100th mile for July on 100th post

I had it calculated so I would run my 100th mile of the month at the cross country series relay tonight. To get there I had to run 4 miles this morning. I had a good run finishing in 29 minutes (avg pace 7:20).

The cross country series co-ed relay was tonight. It is a three mile course so everyone on the team runs one mile. Our team, TEAM 36, included my wife Andi, me and our friend Bill Schneider (in that order). Andi started us off strong with a 7:15 first mile. She handed me the baton (yes, we actually ran with PVC pipe batons) and I ran the next mile, which included the KILLER HILL, in 6:00. I still used my power hiking strategy for half of the hill too. I handed off to Bill who ran a solid 7:00 for the last mile. Our combined time was 20:14 and we finished 11th over all out of 49 teams. See the results here.

I guess the first and third mile were a little long and the second mile was a little short but it couldn't have been more than 10 feet or so short. Still it was a fast second mile, and a good one for my 100th of the month.

Thanks to Dawn Schneider, who watched her two kids and our two kids during the race. She took the pictures posted above.

No races planned for August, just some good hard training. I will be out of town for two weekends which will make long runs tough. I thought it would be fun to run a half marathon on each of the days that the Olympians run their marathons which is on August 17th (women) and August 24th (men).

Here is a link to a good article on training in the heat, and it is written by a physical therapist.

Did anyone get to see the documentary on Dean Karnazes on Thursday? Please post a comment if you did.

Happy August!

8 mile easy run (59:50)

I ran 8 miles today with the turnaround being M and 55th. I came home zig zagging but ran most of the way on 52nd, which turned out to be a fun road as it narrows down to almost single car width behind some ranch homes and tall old trees between K and L.

Total time for today was just under an hour, 59:50 (average pace 7:30). Last 4 miles were around marathon pace, had to consciously hold back a little bit. That is a good sign.

My left quad was still sore from a kettlebell and valslide workout at lunch yesterday.

I will take it easy until Thursday.

Running Shorts and Runners' Alibis

I finished my article for the High Desert Runners Web Newsletter for August. Here it is for those of you that don't get the newsletter, followed by a list of Runners' Alibis by Coach Joe Newton from Coaching Cross Country Successfully.

“I feel the need, the need for speed”

I was having trouble coming up with a topic for this month’s newsletter and started to regret I volunteered when I began to ask myself, “What am I doing differently in my own training lately?” I have been largely running only marathons and half marathons over the last 5 years since graduating from physical therapy school.

This summer I decided it would be fun to train for a fast 5K and chose the Newhall Independence Day 5K. I had recently added more interval workouts into my training and ran 18:20, my best time since college. I also ran the cross country series’ 3 mile races twice and even broke 20 minutes on my last attempt. That was a tough course!

Why did I decide to go back to some shorter distance races? First, I wanted something different to train for. Second, I figured it would help my marathon training in the future. The classic training pyramid used to be: start with base mileage (aerobic base), followed by strength (hills, stamina), then speed, and peaking at the top. More recently however, the pyramid has been reformed to: base, speed, then strength, and peaking. The theory is that you should build an aerobic base then maximize your VO2max through interval training, so that slower speeds (marathon or half marathon pace) become a lower percentage of your VO2max. Therefore, speed is not your limiting factor when you start incorporating more threshold runs and marathon pace runs.

Example: By dropping 1 minute off your 5K time your estimated marathon pace (which is approximately 85% of your VO2max), drops by about 20 seconds. Over 26.2 miles, that means an improvement of almost nine minutes. This also assumes that, after speed training, you start some hardcore marathon training.

Many of the U.S. marathon qualifiers have competed in 10K’s in preparation for their strength phase of training. Of the six Olympic marathon qualifiers (three men and three women), half of them ran the 10K at the US Olympic Trials, and half of them also ran in the US cross country championships in February.

The take home message of all this is that you can actually improve your marathon pace by not merely running a 5K or 10K, but training to run it fast. This type of training should be done months before a marathon build up program, but only after developing a strong aerobic base. It should involve interval training at least once a week. My colleague, Clay Patten, PT, leads an interval workout every Tuesday night at 6:00pm at Joe Walker Middle School. Come out and join him and develop some speed.

By running 18:20 at the 5K in July, my estimated marathon pace sets me up to PR by 3 minutes. We’ll see what happens. The variation in my training and racing has also motivated me and made designing new workouts fun and exciting. It is also nice to be able to race and then walk fairly normal the next morning.

See you on the road (or trail),

Karl Stutelberg, PT

Runners can be crazy whiners!

10 mile Sunday including 3 miles @ threshold pace

I got in my 10 miles that I wanted to today. I had increased my long run each of the last three weeks so this week I decided to tone down the volume, but add a little quality.

I ran a 4 mile easy warm up to Joe Walker Middle School, then did three miles at threshold pace, then 3 miles easy on the way back home. It is exactly a mile loop on the street around Joe Walker. So I did 2.5 loops and then .5 miles back on L-8 for my three mile threshold run. Mile spits on the threshold portion were 6:40, 6:17, and 6:03 for a total of 19 minutes. The first one I was a little slow for the first half mile, the third mile is almost all slightly downhill which makes it faster. My threshold pace should be 6:19 based on a 18:20 5k (VDOT=55) so it was a well run effort.

Total time for 10 miles was 1:13:19 (average pace 7:20).

Here is a preview of the Dean Karnazes documentary that I have been talking so much about. Limited engagement July 31st!

7 mile easy run with 5x strides + book recommendations

I figured I need 30 miles over the next week to reach 100 miles for the month of July, yeah it hasn't been that consistent of a month (mostly only 3x/wk). If I run 4x this week I have to average 7.5 miles, so today I ran 7. I also realized that I could plan it so that my mile of the cross country relay on Thursday could be my 100th mile, so that is what I plan on doing. The mileage must increase by 15-20% next month.

7 miles took just under 56 minutes (average pace just under 8 min). It was a little hot out there so I slowed down to run through any sprinklers I saw. I finished with 5x100m strides in front of the house.

Plan for 9-10 tomorrow.

I was recently asked about some good running/training books. Here is a list of a few of my favorites and some that I am interested in reading in the near future.

Daniels Running Formula

Brain Training for Runners

Training for Young Distance Runners

Coaching Cross Country Successfully

Running with Lydiard

Better Training for Distance Runners

Also don't forget the one day showing of Dean Karnazes Ultramarathon Man movie is this Thursday July 31st. Check this list to see if it is playing near you.

HDR Cross Country Series 3 miler Wk 5 (19:57)!!

The conditions were better tonight than two weeks ago, less windy but still a little warm. I figured I had as good a shot as any to break 20 minutes today. I went out a little more conservative with my first mile in 5:56. The second mile includes the KILLER HILL, which I continued my strategy of power hiking up to the point were the grade starts to level out and run the rest. This strategy saves my legs for the last 1.5 miles and only sets me back maybe 10-15 seconds. Only one person passed me on the hill and I passed at least 2 on the last mile. I went through mile 2 at 13:04, which means my second mile was 7:08 (12 seconds faster than 2 weeks ago). My finish time was 19:57 meeting my goal for the course! The last mile was in 6:53, also faster than two weeks ago. Over all I bettered my time by 14 seconds and broke 20 minutes, so I was pleased with my run. I knew I would be close as I turned the last corner and really kicked it in. I was 8th over all and 5th in my age group this week (tough age group man). It will be the last time I will get to run the course this year. Next week is the co-ed relay. Stay tuned to see how our team does. It will include Andi, me and Bill Schneider (in that order).

On sadder note, my grandfather, one of the toughest people I know, starts hospice care tomorrow. He has congestive heart failure and is struggling even to breathe. Please say a prayer for Grandpa Jack this week. Thanks, Karl

4 miles easy run & Badwater results

I have been sore in my left adductors since my long run on Sunday. They were still sore when I started my run this morning but loosened up during the run and felt much better after the run.

I got in 4 easy miles this morning with 3x100m strides afterward. It took just under 32 minutes (about 8 min pace). Tomorrow is the HDR 3 mile cross country race.

News:
The Badwater Ultramarathon was a week and a half ago, July 14-16. This race starts in the Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, 282 ft below sea level in Death Valley, CA. It ends 135 miles later at the base of Mt. Whitney (Whitney Portal) 8360 ft above sea level. Mt. Whitney is the highest point in the continental United States 14,496ft. There is 13,000ft of cumulative elevation gain over the 135 mile race, and it is run in July, where temperatures can hit over 125 degrees F.

This year local runner Jorge Pacheco won the race with a time of 23:20:16, 30 minutes shy of the course record.

Jamie Donaldson was third overall and the first female with a time of 26:51:33, which broke the female course record by over an hour! Check out her blog here.

The most amazing statistic this year was that 8 out of the top 15 finishers were female! Last year the top 15 were all male runners. See this years results here.

Dean Karnazes, 2004 winner, completed his 7th Badwater Ultramarathon and was 4th.

Two time winner (2003 & 2002) Pam Reed was 5th this year.

Half Marathon time trial (1:35:40)

I planned on going for 12-13 miles this morning on the aqueduct. I figured if you are going to run 12 you might as well run 13, and if you are running 13 you might as well run the .1 to make it a half marathon. After the first few miles I decided to run the full half marathon. I started at 70th and ran to 110th and back. I did two laps around the bridges on the way back and had to go out an extra .7 and back to make it the full 13.1 in 1:35:40 (avg pace 7:18).

There was quite a bit of cloud cover when I started and even though it was 80 degrees, the light breeze made it fell cool. It stayed like that until about mile 9 and then I lost the clouds and could feel the sun beating down for the last 4 miles. The temp jumped 8 degrees by the time I was done. I'm sure glad I brought my camelback with me!

Wild life included two wild horses and a coyote. I was wearing a new Brooks sleeveless yellow shirt that attracted a few dozen bees for about 2 miles!

Mile splits were pretty even 7:32, 7:23, 7:26, 7:21, 7:08, 7:26, 7:10, 7:22, 7:01, 7:12, 7:18, 7:24, 7:13. I was pleased with the consistency of the run. The last 4 miles were tough, but mostly because of the heat.

Easy runs and strides for the rest of the week before Thursdays 3 mile cross country race.

Late Addition to post:
I was going through some paperwork etc today, filing things away and ran across all the newspapers that I bought in Boston after the Marathon in April. I was looking through them trying to decide which ones to keep when I came across this photo. I did a double take when I realized it was ME! I made the Metrowest Daily News on Tuesday April 22, 2008. I couldn't believe that I missed that picture before, but there I am wearing my thrift store sweats and jacket, and I'm carrying my yellow collapsible chair I bought in Boston.

Hill repeats Thursday

Well I got out to run some hills this morning. It is a 20 minute warm up (2.5 miles) to the hills from my house. I got started about 10 minutes late so I only had time to do 4 repeats. I did two different routes twice, each was a quarter mile long, with the steepest part being the last tenth of a mile.

It was much harder that I expected, although I wasn't expecting it to be easy. Each quarter mile took about 1 minute 40 seconds or so. My legs felt a little heavy and tight. Again I haven't done any trail running or hill training in a while, so I guess this was a fair intro. Hills are one of my weaknesses I think. I am going to try to incorporate more hill workouts in the next few months.

Total mileage for the run was 7 miles.

I planned todays workout to be exactly one week before I try and break 20 minutes again at the HDR cross country 3 mile course at Pelona Vista Park.

Last weeks Sports Illustrated was the annual "Where are they now?" issue that featured Bill Rodgers since it was 20 years ago that he won Boston and New York Marathons in the same year. Interestingly, it says that he plans to run the Boston Marathon again next year. He hasn't run it since 1999 when he tried to set the 50-59 age group record and did not finish. He said he didn't want his last Boston to be a DNF. Read the article online here.

6 mile easy run (45:46)

Today was an easy 6 mile run to the end of 45th to go check out that hill that I want to run on Thursday. I clocked the hill, which starts out easy and gets steeper and steeper, at .25 miles. I think I can do about 6-7 repeats in 20 minutes. It takes about a 20 minute warm up to get there and 20 minutes home. Well see how much time I have.

Today's six miles took me 45:46 (about 7:30 pace).
I saw a parked yellow volkswagen with a Cal Lutheran licence plate frame on my run.

For those of you reading my blog on a daily basis, you remember reading about Jordan Hasay, a 16 year old from San Louis Obispo who ran the Olympic Trials 1500m and set a high school record. Well she wrapped up the World Junior Championships this weekend, made the final, and placed 4th, just missing a medal. I guess no U.S. runner has ever finished in the top 8 there, and this year we had two! Remember "junior" is anyone under 20 years old. Jordan is only 16! Read about her summer accomplishments here.

Remember Dan & Dave from Barcelona 1992? Here is a fun, "Where are they now?"

I got to meet Dan O'brien at Footlocker Cross Country Nationals in 1996 after he won the gold medal in the Decathalon. If I can find the picture I have with him, my coach Jeff Doyle and I, I will post it later.

Long Run Sunday, 11 miles (83 min)

I got my long run in that I had hoped for today. I am slowly building my long runs up. Over the last month they have been 10 miles. I would like to be doing 13 miles for a long run twice a month now.

It was a good run over all. The first 5 miles were at 8:00 pace, the second 5 miles were at about 7:00 pace and the last mile was 6:45. Total time was 83 minutes, avg pace 7:30.

The course was a loop with the turnaround at N and 60th and an extra loop around Joe Walker Middle School. It is a pretty hilly course overall, especially the first half. About half way through I thought about doing 12 but I was a little dehydrated. I need to swing by the house half way and stash some water, or get out my camelback. I did run through every yard that had sprinklers on though.

I am planning a hill workout, on a trail hill at the end of 45th, some time this week. Short repeats but lots of them.

Have a great week!
Karl

6 mile recovery run

I am still sore in my calves, hamstrings and gluts from the cross country race on Thursday.

I took it pretty easy this morning and ran 6 miles in 47 minutes (avg pace 7:50).

I hope to go a little longer tomorrow.
I have posted to my blog the last three days so check out the other entries for some good info.

Here is a video of Olympian Carrie Tollefson, a Minnesota native, who didn't make the Olympic team this year. The interview was 24 hours after she didn't make the finals in the 1500m and I think she demonstrates how to deal with disappointment maturely by learning and moving forward. She is so positive and a great role model for us all.

Running in the Nude, I mean News

That should get your attention!

There is quite a bit of new running media coming out soon that I thought some of my readers may be intersted in.

First the documentary UltraMarathon Man is going to have a one day limited release in select theatres on July 31st, 2008. For those of you that don't know, Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days in 2006 and I ran one of those with him as he came through Nevada at the Valley of Fire Marathon. They filmed a documentary on the journey and it premired in Febuary in LA and Clay and I were lucky enough to attend the screening with Dean there. I would recommend seeing it for anyone who is close by one of these theatres. It will be shown in Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Denver, Houston, Provo, Madison, Santa Monica, Woodland Hills, and many other cities in nearly every state. It is worth a viewing (If you watch very closely you might see me). Check out the list here. Again, the show is one day only on July 31st. DVD release is scheduled for November 4th, 2008.

Secondly, Dean has a new book coming out titled 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days -- and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance! It is released August 18th and is up for preordering on Amazon. His blog is linked from my blog too.

Finally, my high school cross country and track coach Becky Lamph, continues to compete in triathalons and she recenlty competed in the Iron Girl Series at Lake Las Vegas, and won the Olympic distance race (results)! They are showing an Iron Girl special on NBC on Saturday July 26th and she is supposed to be featured on the program. Check your local listings.

Runners World has a survey for anyone who has run a marathon in the last year. It is short and easy, check it out.

Have a great weekend, see you on the road,
Karl

PS. I want to know who is reading my blog, who is running, and if you are training for any upcoming races. Feel free to post a training question for me. Lets see some more comments people!

HDR Cross Country Series 3 miler Wk 3 (20:11)

I have been a major slacker this week with my training. I didn't go Tuesday morning and I didn't go this morning because I was racing this evening.

Tonight was the third week of the High Desert Runners cross country series at Pelona Vista Park. It is a very challenging 3 mile course with a KILLER hill right at the half way point.

Based on the last two weeks results I thought that breaking 20 minutes would be doable, but I hadn't run since Sunday, I haven't done any trail running or hill training in a LONG time, and it was pretty windy tonight. All these things worked against me.

The first mile is fairly quick and I let the leaders go and still went out in 5:50. Mile two has the KILLER hill half way, which I ended up walking to save my legs that were already burning (only about 3 people passed me on the hill). I think I went through two miles at 13:10 which mean mile 2 was 7:20!

The last mile again is faster but still has plenty of shorter hills but I was spent and ran 7:00 for the last mile finishing in 20:11.

I was 4th in my age group (19-29) tonight. I guess everyone showed up today. On either of the first two weeks I think I would have been second or third.

Did I mention it was pretty windy out there. It seemed like we were either running up hill or into the wind. It was a tough race and I am much more sore from that 3 miles than I was after the 5k a week ago.

I plan to run the course one more time on July 24th and hopefully the co-ed relay on the 31st, so I have one more chance to break 20 minutes. If it was not so windy I think I could have done it tonight.

They have had over 150 runners finish the 3 mile course each of the first three weeks!

Since the cross country series is now in full swing I thought it would be appropriate to add a link to some great Jack Daniels, PhD. quotes.

View the Newhall Independence Day 5k results here (I guess I was 15th not 16th).

I also got to try Guitar Hero tonight!

9 mile run (67:37); 2 mile hike at Grass Mtn

I went out for a long run planning on between 8-10 miles. I felt a little tight but loosened up after about 3 miles. I ended up running over to Joe Walker Middle School and when I got there decided to run a mile on the track and then head home.

The work out ended up being 4 miles, then 1 mile on the track, then 4 miles home. The mile at the track was 5:49 picking up the pace on each lap and ending with a 200m sprint. It sure was fun to run on a track. It has been a while.

Mile splits were 8:21, 8:04, 7:57, 7:43, 5:49, 8:04, 7:22, 7:12, 7:00. Average pace was 7:31.
Total time for 9 miles was 67:37.

I got home, showered, and Andi went for a run. When she got home we loaded the boys up and went for a hike up Grass Mountain. We used the kid packs for the boys and hiked up 1 mile and then back down.

I carried Matt in a pack which included our lunch, which made for about an extra 40 pounds. It was pretty tough. We made it one mile in about 23 minutes. Then we turned around and had a picnic at the bottom. It was a fun hike. We didn't see any snakes, but we did see a horse and a lizard.
The Olympic Trials ended tonight with some pretty amazing races. The most amazing was the men's 1500m final. I knew it was going to be a fun race to watch but I had no idea how physical it would be. There were elbows flying all over. The pace slowed dramatically after 100m and everyone got bunched up. Bernard Lagat won again. As I predicted, Alan Webb did not make the team. Unfortunately, because of the slow pace, Gabe Jennings was forced to lead early and ended up not making the team either. I had hoped he would be in the top three.

Newhall July 4th 5k (18:20)

We had a great 4th of July and it started with a solid 5k performance. I predicted a low 18 minute time with a possible sub 18 minute, and ended up with a time of 18:20 (average pace 5:54).

I may have gone out just a little too fast when I crossed the mile mark in 5:25 (my Garmin said sub 5:20). The next two miles were 5:55 and 6:04.

Here are my VDOT equivalents and training paces based on a 18:20, pretty darn accurate!

I was 16th overall and second in my age group (at least 400 participants in the race).


It was a great course with a slight uphill portion at the beginning of the 3rd mile and a downhill finish. I definitely think I can go faster next year, sub 18 minutes for sure.

Andi pushed the boys in the jogger and passed many people ending up around 25 minutes.

Clay paced his son Zac to a PR of 21:26! Awesome! Another PT Adam Laraway, far right, also bettered his time from 8 weeks ago.


Exciting olympic trials news tonight.
1. Bernard Lagat, Alan Webb, Gabe Jennings, and Lopez Lomong all qualified for the finals in the men's 1500 meters to be run on Sunday.
2. Jordan Hasay, a soon to be senior in high school, qualifed for the finals in the women's 1500 with a time of 4:14.5 * This is the best high school mark of all time in the combined 1500/1600/mile events.

3. Kara Goucher won the women's 5k final ahead of Jen Rhines and Shalane Flanagan (they finished within 2 seconds of each other).
4. Abdi Abdirahman won the men's 10k ahead of Galen Rupp and Jorge Torres. The top 7 runners were all under 28 minutes and all within 18 seconds of each other. Adam Goucher was 7th and did not make the team (his wife Kara is doubling in the 5k and 10k). Jorge Torres' twin brother Edwardo was 11th and Meb Keflezighi (former olympic silver medalist) was 13th and did NOT make the team! Dathan Ritzenhein was 6th but he is already on the team to run the marathon. Daniel Browne, who was 6th at the olympic marathon trials in 2:13, was 14th. WOW, what a field!

4 mile tune up for July 4th 5k

Ran 4 miles today the first two warm up around 8 min pace, next mile 7:20, last mile 6:50. Completed the workout with 2x150m accelerations.

The one thing I have learned over the last month is that I need a good long warm up before running hard. I need about two miles to loosen up. I plan on getting in a good warm up before the race on Friday.

Jack Daniels, PhD. recommends running a few minutes at race pace about 15 minutes before race time. It makes sense to me. Your first interval is never your best or fastest, at least it shouldn't be. Why make it part of your race.

I haven't run a 5k road race since 2002 so this should be interesting.

If you haven't been watching the Olympic Trails there have been some great races already including an unbelievable men's 800m. See the race here. Watch it a few times to appreciate where the top 3 runners were with 200m to go.

Andrew Wheating is an incredible story. He has only been running competitively for a few years and now he is going to the Olympics. Check out his story here. I love the picture of him crossing the line in second. You can see what he is thinking "Holy crap, I'm going to Beijing."

The best coverage online for races has been NBCOlympics.com.
For interviews go to flocast.org or runnerspace.com