocopy so I rushed down to the shop to fax them a photo copy only to find that when I got home there was another email saying they needed the actual passport. The shop was now closed so I would have to go first thing in the morning to send it off overnight to arrive on Thursday to be processed. By my calculations and without any more delays, I should have everything back on Monday, the day before I leave for China but knowing what I have already been through I am expecting something else to be thrown into the mix to delay my application further. I don't know what I do if they don't send me back my passport and visa as that means that I can't go to China. I'll just hope for the best and keep pestering them with emails to try and make sure they rush the process.

I went out for my second run with my rain jacket and cap incase it started to rain again and indeed it poured down on me about half way through the run. I was glad I was only going for a short run. The worst part was doing my drills and strides outside of the house when I knew that it was nice and warm inside. Julie was waiting for me with a big towel to dry off with. I quickly had a shower and got changed and then we headed out to my old workplace, Karma Sushi for dinner as we were celebrating 3 years together. We had a great dinner and it felt good to be sitting at the tables rather than serving at it. We ate quite a lot of sushi including my favourite, Albacore Tataki with wasabi aioli. We headed back to the house and caught up on the last 2 episodes of Glee and then headed to bed. The only problem was that the storm outside was very loud with the thunder and lightening going off every 30 seconds or so. It was crazy how long the thunder lasted also. Each time was about 30 seconds of thunder. That made it pretty tough to fall asleep but we eventually managed to. Not for long! We both woke up at around 1am with some more heavy storming going on outside. I think Julie fell back asleep ok but I was awake for about half an hour before nodding off again.

2010-10-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here is another video I did for Mizuno while I was back in St Andrews. They have done some fine editing to remove my shivering and squirming during the takes.

VIDEO

2010-10-05T14:13:00.001-07:00

I managed to sneak in my second run of the day and last one in Louisville before we headed back to Flagstaff on Sunday evening. I ran the same amount of time as I did in the morning but ran a mile further so that was comforting. I actually got back right as we were planning on leaving so I quickly showered, packed the car and said our good byes. We'll see the newly married couple in a few weeks for our wedding so there were no tears between the girls. I drove off down the road realising I had no idea where I was going but we managed to find the airport and return the car safely. The flights back were eventless so they went by pretty quickly. We grabbed some sandwiches from Paradise bakery in the Phoenix airport so we didn't have to wait until we had driven the 2 hours up the road to Flagstaff for food. Julie's parents brought the car to the airport for us so we could leave directly from there and cut a little bit of time off the journey. Julie started the drive so I could eat my food and then we swapped after 30 mins so she could take a nap and eat her food. Once we arrived back at the house we managed to make it into bed and fall asleep within 15 minutes of pulling into the garage because we were so tired. Carlson agreed to push the journey down to Sedona for the morning workout back to 8am so I could get a little more sleep.

I woke up still feeling a little tired but managed to meet Carlson on time and we headed down to Sedona together. Right before we got out of the car I was feeling really sleepy and tired and didn't know if I would make it through the workout. We warmed up and that didn't help matters. I did my drills as best I could and just hoped for the best during the workout. The session was 24*200m with 200m jog, which is one of my favourite workouts, so I knew how to run it and how to get through it successfully. The first 2 reps were just used to getting into the workout and our legs ready and they were run in 32 and 31. The rest of the reps were run in an average of 30 seconds with reps 12 and 24 in 27 seconds to get our legs going a bit. There is something about doing marathon training that really helps me get through every run and workout. I am focused most of the time but during my London build up and since I started training for Fukuoka last week, its like a switch is flicked and I don't let anything get in the way of doing my best every day. We both came out of the workout pleased and headed off on our warm down as usual. We stopped at 9 minutes to have a pit stop and I heard from behind me, Ow! There was a little sprinkling of hail that suddenly turned into a down pour of golf balls on us. We struggled to get back but we managed to keep going because we were laughing so hard at each other. We were constantly squealing like little girls and shouting obscenities as if it was going to make a difference. At about 800m back to the car it all suddenly stopped and the sun came out. Our shoes were destroyed with the mud and we were soaked through to the bone. Luckily we had some dry clothes in the car and we didn't have to walk through Safeway creating a trail of water behind us as we grabbed some food for breakfast.

We got back to Flagstaff just after 12pm and I dumped my stuff on the floor and lay on the bed as I was feeling pretty tired. Next thing I knew it was 3pm! It felt great to have slept so much but now I was in a time crunch as I wanted to run before I met Jason who I coach but I just figured I would wait and do a run afterwards. I made a big cup of Yorkshire tea and felt a lot more awake after that. I headed over to Buffalo Park where Jason was doing hill reps and luckily I brought my rain jacket. It started to sprinkle a little before it turned into a down pour with lightening going off every few seconds. We cut the session short to be safe and I went and picked Julie up from work. I took her back to the house and went over to the gym to get my run on the treadmill as there was no way I was risking my life by running outside! I got 8 miles done and headed back home to a nice dinner of pecan crusted tilapia with potatoes and asparagus that Julie had made for us. We relaxed for a few hours before we headed to bed at 9.30pm. Julie has been feeling a little ill so it was a good idea to get to bed early and have a long nights sleep.

2010-10-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

The wedding yesterday was great. Mike and Erica had a flawless wedding and Julie was doing a great Maid of Honor job and keeping everyone and everything in check. The food was really good with the halibut and salmon being sent down from Alaska where Erica's brother and uncle had caught it all. I was feeling pretty tired during the reception and i'm not a great mingler so I stuck as close to Julie as possible she is an expert at these things. After everything at the hotel was finished, everyone piled into the limo and headed down town to the 21C bar again. I drove the car there so we had some way of getting people back to the house. We ended up leaving about 2am so I could get some sleep and for the third night in a row, passed out immediately.

I woke up at 8am so I could get an hours run in before heading to church. I literally woke up, had a glass of water and a bit of muffin, and then headed out the door. I was running very slowly (which I always like to do on a Sunday) but it seemed slower than usual. I managed to find some rough trails to plod along on and pass the minutes. I managed to run 7 miles in 56 minutes and was happy that I had managed to run nice and slow (I sometimes find this hard at sea level). I quickly had a shower and headed out to the church but we passed another one that had mass at eleven so we headed right to the wedding brunch and chowed down on a major amount of food. The food was so good and I filled myself up tot he point of only being able to have one slice of cheesecake afterwards (that is not like me!). We let everyone to go to mass and then I headed back to the house afterwards to have a nap while Julie helped Erica with odds and ends that needed to be done. I passed out hard again and woke up nice and refreshed after 90 minutes.

Everyone just arrived back at the house so I will go and get my next run done while the bride and groom open their presents and Julie packs up her stuff. One last really hilly run for me! I'm looking forward to getting back to Flagstaff as Carlson and I will start doing our marathon training together tomorrow. I think its 24*200m so that should be fun (one of my favourite workouts). We get back late tonight as we arrive at 8.30pm and then have to drive up the mountain to Flagstaff. I plan to catch up on a lot of sleep over the next week.

2010-10-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

The last 24 hours have been hectic. We are in Louisville, Kentucky as Julie is Maid of Honor for her best friend, Erika and her husband to be, Mike Friedburg. Julie has been rushing about with the girls doing things and I have been trying to be helpful but also stay out of the way and get a little rest in between runs. I had a good second run yesterday and felt pretty strong and loose on the hilly terrain of the nearby parks. As soon as I got back and had done my drills and strides, I had to shower, change and then head straight out the door with all the girls in the car to go to the rehearsal dinner. We arrive right on time at Z's Fusion, a really nice restaurant in the downtown area. I met Steve Slattery (international steeplechaser) there with the rest of the University of Colorado team that were featured in the book "Running with the Buffaloes". Everyone had had a pretty crazy night the night before as it was Mike's bachelor party so I just tried to keep up with the stories of the night being retold.

We sat down to a great dinner (I had the steak of course) and just chatted for the rest of the evening at our table. I was glad of this as I was pretty tired and didn't want to be on my feet. From there we moved down the road to 21C, a hotel/bar/art museum that seriously cool. I had actually seen a bunch of the art before but not up close so it was a great experience. The highlight, for me, was the mens bathroom where you pee against a glass wall that looks out at the guests and passers by. Its a 2 way mirror so they can't see you but it still does enough to make it hard to produce anything! We sat at the bar for a while as I got more and more tired. I was the designated driver so being up so late without copious amounts of alcohol was pretty tough. I slept very well when we got back.

We woke up in the morning when our bodies told us too (9.30am) and Julie brewed up a big pot of coffee while I chowed down on a PowerBar and some PowerBar Endurance drink. After some coffee and answering emails, I drove out to the back side of Seneca Park where there is a flat, one mile grass loop that I was planning on doing most of my long run on so that I could grab my drink every 3 loops. After one lap I was bored and ran a hilly two mile loop that I had found the day before so that made it a little easier on the brain instead of 22 loops. I felt pretty tired for the first 9 miles until I had a caffeinated PowerBar gel and that perked me up a little. The only problem was that as I ripped it off of the bottle, it split down the side and half of the gel went down my chest (I was t shirtless) and I was now very sticky. It started to dry on my chest hair which wasn't pleasant but what made it worse was that my earphone cord was stuck to the hair and my chest. It was pretty annoying but at least the cord wasn't flapping about anymore so I just decided to leave it and get on with my run. I made a decision to skip the next drink as I wanted to run over to the other park close by and get a loop in there. It was very hilly but I knew the route pretty well from the past couple of days runs so I knew where to ease off and where I could roll a little. I got back to the car for my next drink at 15 miles and then just did a few more combinations of the 1 and 2 mile loops. It actually started to get pretty cold and windy in the last 10 minutes of the run so once I was finished I quickly got into my warm ups and got straight to my post run drills and stretching. I was pretty happy with the 22 miles I ran but I knew I was going to suffer later if I didn't get to put my feet up before the wedding.

I got back and showered off all the gel that was all over me and headed out to pick Julie up and grab some food. Just as we headed to get a sandwich, it started to rain and the clouds came over head. This wasn't good news for the wedding as the whole ceremony and reception was supposed to be outside. There is a back up plan to do everything inside so I guess they will have to do that. We got back to the house so that Julie could get ready and I could hopefully rest. FAIL. I had to write out Julie's speech onto note cards and then take her and another bridesmaid back to the venue. Luckily it is only 5 minutes away so I drove back and writing this has been the only time I have managed to get my feet up today. I guess you have to make sacrifices on special days like this for your loved ones so i'm not too bothered. I haven't told Julie yet that I have decided to stick to the training program and do a 25km tempo on the morning of our wedding. Greg offered to change it to mid week but I figured I could get up early and get it out the way and have a rest before I need to be anywhere that day so hopefully that works out! I think I will offer to be the driver again tonight as I have to get an hour run done in the morning before church at 8am as we have a brunch to go to at 10am. Its going to be a long day as we leave Louisville at 5pm (a second run before then also) and get back into Phoenix at 8.30pm. That means we won't get up to Flagstaff until about 11pm so I'm just looking forward to getting a lot of good sleep when I get back.

I'm now looking at the clock and realizing that I have to be at the wedding in 15 minutes so I'd better get into my suit pronto. I'll try update tomorrow if I have time but I probably won't get time until Monday to do so.

2010-10-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is a 3 day update as I have been busy travelling and haven’t had time to get any updates up. I get back to the house on Monday so I can get back to daily updates then.

I arrived at training on Wednesday morning ready to take on the 12 mile steady state that was originally planned for the morning workout. I had felt fine on my second run the night before and woke up feeling almost 100% so I was looking forward to getting back on the marathon program. I left early so I could get a 5 minute jog and then stretch in before the others arrived. Once I got out to Greg’s house, he decided that we should back off of the workout as I would still be feeling the after effects of being ill. He said I should just run 6 miles at a pretty easy pace and call it a day. I was a little bummed not to be getting in the distance but I knew he was right so I was fine with his decision. Once I had warmed up with the guys, I set off on the workout alone (Fasil and James were doing one of their last marathon workouts of 2kms) on the 6 mile steady state around a 1.1 mile loop we call mountain shadows. Greg wanted me to run at around 5.30 pace and so I set off very conservatively and was surprised how easy the first mile of 5.17 felt. I was running with the brakes on and I felt as though I was doing an easy run so I was happy with that. This continued until around mile 4 and although I kept the same pace, it became a little harder as my lack of energy crept in. I finished up fine for the 6 miles in 32.04 and then warmed down with the guys followed by some more stretching. I got home, had a shower and some breakfast and then spent the next 90 minutes trying to sleep but to no avail. Julie and I had slept so much over the past couple of nights that I think I was simply sleeped out. This was probably a good thing as I had a lot to do before Julie got off work and we headed down to Phoenix. I rushed out to the mall to get some suit trousers and then quickly packed my bag (we’re heading to a wedding over the weekend) before heading out for a run on the trails before Buffalo park. It was such a nice day so the run was really enjoyable. I really didn’t feel tired from the morning so that was a good sign that my strength is coming back. I didn’t have time to do any drills or strides after the run as I had to quickly shower before picking Julie up from work and heading down the mountain to Phoenix.

I woke up yesterday morning at 4.50am so that I could get 10 miles in before we left for Louisville, Kentucky for our friends, Erika and Mikes wedding. It was a really nice temperature outside and not the oppressive heat that I am used to running in when I am in Phoenix. I did a few loops of my regular running routes and then quickly showered and ate before we headed out to the airport for our flight at 8.15am. Luckily I now work for Greg and his online coaching business so I’m able to work as long as I have my computer and an internet hook up. This allowed me to design a few training programs on the flight and kill some time before catching our next flight in Memphis.

We arrived there around 4.50pm and made out way to the rental car area. I had booked a car from National and I was pleasantly surprised when they told me that the car I was supposed to get wasn’t back yet so would I mind if I got a free upgrade to a Buick Lacrosse or a Chevy Camaro…Um, Camaro please! Julie looked at me very strangely as she had no idea what either of the cars were. She quickly got the gist when we got to the car and there was a shiny transformer ready to be driven off. We headed out to Cherokee Park where Erica was having a BBQ with her family and friends and the first thing I noticed was how many runners and cyclists there were. This made it easy for me to quickly get changed and follow the hoards around the park to get my second run in. It was, however, very hilly and I was tired from the start (probably from the early morning and travel also). I just jogged around and tried to familiarize myself with the area as I would probably have to do my long run here on Saturday. I stopped after 50 minutes and guzzled down some food at the BBQ before we headed off to Erica and Mike’s house. It turned out it was just half a mile away from the park so at least I had somewhere to run all weekend. We all showered and headed out for a quick celebratory drink before crashing hard in bed.

I woke up this morning to bright sunshine blasting through the windows. There were no curtains so it was nice way to wake up but when I looked at my watch it said it was 4.30am. I was a little annoyed as I wanted to sleep a lot longer until I realized that I hadn’t put my watch forward yet and it was actually 7.30am. Better… Julie and I headed out to a local coffee shop to wake up a little before I went out for an 80 minute run around the area. I wanted to scout out a flatter option for my long run and finally found a 1 mile loop at an adjoining park that would make my life a little easier tomorrow morning. It’s going to mean a lot of loops but there are a few detours I can take to make things a little more interesting instead of the dizzying thought of 22 loops. I felt pretty tired for the first 30 minutes of the run until the coffee kicked in and I started to feel a lot better. I finally shifted out of first gear and got rolling on the hills before heading back to the house. The girls were all heading out the door to get their nails done so that left me with an quiet, empty house to fall asleep and rest in for a few hours before I head out for a second run. Erica informed that they don’t have an iron in the house so hopefully I won’t look too tatty at the posh restaurant we’re going to.

I think there is a pre wedding long run tomorrow morning (both Mike and Erica were good collegiate runners and are now bike nuts) for the guests and friends so hopefully I can persuade someone to give me my drinks and gels on my run. If not, I guess I will just stick to the mile loop and grab my drink from the car every 3 laps.

We fly back on Sunday evening to Phoenix and then either have a late night drive up the mountain or a very early start as both Julie and I have to be at work and training at 8am.

I may not be able to update the blog over the next few days as we’ll be busy with the wedding but I’ll certainly have something up on Monday. I hope everyone has a good weekend and enjoys the autumn weather!

Blog season starts again

2010-09-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

I'm back to blogging now that i'm starting my next marathon cycle in preparation for the Fukuoka marathon on December 5th. The start of the program was yesterday and it turned out to be a day off as me and 9 other friends and team mates all had a stomach flu which kept us all in bed. Julie also got it and somehow managed to stay at work for half a day before being sent home. I on the other was either in bed or lying on the sofa watching TV. I had been waking up during the night and running to the toilet but didn't feel too bad but once we woke up, Julie was sick and she suggested I get a finger down my throat to see if it made me feel any better. I literally walked into the bathroom, saw the bowl and started something that replicated a volcano. It did, however make me feel a little better and I thought I could muster a jog. As I was putting my shoes on though, I started to feel achy but decided to press on as the weather was great and I thought the fresh air would help. I jogged to the trail in front of the house and at 38 seconds stopped and walked back. Now the pain started to kick in. I forced some cereal down my throat and tried to sleep in front of the TV. I didn't have much success with this so I finally got round to watching this years London marathon. It was really interesting how things panned out at the front of the field and I took a few notes on how the leaders handled different situations. Julie finally came home and we managed to take a nap which helped a huge amount and made me feel at least half alive. For the next 2 hours I was running around town trying to get all my forms and documents together for my visa for China. The guys at UKA had been sending me forms but they had all gone to my junk mail and I just happened to catch one before I deleted it. I was a bit panicked as I only had a couple of days to get everything as the Chinese consulate is shut for 10 days due to a national holiday. This means i'm still cutting it close but hopefully it arrives in time. Just as I arrived home, I started to feel bad again so we had some soup and bread, lots of water, watched an episode of Chopped and then headed to bed at 8.30pm.

This morning was a lot better after sleeping for 11 hours. We didn't feel great but at least we could get on with our days without too much pain. I managed to get out for a very slow 90 mins on the trails which made me feel good mentally but as soon as I got out of the shower after the run, I started to get chills and couldn't stop shivering. I managed to get a little food down before heading to bed to try and sleep it off. It took a long while but I think I managed about an hour of sleep and then it took another 30 mins to actually get out of bed. What did make me feel better was a nice cup of Yorkshire tea that I had brought back with me. I'll try and get out for another run later to see how I feel and hopefully I can do the scheduled 12 mile steady state run tomorrow morning.

Last week's race (Great North Run) was a disaster for me. As good as I was feeling in the lead up and as mentally ready as I was, the last 12 hours before the race really messed things up. For no apparent reason, I fell asleep at 11pm and woke up 12am and was then awake until the start of the race. This meant that it was tiring just trying to warm up, never mind racing fast. I also made the mistake of drinking too much coffee before the race just to try and get my body at a normal status and this lead to me being dehydrated throughout the race. I started to feel dizzy and confused at around 5 miles and it took a lot of mental strength to make it to the finish. I'll learn from the experience and try to never let that happen again.

The next few days after the race was just all easy running and recovering. I had a good night out with friends in Edinburgh and then hopped on the plane the next day to Phoenix. I stayed the night there with Julie's parents as I didn't want to drive up the road tired and got a good nights sleep. It was so good to finally get back to Julie and stay in my own bed again. It really wasn't a long trip back to the UK but it felt like a long two weeks.

Saturday's long run was really encouraging for me as I felt really good and ran fast without pushing myself at all. We ran at a place called A1 and it is an out and back run with 7 miles up hill, a hilly 7 mile loop at the top and then 7 miles back down to the start. Everyone else was running a lot shorter so I put my ipod on and just got into my own pace from the start. I felt like I was cruising the whole was never trying to run fast, I was just going with how my body felt. I ran the 21 miles faster than I ever had and didn't really feel tired afterward. This let me know that I am pretty fit and ready for the training that awaits me.

So day 1 of marathon training was seriously bad, day 2 a little bit better, hopefully everyday from here on out will just keep getting better and better. At least I got the flu on day one rather than right before the race.

9/16/20

2010-09-16T00:29:00.000-07:00

Below is a short video clip I did for Mizuno a couple of days ago, discussing training and the Great North Run

Click Here

9/11/10

2010-09-11T01:21:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a terrible job of updating this blog but now that I'm back in Scotland for a little while i'll try and get some more entries in.

Training has been going well and looking back over my training log it looks as though things have been consistently going well for a long time now so i'm looking forward to putting that to good use with a good race next week.

I returned to the UK last Saturday as I was racing in the Great Yorkshire Run in Sheffield on the Sunday. I didn't know how this would work out for me as I haven't ever flown in the day before (usually i'll fly 2 days before so as to have a rest day once I get to the venue but that usually means I sleep well the first night and not a wink the next). Surprisingly I didn't sleep much the night before the race but it actually didn't seem to affect me as I felt pretty good in the morning and just replaced lack of sleep with coffee. I went through a whole pot of coffee when I went down to breakfast and that seemed to work a treat. The race course is an out and back and for about the first mile you are running downhill. I had run this course a couple of years ago so I knew what to expect and to not get carried away for the first half of the race. We quickly got into a good rhythm with Chris Thompson leading a group of 5 of us through 5km in 14.08. This felt very easy so I was thinking that I could run a pretty significant PR if things continued this way, even with the long hill at the end. Well that was quickly dispersed from my mind when we made the turn around and hit a really strong wind. I hadn't noticed how strong it was as it was just pushing us along for the first half but as we ran back to the town, it felt as though we were running at a snails pace. I hit the front for a little while as everyone was looking at each other to lead and I didn't mind as I had tucked in for the first half. I say that, but after 1km of being in the lead I quickly got sick of it and stepped off to the side to get someone else to lead. The lead changed hands a good few times before Chris made a move with 2km to go and 3 of us followed. Everything in my head was telling me how little running time I had left and just to be strong on the long steep hill at the end but it didn't work as I was dropped on the first of the hills with a mile to go. I finished up well and came 4th in a time of 29.08 which I was fine with but Chris and Mottram had run 28.50 so they must have been attacking each other over that last km. It was good to catch up with everyone there and get my legs moving quickly so soon after my flight so the race served its purpose well. A few hours after the race, I jumped on the train up to Edinburgh and stayed with my best man, AC so we could catch up and talk shop for a while. To help tackle the effects of jet lag, I had to stay up as late as possible that night so we ended up chatting until 4am!

I woke up the next day at 1pm feeling really fresh with no soreness in my legs from the race. After heading over to AC's restaurant, Illegal Jacks and saying good bye, i jumped on the bus to Perth to stay with my dad for a few days. He picked me up from the bus depot and dropped me off in town so I could run the 8 miles from the city to his house over the back roads. I hadn't done this run in about 8 years so it was good to get out there again. Its a really hilly run and this was perfect as that made sure I was running slow enough to recover from the race the day before. The road runs along the hilltops so you can see over the valley so that made it very enjoyable. The next day wasn't so nice. I woke up to torrential rain thundering on my window and about 10m visibility. I sat in the kitchen with a coffee hoping that it was going to calm down outside by the time I decided to run. It didn't! I figured I was going to soaked either way so headed out with the hope that I would make it back without turning into a prune. I got through about 25 mins of the run without too much trouble as it was fairly shaded with trees but after that it became very miserable. I didn't have a cap on (a beanie instead - big mistake) so I had to shade my face with both hands just enough to see that the rain was horizontal. I nearly turned around but was determined to get out to 50 minutes and turn then as I would have the wind with me after that. Those last few hundred meters were just dire. Anyway...I got to the turn around and coasted home as the wind pushed me back to the house in 43 mins and I could finally dry off. Needless to say that I fell asleep for a good 2 hours after that and waited for my dad to get home from work so we could go to the gym and do my second run there. I just kept to it an easy 4 miles as I started to feel a little light headed and then lifted afterwards. It felt good to get the weights done as i'm pretty sure I won't get into the gym for the rest of my trip home.

I headed through to St Andrews the next day to stay with Ronnie (my old coach) and get some running on the golf courses and beach done. I always love coming back to do that run as its really scenic no matter what the weather. i met my mum and campbell in the evening and had a good dinner with them down town. Somehow the jet lag kicked back in that night and I didn't fall asleep until 3.30am. This meant I just slept late and did my first run at 12pm. I would have done my workout but I felt pretty tired so just kept it easy and decided to do the workout later on once I got through to Edinburgh. I was going back through to hang out with AC and to meet a friend of mine from school. The work out went well (1 min hard, 1min easy fartlek) even though I was feeling tired. I was moving quickly and covering a lot of ground so that gave me confidence for next weeks race. I caught up with an old school friend and training partner, Jonny Seeley over a pint and he filled me in on all the details over everything thats been going on over this way while i've been gone.

Saturday morning I slept in a little and then headed out for a 90 minute run with the last 2 miles hard. It was a weird run as I kept having to stop and pee but at least that meant that I was hydrated. I didn't feel great for the first half an hour but once I hit the canal and headed back towards town I felt miles better and starting moving well. I got to the Meadows (a popular training area in the city) and started my pick up. I didn't push it too hard and felt pretty easy doing it. I finished up there as there was an east of Scotland training day going on so I said a few hi's and then got on with my drills and stretches. then jogged the 5 minutes back to AC's apartment to get showered and changed. I'm now just sitting in the restaurant with my feet up before I head back through to St Andrews for another few days.

This weeks training won't be too hard with the race on Sunday so i'll just be resting up and strolling around St Andrews for most of the time. I have a photo and video shoot with Mizuno on Tuesday so that should be good and then i'll head down to Newcastle on Friday.

I hope everyones training is going well and i'll update you all later on in the week.

9/20/10

2010-08-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Below is the race report from the Beach to Beacon 10km that I raced a couple of weeks ago. I meant to post it when I got back from the race but we still haven't got internet in our house so when I go somewhere for internet it tends to be just to do some work.

Last weekend Julie and I went to Las Vegas for her birthday surprise weekend. We had a really great time and I did some good running while I was there so that was a bonus. We ate really well the whole time we were there and went to see Lady Gaga in concert.

This weeks training has gone well and i'm looking forward to get a good final 2 weeks of hard training before I return to the UK. I can feel the fitness coming back and my strength also as I have been on a good routine in the gym. We had a good time on Wednesday down in Sedona doing a 10*800m workout with most of them in 2.12 and finishing with a 2.02 (65, 57). That let me know that my speed hasn't disappeared. Next week will be a tough one with a long hill circuit on Monday (which I am always really tired after) and then coming back on Wednesday for a 5 mile tempo run.

Beach to Beacon Report:

This weekend I headed out to Portland, Maine for the Beach to Beacon 10km. The week leading up to it wasn’t great with me feeling tired pretty much everyday for some reason. I guess the body just goes through some phases sometimes so I ended up taking a day off when I was travelling out to the East coast. I actually had no choice in this decision in the end as I had to leave Phoenix on a 6 am flight to Atlanta. I was supposed to be landing into Boston at 4 pm but there were weather delays and we ended up circling the area for an hour. The pilot then came onto the radio to let us know that we would have to make a stop somewhere to refuel. We landed at a small airport and got up in the air again within an hour and I finally landed in Boston at 7 pm. After a little wondering about the airport with the elite coordinator for the race, Larry Barthlow, he ended up sticking me in a stretch limo for the 1 hour 40 minute drive to Cape Elizabeth. I was met at the drop off by my host family, the Milliards and we headed straight back to the house where I passed out pretty quickly as I had been up since 4 am.

The next morning I took a run along the course (our house was at 4.7 miles) and found out that the race wasn’t going to be too easy. The last 2km is up and down the whole way with a steep stinger of a hill with about 600m to go. The finish is at Fort Williams (a WW2 fort) where there is a lighthouse and you can see all around the surrounding areas. I got back and had a quick shower and breakfast before we headed out to the press conference. I met a few runners that I knew and caught up with Lee Troop who had been staying in Flagstaff just a month before. We were all introduced to the press and I quickly realised that there were some very stellar athletes in the field and it would make for a great race. There was Gebre Gebremerrian and Martin Lel for starters and then a plethora of other Africans that I hadn’t heard of but had some great credentials. I managed to get a massage after our photos were taken which help a lot with my tight back and glutes from the previous day’s travelling. I then spent most of the day getting some work done on my computer and going for a short walks on the small beach that was across the road from the house I was staying in. I had a great dinner with all the Milliards at night and headed to bed early as I would have to be getting up early again for the race.

I woke up at 5 am and headed downstairs to make some coffee and have a bagel and banana. Before I knew it, it was time to leave for the race and so we all climbed in the car (the Milliard’s son and daughter in law were running the race also) and were dropped off at the start line. Martin Fagan was already there and looking pretty cold as he didn’t bring warm ups with him. I gave him a jacket and we just chatted for a little while as everyone started to arrive at the elite area. I did my usual warm up routine of a short jog before I did some stretching and then heading off for a 15 minute jog.

The race started on a downhill so I was pretty surprised that were didn’t go through the first mile much quicker than we did (4.30). Almost as soon as we passed the clock, the leaders picked up the pace and Martin and I just hung onto the surge as it calmed back down before we hit the hilly sections of the course. The second mile was 4.40 and then the going got tough. The course basically undulates for the rest of the race and it’s really hard to get into a rhythm as you keep having to go up and down. I consider myself a good downhill runner but I wasn’t making any impact on those in front of me as the constant change in grade was killing everything I had in my legs. It was almost a bad thing that I knew what was to come over the last 2km as I think I held a little back so I could try and attack then. I did actually drop Sammy Nderaba (Catherine’s brother) and nearly caught another guy. With about 800m to go, the crowd gets really loud as they are lining the streets about 5 people deep. The course also starts to wind around the fort and the road gets thinner so you can’t see if you are catching anyone or not. I crossed the line in 28.58 for 11th place and just out of the prize money. The most positive note that I could take from the race was that even though I didn’t run particularly well, I was still able to break 29 minutes so that is a big improvement on the last few year where I was stuck at 29.15.

After warming down and watching the presentation, my host family and I walked back to the house where we all crashed for a few hours. I went for another run later on just to get the crap out of my legs and explored another part of town. I got back just in time to get showered and head out to the party that was being held on a private estate by a secluded beach. We were treated to a great Lobster dinner and some good beers so it felt really good to relax and have a good time.

The next morning was no fun at all as I had to get up at 4 am for my flight back to Phoenix. I did however set a personal record of how many naps I took during the day. I had a 2 hour nap on the first flight to Atlanta. I then slept for 30 minutes on my flight to Phoenix. Once I had driven back to Flagstaff I had another 2 hour nap! I then promptly fell asleep while watching a film with Julie later on in the evening. It was a really long weekend but I really loved it and will definitely be back in the future.

My next races will be the Great Yorkshire Run and the Great North Run in September. I am looking forward to going home for a couple of weeks and running well in the half marathon.

Mizuno Link

2010-08-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here is some work I did with my Sponsor, Mizuno back in April while I was the London Marathon Expo.

http://www.mizuno.eu/eu-eng/news/running/london-marathon/

7/27

2010-07-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

So I have been trying to get another few videos up but as I have just moved house, we haven't set up internet yet so hopefully in a couple of weeks I can get them going on a regular basis.

Training is going well and i'm looking forward to racing again next week in Portland, Maine at the Beach to Beacon 10km. It'll be nice to break up the training before going into some heavy half marathon work. I'm trying to get into the Great North Run right now so I should be back in the UK in September. I may also race 2 weeks before, either in Yorkshire (Great Yorkshire Run) or Tilburg, NED (Tilburg10km) so I will be away from home for a little while if this is the case. This will all lead up to my next marathon which is going to be the Fukuoka marathon on December 5th. It was a tough decision which marathon I was going to run (Chicago or Fukuoka) but it the end I had to go with my gut feeling. I am excited about running in Japan again and running against some great competitors. They are setting up the race to so that we will reach the half way mark at 64 mins so I am looking forward to being in the mix and racing the last half of the race. The only downside of doing this race is that my wedding is 2 weeks before but Julie will be happy that I won't be drunk! She has been very understanding about doing the race after the wedding and actually encouraged me to run it. This means that I won't be running on my honeymoon (after the marathon) so I can truly relax and not worry about training. 6 weeks before the marathon, I am hoping to run the first Rock 'n' Roll LA Half Marathon. It fits perfectly into the training and its not that far away so that will be a good race to see how I am going on the lead up to the marathon.

We have completed moving into our house now and we are so happy with it. I love the kitchen and its so much easier to cook in there rather than the cramped apartment we were in before. Its still going to take a few weeks to sort everything out but once we do, I will get some photos or video up on here.

It was great to see the result of the European champs 10km this afternoon with a GB 1-2 even though it was disappointing not be there. Hopefully the selectors will have faith in me the next time.

I'll take my video camera with me to the race next week so will try and get some footage from the race for you all.

I'm now off to bake a cake now as its Julie's birthday. I've managed to get some crunchies and maltesers from the UK (Julie's favourite) to put on top of the cake so hopefully I won't ruin the cake part!

2010-07-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ready for a new home!

2010-06-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a little while as I have been busy with training, work, racing and house arrangements. Everything is calming down a little but it is going to get busy again as we close on our home next week and I will have to start moving everything into the new house. I also head off to Atlanta on next Friday for the famous Peachtree Road Race (10km) which takes place on Sunday 4th of July.

Training has been going well and my speed is coming around now. Its funny how all the marathon training I did has translated into giving me a lot of speed. I guess the saying that your strength is your speed is totally true. We have been more track based workouts as Greg and I had discussed as I would like to be in good 5km/10km shape before I go into the next marathon training phase.

I had my first race back since the marathon last week in Peoria, Illinois at the Steamboat Classic 4 mile road race. I travelled over a couple days before the race and was taken back by how bad I felt when I got there. I was wanting to run for around 60 mins when I got there but it ended up being 20 mins and a walk back to the hotel as my body wasn't responding. I decided not to push it and figured it was just reacting to the high heat and humidity. Luckily, I felt ok the next day and ran around the course with Ian. The race itself went well as I placed 5th in 18.04. I was 3rd with 100m to go but a couple of Africans had sat behind me and took off to beat me by a second in the end. It felt good to run well in my first race as I usually don't run too well on my first outing. I did think it wasn't going too well during the first mile though as the start is on an uphill and I was breathing incredibly hard. I realised everyone else was too so I wasn't too worried as we passed the mile marker in 4.26. I felt more and more comfortable as the race went on and passed 5km in 14.09. I decided to push the pace with 800m to go and it almost worked out well but it wasn't enough to shake the 2 guys off my back. The race brochure said that the Scottish record was 18.33 before so I guess that would be my first (unofficial) Scottish record. It was a good weekend as we were treated to a baseball game on the evening after the race with all we could eat and drink. The night was concluded with Jorge Torres and I pairing up to be unstoppable at the pub game, Bags. I left the next day to head back to Arizona but I got back late so I stayed in Phoenix with Julie's parents and left in the morning after an easy 40 min run.

The whole time I was away, Flagstaff was on fire. A big forest fire broke out on the south side of town and was pretty much controlled by the next morning only to be outdone by an even bigger fire on the mountainside north of town. It was slowly being put out and dying down but as I woke up from my nap today, I stepped outside to find the whole mountainside was ablaze again. The wind picked up and in a matter of an hour, the fire was out of control. Town seems to be pretty safe as the wind is blowing the fire north easterly but you just don't know what is going to happen.

We are getting ready to close on our house in the next week. Everything is looking great and we are getting excited to see how close to finishing the builders are. I think with Julie being at work all day, I will be doing a lot of the moving in myself but I guess I have to pull my weight sometime! Luckily we don't have a huge amount of stuff so it should be easy enough to transport everything over but organising it might be a different story. At least we both have our own closets so that will ease the matter. I will also have my own office to do my work out of so that will be a great place to just focus in. We bought a great sectional sofa a couple of weeks ago so that is also going to be fantastic to relax on. I now have to get all the home insurance sorted in case that fire comes down the mountain!

I had a good talk with my agent last week and it looks like I will be running the Chicago marathon but there also may be a possibility of doing Fukuoka but that is after the wedding so I would prefer not to have to worry about training hard during that time. Hopefully i'll find out in the next couple of weeks.

I hope everyone is training well and enjoying the summer sun!

6/3 to 6/9

2010-06-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Thursday – It was another early morning on Thursday so that I could get down to Sedona before it got really hot. I managed to get there for 8.30am but it was already hot so I ended up sweating quite a bit when I was doing my stretching as the fake turf was getting up to cooking point. The warm up wasn’t too bad as the warm up trail was under the shadow of a big hill. I wasn’t feeling too perky when I was getting on with the first rep but as I was going to be on the track for a while, I knew I would start to feel better. The session was 8*800 with 400m rec (in about 3 mins), starting at 10km pace and working down to 5km pace. I ran the first rep in an easy 2.14 but the legs just weren’t used to it yet so the next one in 2.10 helped me to get my body into a good rhythm for the hard efforts. From here on out the workout got pretty hard and I had to use a lot of mental tricks to get me through it. I ran 2.08s for the remaining reps and it was surprising how tough it got towards the end. There was no problem with breathing but my legs were getting tired very quickly. All in all, it was a good workout and I had a really nice sit in the creek afterwards before I headed back up the road to Flagstaff.

I missed my evening run as we were at Home Depot for close to 3 hours picking out lights and fans for the house. This process was a lot tougher than I imagined with all the choices and budget restrictions. We came away with some nice stuff so I just hope it looks good in the house.

Friday – I only had a couple of easy runs on the cards today so I could recover well from yesterday and run well on tomorrows long run.

Every first Friday of the month, there is a downtown art walk and tonight was the busiest I had ever seen. It was simply packed so we let Julie’s parents walk around while we caught up with some friends and had some drinks out on the patio of one of the central restaurant patios. The weather was gorgeous so it made the evening really nice. We had dinner at Mountain Oasis and it was amazing. I got a Prime Rib that was fantastic (I always order this whenever I see it on a menu) and everyone else was really happy with their choices. With the amount of wine we had that night, we simply passed out once we got back to the house!

Saturday – We met out a A1 mountain road at 8am for the long run and the temperature was already creeping up. Luckily, no one was going super long so we wouldn’t suffer too much. I ran with the guys for first 9 miles and then picked the pace up for the last 7 miles. The first 9 miles were in around 61 mins and I ran the last 7 miles in 37 mins. It felt good to be running quickly on this run and I was really able to open my stride up in a few sections.

We all headed to out breakfast afterwards which did a great job of filling me up and then I headed back home while everyone else went down to the creek for the day. I can’t actually remember what I did for the rest of the day but I do know it was a hot day.

In the evening, Julie, me and her parents went to a wine tasting and then had dinner at a Greek restaurant. It was a really nice evening and a good way to finish off the weekend with Julie’s parents (they were leaving early the next morning).

Sunday – I woke up pretty early on Sunday and drove out to Country Club and met Lee Troop and Craig Mottram for their long run. We headed into the trail system out there and just ran easily. I was finishing after 60 mins so we went back by their apartment to drop me off and so that they could grab a drink before heading off for the rest of the run.

Julie and I went back out to the furniture store to try and haggle the price of a sectional down but weren’t too successful in getting the guy to budge on the price so we are going to try again later on in the week.

Monday – We met at one of the high school tracks so we could all do our workouts. It was quite strange that all of had workouts to do but only 2 people had the same one to do so we were pretty spread out. Greg must have had quite the time trying to time everyone. I was just doing a short speed workout of 14*200m hard with 200m easy. I ran 30, 30, 29, 29, 28, 28, 28, 28, 27, 27, 27, 27, 26, 27. It felt pretty easy and relaxed so hopefully that will set me up for a good workout on Thursday.

I didn’t do too much for the rest of the day apart from sleep and recover! Its been pretty tough to be in the house as we don’t have air conditioning and its been getting pretty warm during the day. This is the case even more at night and Julie and I are now sleeping with 2 fans on while we sleep! Its pretty noisy but we’re used to it now so it doesn’t bother us at all.

Tuesday – Today was a good and busy day. I was late to the run as I thought it was at 8.30am but I hadn’t realised that it had changed to 8am. I just ran alone on the Fort Tuthill trail and was feeling pretty good so ran at a decent pace. I went out for the first 5 miles in 32 mins and came back in 28 mins. We then headed over to the Pro Formance training facility so we could do some core and strength training. For some reason I couldn’t sleep after this so just got on with a lot of chores around town before I headed out to Greg’s house for a meeting with him. I was really tired for the second run so I just ran very easily from the apartment up to Buffalo park, one lap of it and back.

New interview

2010-06-03T07:08:00.001-07:00

Here is an interview I did a couple of weeks ago:

Interview

2/6/10

2010-06-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

The past 5 days have been a bit up and down for me as I have had to really listen to my body and rest when I needed to. Thursday and Friday were just easy days for me although I did my strides on Friday on an incline which quickly tired me out! I also left work after just 2 hours on Thursday as my stomach was bothering me and I felt like I was going to be sick. I kept having to run to the bathroom so my workmates were kind enough to let me go home and try and sort it out. I was fine by the next day so I don't know what was wrong.

Julie and I headed down to Phoenix again on Friday as it was going to be a long weekend (Julie had Monday off of work for Memorial day) so we left right after she finished work. We grabbed a great dinner at Burritos Fiesta before we left Flagstaff. I had an amazing Burrito so that made me very happy! We got down the road quickly and relaxed outside in the back garden with Julie's parents.

I woke up at 7am the next morning so I could get out to do a long run before it got too hot. I set out with the idea of doing 15 miles at a good pace but as soon as I got to the first hill I could really feel my left hamstring pulling so I eased off the pace and stopped at an hour of running to be safe.

After some breakfast, Julie, Cory (Julie's younger brother) and I headed out to Scottsdale to meet Michael (Julie's older brother). We first headed over to a supplement store that was doing a promotional day with lots of free stuff. They gave me a bag of stuff but I gave it to Michael as a quick glance at most of the products showed that I would fail a drug test if I took them. We then headed over to a kilt hire place to get the guys fitted for kilts as they will need them for the wedding. It was run by a typically Scottish guy and the guys seemed like they had fun trying them on. After doing that we headed over and had a spot of lunch before heading to the Phoenix rock gym. This is a big rock climbing gym located in Tempe and I had been here once before when Julie and I took my sister and her husband back in November. As usual it was a lot of fun and very tiring but Julie and I both managed to climb a rope (something neither of us had done before) and Cory had fun on the hanging rings. We also had a little speed competition at the end of the day and you can see how it went below.

We all headed back to Julie's parent's house and had dinner while watching the Phoenix Suns lose to the LA Lakers for the Western conference title. This was a good point to head back out to Scottsdale to head out with Michael and some friends. We had a good night but did get to bed pretty late.

We woke up pretty late the next day and it was already far too hot to run so we headed out to meet Julie's high school coach who I had never met before. We had a good talk before heading out to lunch at a mongolian grill. This place was amazing! You get a big bowl and fill it with all the ingredients you can and then they cook it up for you. I thought I was going to be really full and not be able to eat much dinner but because its mostly vegetables, you are fine by dinner time and ready to eat again. Once we got back, Tim (Julie's coach) sat me down and grilled me on a lot about what drives me to be a good runner and where I get my motivation from. This was really good as he made me realise a lot of things that I had never thought about but because I was verbalising it I was realising why I became a good runner and how and why I interact with all my coaches (past and present).

I intended to get a good run done once the sun had gone down but I was really tired and with my hamstring still tight, I decided to take the day off and let it rest.

I woke up a little late on Monday morning so it was already 100F when I headed out to get my workout done. I was lucky that it was a speed session of 3*300m hard, 200m jog, 200m hard, 200m jog, 100m hard, 400m jog and it wasn't going to take long so I was happy about that. I shortened the warm up to 15 mins as I was sweating like crazy and was beginning to get tired. I did my usual drills and started the workout feeling pretty rusty. I ran 46 secs, 30 secs and 14 secs for the first set and I decided that wasn't good enough so I picked it up each rep after that. I ran 44 secs, 29 secs, and 13secs and felt much better. The final set went well and I ran 41 secs, 26 secs, and 13 secs. I was happy with the way it went as I felt fine running at speed and I wasn't exhausted after it (Greg told me to save something for the workout on Wednesday). THe rest of the day was spent relaxing and doing crosswords by the pool as Julie and her mum went to see the new Sex in the City film. I headed out for my second run around 5pm and it was still blazing hot. It was fine though as there was a bit of a wind and that was cooling me off nicely. After a great dinner of steak, corn on the cob and leftovers, we drove back up the mountain and unpacked.

I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling pretty tired so went out to the gym and ran out on Woody Mountain Road. I started out slow as I was against the wind and feeling tired but after around 3 miles I started to feel ok and by the time I turned around I was flying along. I finished the run feeling good and went into the gym to get my core workout done.

After a nice sleep, I headed out again for a second run at 2pm as I had work at 3.30pm. I was a little tired but I expected that and I just took it nice and easy. I headed into work and it actually turned out to be pretty busy for a Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning was a bit of a disaster for me as I was supposed to be doing a workout but I felt how tired my legs were right when I stepped out of bed. I went out to Trina's loop with the intention of getting a workout done but just ended up running nice and easy with Carlson. I really needed this and i'm now looking forward to doing a good workout tomorrow on the track. I have to head out for my second run early again as I have work again but then I have the rest of the week off.

Olympic Closing Ceremony

2010-05-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the shaky video but I was a bit taken back by what I was experiencing. Walking into that stadium was one of the best moments of my life and can only imagine what it will feel like in London!

5/26/10

2010-05-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've had some really good training since the last blog. Saturday morning was a 15 mile long run down in Phoenix which meant that I could run at a faster pace than usual. Julie wasn't going to be out on the bike so I used a running belt with 2 bottles on it so that I wouldn't get too dehydrated while I was out there. NEVER AGAIN!!! Although I had never run with a belt before, I always made fun of them because I always see people wearing them for short runs (when they won't lose a lot of sweat) and the bottles are always full. The belt was terrible. If there is any difference in the weight of the bottles, the belt swings around and becomes very uncomfortable. I ended up getting back to the house at 10 miles so that I could drop the belt and get on with some good running. I had actually had to dump all the water out of the belt bottles so that it would stop swinging around my body. I guess it wasn't designed for the pace I was running. I got to 14 miles in 80 mins and jogged the last mile to finish in 87 mins. I jumped into the pool right away as it was starting to get really hot outside. Julie and I spent the rest of the day walking around IKEA and seeing if there was anything we would need for the house. We also met with our mortgage broker and signed a lot of paperwork.

Sunday was a nice recovery day with only one run of 6 miles in the morning. It was good to just turn off and let my legs just tick over. It was pretty windy so it didn't feel that hot. After church we headed over to Mesa were we are having the wedding and checked out the hotels that we can recommend to our guests.

I had the track in Sedona on Monday morning with a session of 1 mile threshold, 12*400m with 200m jog rec, 1 mile threshold. It felt really good to be doing some speed work and to get the spikes on. Both of the miles were run in 4.40 and I averaged 63's for the 400m's until the last 3 when Greg said that I was to run under 60. I ran 60, 59, 58. I think this was the first time in a year where i had broken 60 secs for a lap as we have been staying away from the track. I love getting aggressive in track sessions as I always feel that these help me to get fit and my confidence level high. I knew my calves were going to be tight as I wore spikes but it was worth it. I wore my new Mizuno Chrono Distance spikes nd they were amazing. It felt like I was running barefoot and I gripped to the track more than any other spike I have use before. Mizuno have really got the spike thing down with these shoes so I'm looking forward to racing in them some time. The rest of the day was crammed as I got back and had a quick nap before heading out for a second run at 1.45pm. I had to run really early because I was having a meeting with Greg and then heading straight to work. The meeting went well as we planned my racing and training plan. The races I will be racing are: Steamboat Classic 4 mile, Peachtree 10km, Beach to Beacon 10km, Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach half marathon and then a marathon in October some time. We will be doing a lot of track and speed based work during the next few months to get my legs ready for the fast races and to have the leg speed to go into the marathon phase of training with the ability to run quickly. Work was pretty boring as there weren't a lot of customers in but it meant that I could get home a little earlier than usual.

I met up with the everyone on Tuesday morning out at Cheshire to run the trails. I ran on my own most of the run as I was wanting to run a little harder than the others. I finished the 10 miles in 64 mins and did some drills before we all headed into town to meet at Pro Formance Personal training gym who have been kind enough to let us use one of their rooms to do our core and circuit work. I got a quick nap in after this and again headed out early for a second run as I had work at 3.30pm.

This morning I had a session of 2*4 mile Steady state reps with 3 mins recovery at Buffalo Park. I was feeling pretty tired but once I got going I was fine. Nick was doing a 6 mile tempo so I joined him for the first 4 miles of that and ran 5.03, 5.19, 5.15, 5.15 (20.52). The first mile is always fast as we are running with the wind for the first half mile and then when we turn back into the wind, we are running downhill so it evens out. The second mile is pretty exposed and we were getting hit hard with the wind and then of course you have to run the steep hill right before you finish the loop which usually slows you down by about 10 seconds for the mile. The second rep went well and I ran splits of 5.02, 5.20, 5.05, 5.05 for a total time of 20.32. I was happy with the way it went and at no time did I feel like I was working really hard to hit the times so that was a good sign. The rest of the day I am going to be relaxing and then moving a lot of my stuff out of Martin's garage and moving over to Julie's parent's new townhouse which is just a couple of blocks away. Its going to be good having a night off of work to relax and not be rushing about. We're heading down to Phoenix again this weekend as Julie has a long weekend off of work so i'm looking forward to having another fast long run in the heat!

5/21/10

2010-05-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

I've been sleeping a lot again as training has picked up and i'm hitting the gym again. When I was a FSU I would always pass out for a couple of hours after I got back from the morning run and gym workout and that is happening again...and it feels good! I have eased the gym sessions this week as its my first week back and I didn't want to be sore all week. I also did a good 6 mile steady state run on Wednesday with Ian up at Buffalo Park. Greg wanted us to start out very easy so we did the first 2 mile loop in 10.40 before picking the pace. Unfortunately this was the point when the wind really picked up and although we were running hard, the times weren't that fast. It seemed like the whole way around the loop we were running into a strong wind. We finished in 31.06 which was fine as it didn't feel too hard until the last mile.

Yesterday mornings bagel run was good as there were quite a few people there and that always makes for a good atmosphere. I ran with Nick for the run and headed out on some trails that I haven't run since last year. When I got back I was greeted by a box from Mizuno that had some new spikes in it. They felt great when i put them on so I'm looking forward to trying them out in the next couple of weeks. They are almost like a racing flat with spikes in them.

Julie and I are heading down to Phoenix again this weekend as we need to meet up with our mortgage lender and look for some furniture for the house. The only problem with this is that its close to 100F down there so running is going to be a very sweaty activity! I actually don't mind running in the heat so it shouldn't be too bad.

Stadium

2010-05-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

5/18/10

2010-05-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been great. I seem to always have energy when i'm turning up to training because my mileage is lower than normal. I still have another couple of lower mileage weeks (until Bolder Boulder - My next race) and then I think we will ramp it up a bit.

Saturday's long run was good. AC, Jordan and I met all the girls and Greg at Greg's house and then ran up Rd222. Its uphill for the first 4 miles and then it flattens out. It climbs again as you go by 7.5 miles and you can continue for as long as you want on this road but we were just running 16 miles this morning so turned around at 8 miles. Jordan had already turned around so AC and I gradually picked up the pace as the miles went along at it felt great. We ran the first 8 miles in 52 mins and then the last 8 miles in 45.30. After some drills and stretching, I headed back to the house where Julie and I made a great pancake breakfast and then headed out to the east side of town to feed the ducks out there. Unfortunately I had to go to work at night so I got a quick nap in before heading to Karma.

We were planning on going down to Sedona and the creek on sunday but we ended up getting up late and then other things were getting in the way so we decided to stay in town. We tried to head to one of the hotel pool's but then found it was under construction. This somehow led us to looking for furniture at a new store that has just opened up and there were some great prices so we decided on a really comfortable sofa for our space in the living room. We actually spent a long time in the house marking out all the possibilities for where to put sofa's, love seat's and recliner's. We originally wanted to get a sofa and love seat but we think it will just be a sofa now.

I drove down to Sedona at 7am on Monday so I could get back to Flagstaff early (the rest of the group were leaving 30 mins later). I did a session of 12*200m with 200m recovery and it went really well. I was surprised with how easy I felt (probably because I was only doing 12) and gradually got quicker as the session went on. I started at 30.5 and finished in 27.0. My Mizuno Flagship shoes felt really great on the track and super light. You would think that with how light the shoes are there would be a sacrifice in cushioning or support but there isn't at all. It looks like these will be my perfect road racing shoes (half marathon and below). After doing a bunch of stretching, I headed up the road and stopped by the creek to soak my legs in the cold water before heading back to town. I had a great nap and then felt really good on my second run so that was good. There was no tightness or soreness in my legs so I am looking forward to tackling some good track session soon.

Tomorrow I have a 6 mile steady state run at Buffalo Park so it will be a good test to see how I feel running steady to fast.

The house is really coming along. It has all the dry wall in place so we can really get a feel for the size of the house now. We are about 30 days out from the house being completed so its getting exciting.

5/14/10

2010-05-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Boy does it feel good to run hard again! Yesterday I did a fartlek and it felt like I was flying. I was up at Buffalo Park with Nick and Andrew (fresh off of their 3rd and 1st places at the USA 25km champs) and it wasn't really windy so it was a good day for the workout. My legs were moving quicker than I thought they could right now so that will hopefully set me up for some more good workouts. The only time it started to feel hard was when I had to run the hill at the end of the loop. This always kills no matter what speed you run and it continued to hurt for the remaining hard efforts. I was going to go by the gym and do a circuit session but decided to go home and nap as I was pretty tired.

The evening run was pretty hard to do as I was feeling sluggish and very unmotivated. I drove to the gym so that I would have to get on with some sort of exercise. I ended up running on the treadmill as it had just started to rain when I got there. A brisk 5 miles later, I decided to jump into the Ultimate Conditioning class that was about to start and this was a pretty good idea. It was tough but not so tough that I was going to be too sore the next day. I think this was wise as it was my first circuit back.

When I woke up this morning I took some tests from one of the teams new sponsor's, Bioletics, that will tell me all about my Vitamin D, Mineral Balance, Strength and Hormone recovery, Iron/Ferritin, Essential Amino Acid and Essential Fatty Acid levels. Once we find out the results of the tests, we can work with the company to see what dietary and supplement changes need to be made so that we can perform optimally.

This mornings run was amusing as Andrew and I decided to take a new route back from the trails and got completely disorientated. We finally came to a stretch of road and Andrew made a joke about it being Lake Mary Rd. Not much of a joke as it was Lake Mary Rd which meant another 2 miles back to the car. At least we now know which trail not to take anymore. It was good to see some new areas though.

Most of the daytime was spent trying to organize our mortgage details. There was so much back and forth involved and we decided to wait until after the weekend to lock in a rate. I went by the house and the dry wall was being put up so we can get a real sense of the space now.

I took the evening run off as I will easily 100 miles this week without it and thought it would be wiser to be more precautious at this point in my training.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's long run. We're heading up 222 which means there will be a lot of uphill for the first half followed by a lot of downhill so hopefully I can get my legs rolling a bit.

Questions

2010-05-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

John F - I'm currently training once a day and am looking to step up my training but want to avoid any injuries so was thinking of ways of cross training.

Cross training is a great way of increasing your training if you are worried about getting injured. Personally I would take it very slowly and try and add in an extra run a week and do that for maybe 3 weeks and then add another run another few weeks and keep this type of pattern going until you get to a point where your body is handling the running without breaking down. If you do need to add cross training instead there are a few options you can add. The 3 mains types (that are most closely related to running) are the eliptical machine, aqua jogging and cycling. Out of these 3 I would recommend cycling the most as you can really build your strength up and get some hard workouts in also. If I am injured I usually do a few spinning classes as that helps me to really push myself. I actually talked to Jos Hermans (Haile Gebrselassie's agent) about cross training and he was telling me how Haile has incorporated a lot of cycling into his training so that he can get the strength that he needs. The thing with cycling though is that you want to either put the seat as high as possible (so that you are replicating a running position - you don't have to but I would recommend it) or stay standing for most of the cycle. This can become very hard but if you can do it, the strength increases are great. I don't really like the eliptical very much because I can never get my heart rate up very hard, no matter how hard I am working. I tend to use this as a recovery tool when I am injured rather than one for hard workouts. Aqua jogging is great but be prepared for the boredom aspect of it. I have done quite a bit of aqua jogging so I don't use a belt and from the studies I have read, you also get the most out of the workout without a belt as you have to work hard the whole time.

Henry G - I have been having some hamstring tightness for the past several days. It doesn't alter my stride but it just achs and feels tight. I have been stretching and doing the roller but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Do you have any experience with this? What would you do?

I will have this sometimes if I have done something different that my muscles aren't used to like a long hill run or sprinting. Hamstrings usually take a little while to recover so I would give it a few more day and if you are still tight either go see a massage therapist or a physiotherapist as the tightness may be coming from somewhere else on your body. My hamstrings are always pretty tight no matter how much stretching I do because my back is quite weak. If I get my back worked on and there is no spasm, I can suddenly stretch my hamstrings further than I ever have. I use the Wharton stretching routine a lot to help with tightness.

The day before my Olympic race

2010-05-12T14:52:00.001-07:00

This was the day before my Olympic 3000m steeplechase. I felt great this day but had no idea that I would feel terrible the next day. I just rediscovered these videos so I will continue to post some more as the days go by.

Training again

2010-05-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

The days have been passing by slowly but it has become easier now that I am back training twice a day. I've only been getting 2 to 3 shifts a week at work so that has left me to entertain myself during the days and get things done that i had been putting off for a while. The one thing I am finding that I am able to do is sleep a lot more. I've never been a great sleeper even when I was running 150 miles during the week but since starting back running, I am finding that I can sleep 9 hours at night with a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. This is great as I always struggle to stay asleep when the sun comes up and the light starts poking through the blinds.

Last weeks training consisted of running 69 miles with 2 days running twice. I ran very easy all week and am ready to start hitting some good sessions again. On Monday I did a light workout of 10 laps of the track alternating between 100m hard and 100m easy. Yesterday I met the guys and we went for a run up Shultz Pass. I hadn't run these trails for a long time as they had been covered in snow and I have moved to the other side of town. It was nice to get back on these trails as I used to run them almost everyday. I almost didn't get out for my second run as I had been sitting around for a while and really didn't feel like getting out into strong winds. Luckily, Julie's workmate, Cariee, came round to run with Julie so I made myself put my shoes on and get out onto the trails. I actually felt fine as soon as I started running so the run went by pretty quickly. We all got back to the apartment around the same time and were greeted with the fantastic smell of the crock pot dinner that I had put on to cook at 8am. I had basically just thrown everything I could find in the kitchen in the pot and let it cook all day. A big hung of steak, navy beans, carrots, potatoes, loads of spices and some chilies rounded out the ingredients and luckily it turned out well. We ate this stew with a massive loaf of freshly baked bread and then relaxed in front of the TV and continued to get through season 4 of "It's always sunny in Philidelphia".

I was supposed to do a fartlek this morning but I wasn't feeling great for some reason so I just jogged for 30 mins and talked to Greg about what I should do. We decided upon doing it tomorrow up at Buffalo Park so I would just take the rest of the day easy. I am just going to run an easy 10 miles this evening through the trails. I have recently been running in full tracksuit as I was just reading about why the Kenyans do that so often. I could never understand why the Kenyans would do this but I have been reading "More Fire" by Toby Tanser (a follow up to the famous "Train Hard, Win Easy - The Kenyan Way") and the runners explain that if they are running in lots of clothes and being uncomfortable during the run, they will feel so much faster when they get to the start line of their race and they are wearing next to nothing. Doing this right now is ok as it is a bit chilly with the high winds so i'll see how I feel doing this during the summer when there is no wind and its nice and hot.

Our house is really coming along with the shingles being finished and the electrics all being wired throughout the house. They are about to put the dry wall in so Julie and I are going to wire the house for Surround sound as its fairly easy to do now that there are no wall in place. This will save a lot of time and money over doing it later down the line so we will be doing that tonight. They are anticipating that the house will be finished in a month or so and we are getting excited about moving in.

I'm hopefully going to get some video up on here soon. I was given a video camera when I made the Olympic team so I will hopefully get some nice footage of training and anything else that I find interesting. I will try and post some of the olympic videos that I just rediscovered also.

Back to blogging

2010-05-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be getting back to regular blogging in the next few days. I have had a nice relaxing time during the post marathon recovery time so will be starting back up with some light sessions next week. I had a nice run on the trails with Greg and Ian this morning and now the busy weekend starts. I'm helping out at the regional high school track meet today and then heading into a big night at work tonight. I'll be quite busy for the rest of the weekend so i'll fill everyone in on Monday with how things have been going and what my future plans are.

I hope everyone is having a great time training as the weather starts to pick up. Again, feel free to contact me with any questions you may have (adlemoncello@hotmail.com).

Cheers

Andrew

First day back

2010-04-28T13:50:00.001-07:00

After 2 days off of running and my legs feeling great, I went for a run on Woody Mountain Rd with a my friend of mine, Rob. My legs certainly didn't feel like they had a marathon in them and felt quite loose and frisky. We just ran easy and I was only supposed to go 20 mins but I ended up running 47 mins as it was an out and back run. On the way home, I stopped by Burritos Fiesta and got one of the best burrito's that I have ever had. That is saying something as that is always the first thing I order where ever I go in the states. I'm really glad that Scotland has a good place to get burritos now also. Illegal Jacks is doing a great job of churning out some great Tex Mex food and its perfect for after training.

I'm really looking forward to getting back into some hard training in a few weeks time and getting back into a good routine. I'm all over the place right. I'm waking up very early and the days are going on for ever as I don't have work until tomorrow and no real training so passing the time is the hard part of my day. I got an email from my agent, Jurrie, with a list of road races in the summer that I could run in. They are all big races and will be very competitive so that will great for me to be pushed to the limit every time I race. I let the selectors know that I will to be running the European Champs marathon in the summer and I think they were rightfully a bit annoyed with me. It was a spur of the moment, post marathon that I said that I want to run the marathon so I will now always talk to Greg and Jurrie first before deciding on anything. I will now look towards a fast marathon in the autumn. Chicago and Amsterdam are the 2 I think I would like to choose from but Amsterdam is a Mizuno race and my agents organise the race so that may be the perfect set up for me.

Julie and I walked through the house last (the roof is now on and will be getting wired for electricity next week) and everything looks great. We are getting really excited about the progress and can't wait to move in. Our house being the first one on the plot means that when we move in, there will be a lot of building going on around us but that will only last for a couple of months.

I'm now going to run a hot bath and add some epsom salts to help my legs to relax. I am predicting that I will also pass out as soon as I get out of the bath so that will be great as I have been waking up so early.

Lastly, I made the cover of Athletics Weekly again. Click HERE to view.

You can now follow me on Twitter also @LemonRuns

Reflections

2010-04-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

I've decided to jot down all the things that have been going through my head since the race. I was disappointed with the run but all the nice messages that I have been getting from everyone on here, facebook and twitter (LemonRuns) has really lifted my spirits and made me look at the brighter side of things.

Cons:

I ran a lot slower than I had hoped

I wasn't tough enough mentally

Struggled when it got windy

I really wanted to make a statement to prove what kind of athlete I am

Pros:

Great experience

Knowing that I can run 2.13 on my own

My legs not being trashed afterwards showing that I can run a lot faster

Fantastic support from everyone (even people that I don't know)

I tend to run better after a failure so I am very determined to run fast later in the year

I am taking a couple of days off and then starting a recovery cycle of running for 20 mins one day, day off the next. Greg is big on making sure that we don't overdo it after a marathon as there is still a lot of micro trauma in the legs that needs to heal before going on to do any races or hard workouts. It is now 2 days after the race and my legs feel fine. My left IT band is a little tight but it just feels like I have done a hard speed session. Given this fact, I think we can shorten my recovery phase and I can start concentrating on whatever races we choose to run. I now think (after talking to my agents and Greg) that Barcelona might be out of the books as they don't want me to destroy my body in the blazing heat of the Spanish sun. Jos Hermans and I had a good talk about future plans and he said that he had seen so many athletes ruin themselves in hot weather marathons and haven't been able to get back from it. With my big goals being in 2012 and 2014 I really have to think about this. I think it may be a good decision to hit some fast road races and really get my half marathon time down to something decent so when I want to go through half way in a marathon in 64 mins, it will hopefully feel easy.

Greg is happy with the result as it was far from a perfect day. He told me that with better pacemakers and being in an actual racing environment instead of solo running that I will easily run faster. He has got my head back in the place where it should be and I have now stopped feeling sorry for myself and being annoyed about the race.

I can't tell you how great the Marathon team did in making sure that everything was perfect for us on the lead up to the race. The workers did everything and beyond to make sure we suffered no stress and could concentrate on the task at hand rather than worrying about little things that they could take of for us.

It was so uplifting to get back to my room and see how many messages of congratulations and well wishes that I had from everyone. I hope that I can inspire people to run and train hard and also to enjoy the sport. The main reason I run is because I love it so much and that feeling I get when I cross the finish line knowing that I have run well. Its something that gets me through the hard days because I know without those seemingly never ending painful days, there are no easy days when running comes effortlessly. I get inspired by those of you who are out there for the love of the sport and getting around the course and enjoying yourselves. It is so much harder for those runners who are out there for 4-5 hours as that is how long they are on their feet for. I am only on mine for a couple of hours so my job is easier than theirs. The pain and suffering they go through, battling against injuries and cramping, is so amazing and I applaud those people. Without them, events like the London marathon wouldn't be what it is.

I am looking forward to having a little time off and having a few drinks here and there. Our friends are throwing a party/BBQ this weekend at one of the local parks in honour of Jill who finished the Big Sur marathon in 4.54 only 2 weeks after her final round of chemotherapy. We are so proud of her and simply amazed by how well she has coped with everything she has been going through. We are all looking forward to those celebrations and just enjoying ourselves with great company and great beer! I found a mini keg of Warsteiner beer when I was in Phoenix a few weeks ago so i'm looking forward to tucking into that.

I hope all of you out there who were running had a fantastic day and if you weren't, were at least able to get some inspiration from the 37,000 runners who were able to get round the 26.2 miles.

4/25/10

2010-04-26T00:53:00.000-07:00

London Marathon!!!

I woke up at around 5.40am so I could get my breakfast 4 hours before the race. I had some porridge with honey, toast with jam, coffee and orange juice. I sat with Dan and then Richard Nerurkar joined us for a little while. I went back to the room and double checked all my running gear and then headed down to Starbucks to get a big coffee for the ride over to the start. They had set up some tents for the elite athletes and it was great to feel the warmth of the fans they had installed in there. There were a bunch of yoga mats set up on the floor for everyone to sit on and relax before the race. With about 45 mins to the start, I went for a short jog before going through all my stretches. I then put on my waterproof gear as it had started to rain and headed over to the adjacent field to jog for 10 mins. I was feeling good and ready for the race. I went back to the tent and dried off my feet and covered them in vaseline before putting some dry socks on. I then put vaseline on every other part of my body and then headed out to the start. I wanted to wear my new Oakley's but with it being a little darker outside now with the rain I decided against it. I stood on the start line knowing that I was ready to run well and confident with what I had to do over the next couple of hours.

I felt very easy at my desired pace as we ran through the first few miles. This really helped my head as I knew I would need to get through the first half of the race as easily as possible. The 3rd mile is very downhill so it was good to have some time in the bank if we slipped off pace at any time. The crowds were really loud and enthusiastic especially once we passed Cutty Sark. Our splits were fluctuating a little bit which was a little annoying as I prefer to run a steady pace but I don't know if my pace maker had ever done any pacing before. I wasn't confident that he was going to be able to get me through the contracted 20 miles so I decided to leave it for a few miles and then reassess the situation. We got to 10 miles about 10 secs off pace and then came a 5.07 mile so I decided to take off as I didn't want to lose any more time by waiting for the pacer to do his job. I went through the half way point in 65.25 (the pacer went through in 65.45) and was lifted by the support of the crowd crossing over Tower Bridge. I knew I was going to have to dig deep for the rest of the race as I was going to be alone and I was getting to the windy section of the course. There were a lot of corners and straights and it didn't matter what direction I was going in, I was always running into the wind! I really dropped some slow splits here (a few 5.20s and even a 5.30 later on) so I had to refocus and motivate myself and try to keep a good pace. It was pretty demoralising knowing that a fast time was out of reach now and Greg was was bang on the mark when he said that I would really have to start caring after the 20 mile mark. It would have been so easy to stop running and jog it in but my long training runs had set me up for this type of feeling and it was easy to block these thoughts out. The last few miles were a lot easier, mentally as the crowds are there the whole way. Although I wasn't running fast, I was able to dig a little deeper but again, I the headwind was getting stronger all the time. Approaching Big Ben was a great feeling as I knew I only had a few minutes of running left so it felt like the time flew by at this point. Running down Birdcage Walk was great but the crowds weren't being that enthusiastic (I don't think they knew I was British) so on a couple of occasions I put my hands up to my ears to get them going a bit as I would need the help getting to the finish. I felt like I was jogging at this point so it was good to reach the final straight and finally make it though the finish line. I finished in 8th place with a time of 2.13.40. I was really disappointed and I was quite emotional so it took a little while for me to relax and be ready to speak to the BBC. The good thing was that my legs felt fine so I knew there was still a lot left in the tank. This bodes well for my future marathons and I'm already looking forward to the next one. I got a short massage before heading to the bus back to the hotel. The bus actually took us to the river where we got a boat along the river to the front of the hotel. I had a shower (I had no chaffing so the shower was a good one) before heading down to grab some lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and then my friend Andy came and met me and we had a drink down in the bar. There was a banquet at 6pm so I got changed for that and we headed off on the buses to the venue.

The banquet was good and I was presented with the Jim Peter's Trophy for being first Brit. Unfortunately I was starting to get pretty sleepy, as were the others at my table, so we decided to head back around 10.30pm and get to sleep. I passes out right away!

Overall, the experience of the marathon was fantastic. I had so much fun running in front of the home crowd and finishing in the top ten of a major marathon.

I will be continuing the blog but maybe not everyday now as I will be taking a short break now and giving my legs a nice rest. I hope that all of you that were running the marathon had a fantastic day and ran well.

Here is the Glasgow Herald interview with a pretty cool photo: Click Here

4/24/10

2010-04-26T00:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday's Training - 30 mins easy with drills and strides.

Mileage - 4 Miles

Today was all about just ticking over. I got up early and had a coffee and croissant in the restaurant before meeting Dan Robinson at 7am for an easy run. We were basically just turning our feet over so the run went by pretty quickly. I felt good doing my drills and strides so I headed upstairs, did a bunch of stretching and then headed down to breakfast. I filled up as much as I could with lots of carbs and then went and got a massage. The rest of the was spent mulling about and trying not to think about the race. I met my friend Angie for lunch and then just relaxed in my room for a long while. We had a technical meeting at 5pm and then got stuck into dinner. It was a buffet so that was good for topping up the glycogen levels. I talked to Julie for a little while before heading to bed and getting to sleep early.

4/23/10

2010-04-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

Friday’s Training – Am: 48 mins easy Pm: 20 mins easy

Mileage – 10 Miles

I had a nice easy day today. It was good that I had got all my duties out of the way yesterday as that would give me 2 days just to relax and unwind before the race. I woke up a little later at around 6.40am and headed downstairs to have a coffee and croissant. There were already some athletes in the restaurant, having done their morning runs. Once I was finished, I went back up to my room and relaxed for a bit until 7.30am when I headed out for my run. I kept being told that if you head along the river towards the east that there was some good running but I just found it to be twisty, cobbled roads. I got to a bridge and decided to head back along the road that is part of the course. I followed this all the way along to around the 24 mile mark on the course and turned around and headed back to the hotel. I had some fantastic weather for the run and it was really nice to see the sights as I ran along beside the Thames. I did all my drills and then headed up to the room so I could get on with some stretching. My room is pretty small so I had to go out into the area beside the elevator’s as that was the nearest place with enough room. I headed down to breakfast after this where I had some fried potatoes, beans, bacon, porridge with honey, banana and croissant. I knew all that food would get me sleepy so I headed up to my room, had a nice hot shower and then tucked myself in and had a nap.

Once I had woken up, I headed downstairs and met Pete Riley (elite athlete coordinator for the Great Run races and good athlete himself) in the bar. We sat and had some lunch and caught up on what’s been going on with each other. I expressed my interest in running the Great North Run as I still haven’t run it. After we had finished up, I walked downstairs and sat with Dan Robinson in the lounge for a while before Dave Monti (elite athlete coordinator for the New York Road Runners) joined us and told us a few stories about the Boston and Rotterdam marathons. I headed up to the athlete lounge for a little while to watch last years race but then remembered that I had to get back to the room so I could talk to Julie on Skype. It was good to see Julie again as I had missed her yesterday with how busy my day was. There has been no more movement on the house as it has snowed the past couple of days in Flagstaff. I then talked to Greg for a while and filled him on how I’ve been feeling. He was supposed to be here but with the flights being messed up, he wasn’t able to get here. He had sent me all my fuelling strategies for the final 3 days before the race and I have been following well. The rest of the day was spent mulling about and relaxing with my feet up.

I went for my second run at 5.30pm and felt good. This was just a shake out run to get my legs moving so it was pretty slow but I did some dynamic stretches afterwards so that my body was nice and loose. I quickly got changed and met Kim Smith and one of my agents, Valentijn in the lobby as we had to go to the welcome banquet on a boat that was moored outside the hotel. Kim and I headed onto the boat and tried to scoff down as much of the canapés and bread that was on offer as we were both pretty hungry. After a few speeches were made, we headed out and I went over to the Dickins Inn again to grab some dinner. All the other British guys had just been for dinner so I was on my own but that was fine as I usually eat pretty quickly and wanted to get back to my room as it was starting to get late. I had a lasagne and a sticky toffee pudding. I have spent much of my build up to the marathon with no desserts but now I get to use the marathon as an excuse to eat them! The meal was very average so I won’t be going there tomorrow. I don’t usually like to eat so late and then head to bed but as it was getting close to 10pm I just brushed my teeth and put my head down for the night.

4/22/10

2010-04-23T02:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday’s Training – Am: 48 mins with 6*1 min hard, 1 min easy

Mileage – 7 Miles

I woke up at 6am this morning and headed down to the restaurant to get a coffee and croissant before heading out for my run. I relaxed in my room for a while and was glad to see that the weather was going to be nice. I had been told by some of the marathon staff that there was a park a couple of miles away so I made an attempt at finding it. I missed Jamaica road somehow and headed down a different street and winded my way through all the streets until I found it and suddenly I was at the park. As I ran around, I was amazed to see a disused track fenced up beside a sports centre. It’s a shame to see a perfectly good track just sitting there and unable to be used. I found a good stretch of flat path and did my mini fartlek on it so that I could get my legs moving a bit. I felt pretty good and was running pretty fast so hopefully come race day, I can do the same. After I was finished, I jogged back to the hotel and stretched for a little while before showering and heading down to breakfast.

I was disappointed to see that no porridge was available but I am going to ask if they can get some for race day. I headed up to the athlete lounge to se if I could get on the computers and I found James Thie (former international athlete and working for the marathon this weekend), Dan Robinson and our pace maker, Mike Morgan from the USA. We sat and chatted for a little white but I got up at 10.30am as I was scheduled to get a massage in the next room. The massage was great and just what I needed before the busy day ahead. Once I was finished it was straight off to do some press photos and some TV interviews outside of the hotel with the Tower bridge in the background. After about half an hour of doing that, we headed back inside and then Dan and I had our press conference. It was fairly straight forward and there were no questions that stumped me. I also managed to avoid telling anyone my time goals for the race, which seem to be the question that everyone kept bringing up. Dan and I then had one on one interviews with the respective papers and then again we headed outside for some more BBC TV interviews. This all went onto about 1.30pm so it was good timing as I was meeting one of the Mizuno media reps to head over and do some work at the marathon expo. I quickly went upstairs and got changed into my race gear and after grabbing a sandwich and coffee we headed off to the DLR train.

One of the many photo's from todays press work

The expo looked great and I immediately saw my old housemate from Florida, Mark Buckingham who was working at the Timex stand. I had a quick word but promised I would head back later and catch up with him. The Mizuno stand was really nice and I had a quick peek at all the shoes they had out as I haven’t tried out a lot of the range that they have. I spent the next hour or so doing interviews with various magazines, newspapers, radio and TV channels and then finally got to see the Online Precision Fit system that Mizuno have come up with. Its basically site where you can go and answer a bunch of questions about your weight, body type, foot strike, leg movement and flexibility and it will narrow down the shoes that would be good for you. This saves a lot of time with having to deal with the wall of shoes that can be a bit daunting when entering a running store. The system chose for me the Wave Rider (which I already use) and the Wave Precision so I tried a pair on and they felt great. After having a bit of a jog on the treadmill with them, I fully agreed that the shoes were well suited to me. The Mizuno guys actually let me keep the shoes so I was really happy about that. I headed back to the Timex stand and had a good blether with Mark for a while before his boss offered me their new watch to use during the race. Again, I was happy to oblige and the watch turned out to be a really good one. It’s a tap screen so you just have to slap your wrist when you want to take a split. It will then tell you whether it’s faster or slower than the split that you will have programmed into the watch. It means that this will be perfect for Sunday as it will tell me exactly how much quicker or slower than my projected pace I am and I can (hopefully) make the appropriate pace changes. I decided to finally get off my feet and headed back to the hotel so I could relax for a while.

Not long after getting back, I got a call from one of my groomsmen, Andy Scott, who I went to school with. He lives in London so we decided to catch up and have dinner so he headed over to the hotel and we headed over to the Dickens Inn for some dinner. We both had some pizza and salad and chatted for quite a while and caught up on all our news. We left there around 9pm and walked back to the hotel where I bumped into some more friends. One of them was Ian Hornabrook who I also used to live with in Florida. I hadn’t seen him for 4 years so it was good to see him and we promised to catch up more after the race. Andy headed home and I headed to my room and talked to Julie for a while before watching some TV and heading to sleep around 11pm. I wasn’t as tired tonight so found it hard to sleep but even more annoying was that after sleeping for a couple of hours, I woke up from a dream and found my body was really hot. This made it very tough to get back to sleep but after wriggling about for 20 minutes or so, I managed to slip back into my much needed sleep.

Here were some of the interviews:

Click Here

4/21/10

2010-04-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday's Training - Am: 20 mins easy Pm: 20 mins easy

Mileage - 6 Miles

Cover of this weeks AW

Today was a travel day down to London so I didn't get much training in. I was going to get up early and get a workout of 10*1 min hard, 1 min easy in but I woke up later and didn't want to risk missing the bus to the train station so I just went for a shake out run. The rest of the day was travelling to London. Bus to Leuchars, Train to Edinburgh, Train to London. I got to the Tower Hotel around 4.30pm and once I was checked in I headed to the 12th floor to let them know I was here and pick up my passes. I made the mistake of going by the media room before I went for my second run as I was roped into getting some photos taken and giving a few impromptu interviews. It was a long time before I actually got out for my run and when I started, I could feel my back pinching so decided to just do another shake out run and settle for doing some good strides the next day. A good amount of stretching and a nice hot shower later, I headed down to the Carvary and had a big roast dinner. That filled me up nicely for the night and I just settled into my room and went to sleep early.

Short blog today but tomorrow's will be a bit longer as my day is jammed full of activities.

4/20/10

2010-04-21T04:16:00.001-07:00

Tuesday’s Training – Am: 52 mins easy Pm: 27 mins easy

Mileage – 11 Miles

Julie sent me some pictures of how the house is coming along

I woke up automatically at 6.20am this morning, which I was happy about as I thought it would be hard to start waking up at that time during this trip. I will be waking up around 5.45am on race morning so this was perfect. I went out for my run at 7.30am and headed over to the golf courses so I could run my second favourite route in the world (First is the Mesa Trail in Boulder). The run takes you out along a trail following the famous Old Course and it spits you out at the end of the beach where the opening scene of Chariots of Fire was filmed. This morning was incredibly windy and I almost came to a stand still at one point when I hit an exposed fairway. I had a good time watching some guys trying to tee off as their balls kept falling off the tee’s and then once they had hit the ball it would shoot up into the air (carried by the wind) and then hit the ground about 50 meters away and start rolling backwards. I would have laughed but I was having just as much trouble trying to stay vertical. I can’t believe I’m saying this but it was windier than Flagstaff! Luckily, once I got to the beach I was running with the wind and it was plain sailing from there. The sand was hard but the loose sand was being blown across into the sea so it created a very cool misty effect. With the sun still rising into the sky, the town looked beautiful. This is the reason I love this run so much – When you get to the beach you are just looking at the town the whole way in and with so many ancient buildings on the skyline, it can take your breath away. I was just running very easily so I got back to the house and woke up my legs a bit with some drills and some hard strides. I then headed into the house and got some good stretching in before having some breakfast and heading into town to get some chores done.

Once I got back I just lay in front of the TV for a few hours with my feet up until my mum arrived. We caught up for a wee bit and then I headed out for a short jog again. This time I went over to the university playing fields, which I also love running on. It takes about 10 minutes to get around the perimeter of the fields and its nice and soft as they keep very good care of the fields. There is also a 4-lane track there but it is easy to miss as it is green and blends right into the grass. I felt good and again did some drills, strides and stretching afterwards to activate my fast twitch fibres.

I made some dinner of sausages, asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes and then we got ready to go to the East Fife Sports Council awards ceremony. My mum won the Master’s award and Fife AC seem to clear up most of the other awards so that was great. We headed back to the house and it was getting late so I headed straight to bed.

4/19/10

2010-04-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

Monday's Training - Am: 5*1km with 2mins rec (on the road). Pm: 30 mins easy

Mileage - 15 Miles

This morning was a complete turn around from the last few days. I woke up just before 7am, which is the same time I wake up back in the USA so I think I am back onto my usual routine and over the jet lag. I headed out the door at 8.30am for half a mile so that I could stretch afterwards and then went for a 3 mile warm up. I was going to do the workout on the track but decided to head out onto a 1km road straight by my old school. I thought this would be better as I may get carried away on the track and if I was on the road, I wouldn’t know what pace I would be going. The first rep was in 2.50 and it felt pretty easy. I was running against the wind so I figured that I would get a nice tail wind for reps 2 and 4 but as usual, when I started my next rep, I was running into a stronger headwind! That’s the St Andrew’s Effect that I mentioned in a previous blog and it was staying true for this trip home. I felt really relaxed on all my reps and decided to pick it up just a little bit on the last rep and it didn’t feel too much different so I was happy about this. I was happy to get a little spark back in my legs and feel fine again. I headed back to the house after a 3 mile warm down and then went down to the Castle Sands so that I could take an ice bath in the Rock Pool there. I can’t believe they used to use this as a swimming pool back in the day. It was really cold and almost as soon as I had gotten into the water, it started to snow! It only lasted for a few minutes but it was enough to dampen my thoughts of a warm fire that was keeping me going. The view from the water is fantastic though as on one side you have the ruins of the old cathedral and then on the other side was the ruins of St Andrews castle. I towelled off after 12 minutes and headed back to the house for a warm shower and some food. I spent much of the afternoon just relaxing in front of the TV with my feet up.

The Castle Sands

I went for a second run at 3pm as I was getting a massage at 4pm. I felt good again and was feeling very easy at the pace that I was struggling with yesterday. I headed over to the St Andrews FC grounds for my massage with Jez Tomlinson. He did a great job of getting into my muscles and digging into the knots and tight bits. He did leave the worst for last though as he got stuck into my glutes. They were really tight and needed some work so I was really glad he got in and put me through the pain of deep tissue massage. I headed over to the Castle Sands again and stood in the water for a second ice bath of the day. I actually got a little crowd of Japanese people pointing and staring at me from the cliff top as they pondered what I was doing. The waves were pretty big so I headed over to a different section of the beach where there was an inlet and there were no waves. I finished up just as it started to rain so I scrambled out and try to pull my clothes on. I went back to the house and had a nice hot shower and then re heated some leftover pasta with some garlic bread and salad.

4/18/10

2010-04-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

Sunday's Training - Am: 64 mins easy Pm: 28 mins easy

Mileage - 14 Miles

Weekly Mileage - 88 Miles

So things are now getting a little frustrating. My legs still aren't coming around and I felt really tired on both of my runs today. I woke up after a good sleep and sat around on the computer while I had some coffee and toast. At 10.30am I walked into town and headed to Church but I was freezing all the way there as there was a chill in the wind. I was in my running clothes as I was meeting Tom afterwards to go for a run. The service was very different from the ones I am used to in the states and it was a little strange to hear a priest doing his homily and not trying to keep the attention of his congregation. Each to their own I guess. I headed over to Tom's apartment afterwards and we waited for his flat mate to arrive and then headed out onto the beach and golf course for the run. I didn't feel good to start but after about 5 miles I did feel a little better. We did 2 loops and then I left the guys as I headed back to Ronnie's. I did some drills and some hard strides to see if that would wake my legs up but no success. After doing some stretching I had a big breakfast and then curled up in front of the TV and fell asleep for a little while.

I wasn't going to run again but I did end up heading out the door as I wanted to see how my legs felt. I only ran 4 miles but they seem to take a long time. I can only hope that my legs will start responding in the next couple of days. Its really strange that I can feel great everyday while running 150 miles in a week but I feel awful once I bring the mileage down and start running easier. I am reassured by almost everyone that this is what it feels like before the marathon and Andi Jones sent me a message saying that this is actually harder than the training and the race! I can well believe that! Once I got back I grabbed a shower and cooked some lamb burgers, brussels and mashed potato and then caught up with Julie for a while. I then just relaxed in front of the TV watching a film and headed to bed around 11pm.

4/17/10

2010-04-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday's Training - Am: 62 mins slow Pm: 55 mins easy

Mileage - 16.5 Miles

I woke up at 7.30am so that I could head into Perth with my dad and get a run in on a soft surface rather than running along the side of the dual carriageway. Dad dropped me off at the Sports Centre and then headed off to the gym while I went for my run. There are 2 big green areas in Perth called the Inches (South and North). The Scottish national cross country championships have been held there a few times and I actually had my most disappointing loss there. I was running the senior race for the first time and was running well at the time. I desperately wanted to win but had a bad run on the day came 3rd. I think that is one of the only times I have cried after a race. Anyway, I started my run at the South Inch and ran over to the North, did a loop of that and then headed out on a trail that follows the river. I ran until 30 mins and then just turned back and ran the same route back. I was feeling really tired this morning so was running very slowly, no more than a shuffle really. I showered in the sports centre afterwards and then walked over to the gym where my dad was finishing up. Before heading back to the house, we picked up some groceries and I was able to grab some real bacon. The difference between bacon in the UK and the USA is the fat content. the USA version is almost pure fat whereas the UK version is almost all meat. We got back and I made some bacon and scrambled eggs and then I went to bed so I could take a nap. I woke up feeling a lot better but I was still a little groggy but I was meeting my friend, Tom, in Dundee so I would grab some coffee once I got there. We drove into Dundee and I had a good time catching up with Tom and talking about what we were both up to and if we had heard anything about our friends from our school days. After a while I had went back to St Andrews on the bus and headed out for another run. I met one of the university runners, Tom Cunningham, and we did loops of the playing fields for a while before heading back into town. I ran with him to his house and then ran along the Lade Braes (a paved trail that leads from the middle of town out to the edge of town, almost like an urban trail) and back to Ronnie's house. I felt a lot better running this evening but still a little stale so hopefully that will disappear over the next couple of days. I grabbed my wallet from the house and ran onto the store so I could get some supplies for the house.

Once I got back, there was a message from Ronnie saying that he and his wife would be stuck in Jordan for while (They went there on a cycling holiday) so could I water all the plants in the green house. I made up some dinner of pasta with lots of veggies and then caught up with Julie for a while on Skype. I headed to bed pretty early but watched programs on my computer until I got sleepy and fell asleep around midnight.

Here is a link to an article that the Scotsman newspaper wrote about me this week:

http://sport.scotsman.com/athletics/Baptised-Andrew-Lemoncello-has-faith.6235018.jp

4/16/10

2010-04-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Friday's Training - Am: 76 mins (6 miles easy in 38 mins, 6 miles hard - 5.04, 5.07, 4.59, 5.00, 4.52, 4.55, 1 mile easy.

Mileage - 13 Miles

I only got 6 hours of sleep last night as I fell asleep at 2.30am and woke up at 8.30am so I could get the workout done and head into Dundee to meet my dad later on. I was actually feeling ok when I went out the door but my legs didn't have any snap to them at all so I wasn't looking forward to the 6 mile pick up. I got through the first 6 miles no problem and had headed out on the beach road so that I could turn around for the start of the hard 6 miles and then out along the bike path that heads towards Dundee. I was finding the hard section tough right from the start so I really tried to get into a good rhythm and flow through it rather than grind away and tense up. This didn't work! When I got to the bike path I was heading into the wind and was getting put off by the times I was running but I knew to expect to still feel bad as I'm still in the post altitude lag time. Once I turned around and was running a little quicker I was still working hard and that was at around marathon pace so I that got me a bit frustrated. Right now is the hardest time for me. I know not to worry about my fitness because I had great workouts last week and this is the time that I should be feeling my worst but its just annoying to wake up everyday and slog through the runs. A few more days and i'll be as right as rain though so i'm looking forward to that.

Glendoick House. My dad and his wife live in the apartment on the upper right hand side of the building that you can see.

After the run, I headed into Dundee and met my Dad and we just sat outside in the lovely weather, drinking coffee and chatting. A friend of mine from school walked by which was really weird as I was going to be meeting him the next day in town. After a while, Dad and I headed back to Glendoick (where he lives) and just relaxed after having some fajitas for dinner.

4/15/10

2010-04-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday’s Training – Am: 35 mins easy Pm: Off

Mileage – 5 Miles

I woke up this morning after 9am sometime and was glad that again I had made it through the night without waking up and that I had gotten at least 8 hours of good sleep. As I came out of the bedroom door, I bumped into AC who was just getting ready to head into the restaurant so we had a quick chat as I turned the kettle on and fetched my PowerBar. I sat in the living room playing around on the computer for a while before heading out the door to get my run in. I was actually just going to run half a mile and then do my stretching but once I started running I felt a little stale so decided to do an easy 5 miles and then so the workout once I got to St Andrews in the evening. It was another nice day outside so that made the run all the more pleasant. It has been a while since I have done a workout in the evening and I have always preferred that. We do our workouts in the morning as most of our races are in the morning and so we have to get our bodies used to that. I still race far better in the evenings after having a morning run and resting all day. I think that is why I have always run well in the track races that are held at night. I was really disappointed when I got to Beijing that my race was at 8.30am as the girls had their heats in the evening and I know I could have run really well had it been that way. That was a long time ago though and I have adapted to the morning races a lot better.

After the run I had some breakfast and then got onto the train to Leuchars and then hopped onto the bus to St Andrews. The great thing about this bus is that it drops you off right outside of where Ronnie (my Fife AC coach) lives. When your dragging a big bag around with you this makes a big difference. I unpacked and then relaxed for a little while before deciding against doing the workout today. I was feeling tired so I pushed it back a day and will adapt the training for the rest of the remaining time before the marathon. I headed down to the Fife AC training group that meets at the sports center on a Thursday and it was good to see that there are still a good amount of people turning up. I got to see my old coach Dave Francis and a bunch of others who have been in the club for a long time. I headed back to the house to have some dinner and relax for a while. I was getting tired in front of the TV but tried to stay awake so I could fall asleep later on. The problem was that when I went to bed I couldn’t nod off so I read for a bit. It must have been around 2.30am before I fell asleep but hopefully tomorrow I can get to sleep a lot earlier.

4/14/10

2010-04-15T02:48:00.000-07:00

Wednesday’s Training – Am: 70 mins easy Pm: 45 mins easy

Mileage – 16.5 Miles

The difference between today and yesterday was huge. I slept right through the night again and woke up feeling pretty good. I sat and had some coffee and a PowerBar before heading out the door and I knew as soon as my foot hit the pavement that it wasn’t going to be as bad as yesterday. I felt so much better and was able to enjoy my run this time. 7 years ago, when I was at university in Stirling, AC had taken me on a run around Edinburgh that led us along a canal trail so I decided to try and find that. I found it almost right away as I knew the trail popped out near where his sister’s apartment was but finding my way back along it was going to be tough as there are a bunch of turn offs and roads to cross. After about 4 miles on a tiny trail, I hit the canal and it was a good feeling. I was heading towards the city so I had a great view of the castle and Arthur’s Seat. I also passed a pub that had a cracking name – The Kilted Pig! The trail ending up spitting me out right downtown so I did a lap of The Meadows and then headed back to the apartment. After some drills, stretching and breakfast, I headed up to the restaurant and spent a little time just drinking coffee and doing some stuff on the computer. Julie called me also so it was really good to hear her voice and to know that she is doing well. After a couple of hours AC mentioned something about a run so I pounced on this and told him to we should do one together for old times sake. He was a bit nervous as he hasn’t run much since his competitive days but it wasn’t too hard to convince him. We went back to the apartment and got changed and then headed over to do 2 laps of The Meadows and back. A nice easy 6 miles later and we were happy! AC was very surprised that he had lasted as long as that as the longest he’d done recently was 25 minutes. After standing outside and chatting for a little while, we headed in, got showers and then headed back up to the restaurant. Right away I got stuck into a burrito as I was getting hungry and that filled me up for a while. I had been texting my old house mate and good friend (and Olympic 110m hurdler), Allan Scott during the day and he met me at the restaurant and we sat at talked for 3 hours or so at one of the window tables and caught up on all our news as we hadn’t seen each other since the Olympics. We both actually stayed a day later than everyone in Beijing and spent the rest of our money on a huge meal at a restaurant in the city. The restaurant was closing up after 9pm so Allan got the bus back to his apartment and AC and I went back to his sister’s and relaxed for a little while before I headed to bed at midnight. I didn’t go to sleep until 1 am but that was fine as I had some reading material. I’m hoping that come next week, I wont have any problem getting to sleep by 10pm so I think bringing the time I go to sleep back one hour each night should be a good strategy.

This is a long one!

2010-04-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday’s Training – Am: 10*400m (ish) road loops with 400m jog rec. Pm: 35 mins slow

Mileage – 16 miles

My blood is changing. This always happens after 4 days down from altitude and last usually until the 7^th day down. And this is the reason why I felt do tired today. I got a great sleep of 10 hours last night and woke up feeling very groggy. I had an energy bar and coffee and spent a while trying to psyche myself up to get out the door and run. I jogged half a mile and then stretched for a while and then finally headed out again for a 3 mile warm up. I originally wanted to go to the track to get the workout done but once I looked up online that it cost £4.80 ($8) to get into the stadium I quickly changed my mind and decided to find somewhere on the roads to do it. I ended up just doing it around the block that AC’s sister lives on as it turned out to be just over 400m long. There were 4 pretty tight turns on the loop but the workout was going to be used just to get my legs back a little and try feel a bit better after a long day’s travel the day before. The first rep was pretty tough as I felt like I was just trying to start the ignition. I felt ok though once I had got through a couple of reps and got through the 10 reps without too much hassle from pedestrians or builders. The first rep was 73 secs and I brought that down to 68 secs by the last rep. Once I was done with the warm down, I stretched a bit and then had a nice hot shower which led to me resting in front of the TV for a while.

I got a call from AC at around 4pm and it turned out to be one of our friends Mark (who I’ve raced since I was 13) so I headed up to Illegal Jack’s and we sat and chatted for a bit. The restaurant was jammed full as AC had put on a free burrito day to raise awareness of what his product is. It was great to see so many people there and I’m sure it will have a great affect on his future business. After talking for a while, got onto the topic of the good athletes that we used to race against and how they had all disappeared. It ended up being that there was only Mark, myself and one other runner (out of the male athletes) who were still running from when we were juniors. It was pretty sad actually and a shame as I certainly wasn’t the best of the athletes when we were going through the ranks. Guys from all over Scotland would regularly beat me and now they have mostly all quit the sport. We walked down the road after a while as I had to get on with another run. I got to the apartment and got changed but was feeling very tired when I stepped out the door. I have been doing a lot of longer runs (up to 3 hours) during the marathon build up yet this 35 minute run was by far the longest feeling run I have done in a long while. I was so sluggish that I couldn’t even make it to 40 mins. I should have maybe taken the evening off but I still wanted to do something as exercise helps with getting over jet lag. AC’s sister was home when I got back so once I had showered we walked over to Illegal Jack’s for some dinner. It was good to see that it was still busy so we grabbed some food and sat at the window and people watched for a while. Mouse, AC’s sister, went home after a while and I stayed in case AC needed any help with anything but ended up just eating some more. My appetite is insatiable when I am tired so a beef quesadilla helped with that and then I just sat around reading the paper while I waited for AC to be finished. The staff had done really well with hw busy it was so AC wanted to take them out for a night so we went back to the apartment quickly so AC could shower. When we got back, the staff had all started drinking and were trying to force me to take shots of Jaigermeister but I was having none of it. I’ve not drunk any alcohol since New Year’s eve so I wasn’t about to end that streak a week before my big race. I wanted to stay awake as long as possible tonight as that is one of the recommendations we got from the UKA doctors when travelling to Asia on how to ease the effects of jet lag (Go to bed late and wake up late). I stayed with them at the restaurant until 1 am and then headed back when they went to the clubs. After watching some programs on my computer, I put my head down (at 2 am) and fell right asleep.

Monday’s Training – Am: Travelling to UK Pm: 52 mins very slow.

Mileage - 7 miles.

I’ve never been a good sleeper when it comes to air travel and last night was really no different. My problem is the length of my legs. I can never get comfortable because my knees are always pressed up against the seat in front and then my bum gets numb as I don’t have much cushioning there. I thought I had hit the jackpot though when we were taking off as it looked like I had the only seat on the plane with a free seat beside it. This always helps as I can stretch my legs out into the space beside me. Once we were up in the air though, the old lady 2 seats along went and grabbed her granddaughter and had her sit beside me. She was tiny so that wasn’t too bad but she was curled up on the seat so she was kicking me and moving around all night so that made sure I couldn’t get a decent stretch of sleep. I just had a bunch of 20 minute naps really.

We arrived at Heathrow around 1.30pm so I had a couple of hours until my connecting flight. I went and grabbed a sandwich and coffee and tried to relax a little bit but it felt better to stretch my legs out a bit as they had been cramped up for so long. At 3.30pm, I got on the plane to Edinburgh and slept the whole way up. I was surprised to see that my bag arrived right away (it normally gets lost somewhere) so I got onto the bus into town and headed over to Illegal Jack’s to meet AC and get the keys for his sister’s apartment (I would be staying with them for a couple of nights). After a quick reunion, I headed over to the apartment and headed out for my run. Needless to say, I didn’t feel too good. I actually headed off at a normal pace only to realise that I was really tired and I needed to slow the pace right down so I basically shuffled for the next 50 mins and tried to expend s little energy as possible. It was a gorgeous evening so I headed down to Holyrood Park where there were lots of people out running and doing things in the park. I headed back through The Meadows and again, there were lots of students out there relaxing and hanging out. I got back to the apartment and did some stretching to try and loosen up a bit. I showered and headed over to Illegal Jack’s to grab some dinner. I was pleasantly surprised to find both AC and his sister sitting waiting for me so AC grabbed us some of the freshly made chilli and then I washed it down with a beef burrito. We sat and chatted for a little while before it was time to close up so we went through to the back as AC had to do the cashing up and the staff had to clean the front of house. AC tried his best to explain Twitter to me but I still don’t really get it. Apparently there is so much more to it than just simple updates and AC is taking advantage of this to try and publicise his business as much as possible. We ended up heading back to the apartment after 9.30pm sometime and then just sat and chatted for a little while. I was slipping in and out of sleep whilst I was lying on the couch so decided to go to bed at 11.30pm and fell right asleep.

Sunday’s Training – Am: 10 mile tempo followed by 12*1 min hard, 1 min easy fartlek. 49.12 (4.56, 4.58, 4.57, 4.56, 4.55, 4.54, 4.55, 4.53, 4.50, 4.52) Pm: 34 mins easy

Mileage – 26 miles

I woke up at 6 this morning as I wanted to get on with the training before it got too hot and windy. I had an English muffin and coffee and waited tried to do a cross word while I waited for Julie to wake up. We headed out a little later than I wanted as I found a bunch of my videos that I made when I was at the Olympics. The videos didn’t work on my last computer so it was great that they were working now. I went for a half mile jog so I could get some stretching done before heading out for the workout. I warmed up for 3 miles and started to do my drills and strides. I was feeling a little tired but it was more of a mental foggy tired than a physical tiredness. I strapped on my racing shoes, took my t-shirt off and I was ready to go. Greg had planned for me to do a 15 mile tempo but his last advise to me was that if I was feeling good that I should stop short and if I didn’t feel good, keep going. The thinking around this being that if I was feeling good, I may leave the race out on the road but if I didn’t feel good, I would be going slow enough that I wouldn’t be killing myself. I didn’t really want to do a really long tempo anyway as I had done one last week so once I knew I felt ok, I decided upon just doing 10 miles at a decent pace and then a short fartlek afterwards.

The tempo itself was fine. It wasn’t super quick but I felt relaxed and able to pick the pace up when I needed so I was happy with the way I was feeling. I wanted to start slightly slower and pick it up as I went through the miles so that went as planned. Julie was out there with me on the bike and handing me my drinks every 3 miles. I had a bit of a mishap with my energy gel as I had taped it to my bottle and when I ripped it off the bottle (the top of it was taped to the bottle so that when I ripped it off, it would be open and ready to go) I guess I didn’t rip it right because it still wasn’t open. I squeezed it as hard as possible and the gel went shooting out all over the road. There was only a tiny bit left in the pack so I sucked that out and washed it down with some energy drink. I finished the tempo feeling fine and relaxed so I stopped for a second, wiped my face and head down (it was pretty warm), took some more liquid on and then jogged for half a mile before getting into the fartlek. I was flying on the 1 minute efforts so I was happy I was able to do that section of the workout well as I thought I would be tired. I managed to cover 4 miles and then stopped and changed my shoes and headed back for a 3 mile warm down.

Once I got back I had to get showered and changed really quickly as it was already 10.50am and we had to be at church at 11am. The shower and changing was no problem but trying to get some breakfast down was the hard part. Luckily Julie was already to go so she made me a smoothie with frozen blueberries and strawberries, probiotic yoghurt, apple juice and some vanilla protein isolate powder. I then grabbed a bottle of water and a bowl of cereal for the car. I couldn’t get the smoothie down quickly as it was so cold and I was getting some major brain freeze. We drove over to the church where all of Julie’s family were already and waiting for us.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing as we just sat around and chit chatted (and I tried to nap unsuccessfully). I ended up heading out the door again at 3.45pm to get a slow 5 mile run in. I felt fine but still just took it very easy. I got back and showered and then spent a little while repacking my bag. It now closed up fine so I printed off my boarding my passes and headed downstairs to have some dinner before heading to the airport. Julie took me to the airport but she drove around the airport while I checked my bags in case they were too heavy and I would have to take something out of it. They were fine so she headed back up the road to Flagstaff. I always hate saying goodbye to Julie as I start to miss her right away. I have done a lot of travelling and I’m usually fine but when the trip is 2 weeks long, I really miss her. It actually really kicks in when I land in the other country. Last year for the World Half marathon champs it was really bad as I took the exact route through London that we had taken the year before when she came over for a couple of weeks. It just reminded me of what a good time we had had and how much I wanted her around. I don’t really do too many long trips anymore so I guess it’s not too bad.

I got onto the plane and although I had already eaten dinner 3 hours before, I ate again and it wasn’t half bad. A cous cous salad and some pasta was just what I needed as I watched the film 2012 and then spent the rest of the night trying to sleep.

Saturday’s Training – Am: 80 mins easy Pm: 34 mins easy

Mileage – 17 Miles

I got up pretty late today after going to bed pretty late last night so it felt good to sleep in a little bit. I had my coffee and toast outside with Julie’s parents, Grandma and her brother, Mike while Julie kept sleeping. I forgot how nice the weather is in the morning in Phoenix before the sun starts to blast everything. I headed out the door around 10am and ran towards South Mountain as there are a bunch of trails that wonder around the foothills area. It was nice just to switch off and zig zag around the sandy paths and have a little quiet oasis so close to a big city. I wasn’t feeling great but after about 30 mins I started to perk up a bit. By 45 mins I realised that I should either turn around or head off on a trail that would cut across to the neighbourhoods. I went for the second option and ended up at the top of a hill with no trail to continue down to street level. I ended up stopping the watch and carefully walking down the steep hill face as this was no time to practise my hill running descending. I was now stuck on a drainage ditch behind everyone’s garden so I just followed it around until I got to a space in the houses and hopped over the fence to the street. I had no clue where I was but knew which general direction to take so after about 5 mins of running I came out at a main road and found my way back onto a route that I knew. I decided to finish the run at 80 mins and went to the back of the house to cool off in the pool. It was a nice temperature but I wish it had been a little colder. Julie then arrived back from her run so we both had showers and got ready to do some chores around town.

It took us a couple of hours to get everything done (emissions test for the car, buying blister bandages for my trip home, going to the shoe store) and I was getting tired so when we got back we lay down on the big couches in front of the TV and relaxed for an hour. This wasn’t a great way to start feeling good for my second run as I didn’t want to pull myself off the couch and go run in the sweltering heat. I got changed, dressed my blisters and headed out the door. Almost immediately I could feel the bandages move around so my feet were a little uncomfortable. I was supposed to run for 50 – 60 mins but I cut it down to 35 mins as I was tired and it was really hot. There was a strong breeze though so that helped to cool me down as I ran out on the sandy reservation.

I quickly got showered and changed and then we headed out to the church Luau that Julie’s parents had helped to organise. It took a little while for the food to be served but it was great once it did. Teriyaki chicken, Kaluha pork, rice, coleslaw, fruit salad and a whole assortment of desserts made my stomach happy. There were various acts on the stage, raffles and competitions and then once it was all over, we helped to break everything down and then take the grandma’s back to the house. Julie and I sat and talked to them for a while but then I headed up to bed when it was 10pm as I was getting pretty tired and I needed to get up early in the morning.

Sorry for the delay

2010-04-14T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a few days but I have kept up with writing the training on my computer and will post all of it from Sunday to Tuesday once I get a chance to either transfer it to a computer thats linked to the internet or when I can get my computer online. I'm glad to be back in Scotland and happy to see that the weather is good. I'm just waiting for my body to get over the 7 day hump that it goes through when you come down from altitude. Speak to you all soon.

Lemon

4/9/10

2010-04-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

Friday's Training - Am: 70 mins easy Pm: 55 mins easy

Mileage - 18 Miles

I took today as a very easy so that I could recover well from yesterday's workouts. I felt pretty tired in the morning when I met up with the guys so I was more than happy just to plod along for 10 miles. When I finished, Greg gave me the bottles I would be using for the marathon (they're lab bottles that have squirt straws coming out the top) and some calf sleeves from SLS3 (they had sent a bunch to the team to test out). Once I got home I spent most of my time doing washing and organising stuff before I would pack it all up for the trip back home. There was so much stuff I had to put in as I dont have any of my recovery tools in the uk. The Massage stick, tennis balls and stretch rope didn't take up much space but my foam roller certainly did. Once everything was clean and dry I packed up my bag with the intention of repacking it all on Sunday before I left Phoenix. I had a 30 min nap and then answered an email interview for Athletics Weekly. After finishing off my coffee I cut my hair down really short so that it would still be fairly short come marathon day. This meant that I had to clean up the bathroom afterwards but I can never seem to get rid of all the hair that gets everywhere. I headed out for my second run on the trail and I was glad that it was nice and warm outside. It was still windy but the temperature made the run pleasant. After getting back, I quickly showered and headed over to Julie's work to pick her up as we were heading straight down to Phoenix from there. We picked up a buffalo chicken pizza on the way and made it down the mountain safe and sound.

4/8/10

2010-04-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

Thursday’s Training – Am: 4*2 mile with 4 mins rec. 9.40, 9.37, 9.34, 9.25 Pm: 59 mins easy

Mileage – 25 Miles

I hadn’t realised until I was going to bed last night that Greg had texted me to say that we would be going down to Sedona for the workout as the weather was supposed to be decent and there were a bunch of others doing a workout there also. I was relieved about this as I was going to have to do the session on Trina’s loop and it can get pretty monotonous. I then remembered that instead of doing two big loops for each rep I would now be doing 8 laps of the track for each rep! After all the marathon training I have been doing my mind has adapted to this and 10 mins of running really isn’t too boring. I met up with Martin at 8am and we headed down to Sedona and met the others at the track. We warmed up with Brett and then headed down to the track to get on with our drills and strides. Brett and Martin were running 2*2miles and the 2*1 mile so I thought I would maybe have some company for my 4*2 mile but they were to run much faster than I was so they started their workout while I finished of getting ready. Greg didn’t want the session to feel that hard and wanted me to be relaxed the whole way so he just wanted me to run 4.50 miles with the option of picking it up on the last rep. I was pretty tired when I woke up this morning but I felt fine once I got running and the pace felt pretty easy so that was a good sign as the last week of training has been pretty intense (3 workouts in the last 5 days with another big one set for Sunday). Getting through the first 2 reps was fine but after that was when I changed my mindset and started to imagine the London course and how I want to feel at specific points. I know it will start to feel hard on the later stages of the race so I pictured myself relaxing and feeling strong as I passed the 22 mile mark. On the last rep I was aerobically fine but my legs were starting to feel a little more tired as I picked up the pace. I could see myself running down Birdcage Walk and then turning onto The Mall and running fast down the last 200m of the race. It was good to finish after 32 laps of the track. The one thing that made a difference today was the weather. There was only a slight wind but the temperature was up so it felt good to get some rays on the skin and not having a cold wind whipping through my body. I had a quick word with Greg about the workout on Sunday (we will have to assess how I feel before I do it and really listen to my body to see if it recovered enough to hit a long hard tempo again) and then joined the guys on the warm down. I finished up and got some stretching done and then we headed back up the road. Just as I was digging into some food, Mark Woods called me from Scotland for an interview for Sunday’s paper (I think Scotland on Sunday) and then I tried to sleep. No success! For the life of me I couldn’t get to sleep so I just lay down to give my legs a rest before my next run.

I also got the good news from my mum that the custom made Oakley’s that Oakley were making for me had arrived so I would be picking them up from her once I get back to Scotland. I am leaving for Scotland on Sunday and will be in Edinburgh for a couple of days before I head to St Andrews to stay at Ronnie’s house so I can just focus on getting over jet lag and getting my final preparations done before the race. I will be heading down to London on the Thursday before the race and will be doing some press obligations on the Friday as well as making an appearance at the Mizuno stand at the marathon expo.

I had booked a massage for 6pm so I headed out the door at 4.30pm and went up to Buffalo again and got 3 laps done and headed back down the trail to finish off 10 miles. It wasn’t without incident though. With about a mile to go, a young couple were running with their dog off the leash (a fully grown boxer) and the moment the dog spotted me, it headed straight for me at a full sprint. Luckily I have had to deal with this kind of situation before and I have no problem hurting a dog before it gets a chance to take lumps out of me. I ran hard towards the dog and jumped right in its face right before it started to jump and I pushed it onto its side. It then growled and came back at me, which just prompted me to give it a swift kick in the head. Job done…the dog ran off. It didn’t stop the girl from screaming at me about how the dog is friendly and it would have never hurt me. I reminded her that it charged at me and just headed off the trail. I think her boyfriend knew I did the right thing as he grabbed his girlfriend and told her to calm down. I just didn't want to run the marathon with half a calf! Anyway, I got back in just under an hour and headed straight into the house as I needed to head over to the other side of town to get a massage. I had the time to write a note to Julie to tell her I would take her out for dinner and then jumped into the car. My legs felt ok but my calves were a little tight and my glutes were still a little locked up so I asked the lady to concentrate on those. Once I got out I headed over and bought Julie some flowers and then headed back to the apartment to pick her up. She was all dressed up and looking great so we drove over to Black Bart’s Steakhouse and had a great meal. I wanted to take her out as this was going to be our last night alone together before I head back over to the UK for a fortnight. All in all, it was great night and we had a really nice time. We are heading down to Phoenix tomorrow to stay at Julie’s parent’s house until Sunday as both her grand mothers are in town.

4/7/10

2010-04-08T13:07:00.001-07:00

Wednesday’s Training – Am: 87 mins very easy Pm: 40 mins easy

Mileage – 18 Miles

I had a good nights sleep after going to bed early last night so I was hoping to feel really good today. I headed out to the Campbell Mesa trail again as surprise surprise, it was really windy again! I got off to a really slow start as the trailhead is uphill into the wind and I basically kept this pace for the rest of the run. This was my original idea as I have a hard workout tomorrow and I needed to recover from yesterday. It was nice just to plug in my ipod and just shuffle along for close to an hour and a half. I was still being blown about but I really wasn’t too bothered as I was pretty switched off. I need some days like this so that I can have lots of energy for the next day. It actually felt like a track season easy day. The hardest part was actually doing my drills after the run as I was being blown about the road. From the trail I headed over to the shops to pick up a few groceries before heading home to make some scrambled eggs with ham, mushrooms and red peppers and some fresh French loaf that I bought. It really filled me up so I would need a little while to digest the food before napping so I made a call to my coach in Scotland, Prof. Ron Morrison and my former FSU team and house mate, Luke Gunn (he and his girlfriend Hannah England are up in Mammoth Lakes doing some pre track season training). I was good to catch up with both of them and talk training for a little while. Once I got off of the calls, I fell right asleep and woke up an hour later.

After playing around on the computer for quite a while, I finally got out to do my second run. As usual I headed up the trail to Buffalo Park as I was just doing an easy 6 miles. Right when I got to the start of the park I met some old steeplechase rivals and stopped and talked to them for a while (Pieter Desmet of Belgium and Ben Bruce of the Oregon track team). They’re both opening up their season at the next Stanford meet and I must say I was little jealous that I wouldn’t be hitting the track again for a long while. After talking to them for about 5 minutes I headed back off on my run and it went by pretty quickly. It was still windy but I was really just switching my mind off for the run so I didn’t notice it too much. I got back and did some drills, strides and stretching and then quickly got showered and changed and drove to Julie’s work to pick her up as we were going over Picazzo’s to meet some friends for dinner.

We had a lovely dinner with my RCIA friend Jason Wolfe (the nutter who is running the Rim to Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon in a couple of weeks) and his wife, Aerie and their 2 little kids. The kids were really funny and very well behaved and we just had a nice time chatting and relaxing for a bit. We headed back to the house after dinner and watched an episode of Billy Connolly’s World Tour of New Zealand and then Julie was starting to fade pretty quickly so we just got ready to bed and fell asleep nice and early.

For those of you in the UK looking for a track 10km in the summer, there is going to be one at Meadowbank Stadium on June 6^th. There are very few track 10km opportunities in the UK and I’ve seen a lot of complaints about this issue online so here is a perfect opportunity to run one during the thick of the track season. Meadowbank can be a very fast track when the weather is good so hopefully there will be a good turnout for the event. It is open to everyone and there are a bunch of Scots already signed up and they are hopefully going to attract the Eritreans to the event so you can expect the event to be won close to 29 minutes.

4/6/10

2010-04-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday’s Training – Am: 24*200m with 200m rec. Pm: 66 mins easy

Mileage – 22 Miles

Martin and I drove down to Sedona for the workout this morning. Martin was just running easily s he has his workout but with the wind being lower in Sedona and the temperature higher, he wanted to run down there instead of suffering through a run in Flagstaff. We got to the track around 9am and got our usual warm up run in. As I went through my warm up drills and strides while Martin ran around the track. For some reason I felt fine on the drills but just not really up for a speed workout as I knew it was something I hadn’t done for a while and I knew I wasn’t going to be that good at it as this stage of my training. I took the first 3 reps pretty easy and then averaged around 31 secs for the rest of the workout. This was a strange feeling as I have been doing this workout since I was 16 and have always been able to run 30 secs for all the reps. I guess that’s marathon training for you! The wind couldn’t decide which way it was going to blow today so I kept having to change the direction of my reps. There was also another athlete at the track going through some hurdle drills very nicely and it was only once I was going for my warm down that I realised it was Dominique Arnold who has the USA 110m hurdle record of 12.90. I think he retired a few years ago so I guess he was just going through the paces again.

When I got back to the house I fell asleep for 2 hours. It felt so good to get a nice long nap and get some good recovery for my second run. I had some coffee and popped down to the post office before heading out the door and up to Buffalo Park for the run. Needless to say that it was windy again but I am really getting used to it now on the route that I take. It pushes me up the hill at the start and then knocks me back from the 0.4 to 1.5 mile mark of the 2 mile loop and then I am against it for the 2 miles back to the apartment. I was doing 10 miles for the evening run and so I started off very easy and then after 4 miles picked the pace up every 2 miles until I was running at a really good pace. This was the best way to do it as I was still feeling a little sluggish after my nap. It meant that I felt great striding down the trail to finish off the run although I couldn’t really take my mind off how sore my hands were as I had forgot to put gloves on and the wind froze them up. Julie got home just after me and we quickly had some left overs before heading out to a meeting we had.

We got to bed nice and early which felt great as I was already getting tired when we got back from our meeting.

4/5/10

2010-04-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

Monday's Training - Am: 71 mins easy

Mileage - 10 Miles

I had a nice recovery day today and ended up doing hardly anything all day. Martin and I drove over to Campbell Mesa (easily the most complicated trail system i've ever been on) and ran there as it was really windy outside and we wanted to be as shaded as possible. My legs felt fine this morning with no stiffness or aches from yesterday so that was another great sign that my legs will be ready for the marathon distance in just a few weeks. Both Martin and I didn't want to get out of the car because the wind was so strong that it was almost singing outside! We got on our way and even in the trees it was pretty blustery. It was a strange run as the time didn't really pass by that quickly. I thought it must have been an hour of running when I looked at my watch but it was only 45 mins. I have still never run on these trails on my own as I think I would get lost. My mum visited last year and I told her to go out and back on the dirt road rather than get on the trails as she would probably get lost. Well...3 hours later we found her coming over the top of the hill after she had run round in circles trying to find her way back to the car! I spent much of the rest of the day napping and lazing about the house. I always feel guilty when I do this as I know Julie is at working hard all day and i'm doing nothing at home.

I decided to take the evening off as I had done a lot of miles yesterday and I have a speed workout tomorrow so I wanted to rest my legs a bit. I was feeling pretty tired anyway so a nights rest would be good for me. For dinner I grilled up eggplant, zuchinni, peppers and mushrooms and threw them in with some linguine and some left over ham from the weekend. It was just what I was needing as I had been craving pasta for a few days. We spent the rest of the night relaxing in front of the TV and heading to bed pretty early.

4/4/10

2010-04-05T12:05:00.001-07:00

Sunday's Training - Am: 18 Mile Tempo Pm: 45 mins very easy

Mileage - 28 Miles

Weekly Mileage - 152 Miles

Today began at 5am as I was trying to replicate what I would do on marathon morning by getting up early, having a decent breakfast and be ready to start warming up at 8am. On my actual race day I will get up probably 4 hours before the race start (5.45am for the 9.45am start in London) and have a full size breakfast to get my energy stores full before I start the race. I didn't get to bed until midnight last night so I only got 5 hours of sleep but that is fine as that often happens before races with the early starts. I felt bad getting up that early because Julie's brother, Mike, was sleeping in the living room and I had to get the coffee ready, make some toast and oatmeal. I was making a little bit of a noise and he woke up and talked to me for a little bit before drifting back off to sleep. I left the house just before 7am and headed to Starbucks to read a little bit and get a double espresso before heading over to Lake Mary Rd for the workout. I met Greg, Ian and Paige there and with the wind being as strong as it was we decided to drive to the 15 mile mark and run the course backwards. I was going to run to the 3 mile mark and then turn around and run another 6 miles back. It actually didn't matter what we did because the wind was so strong and swirly that I was getting hit from every side for almost the whole run. The only mile I didn't run against was the very first one and it was slightly downhill so that was nice and quick (5.02) to get the workout started.

Getting ready to start

The next mile was against the wind and mostly up the steepest hill on the whole route so the 5.21 next mile wasn't unexpected. Greg drove behind me for the workout so that he could hand me my drinks every 3 miles so he pulled up alongside and said just to roll with the punches. If it is windy, don't fight too hard, if its hilly, don't worry about that mile being slow. This was good advise as I could have got very frustrated with how I was being pushed about by the wind. I hit a little bad patch at 8 miles but it was only because my lower back tightened up a little so my hamstrings got a little sore but after I got past the 10 mile mark I felt fine again.

Catching up to Paige

Greg wanted me to run steadily for the first 12 miles and then run hard for the last 6 miles. He said the point was to try and empty the tank and then try to continue to push on at that point. Its like getting to the 20 mile point in the mile and then run hard for the last 6 miles. As Steve Jones says "a marathon is just a Sunday long run with a 6 mile race at the end". Doing this was mentally good for me because it broke the workout up and I could concentrate on just cruising and then running hard for 30 mins at the end. I turned around at the 12 miles and got straight into a good rhythm. Greg handed me an energy gel which was a new one I was trying with caffeine in it and unfortunately it was really really thick and I couldn't really swallow it easily. It also got all over my hands and face and it just made a mess soI decided never to use that one again. I couldn't get my gloves back on as my hands were like glue at this point. After getting up the hill and heading back down and then up again onto the plateau that runs parallel to the Lake I started to feel really good and was moving well. I really wanted to push it hard but there was a strong cross wind and it was tough to really drive my legs quickly enough to run really fast. My 17th mile was good as it was downhill and shaded from the wind but then I turned into the wind on the one mile where I really wanted to run fast (the last one). Greg started shouting a lot to just really pick it up and that there was only a few minutes of running left. This helped a lot but then all of a sudden as I cleared the area with the trees and I got blown straight into the middle of the road! That was 5 meters sideways and I had no power to stop it. Greg started shouting more and I just picked the pace up as much as I could. I finished the 18 miles in 1.34.21 which ended up being an average of 5.14s which was good as it was so windy and I was at 7,000ft. I can't wait until I get to run in still conditions! My legs felt fine and aerobically I felt good so that told me that my strength is there. Greg was pleased because my form never broke and even on the last mile when I was pushing hard, my legs were still picking up and in full sprint mode.

I drove back to the apartment and quickly showered as we were all heading out for a lunch buffet at Josephine's. The food was so good and I quickly put the 6 pounds back on that I had lost during the run. Julie's family left soon after lunch so Julie and I tried to nap on the couch but we weren't very successful. We just lazed about for a while and then I headed out for a very slow 6 miles on the trail. I got back and logged the training for the day and was happy that I got through my highest mileage week ever unscathed and feeling good. A dinner of leftovers from yesterday and watching a film got me very tired and prepared for a very good night's sleep.

4/3/10

2010-04-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday's Training - Am: 69 mins easy Pm: 41 mins easy

Mileage - 16 Miles

Today was a very easy day as my big workout for the week would be tomorrow. Originally I was supposed to do the 18 mile tempo today but with the wind really picking up this week, we pushed it back a day (so everything next week go back a day also and that fits perfectly with my travel plans back to the UK as now I don't have to do a hard workout the day I step off the plane). It was very windy today and I did both runs at Buffalo Park as this would force me to go nice and slow. I did drill and strides after both runs to keep my legs awake for tomorrow. I usually find that if I have 3 days easy in a row that my legs aren't as responsive when it comes to a workout because they haven't done anything hard for a few days.

The day itself was relaxing as I ran a few errands in the morning/afternoon and then Julie's family arrived for the easter celebrations. Julie cooked a big ham, an apple compote, green beans and Lorie brought up some great potato salad for us. THis was all ready for when I got back from my second run so I quickly showered and we all sat down and ate together. My eating plans were thrown off a little (I wanted to replicate what I would do the day before the marathon) as I had breakfast/lunch at 11am and lunch/dinner at 4.30pm. I would have preferred to move everything back a couple of hours and get another meal in but with everything that was going on today it just wasn't possible. Julie and I left at 6pm to go to the church and get ready for my baptism. The rest of the family met us there at 7pm when the service started. It was a great evening and it was really nice to have Julie's family there for the baptism. It would have been nice if my family to be there but its a bit of a long journey from Scotland to Flagstaff! When we got back, we dug straight into the cake that Julie had made (we all gave up sweets as part of lent and i'm continuing this until after London but I had to celebrate with a big slice tonight). We didn't end up getting to bed until 12am (the service didn't end until after 10pm) so I wasn't going to get much sleep as I was getting up at 5am to prepare for the morning's workout.

4/2/10

2010-04-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

Friday's Training - Am: 92 mins easy Pm: 65 mins easy (3 miles of 100 strides hard/100 strides easy)

Mileage - 24 Miles

Today was a little crammed to say the least. I got up at the usual time and headed out the door just after 8am to get my 90 minute run in. I took a new route on the roads, out to the very south of town and did a nice loop around a very picturesque lake. It had some huge homes dotted around its edge so I figured this is where all the wealthy people like to live. I headed back through Country Club and the run had been fairly easy until I hit the 10 mile point. The rest of the run was a long slow climb while I battled against the wind. I was going to do a bunch of strides during the run but there would have been no point against the wind. I settled for doing them during my second run. I got home and did some drills and stretches and chowed down on some granola with a batch of fresh strawberries that I bought yesterday. This put me right to sleep and I woke up 90 minutes later feeling very refreshed. I made some coffee and relaxed for another hour before I headed out for my second run at 1.30pm. I had to get out early as I had a massage at 3pm.

I felt pretty good on the run and broke it up by doing 3 miles in the middle alternating between 100 strides hard and 100 strides easy. This made my legs perk up a bit and feel a little more snappy on the very soft dirt trail I was on. Yesterday's snow didn't really mess too much with Buffalo Park or the trail leading up to it from the house so thats where I did the run.

I quickly got changed, grabbed a bagel and my protein drink and headed downtown to get a massage from Dana. It turned out that I really needed it as my legs felt fine but I mentioned to her that my glutes were feeling a little nervy and so she got right to work. My back was locked up and that was making my glutes tight also so she got right in there with her elbows and forearms and got some really good work done. It was a very tough session for me. Lots of wincing and gritting of teeth but as usual Dana got me to relax so she could ease things out. i left there feeling great and went straight to the store to buy a 20 pound bag of ice so I could take an ice bath. Because our shower runs out of hot water very quickly, I fumbled into some clothes (I could really bend my legs after being in the bath) and drove over to the gym to have a long hot shower. I came out tingling and this felt so good. I got some more groceries on the way back and quickly made some pasta and again we finished off a whole loaf of fresh bread in one go. I managed to finish dinner this time without having to take it in the car with me. Julie and I headed over to church for the Veneration of the Cross (which was a very relaxing and peaceful service) and then drove home to relax for the rest of the night.

4/1/10

2010-04-01T21:31:00.001-07:00

Thursday’s Training – Am: 73 mins slow Pm: 63 mins easy

Mileage – 20 Miles

I was pretty tired when I woke up this morning after getting to bed late last night. I waited longer than usual to get the run done as I just wasn’t ready at 8.30am. Another factor was that it snowed a couple of inches last night so I wouldn’t be able to get on any of the trails that I wanted to. I headed to the gym with all intentions of doing a workout there after the run but after I started the run that plan went out the window as I was feeling pretty tired. I headed out from the gym and did my usual 10 mile loop and just used the run as a recovery run. This meant relaxing and just letting my legs turnover rather than pushing the pace. These runs always make me feel better the next day and it was a good idea after the workout I did yesterday. I got back to the car and drove to Safeway to pick up some groceries, Hastings to see if I could rent a dvd, Nau’s Cline library, Sam’s Club to get some bulk groceries and then finally home for some breakfast and a sleep. I made a big breakfast of scrambled egg with mushrooms, red peppers and avocado with a chicken and apple sausage and some bread. I made a little too much and I was stuffed full before I could finish it all. This helped me to pass out pretty quickly and get a good two part nap in (I woke up in the middle but luckily fell back asleep).

This morning's breakfast

When I woke up I noticed that a lot of the snow on the road had melted so that would be good for my second run. I made a big cup of coffee and then practised some piano for a bit. I still wasn’t full of energy before I got ready for my run so I swallowed an energy gel and waited for that to kick in. I headed out the door to be met by not only a strong wind but a cold one. I tuned into Ben in the Mix on my Ipod as that always gets me running a little quicker and I wanted the run to be done so I could get out of the cold. After a couple of slow miles I started to feel good and got into a good rhythm. 10 miles and 63 mins later I was done and getting my drills done. I felt really good and fast on my strides so I was glad that I took it really easy in the morning when I wasn’t feeling good. I headed back into the house and started the dinner of Pork tenderloin, cauliflower and cous cous and then got my stretching done. Julie arrived home as I was doing this and she kept an eye on the food while I took a shower. We had to gobble the food down as we had to get to church for the start of the 3 days leading up to Easter. It was a very interesting service with the priest washing some peoples feet. It was quite emotional as one of the guys I have been going through the RCIA with was overcome with emotion and crying the whole time he was up by the alter. It was a long service so we got back close to 9pm so just relaxed the rest of the evening.

3/31/10

2010-04-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday’s Training – Am: 8*1 mile with 3 mins recovery @ Lake Mary Rd. 4.53, 4.42, 4.37, 4.47, 4.50, 4.46, 4.49, 4.48. Pm: 57 mins easy

Mileage – 24 Miles

I slept well last night which was great because I needed that if I was going to put a good effort in on the workout. I wanted to feel a lot better than I did and I guess I must be getting pretty fit as I am recovery well, day to day. I checked what the wind was going to be like and sat down on the computer with some coffee and toast. We were meeting at 8am so I left the apartment at 7.30am so I could get a little jog and stretch in before we warmed up for the workout. The wind was definitely blowing from the South West but as I ran out one way it was in my face and then turning around it was in my face again. Once Greg arrived we debated for a while which way we should do the workout or whether we should just do it on one stretch of road and have him drive us back to the start each time. We decided to drive out to the 11 mile mark and just head back to the 3 mile mark (it gets really hilly after that and we wanted to be finishing at a good pace). I would be doing the workout on my own although Paige was doing the same thing for 6 miles and only 2 mins recovery as her workout was more marathon pace orientated and mine was to get the legs moving quickly. I guess you could say it was more of a speed session.

Lake Mary Rd is very undulating and curves around in all sorts of directions. We would be predominantly heading in a North West direction with the hope of taking a little sting out of the wind. We arrived at the start only to find that the first rep was going to be straight into the wind and I was running it I thought I was going to be way over 5 minutes but I was pleasantly surprised to finish in 4.53. I felt very easy and the rep went by quickly so I knew the session wasn’t going to be a grinder today. We managed to catch the wind a little bit on the next rep although as I was approaching the finish it suddenly felt like I had run into a wall as the wind turned around and pushed me back. I knew the next rep was going to be fast as the road curved around and it was slightly downhill. This would be good as it would make my legs a little more tired for the rest of the workout so I would have to concentrate and work hard. Right enough I ran 4.37 and it felt pretty easy. Greg was laughing and saying that I should have no problem 2.04 in London if I keep that pace up. The rest of the reps were much the same apart from the last 2 where my left calf started to tighten a little and they were going to be the hilliest reps. Luckily on the 7^th rep I got a nice push up the hill from the wind and it didn’t seem to take much out of me for the rest of the rep (in recent years I have started to really lose my hill strength so having the feeling back was great). I thought the last rep was all downhill and I could go really fast but once I crested the top of the hill after 400m I noticed that half a mile down the road it started to go up and continue to where Greg had parked. I luckily didn’t know about this as it would have been pretty dejecting before I got on with the rep. I cruised the first 800m and then worked really hard for the remainder of the rep and manage to continue the pace I had been going so I was happy that I finished the workout with all the reps being a solid pace and without hammering my body too much. Greg dropped me off at the 1 mile mark and I ran back to the car and then added on a couple of more mile once I had gotten my bag in the car. I took a trail that I only just noticed for the first time but it meant I was heading straight into the wind and it was nigh on impossible to get any faster than 10 minute miling. Luckily it turned off in the forest and I got a bit of respite and then of course I got to head back out there and run with the wind on the way back. I headed back to the house and finished off my protein drink as I prepared my breakfast. I couldn’t eat a whole lot as I had to get out the door again by 2.20pm for an hour run as I had work at 4pm. I managed to get a good nap in and just relax for an hour before heading out into the gale force winds again.

A little bit of stretching before the start

Long road ahead

In full stride

Mile 4

Mile 5

Finishing up the last rep

Trying to suck some air

All done!

My second run was really, really slow! I had no choice unless I wanted to go inside and onto the treadmill to run as the wind was going to be strong where ever I went. I decided to head up the trail to Buffalo Park and do a couple of loop and head back to the apartment. At one point I came to a total stand still as the wind was like a brick wall. It was probably the best thing for me anyway after the hard running I had done this morning. I got back just in time to have a shower, grab a little food and then head off to work for the evening (starting at 4pm). It turned out to be a long night when my last customer decided that she would just sit and sip her beer for 30 minutes after we closed. I was trying my best not to stared her down and give her a hint that we were closed but my eyes kept glaring over at the bill that I had already presented her. Finally, just as I called Julie to not wait up for me, John (my manager) went over and asked her if we could close her check as we were waiting to close and we could get our paper work done if she did so. Finally she paid and I could do my report. It was a pretty good night for a Wednesday but I was pretty tired as it was later than I would usually stay up. I was going to pop over to the Green Room (Local bar) to say hi to some of my friends but I knew I would be useless as I was getting sleepier and sleepier the longer I stayed up. I finally got back and to the house and fell right asleep once I had gotten ready for bed.

3/30/10

2010-03-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday’s Training – Am: 70 mins easy Pm: 45 mins slow

Mileage - 16 Miles

I was feeling pretty tired this morning and the conditions didn’t help to make me feel any better. I drove to the gym and ran from there, heading out along to the train tracks to see just how far the dirt road that follows the track went. I did a few strides in the run to try and waken up my legs a bit but to no avail, today was going to be slow. The wind today was very strong so no matter which way I was going to run, I was going to have to hit a headwind at some point.

The wind in Flagstaff is notoriously strong at this time of year. Even at 8am it will be 30 mph so we always have to plan the training accordingly. Once I got back from the run I emailed Greg to say that I wanted to go ahead and do the planned training session of 8*1 mile but to just do it on Lake Mary Rd instead of the track in Sedona. This means that we can get there in the morning and see which way the wind is blowing and then start the run from either end of the road.

The rest of the day was spent napping and lounging to see if I would feel any better on my second run of the day. This was fine as I managed to reply to a lot of emails and get some work done. I was feeling increasingly tired and the sound of the wind outside wasn’t helping that. I wanted to get motivated so I watched a bunch of videos that were made of the top American runners before the Olympic marathon trials and that helped a bit. I got changed and headed out to the trail (just 30 meters from our front door) that leads up to Buffalo Park. I was pushed all the way up the hill by a strong tail wind but this only meant that at the top of the trail that I would be running against the wind the whole way back. The wind was probably a good thing as it meant that I kept the run very slow (I really didn’t have a choice as I was feeling so tired) and it ended up just being a short recovery run. I got some drills and strides done after the run and I felt good for those for some reason. I was just trying to wake my legs up and it seemed to work.

I thought Julie would have been home by now but she wasn’t so I made up a burrito from the leftovers we had and waited for Julie (we had a meeting to go to at 6.30pm). She still wasn’t at the house at 6.30pm so I went by her work and found her there still attending to a patient. We left her work and headed to our meeting and as I sat in the meeting, the tiredness set in again. My legs felt like jelly and because the room was hot, I was starting to get sleepy. After we were done, we caught up with a friend of ours who had just run 36 miles through the Grand Canyon at the weekend in preparation for an assault on the rim to rim to rim record in 4 weeks. He’s seriously crazy! That’s over 6 hours of gruelling pounding straight up and down the canyon. I think we’re going to go out for dinner with him and his wife next week before I head back to the UK so that should be nice.

My mum had sent over some books that I had ordered a while ago so a night of reading in bed is on the cards before bed time.

Questions

2010-03-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

I have made my recovery runs a lot slower (7min pace) this winter and been injured less. My steady running is usually around 6:30 - 6:00min pace. Do you tend to run most of your steady running quicker than this? (Steven V)

To be honest I don't tend to do a lot of steady running. Its usually easy or hard! My easy running up here at 7,000ft is anywhere between 6 minute miles to 7 minute miles. It changes so much because I feel so different after each days training. If I really want to recover for hard workouts then I will run really slowly and make sure that my body really isn't being taxed. During times like now, when I am training for a marathon or during a base phase, I usually don't ever run much slower than 7 minute pace because I don't have lots of races to worry about and its all about as getting as strong as possible. The main thing for me has been to listen to my body and respond accordingly. For example, this past Sunday I just did one easy run because I knew I was tired. The next day I felt great and was able to run pretty quickly. At sea level thing were different. I almost always did none of my main runs slower than 6 minute pace (my morning runs were always pretty slow) except during the track season when everything would be really slow as the main focus was to run as fast as possible during the hard days. Hope this helps a little!

I was wondering what sort of drills you do and when you do them? Do you do drills before and or after a run or both? Does core strength have any impact on foot strike? (Niall McGrath)

I do my drills before and after runs depending on what the run is. If its an easy run I will do the drills after followed by strides so that my muscles will lengthen back out to the state they were in before the run (your muscles shorten as you run and this is what can cause tightness). If I am doing a hard workout then I will do the drills before the workout so I can be as loose as possible so I can run hard without tightening up. In regards to core strength and foot strike I am not the best person to ask about this. Changing your foot strike may not be a great option as this can lead to injuries. On the other hand, it can help with your speed if you are able to push off your toes more efficiently. My former coach in Scotland spent a year trying to get me to be more efficient as I would tend to lift my head back when I got tired. This lead to me shortening my stride and moving to a heel strike so every time this happened he would shout something like think of Liz (Liz McColgan who was the epitome of someone always moving forward) and this would trigger me to drop my head and reopen my stride. It also took a lot of sprint drills (these were very tough), plyometrics and an increase in mileage for me to be strong enough to always run off of my mid foot.

I've never tried an ice bath before but tempted to give it a go. How often would you suggest having an ice bath and is it more beneficial after a long run or interval session? How long do you tend to stay in the water? (Iain Taylor)

Ice baths aren't the most comfortable thing in the world to do but they really are great for your muscles. They are beneficial all the time as they help to constrict blood vessels and decreases metabolic activity, which in turn reduces swelling and tissue breakdown. I find them most beneficial after both long runs and any hard workouts as that is when I've put my legs through the most stress. Of course it is a lot easier to do this during the summer time when the weather is nice but I find it necessary to have them year round. I stay in anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes and anything below 60F (15C) is good. I prefer close to 50F (10C) and then take a nice shower afterwards. There is also the option (if you are able to do it) of a contrast bath where you go from a cold bath to a hot bath (I did this a lot at FSU as both the hot and cold tubs were next to each other). This basically opens and closes your blood vessels so that you are basically getting a shunting effect that helps to pump out inflammation. I used to do a 3 mins cold to 1 min hot ratio.

3/29/10

2010-03-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

Monday’s Training – Am: 97 mins easy Pm: 58 mins easy progressive to steady

Mileage – 24 miles

I felt great this morning after taking yesterday evening off and getting a good night’s sleep. I met Martin at Trina’s loop and ran with him for his warm up and then headed off on the urban trails to see if they were celar. Almost immediately I was met by Ian Torrence, Andrew Middleton, Trent Briney and Nick Arciniaga heading the other way so I just ran with them for the next 7 miles, heading through town and out along the train tracks which to my surprise were all clear. It felt really good to be on this soft ground and I felt like I was just bouncing along (we weren’t going fast but when we got to any kind of hill I felt like I was still running on the flat). I got back up to Cheshire with Trent and then did a 2 mile loop and headed back to the car. I did some drills, strides and stretching before heading over to Martin’s house to get some stuff (I am storing a bunch of stuff there until our house is built) and then headed home for some breakfast. Julie had made up a big batch of steel cut oats the other night so I warmed some of that up with some almonds, cranberries and prunes and washed it down with some orange and mango juice. Needless to say that I passed out pretty quickly after finishing that off and woke up half an hour before I had a meeting with our realtors to sign the last of our forms for upgrades and additions to the house. We’ve not seen much movement at the plot but they said they would be starting the building this week so I’m happy that we’ll be seeing some progress soon.

The evening’s run was a good one. I felt really fresh so I started to pick the pace up a little once I got to the dirt road as I was heading from the gym. The road was completely dry but no cars had really been on it so it was a little too soft and very rutted so I was turning my ankle quite a bit. It did feel good to be off the road again though so I shouldn’t really complain. I got to the 5 mile mark at 30 mins, stopped for a pee and then headed off back to the gym. I made it back in 28 mins without any real increase in effort so that was a nice feeling. I went into the gym but I just wasn’t in the mood for the workout so I decided to do it tomorrow (we are pushing everything back a day this week as the wind is going to 30mph all day for the next couple of days) after my morning run. I got back and Julie was still out running so I managed to get the dinner all ready for when she got back. I had out some steaks in the fridge to marinate yesterday so I cooked those with some asparagus and yam’s.

I managed to get a little comfort about my performance at the weekend as I looked over Charlie Spedding's training on his run up to the Olympic marathon. I remembered that he had used races to get sharp and I wanted to compare my 10km to his performances to see how he was competing during his marathon build up. It turns out that he was running similar times but with less mileage during the week (he did his mileage quicker than I did). That made me feel a little better about not running a good time and I also talked to Trina Painter (one of out assistant coaches and former USA 20km record holder) and she said that before her best marathon, she had run slowly in a 10km. I wasn't the least bit worried about how slow I ran (because I felt so strong) but it was just comforting to know that others have had similar performances before good marathons.

3/28/10

2010-03-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday's Training - Am: 70 mins easy Pm: Off.

Mileage - 10 miles

Week's Mileage - 120 Miles

Today was a recovery day for me. I had to get up at 6am to get my run in before we headed to church at 9am. It was really hard to get out of bed at that time as I had had such a long day the day before but once I got some coffee, toast and laced the shoes up, i felt fine. It was a great temperature outside but it was very windy so it wasn't going to matter what direction I went in, I was going to have to hit the wind at some point. I basically just did a big loop on the reservation and I felt pretty groggy the whole time. I got back to the house, had some breakfast and then once we got to church I started to feel the tiredness. My eyes were closing and I was having trouble sitting and standing the whole time. I was going to leave straight from church to head back up the road to Flagstaff but being as sleepy as I was, I decided to head back to Julie's parent's house and take a nap before I got on the road. This was the best decision I could have made as I felt so much better after waking up and really alert once I had another coffee. The drive up went by pretty quickly and I met Julie at an RCIA retreat that we were to be at (RCIA is Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and i'm in my final week of classes before I get baptised next week). For some reason I was really hungry all day and after we finished the retreat, we headed over to the supermarket to stock up on groceries. I had picked up a French Bread loaf when we were there and the two of us ended up finishing it off in a few minutes. As it was such a nice day, we headed over to the little park that is just along the road and threw the frisbee around a bit before heading off to the little cliff near where our house is going to be and watched the sunset. It was really nice to relax and not worry about doing a second run. I was actually supposed to do another 60 mins easy but my body was just so tired from yesterday that I felt it better to relax and eat lots tonight instead. We made up some burritos and again, as soon as I was under the covers, I was asleep!

3/27/10

2010-03-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday’s Training – Am: Monument Avenue 10km. 3^rd, 29.16. Pm: 69 mins easy

Mileage – 23 miles

This morning’s race was weird. Really weird. I’ll tell you about that in a minute. I woke up at 5.30am this morning as the race started at 8.30am. I surprisingly fell right asleep last night and slept well. I fumbled around for a bit when I woke up and got the coffee going so I could at least have my eyes half open. I picked up the bagel that I had grabbed yesterday to find that it was rock solid so that was out of the window. I always have a back up of Power Bars and drinks so it wasn’t too much of a problem but I decided to go downstairs to the café to see if the lady would be there yet. I was talking to her yesterday and she said she would try and be there for 6am. To my surprise she had done it and she gave me a fresh bagel and jam. She looked tired and no one else was about so I felt a little bad for her. I lazed about in my room for a little while and before I knew it, it was approaching 7am (when we were to meet in the lobby). I went down and waited in a now, long line for coffee. I got a double espresso and knocked that back in one gulp. I thought we were all going to be walking to the start and I would warm up from there but one of the volunteers took my bag to the start for me so I could stay inside for as long as possible as it was pretty cold. I went for a 5 minute jog so that I could do some stretching before I headed out for my warm up. I was surprisingly loose so that’s always good before a race. I went back to my room to get my sunglasses as the sun was rising and it would be in our face on the last half of the course. I warmed up for 20 mins and then started my drills and strides. I took a minute to go and sit on some steps and get my head in the right place for the race. I went through how I was going to run the race and then I was ready to go. I put my Mizuno Flagship racing flats on (which were really good. It was the first time I would be using them on the road and I’m looking forward to using them again. I don’t know if I would use them for anything much further than 15km because of how minimal they are (4.4 oz) but they didn’t give me any calf problems at all which is always a good sign! They really grip the road well and have just the right amount of cushioning without weighing the shoe down) and my vest, checked my number and headed to the start. Just before the start I had to run back to my bag to get some arm warmers as the wind had a real cold bite.

The gun went and tried to tuck in as we were heading into the wind for the first half. It didn’t feel fast which was great but I found myself at the front of the group just before we hit the mile which was fine because the aim of the race was to get the competitive juices flowing again. Alene Reta* was way out front and there was no catching him. He was picking the pace up every step and we were just maintaining our speed. By the turn around it was just me and an Ethiopian left and he just sat in which I didn’t mind but he kept kicking my feet so I had to turn around and push him to the side so he would stop it. It didn’t! There are some slight rises in the course and I felt great running up them so I knew my strength is where it needs to be this close to the marathon. Unfortunately I just couldn’t shake off the Ethiopian and when it came down to a sprint, he just edged me out. I felt like we were running fast the whole way (my turnover was good and I felt strong so I figured it had to be a PB). I looked up and saw what I thought was 28.16 which would have been great but it turned out it was a good minute slower! Darn! What was good though was that I wasn’t out of breath and my muscles weren’t sore or fatigued. It was one of those days that you wish the race just continued because you can hold your pace all day. It was baffling though that I wasn’t able to run faster if I was feeling that good. I went through 10km quicker in my last half marathon before I was in good shape. The point of doing this race was to get my competitive side revved up again and I accomplished that so I was fine about the result.

Now was the worst part. I had to stand around in the cold for 30mins to wait for the prize giving. It was horrible as they wouldn’t let us leave to go warm down. As soon as we were done, I went by the hotel to dump my stuff and get a warm down in. The flowers I got I gave to the lady in the coffee shop as she had gotten up so early to give me my coffee and bagel. I wanted to go for 30 mins but I had to be in the lobby for 10.30am as there would be only one shuttle out to the airport (My flight wasn’t until 2.55pm so there would be a long wait!). I felt strange on my warm down, as if I was drunk. I don’t know if I hadn’t drunk enough or if the caffeine was doing something funny to my body but it didn’t feel good. As soon as I stopped running I was fine but it was a really weird feeling. Anyway, I got showered and changed quickly and then stuffed everything into my bag so I could get going. I met Evelyn Lagat (Bernard’s sister) in the lobby and we headed out to the airport. I was hungry at this point but unfortunately there was nothing I wanted to eat so I snacked on all my bars and trail mix and decided to wait until I got to the airport in DC to grab something more substantial. I talked to Julie for a while and then called Greg and he just reassured me that it was a good thing that my muscles were fine and I was in no aerobic trouble during the race. Usually a few hours after a race I get pretty tight but my legs were fine but I still got my rope out and did some stretching, got the tennis ball and rolled around on my glutes and then rolled my calves out on my metal water bottle. I can’t carry my massage stick when I just take hand luggage so the water bottle is great for doing the same job.

The flight to DC was painless but I got really hungry a I was trying to find a place to eat and the when I found a Tex Mex place the line was really long. I got my burrito and wolfed it down and it really hit the spot. As soon as I got on the next flight (to Phoenix) I passed out (I had been given an exit row seat) and woke myself up by catching a glob of saliva that was about to fall onto my shirt. I tend to drool when I nap and have to constantly move my pillow about just to find a dry spot. I pulled out my computer and watched Transformers 2 and Ghost in a Shell: Innocence. This helped pass the flight by and we actually landed about 30 mins earlier than scheduled. Julie’s parents came and picked me up and as soon as I got back to the house, I got changed and went out for a 10 mile run. I didn’t feel great but I didn’t expect to after travelling all day and it was actually 11pm my time (8pm in Phoenix). When I got back, Lorie made me a nice dinner of salad and a BBQ chicken sandwich and then I went straight to bed as I would have to get up early to get my run in before church at 9am. Needless to say that as soon as I saw the pillow, I fell asleep.

*Alene Reta – Alene is a convicted drug cheat that changes his name as he races around the country so that he can compete in races (some races don’t allow people to compete that have a drug conviction to their name). I don’t understand why race directors invite him to their races. He is going to make it fast but at what cost? He races almost every weekend and runs fast but you will never see him at a race that has drug testing. There have been a few threads about him on the Letsrun.com forum about him and it seems like most people are in agreement about him. The New York Road Runners apparently won’t allow him in any of their races. Sorry for the rant but I just feel that people like Alene shouldn’t be allow to ruin the sport that I love.

3/26/10

2010-03-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

Friday’s Training – Am: 50 mins easy Pm: 35 mins easy

Mileage – 12 Miles

I was awake a few times throughout the night from the pounding of the rain on my hotel window. I usually sleep with a sound machine that makes a rain noise but this was different. My room is on the 17^th floor and it was more like someone knocking on the window rather than the soothing pitter patter of rain drops. I eventually remembered that I had some ear plugs so I got them and fell back asleep. I woke up around 8.30am, made some coffee and unpacked my bag. I usually don’t have coffee in the 5 days leading up to a race as the studies I have read have shown that you get a bigger benefit from the caffeine come race day when you have your coffee. This was just a tune up race so I decided against coming off the coffee but I might as well have as the coffee that came out of the machine in my room was pretty bad. I luckily brought my own Starbucks VIA packs so I could try them out on race morning. There is also a coffee shop in the lobby so that will be good for an espresso before I head out to warm up tomorrow. I spent a little time trying to workout on the map of the course and a google map where I was so that I could run the course this morning. The knocking on the window started again just before I headed out so I knew I would be getting pretty wet during my run. I was only half a mile from the start so I ran along to Broad street which I guess is the main street in Richmond. It had a very inner city feel to it with shops and some run down buildings but what amazed me (and I remembered having the same feeling when I raced here last year) was that only two blocks down and running parallel to this street was Monument Avenue, a gorgeous street that is lined with old Georgian and Edwardian looking homes and buildings. The race is named after this street and you basically just run down one side of the street, turn around, and then head down the other side. The street is appropriately named as every half mile or so there is a big monument or statue in the middle of the road dedicated to some one of importance. The only name I could see on one of them was Arthur Ashe, the 3 time Grand Slam winner who was born and raised in Richmond. I ran for 50 mins and then stopped to do some drills and strides before heading into the hotel to quickly get changed and grab a big breakfast. My biggest problem now was getting dry as I was soaked from the run and I couldn’t peel off half the clothes I had on. After squirming about for a few minutes, I managed to get into some dry clothes and headed downstairs for some eggs, potatoes, pancakes, pineapple and OJ. I also managed to grab some snacks for later on a tomorrow morning. I got back to my room and realised that I had to somehow get all my clothes dry again for my next run so I threw them on the fan and cranked the heat up.

Most of the day was spent relaxing in front of the TV and napping. I realised when I got up and walked about that I had gotten some pretty bad nipple chafing this morning so I went for a little walk to see if I could either find some Vaseline or band aids for my second run. Luckily there was a pharmacy just along the road but they only had huge tubs of Vaseline so I was just going to improvise with some lip salve. When I got to the checkout I found some travel packs of Aquafor (pretty much the same as Vaseline) and immediately rub some on as my nipples were getting very sore at this point. After 10 minutes of stinging, they felt much better and I felt more comfortable about going for a second run. I called Thom Sudeth, the elite athlete coordinator about what I was supposed to do in terms of picking up my number as last year I had to go to the expo and get it. He said he would be at the hotel an hour later but 4 hours had now passed and I didn’t know what I should do.

I met Thom just before I left for my second run and picked up my number and he told me he would be taking the elites out to dinner. It was pretty cold when I was running, especially because everything I was wearing was wet from the morning. I warmed up though and the run passed by without much to worry about.

I met Thom and the Africans for dinner and we headed to a place called MamaZu’s. I figured it had to pretty good because when we walked in, it was packed out with an hour wait. We had a table waiting for us so we sat down and Bart Yasso ordered the food for us (because it was busy and we had a big group, we had to order family style). This was fine until I realised that every time they brought a plate full of food, they gave it to the other end of the table so that meant there was nothing left for me. I was getting very hungry and pretty annoyed at this point so I had to just grab a plate and take as much of the food as possible so that I wouldn’t be starving for the rest of the night! After hearing some of Thom’s stories (apparently he has 84 guns in his closet!) we headed back to the hotel and I snacked on some energy bars and trail mix as I was still a bit hungry.

Now I’m just going to watch a film and try to get to sleep as I have to wake up at 5.30am for our 8.30am start.

3/25/10

2010-03-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday’s Training – Am: 80 mins easy

Mileage – 12 Miles

Today was a travel day as I was heading over to the east coast for my race in Richmond, Virgnia on Saturday. I slept badly again last night for some reason but got up at the same time as usual (6.40am) and spent most of the time before my run packing for the trip. I quickly checked my emails (which had some great news and I will elaborate on this after I get back from the race) and then headed out the door. It was pretty windy this morning, which was great for the first half of my run as I was being pushed all the way out to Country Club. Of course I knew what was coming on the way back around the town but the wind really didn’t feel too bad which was good as it gets pretty hilly on the route that I took. I didn’t have anytime to do any drills or stretching after the run as I was already cutting it close for driving down to Phoenix and making my flight in good time. I had a quick shower and some breakfast and headed down the road. The roads were pretty clear so the drive went by pretty quickly and I got to Julie’s house in the usual amount of time. Lorie, Julie’s mum, dropped me off at the airport and the rest of the day was spent sitting on planes. I watched a movie about steroid use in the USA (Bigger, Faster, Stronger) and then started to watch the Beijing Olympic Marathon. I thought I had the whole thing but it shut off after they hit 20km so that was annoying. I got into Richmond at 11.30pm and jumped in a taxi to the hotel which was in the downtown area. I just dumped my bag and had a quick shower before getting off to sleep at around 1.30am.

3/24/10

2010-03-24T21:32:00.001-07:00

Wednesday’s Training – Am: Short Track Workout @ Sedona (4,500ft). 3200m, 5 mins rec, 2*800m, 4 mins rec, 2*200m, 200m jog rec. Pm: 49 mins easy

Mileage – 18 Miles

We all met at 8am at Late For The Train to travel down to Sedona together. I went down with Martin and it was one of the quicker drives down there. Usually we’ll always get stuck behind tourists taking photos and taking their time but we got a clear run. It was nice and sunny at the track although there was a bit of a cold nip in the wind. We warmed up across the road on the trails and then met Greg who was sitting at the finish line righting out the workouts on his clipboard. I decided to help Brett out with his workout and do a shorter version of what he was doing. He was doing 2 miles then 4*1mile so I decided to do the 2 miles and do 800m of his first 2 1mile reps. I wanted to run hardish but not really tire myself out for the race at the weekend. Brett, Martin and I started the workout and decided to trade off the lead after 3 laps. Brett lead first then Martin and I finished with the last 2 laps. It was pretty windy down at the bottom end of the track so it was good we were in a group and we could shelter for each other, I really didn’t feel that ok for the first 6 laps but as soon as I went to the front I felt fine and we cruised through the finish having averaged 69 sec laps. The 5 mins rec was an 800m jog around the track and then I would take the boys through the first 800m of their reps. I felt good on these and the 68s felt easy. A couple of 200s later and I was finished and wasn’t tired so that was good. I jogged around the track and shouted the guys on during the rest of their workouts and then we just warmed down around the infield (a nice soft artificial grass).

Photos courtesy of assistant coach Ian Torrence

Greg's Tools

2 Mile Rep

A lap later

And away we go

Recovering

Hi there!

During the mile reps

Recovering again

200m

All done!

We headed back up the road but stopped by Safeway so I could grab a sandwich. Just after we got out of town, I told Martin to pull over so I could soak my legs in the creek. The creek was pretty high and flowing quickly but that wasn’t the problem. The water was so cold that neither of us could stand it for any more than a minute or two at a time. The squealing that was coming out f our mouths would have suggested that a couple of 5 year old girls were nearby. We ended up just getting back in the car after a few attempts and headed home. I had a really good nap of about an hour and woke up pretty groggy.

My second run was a bit of a rush as I was still desperately trying to find a massage today but no one was available (I had left it late because I didn’t know I would racing on Saturday). I suddenly remembered about the high street massage place, Massage Envy and gave them a call. They had a slot at 5pm and they said I should be there for 4.45pm. It was already 3.45pm and I wanted to run for 10 miles but I knew that wasn’t going to happen as I had to drive over to the shop and run from there. I jumped in the car and got there at 4.05pm and went straight into my run. I figured I could get there at 4.55pm so I ran for an easy 7 miles and got there right on time.

A massage with someone new before a race isn’t always a great idea but I told the guy I was racing and just to flush my legs out. Well instead I got a full body massage, which felt great with minimal work on my legs. My legs actually felt ok today so I wasn’t too bothered and it actually felt great to get my back worked on. I got out of there feeling good and went next door to Safeway to pick up some salad stuff, cereal bars for the weekend and a couple of bags of ice for the bath. On my way home I picked up a couple of small Pizzas from Fratelli’s (Barbeque chicken and Buffalo chicken) as we had a voucher to use there. Julie was out running so I made up some salad and prepared my ice bath. The bath was cold but nowhere near as bad as the creek was this morning. I ate my salad while I was in there and then Julie arrived back so I had a quick shower, got changed and we ate dinner. The problem with ice baths at our apartment is that we run out of hot water pretty quickly so I am always still shivering and cold when I get out of the shower and it took me a couple of hours to heat back up and feel comfortable again. I had to pull the covers off of the bed and get wrapped up in them and have Julie as close to me as possible so I would defrost.

3/23/10

2010-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Tuesday’s Training – Am: 90 mins easy Pm: 51 mins slow

Mileage – 21 Miles

For some reason couldn’t get to sleep last night. We went to bed at the normal time but I think my mind was just too active thinking about a plethora of things rather than just switching off and relaxing. This meant that when Julie woke up 6.40am, I lay there for another 40 mins so I could get some extra rest. This was fine as I wasn’t meeting the guys until 8.30am this morning.

Andrew Carlson, Martin Fagan and I all ran out at mailboxes again. The run went by pretty quickly and it was good to talk to people on the run again! The guys stopped at 10 miles so I just headed back out on the trail and turned around after a mile as the headwind was picking up. I got back to the car and ran on the road and noticed a dirt road on the left side of the road that I had never seen before. I investigated it a little and it looks like it will be a good trail to run on soon but it was still a little wet and muddy so I turned around and headed back to the car. I spent the next 20 mins doing my drills, strides and stretches before I headed back to the house. I made same pancakes but instead of the usual chocolate chips (No deserts during lent!) I fried up some apples in butter and topped the pancakes with those. They were really tasty so that set me up perfectly for a good little nap. I don’t what it is about pancakes but they always put me to sleep so maybe I should be eating them before bed now!

My second run of the day was a very slow affair as I felt pretty tired (from not doing anything all day) and it being very windy. It was just a case of putting one foot in front of the other and getting through it. I went over by Buffalo Park and that is starting to dry up now so maybe by next week I can start using that more often for runs as it is so nice for running (very scenic with great views of the peaks) and it is only a 10 minute jog away. Its going to feel good to be getting on the trails more now as I have been on the road so much over the last few months. The good thing about that though is that it has prepared my legs for some pounding on the road.

I just cooked up some leftovers from last night when I got back, Making a salad, heating up the polenta, chopping up the turkey, adding some red pepper and mixing in some soy sauce and barbeque sauce for a bit of a glaze. Num num num!

Questions

2010-03-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

Can I ask you if you remember what kind of training you were doing when you were 18, how many miles and how many hard sessions etc? John (EKAC Tartan army)

When I was 18 I was probably running 50 to 70 miles a week with 3 hard training sessions and a long run. The most important part of training is running so that means staying injury free so if that means cutting down the mileage, thats what you need to do. When you're building your mileage you have to do it slowly and get used to what you can handle before starting to do more.

I just developed a bout of achilles soreness and stiffness and wondered what you did to treat your achilles problems? Henry

I was very lucky that Julie was able to help me right away with my injuries. I'm not afraid of taking a few days off when I have a little problem and cross train instead of running to stay off of the problem (aqua jogging). I also saw a very good doctor who is trained in Active Release Therapy (ART) and could diagnose what the problem was before it got too bad (scar tissue under my big toe). I did lots of icing, eccentric calf stretches and relative rest to help also.

3/22/10

2010-03-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

Monday's Training - Am: 90 mins with 12*1 min hard/2 mins easy Pm: 64 mins easy

Mileage - 24 Miles

The view from the balcony this evening

I was unsure what to do this morning as I thought I would be training on my own. I had a fartlek to do but I thought Brett was still going to be down in Phoenix so I was going to drive down to Sedona and do the workout there on the track and then get into the creek afterwards. I decided to stay in town and just drive over to Trina’s loop to see who would be about. As I was driving there I saw Brett jogging down the road so I beeped the horn, pulled into Late For The Train, tied my shoes and joined him on his warm up. He was doing the same workout so I was glad of that. He had jogged down from his house so he was just finishing up his warm up so I only really got 13 mins of running in before I jumped back into the car and drove it to the start of the loop and put my flats on. I felt fine although my achilles was a little creaky to start with but it soon warmed up and I didn’t feel it again after the first 2 reps. The workout wasn’t supposed to be a difficult one and it felt pretty good just to be striding out. We covered about 6.5 miles during the fartlek so once we were finished I changed back into my trainers and ran with Brett back up to his house. I continued on for another 30 mins as I was to run for 90 mins total. I got back, did some drill and enjoyed doing my stretching on the dry grass outside of Trina’s house.

I drove back to the house, had breakfast and then had a really good nap. I hadn’t got a nap in during the day since Thursday so this felt really refreshing. I woke up with a dead arm and had trouble pouring my coffee into the mug! I had a really good navel orange and set about replying to my emails and emptying my inbox. I noticed that the sun was still out but the wind was blowing so I was trying to figure out where I could run that wouldn’t be too windy. As I had to go to the gym anyway, I decided that I would run from there and see if Woody Mountain Rd was clear yet (this is a great dirt road but it is shaded so it usually stays snowy and muddy for a while). I parked at the gym and ran over to WMRd and was pleasantly greeted by a dry(ish) dirt road and saw Carlson’s car parked there. It felt so good to be running on a softer surface for once although I did have to jump from side to side on occasion to dodge the mud and puddles. As I got ready to turn around at the 5 mile mark I saw Carlson coming towards me so we ran back together which made the time fly by. The last 10 mins was on the road but as soon as I got to it, my friend Rob approached me on his bike and he kept me company for the rest of the run. Rob’s wife is going through chemotherapy and has one last bout left before she is completely finished with it all and she is celebrating this by running the Big Sur Marathon on the same day as the London marathon. She is inspirational on how she is taking the cancer head on just getting on with it and not letting it get in the way of her life. She has been positive about the whole thing and running the marathon is her way of saying goodbye to it all. We’re all planning on getting together the weekend after and celebrating it all. I got back to the gym and did some drills and strides in the car park before I headed inside to get on with my weights routine. I felt pretty good in the gym and the exercises were coming easy to me so I took that as a good thing and stopped before I did too much and wake up sore the next day.

I got back home and Julie cooked up a great meal of marinated turkey, polenta (with fontina cheese added) and some asparagus. It was delicious and just what I needed after a long day’s training.

On another note, I got invited to a 10km road race in Richmond on Saturday and after talking to Greg about it we decided to go for it so I now leave for Richmond on Thursday and race on Saturday morning. This means that we will move the planned 30km tempo run to the next weekend. I’m looking forward to racing again and get my juices flowing again. I always like to race when I’m getting ready for big races and this 10km will serve that purpose. Now we have to decide what kind of training to do on Wednesday but I am going to look over my training diary and Greg and I will discuss what kind of session will be the best for me.

And another thing

2010-03-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that if anyone has any questions for me about training or anything really, feel free to email me at adlemoncello@hotmail.com or post a comment on the blog and I will do my best to answer them

3/21/10

2010-03-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Sunday’s Training – Am: 61 mins easy Pm: 79 mins easy

Mileage – 21 Miles

Week's Mileage - 145 Miles

I had another easy day on the cards today and the weather was fantastic so it was very enjoyable running around the town. The trails haven’t cleared yet and the ones that have are still pretty wet and muddy so I’m still doing everything on the road. I headed out to the east side of town for the morning, which I don’t often do but it was good to get a little change of scenery. As long as you stay north of Linda Vista Rd there really isn’t much traffic so it was nice to have the run of the road and look at all the really nice houses. I ended up doing my shorter run in the morning as I woke up thinking it was 7.15 and it was actually 7.45 so I was running a little late getting out the door. This meant I could only get an hour in otherwise Julie and I would be late for church (which we still were!).

We went straight from church over to the realtors to meet Julie’s parents who had driven up from Phoenix to check out some houses. We spent a few hours looking at some places and they liked one very close to where we will be living so I think they were going to go ahead and put an offer in on it. We headed over to Pita Jungle for some lunch and after filling up and saying our goodbyes, Julie and I headed over to Home Depot to pick out our fans and lights that we will have in the house.

The weather was still great at 6.15pm when I headed out for the second run so again I was looking forward to the run. I actually headed straight down the hill and into town just so I could get my legs moving quickly right away and it seemed to work. After about 30 minutes, the sun started to drop down and it suddenly got dark and cold (Flagstaff is a low light city because of the observatory). Luckily I was close to Trina Painter’s house (our assistant coach) so I stopped by and borrowed a pair of gloves from her so I wouldn’t totally freeze on the remainder of the run. The cold actually made me speed up as I just wanted to get back to the house and be warm. It was great to get back and feast into the leftovers we had from lunch – Mediterranean chicken salad and Fatoosh. Before I headed to bed I checked what the weather would be tomorrow and I was very pleased that it was going to be nice again with minimal wind in the morning.