Friday, July 31, 2009

65 minute tempo run in Long Beach with new July totals

Clay and I are in Long Beach at the Functional Training Summit. This morning one of the courses I attended was on pediatric (age 6-18) training with an emphasis on childhood obesity. In the morning I attended the "hands on" portion, in which the presenter, Brian Grasso YCS, put us through a high intestiy balance, coordination, and plyometric workout. The first exercise was to lay on your stomach with your eyes closed, then when he said "go" you had to get up and stand on one foot as quickly as possible. That was one of the easier activites, YIKES! In the afternoon I attended a course put on by a PT on training the warrior. He also put us through and hour workout that included 100 pushups, 100 abdominal exercises and 20 lunges! I am going to be sore tomorrow!


So this evening Clay and I drove down to the beach and ran for an hour. We started at the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier and ran north. I felt great and didn't have my Garmin but felt like I was cruising at about 7:00 pace, maybe a little faster. I made it to the Queen Mary and turned around. I met Clay up on a grassy area and then took off for a few more miles. I finished the run in 65 minutes and estimate that I ran about 9 miles. That changes my monthly total for July to 135! Pretty good considering that I only ran 25 miles in the middle 12 days of the month.

See Clay's blog for some pictures.

"We only eat food that doesn't have a label." quote from Juan Carlos Santana, CSCS at the seminar

Thursday, July 30, 2009

6 mile run on aqueduct & July totals

I met Clay and Zac up on the aqueduct which was rather windy this morning. We did 3 miles out and 3 back for a total of six. Zac and I ran the last 4 together averaging around 7:20-7:30 pace. He set the pace and I stayed a half step behind on his side to make sure we maintained pace. It was a good effort. Total time for the 6 miles was 47:26 I think.


Mileage for July was 126 that includes missing a weekend of training while in Mammoth and two fairly low mileage weeks on each side of that weekend. I still feel pretty good about the month. I am enjoying some faster and harder workouts. I will a hilly course once a week and either tempo or marathon pace runs fairly consistently from here on out.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

New blog picture and 8 mile run (60:30)

I ran 8 miles this morning and pushed the pace a little until I started running up 60th into a head wind. That took everything out of me but I finished the 8 miles in 60:30 (avg pace 7:34).

There was a huge track meet in Monaco yesterday and some great US performances. One story proved just how much of our sport is mental. Maggie Vessey, a Cal Poly SLO grad, was 4th at the US Championships in the 800 and did not have the A standard to make the US team for Worlds in Berlin. She had been running in Europe trying to get the sub 2:00 A standard and make the team. Well last night she not only broke 2:00 but ran the fastest time in the world for 800m this year! Watch the race here and see her post race interview. She describes how she almost talked herself out of running well yesterday, and how you can achieve your goals if you surround yourself with other positive and talented people who will help you bring out your best.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack



Track and Field Videos on Flotrack


"[It] is 90% mental -- the other half is physical" -- Yogi Berra

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Weekend Update!

I have had about two weeks of detraining and am ready for a two month build up for Twin Cities. This week I only ran 12 miles during the work week.

Tuesday: I ran a total of 4 miles from my house, around Joe Walker, and back. I went without a watch but felt like it was about 7:45 pace.

Friday: I ran 8 miles around Quartz Hill on my hill workout loop. The goal: push 3xhalf mile hills in the middle of the run (up 70th, up 65th, and up 60th). The toughest climb is up 65th between M and M-8. It is a really good workout, and the rest of the run is at an easy pace (1 min slower than marathon pace). I completed the 8 miles in 1:02:10 for an average pace of 7:46.

Saturday: Andi and I met Clay, Zac, and Dale on Ave. S and the aqueduct at 5:45 am(a stretch of aqueduct that I was not familiar with). It was a 2.5 mile stretch that we ran out and back on twice. The goal of the workout was a fast finish. We all ran together for the first 5 miles in 42:25 (avg 8:29 pace), then picked it up on the back 5. I decided to run the last five with this progression (2 at marathon pace, 1 about 15 seconds faster, and the last two with whatever I had left). The last five mile splits were 7:15, 7:05, 6:28, 6:15, 6:04. My second half was 33:07 (avg pace 6:37). I was running slightly over AT Pace and could feel the lactate building in my legs after about a mile at that faster pace. It was probably a little too fast (see Sunday's workout). See Clay's blog for the group photo. Total time was 1:15:34 for 10 miles (avg pace 7:35). Andi averaged 7:30-7:40 pace on the way back for a total time of just over 1:20!

Sunday: Andi and I met Clay and Dale at 60th and the aqueduct at 5:30 am for an 8 mile recovery run. This is the most weekend mileage (18 miles) that Andi has done in over 3 years. She we just got back and she is already asleep on the couch. We averaged 8:40 pace and even I was sluggish today from the previous 2 days of workouts.

Special thanks to Jon and Louise Fitch who have stayed with the boys while Andi and I have run together 2 days in a row now! We are both ready for a day off tomorrow.

Next weekend Clay and I are going to a Perform Better Seminar called Funcitonal Training Summit in Long Beach, CA. Stay tuned to see how creative we can be in also getting our workouts in.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Back from Mammoth


We had a great weekend in Mammoth Lakes with the boys. I'm too tired to post. See the family blog for all pictures.


There has to be some running related news from the trip. No, we didn't run into Ryan Hall or Deena Kastor who live and train in Mammoth Lakes. We did drive through Lone Pine, CA on the way up which is near the finish of the Badwater Ultramarathon held a week ago. The local motels still had messages on the marque reading, "Go Badwater Runners Go." Here are the results from the race. And here is Dean Karnazes' story from his eighth Badwater finish.

Friday, July 17, 2009

4 mile recovery run

Wow, that cross country race last night sure took a lot out of me. My legs felt so heavy this morning that I cut the run short after 4 miles (36 minutes). I guess it was my first cross country 3 mile and I am not used to all that up and down on trails. I am looking forward to a 4 day break in training.

Here is a link to MORE photos from the 30 at 30 run two weeks ago. They were taken by my college roommate and pal Art Miller. He takes pictures and does multimedia for CLU and has a pretty nice camera!

Finally, I received my last set of photos that I had mailed out quite a while ago to Ryan and Sara Hall. Here are two of the photos they signed.

Have a good weekend.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

6 mile morning run & 3 mile cross country race

Sorry for the lack of posts. I helped my sister-in-law move this past Sunday and on a really stupid move "tweaked" my left knee a little. It was not bad but there was just enough inflammation in the joint to cause patella maltracking. This means my knee cap would pop when I extended my knee and just "didn't feel right." That and a feeling of fatigue kept me of the roads until today. There was much less popping today and my knee actually felt better after 6 miles averaging 8 min pace.

This evening I ran in the weekly HDR cross country 3 mile course out at Pelona Vista Park. My personal course record (PCR) is 19:57 last year. Tonight the plan was to run with Zac Patten. We would cruise the first mile, take it easy up the hill, and then pick it up trying to catch as many people as possible in the last mile. Well, I went out a little too fast (6:23) then slowed down on the second mile, at one point stopped to wait for Zac to catch up, but he had nothing left. I finished in 20:45 ish and Zach finished in 21:08. We should have gone out at around 6:40 and I think he would have felt much better on the second half. I believe I was 15th place. In good conditions I think I could break my PCR there this summer.

Total mileage for the day was 9 miles. I may try and get in a run tomorrow before we leave for Mammoth Lakes, CA with the boys.


You may have heard of the great debate over headphone use during races or when running in general. Well, this story may help you make up your mind if you haven't already. Read this post from the Runners World Daily Blog Today.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

14 miler on the aqueduct

I love the level of fitness that I am at right now. When someone says, "I'm doing 13 tomorrow, wanna come?" I love being able to say, "no problem."

Clay told me yesterday that he was planning on doing 13-14 on the aqueduct Saturday morning so I said, "I'll be there." We left at about 5:45am, he actually left a little early for a slower warm up and Dale and I caught him at about mile 2. We cruised at a very even pace 8:00-8:12 for the first 10 miles and then Clay and I pushed it in with a 7:35, 7:25, 7:21. He stopped to cool down and I pushed it in because I had to get home with the last half mile at 6:30 pace. I ended up running 13.6 miles total. It was a great run and felt good to push the pace a little at the end. Our last 10 miles was right around 79 minutes.

Wildlife included a mother coyote and her cub!

I told Dale we were going to run at 8:20 pace before the run. Oops, sorry Dale, I hope we didn't push it too fast.

Andi has her first 10 miler tomorrow early with her friend Dawn. Time to start building up the mileage.

I will have 4 days off next weekend as we have a family trip planned to Mammoth. There will be little to no running going on which will be a good break for me. Hopefully, it will include some short hikes with the boys.

Next week I plan on running Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday night cross country!

Friday, July 10, 2009

8 mile easy run, I'm back!

I ran up to the aqueduct this morning, did 4 miles up there, and returned home in 62:30 (avg pace 7:50) for 8 miles. I was a little slow warming up but by the end felt good and hit the last 3 miles in about 20 minutes. I would say I am about 90% recovered from Sunday.

I have nothing planned on the race schedule at this point until Twin Cities in October. I will have to put a time trial in there some where. I have always wanted to run the Twin Cities marathon so I am excited for that. It is on my marathon bucket list. Here is my top 5 marathons besides TC that I would like to run some day.

New York Marathon
Chicago Marathon
Marine Corp Marathon
London Marathon
St. George Marathon

What is your next marathon and what marathons are on your bucket list?

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

4 mile recovery run

First run back after the longest run of my life so far. I have felt better each day and today felt about 75%. My calves are a little tight and my quads are sore, all symptoms that I would consider normal for me after a run like that. I actually felt better after I ran this morning. I got in 4 miles this morning. I will take it easy this week, and then based on how I feel will start to add some faster mileage once a week.

I had a goal to break a 5 minute mile by the end of May. That didn't happen, but I would still like to try before the year is over.

Long term goal for the year is 2:55 at California International Marathon on December 6th. That means I need make 6:40 pace feel fairly easy! Yikes, I have some work to do. Threshold runs here I come!
Threshold pace 6:20
Interval pace 5:45

Sounds like Zac and I need to get together. I know 5 am is early. I can compromise...how about 6 am?

Monday, July 6, 2009

5000th visitor!

I hit another milestone today. My blog had its 5000th visitor (I suppose half of those were me but it is still a lot). Sunday, after the 30 miler, I had 53 hits in one day (also a record). This June had the highest number of visitors for a month with 485. I guess someone out there is finding this stuff interesting or maybe entertaining.

For those of you wondering how I was feeling today, not too bad. Don't get me wrong, I was sore, but it was symmetrical soreness, and I was slower getting around the clinic today. It was fun telling my patients about what a success the event was on Sunday. I did have a little headache from dehydration in the afternoon, I tried hard to drink throughout the day.

More pictures have been coming in from Sunday. Clark posted a few on flickr that turned out great. See his pictures here.

Here are a few more from Clay's perspective on the aqueduct and on the bike about mile 25.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

The 30 miler is complete! (4:08:07)

The morning started at 5:00 am. I left home with two bikers and 4 other runners to help get me half way through the run. We had a near perfect day as far as the wind goes. It was a little breezy up on the aqueduct but it kept us cool. We pounded out 15 miles in 1:58:39 and I picked up a big group for the next 5 miles. My support bikes were awesome (thanks Ron and Art). They got me anything I wanted to drink or eat during the run. I had another set of new runners for the second five mile loop and everyone was excited to run and kept me going. I finished running up and down M-12 five times with many more people running and walking while cheering me on. It was an unbelievable day, one that I will never forget. I hit my marathon split on the second loop on M-12 in 3:36 and finished 30 miles in 4:08:07! I averaged 8:16/mile over 30 miles. This is now the farthest I have ever run at once for time and for distance. Other than a few mild aches and pains I feel great. Thanks so much to all my runners and cyclists that helped me meet this goal: Chuck, Neil, Dale, Clay, Andi, Dawn, Bill, Melissa, Ron, Julie, Zac, Jon, Louise, Margie, Don, Mom, Dad, Clark, Cheryl, Ron, Art, Arnie, Tom, Dan, Josh, Casey, Joann, Bill, Nikki, and Angelo.
Thanks also to everyone else that came out to support me and cheer me on. People from the neighborhood were asking, "What is going on here?" It was pretty cool. We all had breakfast and enjoyed the morning afterward. I took a 10 minute ice bath that felt awesome then got to visit with all my family and friends.

Here are some of the stats from the day:
30 - miles run
4 - hours running
5 - pounds lost during the run
(I weighed in at 171.6 and out at 166.8)
0 - blisters (thanks to the injinjis)
28 - people that biked or ran today
246 - combined miles from all participants
350 - Dollars raised for Karno Kids
7:20 - fastest mile
9:13 - slowest mile

Thanks again everyone, I can't thank you enough.

Before the run.

First 15 miles on the aqueduct

Mile 19

Mile 20

Mile 23

Mile 25

My mom & Andi's mom

The crowd at the finish line

My family

Ron and me

Now its time for Andi's 3 month build up for the Twin Citites Marathon October 4th. I have designed a 3 month training plan for her. Stay tuned!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Newhall ID 5k

I ran the Newhall Independence Day 5k for the second year in a row. This year I paced my wife Andi to get an idea of her current fitness level. We ran a very even race and finished in 21:19 (mile splits 7:03, 6:59, 6:44). Andi and I were 79th and 80th out of over 500 runners. Andi was 3rd in her age group. VDOT predicts a 3:23 marathon. With only a small base and a three month build up we are hoping for 3:45. I think we can do it!

We had 3 guests from out of town that are here for my 30 miler tomorrow. Ron, Julie, and Melissa who all PR'ed at the race.
Official Results were posted here.

The temperature was great. There was no wind. The course is fast.

See Clay's blog for pictures and more details.

Wish me luck tomorrow.

Friday, July 3, 2009

30th birthday run!

I got up early today on my 30th birthday to log 8 miles in about 62 minutes (avg pace 7:45). I went up to the aqueduct and turned around at 4 miles. I felt great and thought about going farther until I remembered that I am running 30 miles on Sunday!

Tomorrow Newhall ID 5K pacing my wife Andi. She has not raced in a long time. We'll see how it goes. Check back tomorrow for results.

Getting excited about the 30 miler. I have 25 people signed up to run a portion with me and 2 guys biking the entire time. Weather forecast looks good, it might even cool down a bit.