4/1/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.