Karl's road to Boston and beyond

Moving the blog!

2011-07-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

I am officially moving my blog to http://www.cuttingedgerunning.com/. If you scroll down on the home page you will see a list of my 5 most recent posts. Once reading the blog an archive of previous posts will be located in a column on the right side. I will continue to post on my own training, with tips, news, and other entertaining stories related to running. Check often as I will try and post a few times per week. Thank you to all my readers, please follow me to my new site and feel free to continue posting comments or questions anytime.

The Long Run (from the best)

2011-07-07T21:59:00.001-07:00

Remember that post I did a few weeks back about what a 140mpw looks like and how it would take someone who runs 10min/mi over 20 hours a week to run that far? Well the same principle should be considered during the weekly long run, and here is the breakdown on this topic from Coach Jack Daniels PhD. Makes a lot of sense to me. An elite marathon runner would almost NEVER go out for a 4+ hour training run so why should the beginner?

Watch more video of Saucony Thirsty Thursdays with Jack Daniels on flotrack.org

Run, Forrest, Run!

2011-07-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

"Now you wouldn’t believe it if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was goin’ somewhere, I…was…runnin’!"

Run, Forrest, Run!
Forrest Gump at MOVIECLIPS.com

Newhall Independence Day 5k (20:29)

2011-07-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today was the 29th annual Newhall Independence Day 5k. This well established race draws about 500 runners every year. This was my 4th consecutive year running the event. Since I have not been running I decided to play it conservative. I found Dale and Lauren at the starting line and Lauren was talking about a PR so I decided to try and pull her along with me. Our first mile was 6:40 and Lauren was right with me. We made it to the turn around and I started to pull away. By my watch I hit the two mile mark at 13:46. My last mile was 6:20. I finished in 20:29, a nice tempo run for the week. I was pleased until I realized that that time was my marathon pace at CIM! I've got to get back in shape!
Lauren did PR 21:13. Clay's daughter Kendall also PR'd in 23:20. The weather was very warm, ok it was hot! It is always a fun time with free Jamba Juice afterward at a nice park. It just takes them forever to call the awards!

Birthday run

2011-07-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today was my 32nd birthday. Two years ago I ran 30 miles for my 30th birthday. Last year I ran 3.1 for my 31st birthday. This year I met Chuck at Ave S. and the aqueduct at 5:45am. He had already run 5 miles. We ran 5 together and then met Dale and Lauren for another 5! So I ran 10. Chuck suggested I should have run 3200m (just short of 2 miles) for my 32nd birthday. It was a good idea except I think we had already run 3 or 4 miles, so we just kept going. It was a great birthday run. The miles flew buy while we all chatted. It seems like everyone is finally coming around after some nagging aches and pains that needed a little rest. My legs felt great but I am tired tonight.
Cutting Edge Running just announced special July introductory prices. Go check 'em out!

Coaching

2011-06-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have started my coaching career this past month. It is an online coaching service at www.cuttingedgerunning.com. The website is constantly evolving as I learn web design. I am doing the website editing myself so it will take some time, but please keep checking back regularly. I see some great potential with the services that I am offering, and hope to help many runners reach their goals.

USATF Championships Day 4

2011-06-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

I watched the final day of the track and field championships today with my boys. They really liked watching the races. Both the men's and women's 800m were great, and produced some fast times. Veterans Nick Symmonds and Khadevis Robinson went 1-2 in the men's 800m using great race tactics. Both should do very well at the World Championships later this summer. After the events were over we went into the backyard and practiced our long jumps.

USATF Championships Day 3

2011-06-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

All the races today played out as expected, except the 1500m. Both men's and women's races were crazy and completely different. The women started out with Christin Wurth pushing the pace making sure it was an honest race. Unfortunately she went out like it was an 800m and no one went with her. She went through the 400m split in 62 seconds, which is nearly world record pace. She had created a huge gap between herself and the rest of the field which was still moving pretty quick. She looked great for 1350m and may have run away with it if she had gone out in 64 instead of 62. They started to gain on Wurth with 300m to go and caught her on the home stretch. She was passed by Uceny, then Simpson, and Rowbury at the line. I thought Wurth was going to collapse with 50m to go as her legs looked wobbly. The top three women could all make the final at World Champs. I picked the winner (Uceny) but was wrong on Pierce and off by a place with Wurth. Watch the race here.

The men's 1500m was a mess. It was awful to watch. Nobody wanted to lead. No one wanted to break the wind or let others sit on them, and everyone seemed to be willing to let Lagat dictate the race. He went to the lead and then slowed the pace dramatically. The men's first lap was 66 (4 seconds slower than the women). There was bumping and shoving, and multiple times were people almost went down. Then they all started to kick playing into Lagat's perfect senario. All my picks were within a few steps of each other in the last 30m. And after a few late surges it ended up 1. Centrowitz, 2. Lagat, 3. Manzano, 4. Wheating. The reason #4 was important was because Lagat knew he wouldn't be running the 1500m at Worlds and 4th would move into 3rd. Some people (Leer who ended up 5th) took offense to Lagat's strategy, but who can blame him for wanting two win to events at USA's. Unfortunately, he turned what could have been a very fast and competitive race with one of the most stacked fields in US history, into "who can run the fastest 200m surrounded by other runners without falling down." I picked Lagat to win but not in that fashion. He was beat in the last 20-30m by NCAA champ Matt Centrowitz and Leo Manzano snuck into 3rd with a late kick. I thought Wheating would have more but he ended up 4th. Torrence was 6th (my pick for 3rd). Unfortunately, of the three runners that may be in the 1500m for the US, I think Wheating has the only shot at making the final. I hope I am wrong.

USA Track & Field Championships Day 2

2011-06-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Mostly prelims again today. All the 800m runners that I thought would make the final did, which should make for some great finals this weekend. Khadevis Robinson won both is heats with the slowest times, which should give him an advantage (good lane assignment and freshest legs).

The 5k finals were tonight and I was not suprised to see Bernard Lagat and Molly Huddle win. They ARE the American record holders in the event. What impressed me the most was three people Galen Rupp, Desiree Davila, and Jen Rhines. Galen won the 10k last night then came back and made the team in the 5k with a third place finish. He said he will double at Worlds. Desiree Davila was 4th in the 10k (31:37) and 6th in the 5k (15:25). She didn't make the top 3 in either event but it was a killer double and a PR in both events. Jen Rhines made the same double but was even more impressive with a 3rd place finish in the 10k (31:30) and a 4th place in the 5k (15:19). She rounded out a 2nd, 3rd, 4th place finish in the 5k from the Mammoth TC girls!

The word on flotrack was that Lagat and Solinsky closed their last 1600m of the 5k in 3:58! AWESOME!

1500m finals tomorrow and Lagat will be there. An awesome field on both sides. Men's race includes Lagat, Wheating, Torrence, Leer, Manzano, Lomong, and Centrowitz. The Women's race has Anderson, Simpson, Rowbury, Hasay, Uceny, Pierce, Wurth, and Follett. It is anyone's race.

My picks:
Mens: 1. Lagat 2. Wheating 3. That is tough but I am going to go with Torrence, but I also like Leer (Go SCIAC).
Womens: (This is really tough) 1. Uceny 2. Pierce 3. Wurth although Katie Follett has had a great season...

Grandma's Marathon

2011-06-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

The 35th Grandma's Marathon was this weekend. Grandma's will always be a special race for me as it was my first marathon under 3 hours, and at the time it was a 17 minute PR! I bettered my debut marathon time of 3:15 in L.A. 2004. I was very naive to the marathon and believe I went into it undertrained. My only gauge of my fitness level leading up to Grandma's was a local 20k race around the brutal Red Rock loop outside of Las Vegas that I ran in 1:24, and I had paced Andi to a 3:38 LA Marathon 3 months earlier.
My goal was to run a BQ (3:10 at the time) and I settled in with a pace group. I didn't know anyone else running but had family there waiting at the finish line for me. The Grandma's course is unbelievable. They bus you 26 miles north of Duluth, MN to Two Harbors and then you run back on the lakeside road with Lake Superior on your left the entire time. After about 3 miles I remember thinking, "This feels slow, I am going to run ahead of the pace group and see how I do. Then if they catch me I will just have to hang on." I went through the half in 1:28 and realized I was clicking off 6:30 to 6:40 miles consistently. The pace group never caught me, my last mile was my fastest 6:04, and I finished 2:58:37.

Grandma's is a fast course with great competition. My sub 3 hour finish barely cracked me into the top 200 runners, and this year would have been no different. This year there were 18 guys under 2:20, a 42 year old ran 2:29 and a 52 year old ran 2:43. Two Americans, Jeff Eggleston and Matt Gabrielson, ran 2:13. Michael Wardian, who just finished 11th and was first American at Comrades Marathon (5:52:51), a 50 mile race in South Africa, came out to Duluth 3 weeks later and ran an Olympic Trials Qualifier in 2:17:49.

The winner of Grandma's was closing in on the finish line this year, crossed what he thought was a timing strip, and stopped 60ft short of the finish line. People were yelling at him to continue and once he realized that he wasn't done, was caught by another runner and they sprinted to the finish. The leader still won the race but only by .2 seconds!

Jennifer Houck, a 27 year old up and coming American marathoner was 5th in a PR of 2:33:01. She has run 5 marathons now and gotten progressively faster each time. She is also a Physical Therapist! Look for her at the Olympic Trials for the marathon.

Results

2011-06-23T23:24:00.000-07:00

First day of US Championships is in the books. All the prelims seemed to go well with only a few expected people missing out on advancing. Eric Flores, hammer thrower from my alma mater, CLU, had a nice first throw but fouled his next two throws and did not advance. His first throw put him in 10th and top 8 made the final. Khadevis Robinson, now coach at my other alma mater UNLV, easily won his heat in the 800m to advance.

The women's 10k was awesome since Shalane pushed the pace early and lead almost the entire race and broke 31 minutes. Kara Goucher and Jen Rhines rounded out the top 3, but Desiree Davila and Magdalena Boulet came in 4th and 5th respectively and both PRed by over 30 seconds. It was a great race.

On the other hand, the men's 10k went out super slow. Actually it strung out and then after a few laps the leaders put on the breaks. At that time Sergio was in last and when the breaks went on he was literally pushed up into 3rd place. He stayed in the top 5 for a few miles and then they started throwing in some killer surges and finally Galen closed in I think 1:54 for his last 800m and won the race. It was a risky way to run as a few guys who had a chance got out kicked at the end. That is what happens when you leave it up to a kick. You either got it or you don't. Sergio ended up last in 29:17.

5k final tomorrow night (Lagat vs. Solinsky).

USATF Championshilps

2011-06-23T06:51:00.001-07:00

USATF Championships start today with mostly preliminary heats. Sergio Reyes is running the 10k tonight at 7:55pm PST. It should be streamed live on www.runnerspace.com.

High Mileage

2011-06-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

The idea of high mileage for all runners that use their aerobic system as a primary energy source for their race distance is an idea made famous by Arthur Lydiard. His ideas of long slow distance and training are commonly misinterpreted. One of his most famous athletes, Peter Snell, was running 20+ mile long runs before his double gold performance in the 800m and 1500m at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Why would someone run 20 miles when their event is less than a mile? To maximize your aerobic sytem one must continually stress it to continue to improve. Everyone running 800m and up should have a weekly long run as part of their training.

On the other hand, runners can become WAY to obsessed about mileage. Ryan Hall wrote in a recent post, that he used to go out for a 2 mile run before the week was out just to hit his magic number of at least 100mpw. He goes on to write that now in his running career exact mileage has become less important. What he finds most beneficial now is "hard, quality workouts followed by adequate recovery and even making sure to over-recover." That doesn't mean that Ryan is running less weekly mileage. It just means that he knows that the recovery is most important, and that those 2 extra miles my hinder his trainng more than enhance it.

It is still important to keep track of your mileage. You can tell when you have done more than you are used to and may need a recovery week or an extra recovery day. My advice is schedule your "workouts" first, meaning long runs, tempo runs, and intervals. Then fill in with other easy runs that will challenge your aerobic system and facilitate your recovery not impede it. Also, continue to challenge your aerobic system by doing a "little bit more than last time." For example if you were running 30mpw without trouble, then increase to 35mpw during the same stage in your training.

Have you ever wondered what a 140 mile week looks like? Nick Arciniaga recently posted on a typical 140 mile training week during his marathon training. Check it out. At first 140 miles sounds insane right? And it is, but when you think about how Nick trains it is not as much as you think. He has it split up into 13 workouts over 7 days. Nick averages some where between 9 and 10mph on even a long run or recovery run, sometimes faster. If he averaged 10mph over the whole week that would be 14 hours of running a week. That is 2 hours a day. If someone who averages 6mph on their training runs ran 2 hours a day they would run 84 miles that week. That would be a lot of running for them too but it would be an equal training stimulus for them (140mph is to Nick as 84mpw is to 10min/mi runner). It would take the 10min/mi runner 23 hours/wk to run 140miles!!!! Now that is insane!

Nick can run 100mpw in about 10 hours of training. It would take me about 13 hours/wk. Even at top marathon shape I am lucky to get in 5-6 hours/wk.

So Nick runs 2 hours a day. What does he do the rest of the day? All the little things to make sure he is recovered enough for the next workout. Must be nice.

Texas A & M Core Training

2011-06-20T00:24:00.000-07:00

Texas A & M just won the men's and women's NCAA Div I National Championship for the 3rd straight year. They also had 46 All-Americans in men's and women's track & field. This may be one of the main reasons. Listen to their strength and conditioning coach. She mostly works with sprinters but the rules apply to everyone.

"Hold your posture while applying force to the track."

"If I can apply more force [to the track] over a longer period of time, I am going to win the race."

"Get as strong as humanly possible without getting bigger."

Watch more video of The Pros in 2011 on flotrack.org

10 mile run

2011-06-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

I will be coaching my oldest son's soccer team in the fall and this morning I had a training course for all the coaches. It was at the Lancaster Soccer Complex, and after doing a google map from my house found it to be almost exactly 10 miles away. I decided I would run there and Andi said she would pick me up after my class so I left the house at 6:40 am to make it in just in time for the 8:00am class. I remember about half way there, running by a digital sign that had the temp at 72 degrees. It was most certaily above 80 for the last few miles. There is no break from the sun on Ave M. The run was tough for two reasons. First, I haven't run that far in a while, and secondly, I haven't run in that kind of heat in a while. I carried an Ultimate Direction water bottle (with hand straps) in each hand. They are great for carrying fluid on the run.

Will Rogers State Beach

2011-06-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

This is how we roll!

I ran today! (5 miles)

2011-06-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

I have not run in a month. I have been staying up too late and not getting up early enough for a run. The weather has been good. I have missed some great days for running. I have been working on my website and brainstorming ideas with little to show for it. I was hoping it would be up and running over a month ago, but my web guy has not had time to work on it and I am hoping to take over the work myself very soon. I did have a friend work on a logo and finalized a domain name and here it is (yes that is me in the logo)!
When I take time off from running, even a month off, I start to think about "the good times" meaning when I was running well and really fit. It wasn't too long ago, only a little over a year ago, that I PR'd at the marathon distance and 10 mile distance, and ran my first ultra. The key to these PRs was the training that was happening a year before that. It was maybe the best year of running that I have ever had. It started with the training and build up for my 30 mile run on my 30th birthday. I started really training for that in May 2009 after the OC half marathon (1:27:22). I slowly built up my mileage and ran 30 miles in just over 4 hours for my 30th birthday. I continued to consistently build on that base with my wife as we ran the Twin Cities Marathon in October 2009, and even more intense after that for California International Marathon where I PR'd (2:57:11). I took it easy for a month after that and started really putting in some long miles on the trail for LD50. Two weeks before that race I PR'd at the Charlottesville 10 miler (62:01). I went on to meet my goal of a sub 9 hour race at Leona Divide 50 mile in April 2010.

The keys to this level of fitness I attained were consistent Long runs (30 mile birthday run, a spontaneous AV marathon and Twin Cities Marathon became LONG training runs), and long tempo runs. I was at the point where I was running a 10 mile tempo run at 65 minutes.

I am far from that level of fitness right now. Like I said before, I have not run in a month and minimal running this year. I finally got out for a run today. I left the house at 6:45am and ran 5 miles (down to Lane Park, two laps, and back). It was so much harder than it should have been. I hate that first run back, but I was glad to be back. One good thing about time off is that those little nagging injuries have more time to heal. My right calf felt really good today. I rewarded myself by wearing a brand new pair of ASICS 2150s that have been waiting for me in my closet.

We spent the early afternoon at the beach (pictures to come soon).

Shout out to my friend and colleague Ron Gallagher, who was quoted in an article in the most recent Triathlete Magazine in an article on compression garments.

Watch the race!

2011-06-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

I finally got to watch the HS dream mile and I am amazed by the effort of Lukas Verzbicas! (My internet at home is on the fritz). Those conditions were so tough. Of the 5 HS boys to break 4 min, that was the worst weather for sure. I say take 2-3 seconds off that in ideal conditions. Props to Elias Gedyon for the move he made with a lap to go. He would have been under 4 too in good weather, so would Mudd. The class of 2011 may be the best since 2001 (Hall, Ritz, Webb). It will be fun to see where they all are in 4 years, 8 years. We may have just watched a bunch of future Olympians. Jim Ryun and Lukas Verzbicas are the only HS boys to break 4 minutes in a HS only mile!

Watch the race here.

Post race interview with Lukas here.

He did it!

2011-06-11T14:07:00.001-07:00

I knew Lukas Verzbicas was a special talent, but he sealed the deal today by becoming only the 5th high schooler ever to break the 4 minute mile! I honestly thought there might be 2 or 3 kids do it today but it sounds as though windy conditions made it awfully hard to get it done. Congrats to Lukas! What an amazing year this young man has had (Footlocker xc champ, Nike Cross Nationals champ, National 2 mile record holder, and now sub 4 minute miler). I look forward to following your career for many more years.

Watch more video of adidas Golden Stripes 2011: Dream 100 & Jim Ryun Dream Mile on flotrack.org

Thirsty Thursdays!

2011-06-09T09:34:00.001-07:00

What was your toughest workout ever?

Watch more video of Saucony Thirsty Thursdays with Jack Daniels on flotrack.org

Quote

2011-06-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

“Life isn’t about how you survived the storm, it’s about how you danced in the rain.” --Nick Karnazes (father of Dean Karnazes)

Just surviving the storm right now.

California State Track Meet

2011-06-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

I finally looked at the results from the California State high school track meet and there was some phenomenal performances. California always has many of the top track athletes in the country. I think it is a combination of good weather for year round training and a HUGE population of high school kids. When my high school came out to CA for meets from neighboring Nevada, even the top kids from my school seemed to be only above average.

Four performances in particular caught my attention in the distance events.

First, Amy Weissenbach an 11th grader from Harvard-Westlake won the girls 800m in 2:02.04! That time is the 15th fastest female American time so far this year! All the women faster than her are professionals. She is faster than any NCAA runner so far this year (NCAA championships is this week)!

Second, Jantzen Oshier a 12th grade boy from Trabuco Hills ran the 1600m in 4:00.83. He has lead the list of top boys milers in the country all spring but 4 flat is incredible! He will be in the High School Dream Mile this weekend with Lukas Verzbicas (who just smashed the HS 2 mile record in 8:29), Billy Orman (who won the AZ 3200m in 8:48), Elias Gedyon (8:50 at CA state 3200m), Amar Moussa, and the Rosa twins. The question may not be who will break the 4 minute mile, but how many?

Elias Gedyon is my third highlighted athlete. He was second to Oshier in the 1600m at CA state in 4:04 and won the 3200m in 8:50! That is possibly the best double in the country. The last person to win both at the CA state meet was Meb Keflezighi!

Finally, Sarah Baxter, a 9th grader from Simi Valley, won the girls 3200m in 10:13! How fast will this tiny little girl me in 3 years? Amazing! The great thing about her is that her parents and coaches seem to be holding her reins back and not extending her seasons by adding more and more races, even though she probably could win all of them.

Congrats to all these kids. They are truly amazing! See all the CA state track meet results here.

Beach day in Ventura, CA

2011-06-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Why US track and field is still behind?

2011-06-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

The United States has some of the top runners in the world, no doubt. In my opinion, we have the talent pool to win or have Olympic medalists in every event. The problem is that there are too many other more popular sports with greater notoriety that pull great athletes away from track and field.

I opened a recent issue of Sports Illustrated and was reading the Faces in the Crowd page when I noticed two great athletes. Mac McGuire (wonder who he was named after), ran a 47.8 400m split in his HS relay anchor leg to win the Texas state championship. He is also a team leader in goals scored for the state champion soccer team and an all-state kicker for the football team. He will be playing SOCCER for Boston University in the fall.

Alyssa Lombardo ran a 56.9 400m for a district record in PA. She won the 100, 200, 400, and 800m at her league meet. She is an all-state athlete in track and soccer. She will be playing SOCCER at Stanford next year.

Mac’s 400 split is equivalent to a 1:45 800m time and a sub 4 min mile. With the right endurance training this kid could be a top NCAA middle distance runner.

Alyssa’s 400m time is equivalent to a 2:03 800m and a 4:13 1500m, both of which would be top NCAA times.

Give them 4 more years and they could be Olympic hopefuls in track. Instead they picked soccer. Most likely they will not be Olympic soccer players or even professional soccer players. They probably did get athletic scholarships and who can blame them for taking the money to play and get a college education, but with those times I’m sure they could have both received scholarships to run track. I am not faulting either of these kids, but athletic American kids have so many options that the track talent gets only a small drop from the pool.

There certainly is more pressure on track athletes when it comes to performing in competition. If you have a bad day on the soccer field your teammates can pick up the slack and still win the game. Have a bad day on the track and you will get dusted! No one can help you run faster in the open 400m except yourself.

Luckily, US track and field gets an Andrew Wheating every once in a while to drop soccer and become one of the top mid distance runners in the world! In the mean time we will all just have to wonder how far Lebron James could have thrown the discus? Or How far Michael Jordan could have long jumped or high jumped? Or how far a young Vladimir Guerrero could throw the javelin? Or how high Shawn Johnson or Nastia Liukin could pole vault? Until the minimum salary for team USA track and field pushes 7 digits we will never know.

Thirsty Thursdays are back!

2011-06-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

Flotrack started a new series with Coach Jack Daniels, PhD. This week was about mental fatigue. I have heard him tell this story about the runner in South America before and it is a great one.

Take it one mile at a time, one lap at a time, one step at a time. It is a simple act of puting one foot in front of the other. Don't make it more complicated than it is, and remember the faster your run the faster it will all be over!

Watch more video of Saucony Thirsty Thursdays with Jack Daniels on flotrack.org

CLU results from NCAA Div III Nationals

2011-05-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

The NCAA Division III National Championships for track and field are this weekend. My alma mater, Cal Lutheran, has two athletes that have already scored points (a top 8 finish). Eric Flores, the Div III National hammer record holder has already won two events: the hammer (213ft 11in) and the shot put (57ft 5.75in). He won the shot put by a quarter inch on his last throw! That give CLU 20 points and puts them tied for 3rd place going into the final day. Toccoa Kahovec was 8th in the women's steeplchase with a time of 10:39 , also a school record time, earning her All-American honors. Not bad considering CLU doesn't even have a track! Congrats to both athletes.

Conservative training progression and Vibrams

2011-05-25T12:53:00.001-07:00

Anytime you put "Vibrams" in your title these days people will stop and read. You may have seen these "shoes" out there that are really just a glove for your feet. Christopher McDougall might be able to take credit for the fad after his book Born to Run became a best seller and people wanted to try this new inovative type of running called "barefoot running." The truth is that people have been running barefoot, even in the US, for part or all of their training for many years. This is not a new idea. During my high school and college cross country years, we often used to take off our shoes and run sprints or strides across the football field after workouts. It is a great way to teach running on your midfoot or forefoot and strengthen your foot and ankle. The vibrams allow a runner to "run barefoot" on surfaces other than grass with some protection for your feet. Like any training tool it is best to progress forward conservatively.

The video is a recent guest interview of Keith Olbermann on the David Letterman show. The related discussion is in the first two minutes. Keith comes out on the show walking with a cane and a walking cast and goes on to tell Dave that he has a stress fracture in his foot caused by running in Vibrams. He goes on to imply that if you weigh more than 175 pounds and you run in Vibrams you WILL get a stress fracture.

First off his podiatrist must have stock in Vibrams because to say that walking in Vibrams is good for your knees and hips is a bunch of baloney. WALKING is good for your knees and hips. It really doesn't matter what foot wear you have on. The Vibrams allow for your foot to move as it was intended to move and that is a good thing, but to say that Vibrams are good for everyone is hog-wash.

The reason that Keith got a stress fracture in his foot is not due to wearing his Vibrams, it is because he either ran in them too much too soon, or ran in them before his body was strong enough to control the new movement at his foot and ankle.

This brings me to my point. The key to improvement in running is consistent training progression over a long period of time without interruption (injury). A conservative approach to training progression will ALWAYS decrease your risk for injury. The problem becomes determining how much is too much or not enough. Most people will give you the 10% rule for a safe amount of weekly mileage progression. This means that if you ran 20 miles last week then you can run 22 miles the next week, and 24 miles the week after that. This may be too much for some (jumping from 90mpw to 99mpw) and not enough for others (10mpw to 11mpw). It has to be individualized.
Jack Daniels, PhD. would say that any weekly increase may be too much when continued over many weeks. He advocates keeping mileage fairly consistent for 3-4 weeks before increasing. This gives the body a normal amount of time to adapt to this new stress before changing it again. He recommends increasing mileage by 20% every 3-4 weeks.
I believe I read somewhere that Coach Alberto Salazar increases Galen Rupp's peak mileage by only 5 miles per year. This means that if the most Galen ran in one week last year was 90mpw, then next year his highest mileage will be around 95. Now that is conservative, but you don't hear about many serious injuries with Galen and he has demonstrated a consistent and steady improvement in 5k and 10k times over his career so far.
This conservative rule applies to all aspects of training. If I want to add intervals into my weekly training program and I start with 8000m worth of interval work on the first day, I am at a higher risk for injury than the runner who started with 3000m. If I want to try some barefoot running and I start with a 30 min run 4 times a week, I am at a higher risk for injury than the runner who starts with some light jogging on the grass for 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, everyone is different and even the 10 minutes in the Vibrams might be too much for some, conversely the 30 min 4x/wk runner might be just fine. I tend to lean towards the conservative approach to training as a little bit less over a longer time yields better outcomes than short bursts of heavy training.

Keith may want to just do some light jogging on grass for 100m at a time once his podiatrist gives him the OK to run again. In the mean time he would definitely benefit from some general strength and conditioning. His weight (over 175lbs) probably had little to do with the injury (ie: the contestants on The Biggest Loser seem to be just fine).

News and Links

2011-05-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

I did not make it down for the Oxy High Performace meet, but it sounds like this will be an annual event so maybe next year. There is no other meet in the country, except maybe Pre Classic, that attracts so many top tier runners.

The meet was highlighted by some quick 800s. Two women went under 2:00 which doesn't happen too often in the US, and two men went under 1:45!

The 1500s were a little slower than last year but won by Katie Follet and Andrew Wheating. Katie is tearing it up this year and ran a PR in 4:07.44. Andrew won in 3:36.46 in his season debut in an open event. Neither were A standards but solid performances.

Here is the link to all the race videos and interviews.

I wrote about the US World Championship marathon team recently. Today runnersworld posted a link to Nick Arciniaga's blog that he started to document his training for the marathon in Daegu. He discusses his teammates and their chances of a team medal! Hopefully he updates it often. It will be fun to read his insights on marathon training. I posted a link to his blog on the blog list to the right.

oxy high performance meet

2011-05-18T22:54:00.000-07:00

The heat sheets for the Oxy High Performance meet are out as well as the race schedule. Check out the Men's 1500 championship race. There are 6 olympians in the race including the rabbit (Nick Willis). Events start at 6:45 and should be done by 9:00 pm. Two hours of the fastest mid-distance athletes in the country!

Also an update on the Ryan Hall appearance at Dick's Sporting Goods in Santa Clarita. The rumor is that there is an organized "run with Ryan" at 8:00 am at Dick's followed by autographs at 9:00am. Call to confirm.

Anyone planning on attending either of these events? I am hoping to go to the meet on Saturday night. Let me know if any of you are going.

Do you rotate shoes?

2011-05-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

First, USATF officially announced the US marathon teams for world championships in Daegu, Korea this August. We knew that Sergio's win at Twin Cities last fall guarenteed him a spot but now it is official. The teams are as follows:
Mens: Nick Arciniaga, Sergio Reyes, Jeffery Eggleston, Mike Sayenko, Mike Morgan.
All of these guys have run under 2:15 in the last year with Nick being the fastest, 2:11:30 at Houston.

Womens: Kara Goucher, Tera Moody, Colleen DeReuck (at the age of 47), Kathy Newberry, and Alissa McKaig.
The first 3 women have run 2:30 or better in the past 2 years. It was a suprise to see Kara Goucher on the list but I guess she wants to get in one more marathon before the Olympic Trials and this is on a World Championship stage. Although, I read that if she qualifies in the 10k at USA's this summer that she will run the 10k in Daegu instead.

The UVA Center for Endurance Sport posted an interesting article on running shoe cushion this week. The reason people used to rotate shoes was the idea that the cushion would "rebound" back to previous shape a day or two after a run. What they found was that this is not true. Almost a "mythbusters" type of experiment. What they did find is that the EVA midsole does weaken and eventually breakdown over time. "Shoe breakdown is variable depending on the runner’s mass, running surfaces, and gait style." The author did reference an article that showed that running in "worn" shoes did increase stance time and altered lower leg range of motion, thus slightly altering gait and possibly increase risk of injury.

Since we all cannot look at our shoes under a microscope after every run, we have to make a decision for ourselves when to switch to a new pair. The gang at UVA is still recommending switching out, or at least starting to think about, a new pair every 400-500 miles. That would be once a month for those running 100+ mpw. Their research showed the breakdown of the shoe is cumulative and it doesn't matter if you run every day or even twice a day in the same shoes.

My recommendation is to keep an eye on the "white foam" on the bottom of your shoe. Once you start getting multiple creases and wrinkles, and it appears to be smashed then it is time to begin thinking about a new pair. I usually can "feel" a difference in my shoes, and may also start to be more sore or have more little aches telling me I might need a new pair of shoes. I do continue to rotate my shoes (typically 2-3 current pairs) but mostly for certain workouts. I have a pair I like for longer runs and a pair I like for faster stuff (threshold or track workouts). I usually have a racing pair for up to half marathon distance. I have always run a marathon in my current trainers. I find that switching shoes everyonce in a while also challenges my foot to adapt to a different amount of support, thus working the muscles of my foot and ankle more.

Like the article says, I also recommend "being nice" to your running shoes. That means only using them for running, letting them dry out first if they get wet, and not leaving them outside in direct summer heat to dry out. I also don't recommend putting them in the washing machine or dryer if you plan on running in them again.

Be careful, switching between shoes that are too different in their amount of support (motion control to neutral) could be too much change and stress at one time and you could set yourself up for injury.

How many current shoes do you keep active in your closet?

Next weekend events

2011-05-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

There are some great track related events going on in the local area (Los Angeles) this Saturday.

First, at 9:00am Ryan Hall will be at Dick's Sporting Goods in Santa Clarita signing autographs.

When I heard that I wondered, "why would Ryan Hall be coming to the LA area?" Then I remembered the USATF High Performance meet at Occidental College is this Saturday and his wife Sara Hall must be running there. Sure enough, she is running the 3000m steeplechase.

How do I know this information? Well I have been looking online for the entrants list for this meet and found nothing. So today I emailed the race director, Rose Monday, and she emailed me here entrant lists! It is going to be awesome! They added a men's and women's steeple this year along with 800m and 1500m.

Here are some of the highlights of entrants.
W800m: Maggie Vessey, Hazel Clark, Jenny Simpson
W1500m: Katie Follett, Shannon Rowbury, Phoebe Wright, Brenda Martinez
W 3k Steeple: Sara Hall, Lindsay Allen, Delilah Dicrescenzo

M800m: David Torrence, Duane Solomon, Tyler Mulder, Khadevis Robinson,
M1500m: Andrew Wheating, Leo Manzano, Lopez Lomong, Nathan Brannan, Russell Brown, Will Leer, Matt Tegenkamp, Nick Symmonds, Evan Jaeger. And Nick Willis is a rabbit!
Also Asics Aggie Phil Reid (who just PR'd for 5k (13:39) is running the 1500m!

It is going to be sweet, especially the men's 1500m! It may be Andrew Wheating's first race this season. They also have some international runners coming. The races start at 7:00pm at Occidental College. I ran there many times when I was at CLU.

Here are the race directors.

Typical Antelope Valley Spring Weather

2011-05-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

I did not get in any running this weekend. The video is my excuse. One of my small trees in the front yard snapped in half!

McMillan's Even Steven

2011-05-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning Dale, Joel and I have met off and on for track workouts. I am hoping that we can make it more of a weekly meeting. I talked with Dale last night and he confirmed that he would be there. Then he said, "You pick the workout Karl." That can be dangerous, although Dale and I are both 9 days post OC marathon so I didn't want to do anything too crazy.

I decided to try a workout that Greg McMillan wrote on an email called Even Steven. He recommends this workout when you need a down week or maybe don't have time to get in some hard workouts, or just need a "fun recovery workout." We seemed to fall into that last category this week. It also stresses all energy systems. Here is the breakdown.
After a warm up (I did 1.5 miles)
10 minutes at MP
2 minutes Easy
8 minutes at HMP
4 minutes Easy
6 minutes at 10k pace
6 minutes Easy
4 minutes at 5k pace
8 minutes easy
2 minutes faster than 5k pace
10 minutes cool down.

The workout totals 60 minutes and each faster workbout ends on a multiple of 10 so it is easy to follow on your watch.

We made it through and covered 8 miles in the hour.

Things I like about this workout:
1. It allows you to ease into the workout at slower speeds.
2. You are supposed to pace by percieved effort and not worry about splits.
3. You have to run hard on semi tired legs.
4. It did feel like I got a good workout in just an hour.

Things I didn't like about this workout:
1. You don't spend too much time at one pace.
2. There is plenty of rest in between.

I would recommend trying this workout during a recovery week or during a base phase to just get a small taste of running at different speeds. It is more like an appitizer sampler of all your different race speeds. I would not do this workout during specific marathon training or within a month of any road race, as there are better more specific workouts to be done.

Running in Houston

2011-05-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

I traveled to Houston, TX this weekend for the wedding of a running buddy of mine. Tom and I met at CLU. He was a freshman when I was a junior, but the next year we roomed together and quickly became close friends. One of my first memories of Tom was his first cross country meet at CLU because he missed the bus by oversleeping and missed the race. He was one of the most natually talented runners on the team and was always one of our top performers. I remember a 1500m race at Claremont that I was in with Tom. He was tripped and fell in the first 200m of the race but got back up, ran hard, and still beat me! I don't know what his PRs are but I think he broke 4:10 for 1500m and ran a few good 5ks. He seemed to always make the final for the 1500m at SCIAC championships. By his senior year he was consistently running in the 26s for 8k cross country. Then at the end of that year of cross country he broke a metatarsal in his foot running and was off his foot for a few months which put him way behind for track. I even got him out to Las Vegas a few years after he graduated for a half marathon which he ran 1:25 on little training. Like I said, "natural talent."

Anyway Tom got married this weekend to Mindy Roll and asked me to be in his wedding party. Tom, Dan (Tom's brother), and I went for a wedding day 3 mile run that morning just as Tom and I had done on my wedding day. We had to start the day off right.

Man, it is humid in Houston (about 60-70% humidity) and it is only May. The wedding went great and Tom and his bride are off to Ireland today.

I also got to meet Eddie Carson whom I had been following his blog for some time. Eddie ran the Boston Marathon this year in 3:10 and has made huge improvements in his running in the last few years. He and his wife picked me up at the airport and took me out for a beer and a bite to eat. We talked for over 2 hours. They were both very welcoming and went above and beyond to welcome me to Houston. Thanks again guys!

Shout outs!

2011-05-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to give a shout out to Clay Patten who finished his second LD50 last weekend. He is in great shape and had an awesome first 35 miles before having trouble with his asthma and hiking the last 15 finishing in 10:45 (he was on pace to run 9:45). It is hard to believe that it was a year ago when I ran my first ultra out there. My time last year (30th place) would have put me 38th place at this years race. It is becoming more and more competitive and I hope to do it again. Trail running is some of the best and most rewarding running out there, with beautiful views, challenging terrain, and a sense of accomplishment after every run. Keira Henninger put on a great race this year with 50mile, 50k, and 30k options.

The winner of this years race was 24 year old James Bonnett. Running Times did an article on him a few years back as an up and coming ultra runner who had run his first trail marathon at the age of 9 and was 23rd at Western States 100 at the age of 19!

I had a few friends run the OC half marathon last weekend too. Justin Patananan was 4th in 1:10:37 and Neil Small ran a huge PR finishing 11th in 1:15:33!

Here is a link to my finishing video and pictures. You can see how windy it was at the finish in the video.

OC Marathon Recap (3:44:34)

2011-05-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write this post last night but I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch watching the Payton Jordan Invitational live on flotrack. Here is the full recap of the OC Marathon. I decided to stick with the full marathon at Orange County only in the last week leading up to the race. Actually, more like the day before the race. This was my 9th marathon and 7th slowest in 3:44:34 (avg pace 8:34 pace), and it was also my longest marathon (more on that later).

The day before the race, Dale went down to pick up our race packets. He texted me while down there and said, "Lauren wants to drop to the half, what do you want to do?" I texted back, "What are you running?" thinking that I didn't want to be the only one running the full. He texted back, "do you want to drop down?" which didn't answer my question, and after thinking that Dale would not want to drop down in distance, I texted back, "NO." I finally called him back and he said that he actually switched both Lauren and himself to the half, but then had second thoughts as did Lauren, who texted him back saying, "keep me in the full." So we were all still registered for the full marathon. What did we ever do without cell phones?

So the plan soon became to run with Lauren and help her run a solid marathon, maybe even a Boston Qualifier. Little did I know that she had been having lots of trouble with her asthma earlier in the week.

To avoid the hotel costs I crashed at Dale's house and woke at 2:40am to leave for Newport Beach by 3am and arrive in time to make the bus to the starting line. We arrived in what we thought was plenty of time. The line for the bus was already quite long and continued to grow. We waited for over a half hour to get on a bus and then sat there for another 5 mintues or so. When we finally arrived at the starting area we got off the bus and heard the National Anthem playing, we ran over to a short port-a-potty line and started weaving our way up as close as we could to the starting line and made it about half way into coral A before the gun went off.

The three of us talked and enjoyed the beautiful weather and clear skies for the first hour of the race. We meet up with David Weary (who was running the half) about mile three and he joined "team Lauren" for the next 8 miles or so. We were cruising right along and hit the 10 mile mark in 1:23, then David broke off to finish the half. Dale playing tour guide along the way as he is from Orange County, and he told us that there were only 2 big hills on the course. Lauren and I started counting hills and we were up to 9 at mile 9! This is NOT a PR course in any way.

We hit the half split in 1:47:47 (8:14 pace) and I thought this might be Lauren's day. I started helping her refill her amphipod at aid stations while she ran ahead. I would catch back up to her and deliver her water. About mile 17 she started to get some cramping in her diaphram which set off her asthma and she had to stop. We got her going again but then she had to stop again. Even by mile 15.5 our average pace was down to (8:11). But after 3 stops we could tell it was going to be a tough finish for Lauren. Dale and I continued on and tried to pick up the pace a bit but he soon decided he had had enough and said, "see you at the finish line Karl." Not a mile or so later, the bear jumped on my back and I "hit the wall."

The last 5 miles were a struggle. I guess I anticipated that it would be tough but it was also reaching 80 degrees and by now the dry Santa Ana winds, that were a nice cooling breeze, were now blowing at 15mph and in my face the last 3 miles. I looked around at my fellow runners and as glad to see it wasn't just me struggling out there. There is a comradery among runners, something about struggling together that bonds us. I called it, "The Death March" for the last 4-5 miles. It was tough. Certainly my lack of fitness was showing. For a while I tought I could be close to 3:35 and then sub 3:40 but ended up 3:44 (avg pace 8:34). Chuck was waiting for me at the finish line. He ran 3:41. Dale came in at 3:51 and Lauren finished in 4:02, actually better than I thought she would do.

The reason I said it was my longest marathon ever is because after running back and forth at water stopps and running back to check on Lauren, I actually ran just over 27 miles on Sunday!

It is hard to imagine running almost 50 minutes faster right now (my PR is 2:57). But here is my calculation of how I got to this time. 2:57+10 minutes for each of the last 3 months due to lack of training+3% slowing for every 10 degrees over 50=3:47.

It was a blast running with Dale, Lauren, and David. We told stories, jokes, and kept each other going. I thought Lauren had it today but it did not happen. There's always next time Lauren!

Finally, this morning at work I was reading an article in Competitor Magainze about Rhabdomyolysis, and it said, "just because you've run a marathon in the past doesn't mean you should run 26 miles without an appropriate build up; doing so can put you at risk becuase your body has not been trained to handle the stress." So I guess this is one of those, "do as I say not as I do" moments. I never once felt that I was in any kind of medical danger, just some major chaffing issues that a little cortizone creme took care of.

Steady 8 miler

2011-04-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

The only calm morning this week and I got to enjoy it! It was beautiful out this morning and I got in a nice steady 8 mile run in 60:18 (7:32 pace). It is exactly 3.1 miles from my house to the end of Ave M at 75th West. Sounds like a good time trial run to me.

Found some great slow motion video of the men's and women's leaders at the Boston Marathon. I love watching people run in super slo mo!

Boston Marathon 2:03:02!

2011-04-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

Me at the finish line, Boston 2008

It was an incredible day in Boston. It must have been magical to be there.

Four men broke the previous course record, set last year.

Two men broke the world record by almost a minute, although because of Boston's loss of elevation and point to point nature the records will not be ratified.

Geoffrey Mutai won the race in 2:03:02!

Moses Mosop was second in 2:03:06 in his debut marathon!

Ryan Hall's time is the fastest American time ever, first American under 2:05, and broke the Boston course record, and he was FOURTH!

The 2010 Boston Marathon winner, Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot was less than a minute off his course record that he set last year. This year his 2:06:43 was only good enough for SIXTH PLACE!

17 of the past 20 Boston Marathons have been won by a Kenyan man. This dominance continued again this year with Geoffery Mutai.

8 of the past 12 Boston Marathons have been won by a Kenyan woman. This dominace also continued this year with Caroline Kilel in 2:22:36

Two women ran under 2:23 today and finished within 2 seconds of each other. In the last 4 years the women's race has been decided by 3 seconds or less!

The second place female was American Desiree Davila, who's time of 2:23:38 is the fastest ever for American females at Boston (previously held by Joan Benoit Samuelson).

Joan Benoit Samuelson, who had been dealing with back pain and thought about not even starting the race, ran 2:51 at the age of 54.

Kara Goucher ran a PR by over a minute with a time of 2:24:52 (a time that would have won Boston the previous 4 years) just 6 months after giving birth to her first son, and placed FIFTH!

Great video recap of the significance of this years Boston Marathon.

Watch more video of 2011 Boston Marathon on flotrack.org

House to House run

2011-04-18T21:53:00.001-07:00

We were in Las Vegas/Henderson, NV for the weekend. Saturday morning I am usually pretty tired and I sleep in a little. Sunday I got up early and went for a run. My good friend Ron recently bought a new house and I decided to run over there and meet him on his recovery run. He and his wife Julie had competed in the Rage Triathlon at Lake Mead the day before and both PR'd in their races! Congrats to you both. The city of Henderson has been working on a network of bike paths around town that are all interconnected. I took part of one trail over to Ron's house. It was exactly 4.5 miles from my mom's house to Ron's house. I arrived a little early so I ran through the neighborhood and found the entrance to the River Mountain Loop Trail. This bike path connects the eastern side of Henderson to Boulder City and Lake Mead. They are doing final construction that will make it a full 35 mile loop. I ran another 3 miles on the RMLT and then met Ron and his dog Sulley for a 3 mile trail run. Ron's house is in a great location for biking and running. There is no need to drive anywhere to get started. Total mileage for today was 10.

Coolest Gameshow Ever!

2011-04-14T23:24:00.001-07:00

Finally getting some national recognition

2011-04-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

An article from the most recent Running Times magazine by Sergio's coach, Joe Rubio. The entire article, on year round race-ready fitness is worth the read and makes a lot of sense if you are a high mileage runner who likes to step up and down in race distnaces. When I first met Sergio I thought he races a little too much, but after reading this I understand how he makes it work for him. It helps when you can go win a half marathon and have it just be a long marathon pace run.

Progression Cruise Intervals with Dale & Joel

2011-04-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hey I got out early again to get my run in today! I did an extended warm up of 4 miles then a mile on the track with Dale. Joel came out today as well and we decided on running mile repeats with short rest. We ran the first one easy in 6:53 and then decided that we didn't need a full lap recovery today so we just did a slow 200m jog. The next three miles were 6:48, 6:38, and 6:35. Joel and I ran together with Dale about 10 seconds behind. After 4 I asked Dale if he wanted to do one more. He agreed and I decided to pick up the pace. Joel hung on for 3 laps but faded on the last lap. I ran 6:07, Joel was 6:13 and Dale was 6:54. It was a nice crisp and calm morning for a track workout. My right leg is feeling better with each run. We'll see how sore it is tomorrow. Total mileage for today was 11!

Less than one week until the 2011 Boston Marathon. I am excited to watch and follow the race, especially the women's race. It is a stacked field. Reporters are saying that there are 15 women in the race who have a chance of winning. Three of the top 6 American female marathoners are running: Kara Goucher, Desiree Davilla, and Blake Russell. It was also just announced that Joan Benoit Samuelson will be running as well. Her 23 year old daughter qualified so she decided she would run too. There is speculation that she will try and run an Olympic Trials qualifying time (2:46) which she narrowly missed at Chicago (2:47:50). She says she would like to run under 2:50 for sure. I wonder if Boston is like the Masters golf tournament. After you win once are you are guarenteed entry for life?

8 mile Rancho Vista Loop

2011-04-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

The weather is back to gorgeous and I need to start taking advantage of it. I got out today for an hour run before church on my good ol' Rancho Vista loop. My entire right leg has been acting up. I feel totally out wack and out of balance. It doesn't affect my stride but it takes a few miles to loosen up and then is sore for a few days from the hip to the calf. I need to start practicing what I preach a little and get back on my hip and core program. It will do me some good. After I "loosened up" today I got into a nice groove. Here are the splits. 8:23, 7:39, 7:26, 7:27, 7:00, 7:08, 6:50, 6:39. Total miles=8 in 58:30 (7:20 avg pace). Ed Whitlock ran 3:25:40 at the age of 80 in Rotterdam today! Unbelievable! Dale you just have to maintain your fitness for 30 more years and you have a shot at breaking his record! Thought there might be a world record out there but the winner ONLY ran 2:05:27, almost a minute and a half off the WR. American Kelly Calway ran 2:44:47 at Rotterdam. She has a fun blog that I linked too on my training blog list to the right. She was 13th female and first female American.

Up coming local events for track fans

2011-04-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hey track fans! There is some exciting events coming up in the SoCal area that I wanted to bring your attention to. On Sunday April 10, Chris McDougall (author of Born to Run) is leading a barefoot/trail run in Griffith Park along with a book signing of Born to Run. The event starts at 1:00pm at A Runners Circle Running Store in L.A. Scott Jurek will be there too!

There are two track meets that would be worth watching this weekend too. The Arcadia Invitational starts tonight and will be live on runnerspace.com. This is always one of the best High School meets in the country, especially on the west coast. Last year the boys 2 mile had something like 16 kids go under 9 minutes! The other event started yesterday is the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Inviational at UCLA. There will be some top athletes there and JJK will be there too. Saturday at noon they scheduled a "walk with Jackie." I don't know what that means but it should be a good time. They are running the mile Saturday afternoon.

Next weekend there are two more track meets worth checking out. The Mt SAC Relays will also have some of the top runners in the country and a few Olympians I'm sure. That is April 14 and 15. UCLA is also hosting a dual meet with Oregon at Drake Stadium in L.A. on April 17th which sounds really exciting. Running events start at 1:00pm and should conclude by 3:00pm. Here is the schedule.

Finally, the USC and UCLA dual meet is at USC on May 1st. This is always a fun meet as there is an intense rivalry between the two schools. The Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford is the same day and always attracts some of the best runners in the country. Flotrack should have it streamed live.

Oh, and of course the London Marathon and Boston Marathon are on April 17th and 18th respectively and both should be great to watch with top Americans in both races.

9 miles with company

2011-04-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

I did it! I finally got up early enough to get in a run! I got up at 5:00 and left the house about 15 minutes later. I headed west on M-8 and ran into Sergio Reyes (see previous post) going the other direction. I turned around and joined him for about the next three miles until we got to Joe Walker. There I met Dale who wanted to do some cruise intervals on the track. Last time we ran miles at around 6:40 pace with 200m recovery. Dale is still recovering from the LA Marathon and dealing with some other issues and he couldn't quite hit those times today. My first mile was about 6:45 and he was behind me. I told him we should do a full lap recovery instead of just 200m and I ran the next one in 6:38, but Dale was closer to 7:00. Then we decided to cut everything in half and run 800s with 200m recovery. I ran 3:13 and 3:09 and Dale was getting progressively slower so we called it for the day and did a cool down. I am crediting myself with 9 miles for the day.

Can Ed Whitlock, now at the age of 80, break the 80+ AG record for the marathon (record is 3:39:18)? We'll find out this weekend at Rotterdam! He felt he could have run 3:20 but came down with a cold. I guess he ran a 1:34 half marathon last fall!

Another good form drills video

Runner's World May 2011

2011-04-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

I received my newest issue of Runner's World Magazine tonight and was excited to find this on page 40.

Shoe donation

2011-04-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

I recently went through my closet and got all the old pairs of running shoes out. I wanted to find a good organization to send them to. There are quite a few groups that collect shoes and take them to people around the world that can use them, not necessarily for running, but for protection and hygenie as well. One of the main ones is Soles 4 Souls which states that they would take new or "gently used" shoes. I think most of my shoes were more than just "gently used" so I continued to research. I found another site by Nike Reuse a Shoe that recycles used running shoes. They take them apart and grind them down, then use the material to make athletic fields including tracks. I decided that this is the way I would go, so I boxed them up. I went down to the post office and asked them what the cheapest price to ship the box would be. It ened up being around 18 dollars, so I decided to hold onto them. I figured Nike was going to make money on my old shoes anyway, and didn't like that idea either. Then a friend of ours told us that Sport Chalet was collecting used shoes for Soles 4 Souls to send over to Japan and give to the victims of the tsunami. Andi and I both boxed up a bunch of used shoes and took them over on Saturday. They are taking donations until April 10th so if you have old shoes you would like to donate some where, and have a Sport Chalet nearby, it is a great and easy way to help out some people that realy need it.

Andi made a good point. She said, "Karl, how many Japanese people will be able to fit in your size 13 shoes?" A few I hope.

Back at it...10 miler

2011-03-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

I took a two week break, not something I would recommend when you are signed up for a marathon in 6 weeks. I have been struggling with motivation. It is a tough time of year to run early in the morning, and I have NEVER been a morning person. My time to run is any time before 7:00am and it is just plain tough for me to get up before 6! I suppose I could run at night but I am just darn tired after work and getting the kids to bed. I had a bad head cold for about 4 or 5 days, and after that the weather turned ugly with high winds, colder temps, and rain over the past week. I just can't force myself to roll out of bed, get dressed and then get blasted by 30 mph cold wind.

Well, I left the house today at 5:45am. I ran my Rancho Vista loop but added two laps around Marie Kerr Park to make it an even 10 miler. Total time was 74:14 (just under 7:30 pace). I was just under 8:00 pace after 5, so my last 5 were just under 7:00 pace. The wind was not bad and as I came back on Rancho Vista there was a slight mist in the air. It felt harder than it should have but what can I expect after two weeks off.

Race Results

2011-03-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

Andi and I after the 2005 LA Marathon. We ran 3:38:42!

There was a lot of great performances this weekend all over the world. Everyone who completed the LA Marathon on Sunday put up with some crazy conditions to get their finishers medal. Some of the times out there were incredible based on the wind and rain that they had to deal with.

9:48:42 Kelly Gneiting broke the Guinness World Record for "Heaviest Person to Complete a Marathon" by crossing the finish at the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.

5:17:04 Fran Cowart finished her first marathon at Los Angeles. Way to go Fran! See Clay's blog for details.

3:43:53 Chuck Fieland continued his streat of LA Marathons. He has run many different courses in many different conditions.

3:24:23 Dale Lister some how dealt with the conditions better than most and ran a BQ minus 10 minutes to almost certainly secure his spot at the Boston Marathon in 2012.

2:36:14 The McRunner, a man who ate all 3 meals at McDonalds for the past month and raised $27,000 dollars for Ronald McDonald House, also ran a PR at L.A. During this time his cholesterol and body fat dropped! He was also running 100+ miles per week.

2:27:03 Amy Hastings of Mammonth, CA was 3rd at L.A. and ran the 3rd fastest debut marathon for a US female ever! This made her 3rd fastest on the trials qualifiers list and 8th fastest American female of all time! I heard that 6 of the top 8 US females EVER are expected to run at the US trials in January. EXCITING!

2:06:35 Markos Geneti won the L.A. Marathon with a course record and the second fastest debut marathon EVER! How he did that in those conditions is beyond me. There is something to be said for being a first timer in the marathon. It either humbles you, or you are so naive (because you don't know what it will feel like late in the race) that you can go out hard and don't look back. I know I exceeded my expectations when I ran my first L.A. marathon in 2004 in 80 degree weather, in 3:15:12.

Also this weekend, Galen Rupp was 3rd at the NYC half marathon in a world class field with a time of 1:00:30, and he fell at one point in the race! This was ALSO his first time at the distance. Again, I think ignorance is bliss. Salazars group did great with Mo Farah winning the men's race and Kara Goucher 3rd in the women's race. Alberto Salazar coaches all three athletes.

Shalane Flanagan was 3rd at World Cross Country and lead the US Women's team to a bronze medal. This was the first medal by an American woman since Deena Kastor in 2003.

Finally, there was a World Record in the marathon last week! Michael Wardian broke the World Record for a marathon dressed as a super hero when he ran the Lower Potomac Marathon dressed as Spiderman in 2:34:56!

Non-training

2011-03-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

I didn't run on Tuesday or Wednesday run while I took my family to Disneyland for my son Matthew's 5th birthday (which also happens to be Andi and my 8th Anniversary). We had a BLAST as it was the boys first trip to Disneyland. Matt's favorite rides were the Buzz Lightyear ride and Pirates of the Caribbean.

I can home with a head cold and congestion that gives me a constant headache, coughing, and sneezing. I had some back pain from my trip to MN which was almost gone but the coughing and sneezing exacerbated that a little.

Needless to say I have not run this week and probably won't run much this weekend as the weather is calling for wind and rain and I want to get rid of this cold.

The Orange County Marathon is 6 weeks away and I am now seriously considering dropping down to the half marathon.

The Los Angeles Marathon is this Sunday so a BIG SHOUT OUT goes to Fran, Dale, and Chuck who will be out there pounding the LA pavement! This video is for you guys!

10 mile easy run

2011-03-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

I didn't get up as early as planned so only had time for 10 today. My legs were tired from yesterday so the pace was slow. I was dragging myself up to the aqueduct, then east for 3, and turn around back home. Total mileage was 10, pace was just over 8:30 pace avg.

On the weekend I prefer to get the hard workout in on Saturday and go long on Sunday. Since the long run is typically at an easy pace anyway I might as well already be a little tired. And it usually means I will have a better workout on Saturday. It is tough for me to run fast the day after a "long run," usually meaning over 12 miles.

The big story today was that Lukas Verzbicas broke his own National HS indoor 5k record running 14:06 all by himself, well he was lapping everyone which gave him someone to chase. What makes this even more impressive is that he did it after winning the two mile in 8:40 (second fastest all time) and the mile in 4:10, and he did it all this weekend at the New Balance Indoor HS Nationals! Check out the 5k video here. He is SO SMOOTH! One more minute and he will be world class.

Oh, and if you didn't see NCAA indoor championships, Jordan Hasay was a double champion in the mile and 3k. The mile was good but this 3k finish was AWESOME. Check it out here.

Nutty Runners 5k (18:48)

2011-03-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

Karl, Neil (2011 Nutty Runner Champion), and Clay

Clay and I reprised our roll as the "Nutty Runner Peanuts" at the second annual Nutty Runners 5k. The race director is a close friend of ours, Dale Lister. Last year the weather was aweful, cold and windy. I am talking 30+ mph winds, and the peanut costume acted like a huge parachute making the second half of the race tough. I won the race last year with a time of 19:12. I was in great shape from training for LD50 and Charlottesville 10 miler. This year the weather was almost perfect. The temp was in the high 50s/low 60s and almost completely calm. Dale had over 200 pre-register this year! I think another 40 or 50 walk ups the day of! It was a great turnout. I finished in 3rd pace with a time of 18:48, 24 seconds faster than last year and less fit (that tells you how bad the winds were last year).

The race started off as usual, with the junior high age kids taking off as if they were running a 400m race. I think kids have two speeds at that age, on and off. Pacing is a tough thing to learn and it takes years of practice. I started out what I thought was conservative, letting all the kids go. I watched as Neil Small (the eventual winner today) quickly picked off all the kids and then took off on this own. He distanced himself from us within a half mile. There were two other "grown ups" ahead of me at the mile mark that I hit in 5:58. I made the turn around in 4th place and almost got run over by a group of horses! They were preparing for the upcoming parade. At about 1.5 miles I caught Justin Gillen and passed him. I was sure he would go with me but I think I gapped him a little as we continued back to the track for the 1.5 lap finish. My second mile was 6:02 and I was starting to "feel the burn" or "tie up" a little, what ever you want to call it. I was struggling to maintain pace. I peeked behind me as I turned onto the track and noticed Justin a few strides behind me. The way I felt I was sure he would catch me. I had a last surge with 200m to go and held him off for 3rd place in 18:48. My third mile was faster than I thought it would be, 6:13. Neil won and broke 17 minutes (16:53!), Clay ran 22 minutes even and was 5th in his age group! I think the 50-54 age group was one of the most competitive with 5 guys 22min or better, since David, Chuck, Clay and a few others were all there. The 30-34 age group had 4 guys under 20 minutes! Those two age groups had 10 of the top 20 runners above the age of 20!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the "peanut" guys and we took pictures with quite a few people after the race. Thanks to Dale for putting on a great event. The turnout was excellent, the Friday packet pick up was key, and the race went on without a hitch today. Nice work Dale! Can't wait for next year.

I was suprised by my performance today. My training has been sub par lately but today showed I still have some speed. I just need some good long runs before Orange County and I think a BQ should still be realistic.

The USATF 15k championships was today as it was last year, again at the Great River Run in Jacksonville, FL. Sergio was 18th with a time of 44:42. In 2010 he was 19th in 44:54. Justin Patananan was 53rd with a time of 48:35.

Shortest Post Ever

2011-03-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

I ran 6 miles this morning. Didn't run with a watch. Felt ok about it. Still need to get up earlier. The weather is getting warmer.

8 weeks until Orange County Marathon. What kind of shape can I get into in 8 weeks?

BIG SHOUT OUT TO DALE! He broke 20 minutes in the 5k for the first time this weekend, on his birthday! Way to go Dale.

8 mile run on the parkway

2011-03-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Updated!

It has been a busy week and I had an hour to run today so I took it. I always try to get a few runs on "the parkway" (see pictures above) while visiting my dad in Minnesota. "The parkway" is a series of bike paths called The Grand Rounds that circles the Minneapolis area. There is close to 50 miles of bike/running paths around the city, it is great. Part of this path runs right in front of my Dad's house. See what it looks like in the summer here and the fall here. I like running south toward the Chain of Lakes area of Minneapolis. The Twin Cities Marathon uses some of these trails as part of the first half of their course.

The temp was probably in the 20s when I left but the wind was fairly calm and the sky was cloudy. I ran out for a half hour, turned around, and came back, adding an extra mile at the end. I am crediting myself with 8 miles for the day.

I left about 30 minutes after a big lunch, which wouldn't be my first choice, but it was my only opportunity today so I took it. I am getting better at running on a full stomach. It used to be a difficult thing to do. When you eat a meal blood goes to your stomach to help digest the food. Then when you start running blood is shunted away from your stomach to the muscles of your legs, slowing digestion. That is why you might feel the food still sloshing around in your gut. If you run after a big meal I recommend keeping the pace easy to avoid cramping and nausea. I picked up the pace a little at the end as it did not seem to be bothering my stomach.

I am sore (but not where you'd expect)

2011-02-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

I woke up today and took inventory. I stood up and my legs felt suprisingly good. I walked up and down the stairs at my dad's house with no problem. With no stair training for this event yesterday, not even once on a stair master, I figured I would be sore for a few days in my quads and glutes, but no problem. Later this morning I realized, "my left shoulder is killing me, why is my left shoulder so sore?" Then I thought about the stair climb. My left arm was my inside hand the entire time as we ascended the stair-well counter-clockwise for an hour. I occasionally used both hands, but almost always grabbed and pulled with my left arm. I also used the left to quickly swing 180 degrees around each landing area (2x per floor). Funny that after 5400 steps it is my left shoulder that got the most cranky.

We watched the Academy Awards tonight and, after the song commemorating all the people in the film industry that have passed away this year, they finished with a quote from Lena Horne,
"It's not the load that breaks you down, its the way you carry it."

It made me think of how my left arm carried more of the load than it was ready too yesterday. It made me think of how, as a physical therapist, I teach people how to carry loads so that they don't break down. It reminded me that your posture and how you carry yourself when running can cause your body to break down. And it made me think of people like Lena Horne that have over come obstacles because of the way they carried themselves and responded to criticism.

What a great quote.

Fight for Air Climb Ultimate Climber Challenge Minneapolis, MN

2011-02-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Ultimate Climber Challenge was this morning in Minnepolis, MN. My dad and I arrived at the Accenture Tower at 6:10am as they were opening the doors. I checked in, got my bib number and timing chip, and a nice tech t-shirt. Then we decided to check out the course. The stair well starts on the bottom floor and goes straight up to the 30th floor. The first floor was wide but after that it narrowed and you could reach the handrails on both sides to help pull yourself up. Once at the top, I would be taking the elevator down but these elevators stopped on the second floor. From there you ran to an escalator nearby and took that down to the first floor where you made a 180 degree turn and entered the stair well agin. It was chip timed from the entrance to the stair well to the exit on the 30th floor.
My dad was talking with one of the event organizers Bob Moffitt, and told him that I was from California. Bob said, "I have been reading his blog, we couldn't believe someone was coming out from California for our event." I guess Bob printed my blog out for other organizers to read. It was great to know that others are finding and reading my blog.

I had never done a stair climb before so I did not know what to expect. I had no plan for how to climb. Skip steps or take each one at a time? Run or power hike? I figured the first climb would be my learning curve and I would figure out the most efficient way to make it to the top.

The Ultimate Climber Challenge started at 7:00am and they let one person start every 5 to 10 seconds. We were started in order by bib number but the bib numbers seem to be assigned in alphabetical order so I got number 41. There seemed to be around 50+ participants in the Challenge. That meant I started when the clock said 1 minutes 50 seconds. I started passing people right away. Everyone was very courteous about moving to the outside of the stair well so that I could swing around the handrail and pass on the inside. After 5 floors I realized that running up was not going to be efficient for an hour of climbing and switched to a power hike, skipping a step each time. I finished the first climb to the 30th floor in 4:48! I had no idea how long it would take me but that way over exceeded my estimations.

The next lap I got behind another climber that looked like he knew what he was doing. I stuck right behind him and was right on his heels. We bumped hands a few times on the turns and by the time I reaized that I should have passed him, we were at the top, this time in 6:00.

It took a little over a minute to get into an elevator, take it down, then run down the escalator and over to the stair well again each time. I snuck ahead of the group out the elevator and ran over to the stair well to start my third climb. Before I entered my dad said, "There are only 3 or 4 people ahead of you." That meant I had already passed the 30+ people who started ahead of me at the start. I continued skipping stairs with each step and using the handrails for leverage.

There were volunteers at different levels of the building at the door to the stairwell with music, noisemakers, and water cheering us on. The support was great! The floors are marked at each level, which I'm sure is due to fire code but it really helped to know what level I as on and how far I had to go.

It was on the 5th climb up that I was lapped by the leader. That guy was really moving! He was using his arms to pull up almost as much as he was using his legs and he seemed to sort of bound up each level.

I finished the 8th climb in around 55 minutes of total time. They were going to stop us at an hour and many of the other climbers were stopping at that time because they knew the would not be able to complete another climb in the alloted time. Another climber and I took the elevator down for one more try. Each climb was getting a little harder, but I seemed to be keeping a fairly steady pace. I had no idea what my splits were until afterward. I was getting a little light headed and nauseous by now. I hit one hour on my watch on the 25th floor and finished the 9th climb in 1:01:30 (on my watch) but they recorded my 9th climb.

My splits for each climb were 4:48, 6:00, 5:15, 5:23, 5:23, 5:31, 5:37, 5:31, 5:18. Total climbing time was 270 floors in about 48minutes 46 seconds. There were 3 guys that made it to the top 10 times. I was the only person to make it 9 times which put me in 4th place overall.

Thanks to the event organizer Todd Larkin for putting on a great event. They had a nice post race gathering on the 18th floor with good food, water, and music. Maybe next year I will be able to Scale the Strat in Las Vegas. I feel pretty good right now, very minimal soreness. Not bad at all. I will probably be a little more sore in the morning.

Thanks to all who sponsored me for this event. I raised $490 for the American Lung Association.

Denver International Airport

2011-02-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

We had a layover in Devner on our way to Minnesota today. The boys needed to "get some wiggles out" so I took them for a walk around the terminal. We were going to ride the "moving sidewalk." As we were walking I saw a man that I recognized. It was multiple Olympic gold medalist and 400m record world record holder Michael Johnson. I told the boys, "we have to go back and get the camera." The boys meanwhile just want to get to the moving walkway. We returned and I introduced myself to Mr. Johnson and asked if he didn't mind taking a picture with me and my boys. He obliged and I asked the gentleman who he was talking to if he would take the picture. When he turned around I realized it was Brian Clay, Olympic gold medalist in the Decathalon in Beijing! I was so suprised I didn't know what to say except ask to have my picture taken with him as well! So Brian Clay took the picture of us with Micheal Johson, and Michael Johnson took the picture of us with Brian Clay. Here are the pictures.

Andi says I should work for the FBI with my abilities to recognize people, especially celebrities and athletes, in their street clothes.

An extra tid bit on Brian Clay that I just read online. Before the Beijing Olympics Brian completed the SPARQ test which objectively measures athleticism in certain sports. He scored a 130.4 on the football test which was the highest score ever recorded. To put that score into perspecitve, Reggie Bush (NFL Running Back) scored a 93.38!

6 mile morning run from Coach Karl

2011-02-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

I got in an easy 6 this morning, and I am talking EASY. No watch just up to 70th and back and around the neighborhood. It is in the low 30s in the morning and I am ready for some warmer temperatures.

The big news is that I passed the USATF Level 1 Coaching Exam with a 94%. I guess they send me some sort of certificate, and when I get my website up and running I will be offering coaching services and training plans for HS track/cross country runners to ultramarathoners to first time runners. I am hoping to have it up in the next 2 months.

My Ultimate Climber Challenge in Minneapolis, MN is this Saturday. Thanks to all who sponsored me with a pledge to the American Lung Association. If you haven't and would still like to, here is the link to my pledge page.

Check back on Saturday afternoon for a full recap and pictures. See how many times I can scale a 30 story building in an hour.
The winner of the Empire State Building Run-up completed 86 floors in 10 minutes 10 seconds. I figure I should be able to do a third of that in the same time (30 floors in 10 minutes) right? I really have no idea. I know I will get slower but I do have rest time down the elevator. 30 floors in 10 minutes would be 3 floors per minute. That doesn't seem too fast to me. They state in the instructions that the average climb takes 15 minutes. Place your bets in the comment section. How many times will Karl scale the Accenture Tower (30 floors) in one hour? Also, how fast will Karl be on his first climb to the top?

12 miles with Clay (1:29:54)

2011-02-21T00:08:00.000-08:00

I didn't run on Saturday. It was cold, windy, and raining. Call me a wimp, it just didn't look like fun to run. Thought about the treadmill but never got around to it.

Sunday morning I met Clay at the aqueduct at 6:30am. It was in the low 30s/high 20s and breezy up there. I didn't even get out of my car. I just rolled down my window and said, "Lets drive back to your house." So we did, and ran 3x3 mile loops around his neighborhood. It was nice to get frequent breaks from the breeze/wind as we zig zagged through. We threw in a few faster miles around 6:45 but mostly cuised at 7:45 pace. Clay finished at 9 miles and I continued for 3 more around Lane Park for a change of scenery.

Total mileage for today was 12 in just under an hour and a half or 7:30 pace avg.

Track news:
I forgot to post last week that Bernard Lagat broke the US indoor 2 mile record running negative splits and finishing in 8:10. He now owns US records for indoor 1500m, mile, 3k, 2 mile, and 5k. He also has US records for outdoor 1500m, 3k, and 5k!
In the same race Lukas Verzbicas just missed the HS indoor 2 mile mark by 3 seconds running 8:43!
Update: Galen Rupp broke Bernard Lagat's indoor 5k US record this weekend running 13:11.44!

Kenyan, Mary Keitany broke the women's half marathon world record by 35 seconds running 1:05:50! That has a 2:18 equivalent marathon effort! She also broke the 20k world record en route! Mary is running the London Marathon in April so watch out!

Finally, the high school shot put record went down this weekend at the Simplot Games in Idaho. Ryan Crouser broke the record with a throw of 77ft 2.75in. See the throw here. His story is he won the high school state championship as a freshman, then broke his foot and required surgery last year. He did a lot of upper body strength training and conditioning during his recovery. This year is his return to throwing and he PR'd by 3 ft to break the record.

Boston Marathon Entry Changes

2011-02-17T08:18:00.000-08:00

This has been all the talk in the last 24 hours so I figured I better comment on it. The Boston Marathon has officially made changes to its registration process over the next two years to avoid another situation like this year. What happened this year? Well it sold out in less than 24 hours! Doesn't sound like a big problem to me, especially if I was a race director. The problem lies in the race itself. They are limited in size. If you have ever been to Hopkinton, MA you would know that it is a small town with small streets and limited facilities. 25,000 runners is already pushing the limit of this small town. They can't expand the field size any more but the number of qualified entrants continues to grow. Some runners qualify every year, and return to Boston every year becuase it really is that AWESOME a race. New York has a similar problem, over 100,000 register (even at nearly 200 bucks a pop) for the 40,000 spots. Although NY has automatic qualifying standards (tighter than Boston) they rely heavily on their lottery system. I don't think Boston wanted to go that route at all. Can you imagine, "Qualify for Boston, then well put your name in a hat and you MIGHT get in."

I discussed the qualifying standards last May in a blog post here and got a good response. I suggested cutting the qualifying times by almost 10 minutes per age group, which was probably too much to still fill their 25,000 entrants. I could see the registration filling quicker every year and knew there would be issues, not just at Boston but at other Marathons too like Twin Cities. Shoot, you even have to get in a lottery to run 100 miles at Western States. This sport is growing so quiclky. It is awesome to be a part of.

So the B.A.A. made some changes yesterday, and some have called them "aggressive." I would call them "covering all their bases." They don't want to have to do this again.

Here is the plan:
The field for Boston 2011 is already set. Too late to run this year anyway.

The registration for Boston 2012 will open this September 2011 and will be a two week rolling admission where, based on your qualifying time, you will be able to register earlier than others.

September 12, 2011 20 min., 00sec. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender)
September 14, 2011 10 min., 00 sec. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender)
September 16, 2011 5 min., 00 sec. or more below their qualifying time (based on age/gender)
Second Week
September 19, 2011 All Qualified Runners
September 23, 2011 Registration closes for qualified applicants
September 28, 2011 (appx) Qualifiers from entry during second week of registration are notified of their acceptance.

My opinion is that the Boston Marathon is supposed to be the most elite field in the World (Besides the Olympics) so why not give faster runners presidence. This means that if it fills up before they get to the ones who squeeked in, then "sorry, requalify with a faster time for next year."

The next change won't happen until the 2013 race. Actually the changes will be important for 2011 and 2012. Registration will happen in September 2012 for the 2013 race and runners will have a year before that to get their qualifying time. So you must run a qualifying time between Sept. 2011 and Sept. 2012 for Boston 2013. This is not much different than before. What will be different for 2013 is the qualifying times. They have subtracted 5 minutes from every age group and eliminated the 59 second "grace time" from the standards. If you run 3:05:01 then you are OUT!
Here are the new standards for 2013 for Men and then Women.
18-34 3hrs 05min 00sec 3hrs 35min 00sec
35-39 3hrs 10min 00sec 3hrs 40min 00sec
40-44 3hrs 15min 00sec 3hrs 45min 00sec
45-49 3hrs 25min 00sec 3hrs 55min 00sec
50-54 3hrs 30min 00sec 4hrs 00min 00sec
55-59 3hrs 40min 00sec 4hrs 10min 00sec
60-64 3hrs 55min 00sec 4hrs 25min 00sec
65-69 4hrs 10min 00sec 4hrs 40min 00sec
70-74 4hrs 25min 00sec 4hrs 55min 00sec
75-79 4hrs 40min 00sec 5hrs 10min 00sec
80 and over 4hrs 55min 00sec 5hrs 25min 00sec
*Unlike previous years, an additional 59 seconds will NOT be accepted for each age group time standard.

Also if you have run the past 10 consecutive Boston Marathons and requalified you will be able to register with the first wave.

Here is the official B.A.A. statement on the new procedures.

I think these are all good changes. They have attacked the problem form all sides. They changed the registration process, they changed the qualifying times, they even increased the entry fee which is not official yet but will be between 5 and 20 dollars more. It currently costs 130 dollars to run the Boston Marathon.

Maybe if I was a 3:10 guy I would be upset, I don't know, but I also think, like I said in my blog post in May, that runners will rise to the challenge. Currently everyone (Males 18-34) trains to run 3:10. Now they will all have to train to run under 3:05. It may take them another few years but they will make it. Runners are up for the challenge I know it. It is just a new barrier to break. Just like World Records, they are made to be broken. People train to break the world record in any event and that is why people keep getting faster and faster. Why set a limit on yourself. Keep training, be consistent, and times will continue to drop. Now there is even more incentive to train harder and run faster. Don't just squeek under the qualifying mark, try and beat it by as much as possible and you will get priority registration! Good luck to all hoping to qualify for 2013!

Dale's Cruise Intervals & "What's a LOADING RATE?"

2011-02-15T22:36:00.000-08:00

I had been discussing some threshold paced workouts with Dale via his blog since Surf City. My thought was that he could use more threshold pace runs. He contacted me to meet on Tuesday morning, and he let me choose the workout! Bad idea Dale! I decided we would do a total volume of 4 miles at his T-pace which is 6:40 pace (based on his 68:14 10m PR). I let him choose between 4x1600m or 8x800m. The key to the workout is the short recovery 90 sec between 1600m or 45 sec between 800m. He chose the 1600s and we took off. The difficulty in this workout doesn't come until the last few sets, unless you run the first few too fast. We finished the first one in 6:50, jogged for 200m and then hit the next 2 in 6:38. You have just barely enough time to catch your breath and feel slightly ready before it is time to hit another one. The last set was getting tough so we split it into two 800s, but also cut the rest in half so we only took 45 seconds or 100m between and ran them each in 3:20. Dale nailed the workout! I would challenge Dale to progress these workouts by adding volume first (5x1600m or 10x800m and so on), then extending the length to 3x2mile with 3 min recovery jog. Once those workouts are completed then go back and try the workouts again at the same speeds but even less rest (30sec/800m and 60sec/1600m). Eventually running a 4-5 mile threshold run at 6:40 pace.

Afterward, Dale and I discussed running form a little bit as I have been jazzed about this recent blog post by Jay Dicharry, P.T. from the University of Virginia's SPEED Performance Clinic on optimal form to minimize loading rates. I got to meet Mr. Dicharry at the UVA running clinic I attended last April. He discussed some of this topic then and really summed it up well in his last two blog posts. They are both worth a read and reread.
Here is Part 1 and Part 2.

There is so much talk about heel striking vs midfoot striking vs forefoot striking when it comes to form. The conclusion most people make is that heel striking is BAD! They blame the running shoes for causing all the form changes and allowing a more comfortable heel strike and give runners something else to blame their injuries on. They may be partially correct, but what Mr. Dicharry has found in his lab is that foot contact style is not as important as contact position relative to center of mass when minimizing loading rates. This means that heel striking can be ok as long as the ground contact position is almost directly under the runner's center of mass (or almost directly under the hip). Loading rates are how quickly the body (bone, tendon, muscle) has to absorb the ground reaction forces with each step. The higher the loading rate the more force the body has to absorb in a short amount of time, thus increasing the likelihood of injury. The problem many runners have is over striding not heel striking (although many heel strikers are also over striders).

Mr. Dicharry used some great pictures on his post from subjects in his lab, but he also used a picture of Scott Jurek that I have seen and contemplated before. Here it is.

Look at the difference in foot position on the forward leg of Scott Jurek and the Tarahumaran runner. They are completely opposite. Scott has his toes pointed up (ready to heel strike) and the other has his toes pointed down (ready to forefoot strike). Both of these runners are very efficient but have completely different forms. The thing they both have in common is that when their lead leg hits the ground it will be almost right under the hip (under their center of mass) thus minimizing loading rates. Interestingly, Scott (a heel striker) is wearing running shoes and the Tarahumaran runner is wearing sandals...hmmmmm.

Optimal stride frequency has been found to be between 180 and 190 strides per minute. If you count your steps for 10 seconds and multiply by 6 you will have your stride frequency. If it is under 170 you may be over striding. This RunnersWorld.com article summed it up well.

There are some easy form drills and cues to help you increase your stride frequency and shorten stride length. Actual research has been done that shows decreased loading rates after runners modified their stride based on the cue, "run soft." That's it just "run soft." He also discusses the importance of lumbar posture when running and how an anterior tilt, or too much curve in the low back, can shift your center of mass back, thus causing a relative overstride. This is a sign of a weak core and can be remedied with core training and again form drills.

Take home points:
1. Increase your stride frequency to at least 180 strides/min without increasing your speed. Try it on an easy run day and play with it a little.
2. Barefoot running drills are a good way to work on form since it discourages over striding. I suggest 50-100m strides on grass to start.
3. "Run soft," I don't want to hear you coming up behind me on the roads, ok!
4. Just like the word "pronation," "heel striking" is not necessarily a BAD WORD.

Leona Valley Trail Races! October 8th

2011-02-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

The Leona Valley Trail Races website is up and running with registration open. Check it out!

If you scroll down a little you might see a familiar face! I sent Keira a bunch of photos to use from Clay and my LD50 training and she used one on the home page.

She also used my maps and elevation charts on the website. It is going to be a great event with something for everyone. 5k to marathon distances. Here is my rundown of each event.

5k: The course is an out and back on the fire road starting from the Lake Hughes Community Center. All the races have the same starting line. The turn around point at 1.55 miles is at a sharp turn in the road creating an awesome "lookout" point, where you can see down the canyons toward Santa Clarita. This first 1.55 miles is the steepest portion of the road up to the PCT which makes for a challenging initial climb and a fast return back to the finish. It would be a great intro to trail running as the road is wider than the PCT but far from even footing surfaces.

10k: The benefit of running this course is that you actually get to make it to the top of the fire road, 3.4 mile climb, to a full aid station. This is also the intersection of the PCT and more gorgeous views of the canyons. There is about 800ft of elevation change in the first 3 miles which makes for a challenging climb and again a quick decent on the out and back course. Because it is 3.4 miles to the aid station, the 10k is actually 6.8 miles instead of the normal 6.2 miles, but who's counting?

Half Marathon: The first 3.4 miles of the half marathon is the same as the 10k but then the runners get to turn right on the PCT (Pacific Crest trail, which runs from Mexico to Canada). On the trail you follow the switchbacks down a thousand feet over 3.3 miles, to Lake Hughes Rd. where there will be another full aid station. This is the turnaround point. The course then follows the switchbacks up the same route and then back down the fire road to the finish. This is a very challenging course with over 2000ft of ascent and descent over the half marathon. The total distance on the course is 13.4 miles.

Marathon: If you want to maximize your time on the PCT then the marathon is the way to go. Once at aid station #1 runners will make a left turn and run toward grass mountain where there is another intersection with the PCT. Runners will follow the PCT for 2 miles back to the first aid station and then down the switchbacks to Lake Hughes Rd. There the course crosses the road and acends 1500ft over the next 4 miles to the turn around. This is a "gnarly climb." which runners immediatlely descend on. The last 6.7 miles is the same as the half marathon finish. Cross Lake Hughes Rd., up the switchbacks and down the fireroad to the finish. This marathon course is very challenging due to the amount of elevation change in the second half of the race. The marathon course is 26.6 miles.

FYI: Awesome Valentine's Day post by Mark Remy!

12 miles with Clay (1:28:39)

2011-02-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

Clay told me on Friday he was going to run 12 on the aqueduct on Saturday morning. His plan was 3 warm up, then alternating a sub 7min mile with a "recovery mile" for the next 9 miles. This way he would run a total of 5 miles at a sub 7 minute pace (around his 10k pace).

I met him at 7am and we headed east. The weather was AWESOME, cool and calm. We set a good pace right away and ran the first 3 mines in just under 24 minutes (8:08, 7:52, 7:46). Then we started alternating miles 6:55, 7:53, 6:54, then his son Zac jointed us for the next 6 miles 7:43, 6:48, 8:23, 6:40, 7:54, 5:32. On the last mile Clay said, "give me a minute head start." I negotiated to 45 seconds but right before we started I changed my mind and only gave him 30 seconds. My thinking was that he would run around 6:30 and I would be close to 6:00. Zac and I ran the first quarter mile in 85 seconds and we still had some ground to make up so we picked up the pace a little and I caught Clay with a quarter mile to go. I never thought I could have run 5:32! He was right, if I had given him a minute we would have finished very close...actually I think he would have held me off. I was feeling the burn the entire last quarter mile. I don't think I have run a mile under six minutes since the Newhall ID 5k last July. I was suprised. And to do it after 11 miles, even better.

8 mile easy run, a rough morning for all...but one

2011-02-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

I got in 8 easy miles this morning. I was able to pick up the pace a little bit half way but the first 4 were SLOW recovery miles. The run was my Rancho Vista Loop in just under 66 minutes.

The big news was Surf City Marathon this morning, and I eagerly awaited the news of my running friends results. As the news came in I realized it was a rough day out there. The conditions were nearly perfect (cool and foggy) but it just wasn't the right day I guess. It started with 3 DNS (Did not start).
Me you know.
Ron with a calf strain.
Zac with IT Band Friction Syndrome.

The rest were able to at least start the race.
Clay realized early on that it wasn't a good day. He was ill yesterday and dealt with early fatigue and cramping causing him to drop out.
Chuck and Lauren finished but about 10 minutes slower than planned (3:55) with Lauren struggling in the second half. It was still a PR for Lauren on her second marathon attempt.
Dale also struggled to maintain goal pace and came in about 10 minutes slower than he had hoped but still grabbed a BQ (Boston Qualifier) 3:27.
The bright star for the day was David who ran a 10 minute PR and BQ finishing in 3:35. This was also 10 minutes faster than his time at CIM 2 months ago! Congratulations David!

Hearing all these stories reminds me how tough the marathon can be even when well prepared. It also makes me appreciate the two sub 3 hour marathons that I have been able to run. Those two days were truly "stars aligned days." That's not to say that they were easy, but for some reason on that day I was able to push through the soreness and fatigue and finish strong, or strong enough.

Clay is a sub 3:30 marathoner, he just hasn't had "the right stuff" on race day. He could go out there in two weeks and run close to that on the aqueduct. I truly believe that.

Dale was in shape to run 3:15, he has put in the work, and has half marathon times to predict it, but today was not the day for one reason or another.

Ron set himself up with his training for a better marathon time on his second attempt at the distance but couldn't make it to the starting line healthy.

Lauren is Boston qualifier material, but again she wasn't today.

Part of the challenge of training for a marathon is the balance of training volume and intensity, to become as fit as possible and allow you to make it to the starting line healthy and ready. It is a tough thing to do as shown today. Even when you have put in all the work and are not injured you can get sick, have bad racing conditions, or just plain don't have it that day. Performing to your maximum ability is the biggest challenge with road racing of any distance. All your time proves is how good you were on that day (February 6th, 2011). Those PRs are those great days where everything was clicking and they stick with you forever. "What's your marathon PR?" What's your best 5k time?" When runners get together we ask each other these questions all the time. We tend to leave out the fact that the PR was set 10 years ago, like my 5k track PR. But I will always be a sub 3 hour marathoner, and I tell you what, I will never take those "stars aligned" days for granted. The last one of those "days" I came close to was last April in Charlotesville when I PR'd at the 10 mile distance in 62:01, and even that day wasn't perfect as I dealt with some achilles tendonitis. They don't happen very often, but that is one of the reasons I keep pounding the pavement, in hopes of experiencing one of those days again.

The great thing about running is, "There's always next time." We'll train harder and smarter, and race more efficiently.

See you next time!

By the way, I found a great new hill for hill repeats! The one right outside Dale's front door!

4 mile tempo; 10 total

2011-02-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Be flexible. Listen to your body. Know when to call it a day. Train smart.

Those are my words of wisdom for the day and I used them all this morning. When I went to bed last night I thought, "I think I'll do a 10 mile tempo run tomorrow." When I woke up I decided, "10 is too long. I will warm up to the aqueduct, do 6 miles tempo, and cool down coming home." That is what I started to do. I warmed up 2 miles to the aqueduct, them headed east for 3 miles. I thought I should be able to hit 6:20s or so but every time I looked down at my watch it was saying 6:40-6:50. The effort level was way harder than I wanted it to be. It felt like 10k pace but it was really closer to goal marathon pace. It was getting harder and harder to maintain pace. Then the plan started to change. "I'll call it after 5," I thought, but that forth mile was pretty tough and I decided to call it a day there. I have done this type of run enough that I can feel my form struggling. It is at that point that I call the workout for the day. So the plan started out at 10 miles of tempo and ended as 4. My tempo splits were 6:40, 6:38, 6:31, 6:30.

There was a lot of great races going on today.

The USATF cross country national championships was in San Diego this morning. Justin Patananan from Palmdale, CA competed in the men's open division 12k and was 56th with a time of 40:32. Congrats Justin! The women's race was stacked with Shalane Flanagan defending her title. The US Women should have a great team at Worlds. See results here.

The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix was also today and all the hype was on high school runner Lukas Verzbicas who was running the elite mile. He was hoping to break 4 minutes but came up short running 4:03 (3rd fastest HS indoor mile ever). See his interview here. The kid has an amazing ability to deal with all the attention and media. He gives a great interview, has an awesome attitude, and a very bright future (at Oregon for the next 4 years).

Coach Jay Johnson out of Boulder, CO has had some great blog posts lately. The comments from other coaches are almost as good. They are both worth a read.
The first is "Winter training for college runners," which really relates to anyone not just collegiates.
The second is "The kids are alright," which discusses training younger runners. I especially like the 6 points at the end, and can't agree more with #6! It is so good that I am going to quote it here.
"6. Finally, if one were reading this blog in 1950′s America then I would argue something different, because I could assume that the 12-16 year old kids had more running, jumping, climbing, playing in their background. In 2011 we’re naive to assume that kids have done any significant amount of physical play, let alone physical work. You have to keep this in mind when you read Lydaird or you read about Ryan and Lindgren’s high school training."

I think you can benefit this generation of kids more in the long run by doing almost equal general strengthening to running for their training. Squat, jump, climb, pull, push, throw, lift, balance. When I was at the USATF coaching clinic one of the instructors asked us, "How many of you have ever climbed a tree?" About half, if not more of us raised our hands. He then said, "If you asked this to a bunch of high schoolers these days, you would only get about 10% raising their hands." That is sad.

Good luck to everyone running the Surf City Marathon tomorrow. If you are reading this before you race then you stayed up too late!

65st West Hill Repeats

2011-02-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

My plan to train for the Accenture Tower Ultimate Climber Challenge is to run lots of hills and do lots of lunges. I only have a few weeks to train so I will have to be careful not to over do it. You can't cram for a race just like you can't cram for a stair climb.

I ran over to 65th St. West between ave M and M-8 today. I then attempted 4 repeats with a recovery jog back down inbetween. The rest time down ended up being almost exactly 4 minutes each time. Any faster and It wouldn't have been "recovery time." My times for the hills (each one is a half mile and reaches a grade of around 7-8%) were 3:18, 3:22, 3:26, 3:23. To put it into perspective my best time up this hill is 3:08. I haven't run hills like that in a while and I could start to feel the burn a little earlier on each successive repeat. I also felt my right calf a fatigue and tighten as the workout progressed. I haven't mentioned this before but my right calf has been sore since my "easy trail run" with Keira almost two weeks ago. I can still run on it, it is just tight.

Total mileage for today was 8.

Here is the link to my pledge page for the ALA Fight for Air Climb.

I got double booked!

2011-02-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

I just found out two days ago that my niece Lydia's bapstism was scheduled for February 6th and Andi and I were to be Godparents! That is the same morning as the Surf City Marathon. Unfortunately, I will not be running this Sunday as my neice neice and her family need my support. The marathon will always be there waiting. I can't miss this important event. I will miss seeing Clay, Dale, Lauren, Chuck, David, and Ron, but I know that you will all do awesome. I expect some great things out there on Sunday.

I have new announcement that I need your help with. I signed up today to participate in the American Lung Association Fight for Air Climb up the Accenture Tower in Minneapolis, MN on February 26th, 2011. I have wanted to participate in one of these events for the past year but the dates never worked out. The event I would really like to try is called Scale the Strat, which is a timed run up the Stratosphere Tower 108 floors in Las Vegas, NV. That date again didn't fit into my schedule, but the event in Minnesota did. I will be headed out there for my dad's 60th birthday in March. The Accenture Tower is 30 floors, not much compared to the Stratosphere, but I will be competing in the Ultimate Climber Challenge. This is a competition to see who can climb to the top of the building the most times in one hour. They say the average time is 15 minutes. I would like to think I am above average. Can I make it up 5 times and average 12 min per climb? Or can I make it 6 times and average 10 minutes per climb? The cool part is I get to take the elevator down each time so it is like one BIG interval workout and I don't have to kill my quads on the way down. Well take bets on how many times I can make it later. Right now I need your help to raise 200 dollars for the American Lung Association.

Make a pledge for me here!

And thank you in advance.

My mileage total for January was 97! Yeah, I wasn't really ready for this marathon anyway. My last and only 20 mile training run was over a month ago December 31st, 2010.

8 mile aqueduct run on Saturday

2011-01-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

I got up early to watch the end of the Houston half marathon. It was also the US Championship half marathon which is the reason for interest. A pack of three guys, which included Ryan Hall, stayed in the lead almost until the end. At the 13 mile mark Ryan gapped Mo a bit and then runnerspace.com ruined the coverage again. They were in a lead cart and had to speed ahead, jump out, and run around the finish line to catch the winner. Well they missed it, and in the mean time Mo outkicked Ryan in the last 400m to win! We never saw it. Awful. Sergio was 22nd in 1:06:20 and Justin was 47th in 1:10:24.

I hustled up to the aqueduct to meet Dale, Clay, David, and Joel. The plan was to run 8 miles today. I arrived late and it took me 2 miles to catch the guys. After talking to Joel I thought about continuing with him for another 3, but after a stiff headwind for 3 miles on the way back I decided to call it a day.

I don't know that I need to taper for this race next weekend. If I decreased my mileage any I would barely be running. I will just continue running but easy mileage until race day, and nothing longer than an hour after this weekend.

The rest of the week

2011-01-28T13:27:00.001-08:00

It has been a crazy week again. Our internet has been down at home for a few days after I switched our computer to another room. That said I haven't had time to post this week either but this time it didn't mean that I wasn't running. I actually got in two decent runs.

Tuesday I got in 8 miles with a about half of them at marathon to half marathon effort.

Wednesday afternoon I got in another 8 with Clay in the afternoon. I pushed the pace a bit on the way out from 60th to 90th (about 4 miles), and when I caught back up to him we picked it up for one sub 7 min mile before a mile cool down.

The weather has been consistently beautiful in the afternoons. Low of 35 and high of 70, sunny. I just checked weather.com since today is the first day that February 6th would be on the 10 day forecast. The predicted weather for Surf City is low of 47 and high of 70, sunny! Sounds like great conditions to me.

Houston half marathon is hosting the US half marathon championships this weekend and it should be a good one. Sergio and Justin are out there now preparing and also checking out the course for the Olympic Trials next January. Lots of guys are going out there with the same plan so it should be a competitive field. Looking forward to it!

One last note:
As the popularity of the marathon grows the average marathon times continue to drop. This is not new news and it makes sense as more newcomers attempt the marathon, more people checking off their bucket list, and more people run multiple marathons every year. There is nothing wrong with it, that is just the way it is. As the marathon becomes more popular, and participation increases, so do the number of events for all of us to choose from, and that is a good thing. One negative side effect is the increased entry fees and quick sell out for many of the more popular and well established races. This I believe also leads to a drop in average marathon times. Instead of waiting to register to make sure I am in good shape (not sick or injured) for race day I am pressured to sign up sometimes more than 6 months in advance to get the cheapest price and guarantee my entry. Once the race gets closer and I am not in the kind of shape I hope to be in, I feel sort of obligated to run because of the amount of money I paid to participate. Not that I would decide not to run just because I am not ready to PR, but I used to be able to wait until a month or so before the race, get into good shape, and then sign up for the event. Those days are over. I think there are lots of people who get hurt or sick and still attempt to run the marathon on race day because they don't want to waste the 100 dollar entry fee that they paid 6 months ago. The result is a poor performance, maybe even further injury, and a much slower time than anticipated. Am I feeling obligated to run this race in a week even though I am not in top shape? No, I am still looking forward to spending time with friends and cheering them on to some great PRs! We are going to have a great time with great weather. It is my own fault that I am not in the kind of shape I hoped to be in, but I had no idea where I would be 6 months ago. Unfortunately I can only afford to run a certain amount of races a year and when I do I like to at least feel like I have a chance to run a personal best. Not this time around. Does that sound snobbish or arrogant because I didn't mean it that way?

I guess I am a little disappointed with myself. I am really going to sound like a big jerk if I go out there and PR next weekend aren't I? My goals still stand as before. I will go out in 1:30 and hang on as long as possible. I plan on a BQ (sub 3:10). I would like to think I have fairly good mental toughness to push through the second half of the race and I will draw on my experiences from other races to get me to the finish line.

Things don't always go as planned

2011-01-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

I missed a great week of weather to run in. It has been a beautiful week with lows around 35 and highs around 65-70 (although I am usually at work during those times). I kept putting off runs and not getting up to run in the dark before work.

I decided my weekend workouts would be as follows: a few easy on Friday, 18 miles on Saturday, and an planned easy recovery run on the Leona course with Keira Henninger.

Here is how it really went down.

Food poisoning on Thursday night, well I thought it was food poisoning.
No running on Friday morning, actually no work on Friday morning either.
Drank a full container of Pedialyte and went in for the afternoon but had a headache that got worse throughout the day. I attributed it to dehydration and kept drinking.
I went to bed by 8:30 that night and woke up with the same headache.
I took some alleve and kept drinking and the headache subsided but did not run on Saturday.
We did a TON of yard work instead. I transplanted one rose bush and both of our peach trees.
I felt much better but by the end of the day I was starting to loose my voice.
I thought my legs and back would be sore today, but instead both my scapulae (shoulder blades) feel like I rowed a full marathon! I did a some of the digging sitting down to save my legs.

I met Keira at the Lake Hughes Community Center at 7:00 am. She wanted to review the first 6-8 miles again and talk about aid stations for Leona Divide and Leona Valley Trail Races. Leona Divide is coming up on April 30th. I ran last year there for my first Ultra and it was AWESOME! Well, this year is going to be even better and I am jealous that I am not running this year. I am hoping to do a few of the training runs and go out there for the start of the race. I am pretty sure Clay is planning on running it again this year, and after talking to Keira today I would recommend anyone sign up! It is going to be great.

We ran and hiked for two hours, probably around 12 miles, and had a great time catching up. I am also excited to run her Los Pinos 50k and and Ray Miller 50/50 (Santa Monica Mts/Back Bone Tail) in the coming years.

So, the weekend runs didn't quite go as planned. As I write this post, I am not quite sure I had food poisoning. My son Matthew just came out here with vomit all over himself! YIKES! Oh, and my voice has not quite returned to normal yet!

John Frank Memorial 10 miler

2011-01-19T23:26:00.000-08:00

I got my issue of California Track & Running News today. As I was flipping through I noticed a familiar runner on the advertisement for the John Frank Memorial NorCal 10 miler. It was non other than Sergio Reyes! He has won this race the last two years with a time of 50:51 in 2010 and with a time of 48:50 in 2009!

Weekend Update

2011-01-16T22:54:00.000-08:00

Friday morning I had planned on a two hour run while the kids were at school (I had the day off to travel to Claremont for a course, more later). When we got in the car I realized I had left the keys in the car over night in the auxillary position and the battery was dead. I tried to jump the car but got nothing so I had to remove the battery and take it to Pep Boys. They tested it, said it was no good, so I bought an new one, brought it home, and installed it, jumped the car again and got 'er goin'. By this time I had time for about 45 minutes. I got in 6 miles, then packed a bag for the weekend.

I attended a USATF level 1 coaching course at Pitzer College in Claremont. There are 3 levels of coaching certification and level 1 is the first and only certification you can get with no coaching experience. They only offer this course once a year so I jumped on the opportunity. My colleague and friend Ron also came out for the course. We had 21 hours of instruction over 3 days on track and field. The instructors included Doug Todd, the head coach at Mt. SAC and meet director of the Mt. SAC cross country invitational. Also Troy Johnson (Head Coach at Cal Poly Pomona), Jeremy Fisher (triple jump coach at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista), and Tony Veney (Head Coach at Ventura College). All were very knowledgeable and interesting speakers. I learned lots about technique and drills for jumps, throws, and sprints.

The reason I took the course, and become a certified USATF level 1 coach, is that I am planning on starting an online coaching service and website in the near future. I would design programs and offer online coaching via email for distances from 5k to ultramarathon training. I will keep you posted on the progress of this venture.

The course was LONG! Saturday was 8:00am to 9:40pm with breaks only for meals. I was able to sneak in an 8 miler on Saturday morning in 61 minutes, and today I got up early for a 16 miler in 2 hours 4 minutes. I could tell that I had been sitting for over 10 hours the day before as my legs were stiff and sluggish. Looking back at my splits I actually picked it up 10-20 seconds every mile for 14 miles and then backed off for the last 2 miles. I started with an 8:44 and ended with a 6:43. My 13.1 split was somewhere around 1:42. It felt way harder than it should have and made me a little nervous about Surf City in 3 weeks. I know I was tired and stiff from sitting the day before, but I also know that I am quite under trained this time around. I also got a small blister on the inside of my right foot near my big toe.

Plan for Surf City is still the same, go out in 1:30 and hang on for as long as possible.

We had two demonstration sessions at the Pomona-Pitzer College track. It was recently resurfaced, and you could still smell the new track, but they kept the original blue color. Here are two pictures of me running a 1500m at Pomona-Pitzer in 1999. Can you pick me out of the second picture?

Mesa, Colordado Vacation + 20k run

2011-01-13T23:54:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a vacation in Mesa, Colorado where my wife's grandmother has a cabin. The first day there it snowed a 4-6 inches giving us fresh powder to ski on the next two days. I got in one run on that snowy day during the short break in snowfall. I ended up running 20k (12.4 miles) in 1:40:50. It is very hilly up there and I could definitely "feel" the altitude. I haven't uploaded my garmin data yet but the town of Mesa, CO is at 5600ft and the bottom of the ski resort is at 8200ft. The cabin is somewhere in the middle, I believe around 6500ft. I ran in my New Balance 921s which are supposed to be designed for winter conditions. I was ready to be done as my right tibialis posterior started talking to me after about 90 minutes.

My advice for anyone traveling to altitude is to run based on effort and keep it easy for the first two weeks as most of the running effort will feel tougher than normal. It can take at least two weeks to acclimatize and even then it will take more effort to run the same speeds.

The next two days were spent downhill skiing. Both my boys went to their first ski school and did great. Matt did a day and a half of lessons and Micah did a one hour lesson and did multiple trips on the magic carpet with Andi, Clark, and I. The boys enjoyed the ski lessons and far exceeded our expectations. There were so few people on the mountain that the boys both had private lessons and we felt like we had the resort to ourselves. Once at the bottom we could hop right back on the lift for another run. It was pretty cold though, the temp at the top (9850ft) was -9 degrees at 9:00am!

So I only got one run in over the last week, but we had a great vacation. I take that back, on the return trip we actually did get some track work in on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway!

3 mile tempo + 4 x800m intervals

2011-01-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

Well I had to try the workout I gave Dale last week so here it goes.

2 miles warm up

3 miles threshold 19:15 (6:30, 6:30, 6:15)

4 x 800m intervals (2:50, 2:47, 2:46, 2:45)
1 lap recovery jog between each.

1.5 mile cool down.

It was a tough workout. I think next time I would add another threshold mile and try and be closer to 6:20 pace. I am not used to those 800s and both my calves were sore today. It is still really cold at 6:00am!

It snowed on all day Sunday and we ended up with about 6-8 inches! Last time we got snow like that was December 17, 2008. I had a great workout that day too!

2010 recap & 2011 goals

2011-01-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

After looking back at 2010, I realized that most of the highlights were in the first half of the year although there were some great times this fall as well. Here are a few high points.

Top races:
1. Charlotesville 10 miler - (62:02) A PR by 18 seconds on a much more difficult course.
2. Leona Divide 50 miler - My first Ultra and a sub 9 hour finish at an experience I will never forget.
3. Nutty Runner 5k - Probably the windiest race I have ever run in and the first race I have ever won! Also my first race as a "stunt runner."
4. Newhall Independence Day 5k - (18:17) My fastest post collegiate 5k
5. Santa Clarita Half Marathon - (1:23:25) I way over exceeded my goals for this race. It was a good feeling to be able to hold that kind of pace coming off one of the most debilitating injuries I have ever had.
6. HDR Cross Country PCR - (19:42) Perfect weather conditions lead to this performace. 15 seconds faster than ever before on this ridiculously tough course.

Top workouts:
1. Many great long trail runs with Clay in preparation for LD50.
2. This awesome long threshold run in late February after which I knew I was in shape to PR at the 10 mile distance. Oh, this one in March was good too.
3. Spontaneous AV Marathon (3:35:47). I mixed up my wake up call during the time change and met Dale an hour before scheduled. I had run 9 miles before he showed up. We ran another 17 together for a full marathon training run!
4. Big Bear trail run with Andi - We ran from our cabin to the Cougar Crest Trail which lead us up to the PCT out and back.
5. Tough track workout with Zac 6 x 800m. We had extremely windy conditions but took turns leading and ran probably my fastest post collegiate workout. We hit 2:40-2:42 for all but one (the first one). I strained my calf a week later!
6. A great 10k threshold run in December. Nearly fully recovered from my calf injury. Clay and Dale ran 6 x 800m while I ran 6 miles at threshold pace. A great workout!
7. Fast finish long run with Zac - 16 miles total. Last 10 with Zac. Last 5 on sub 7 min pace. Last 3 miles in just over 19 minutes!

There were some great photos from my front door.

I wrote some good short running related articles.

Goals for 2011:
1. I will run 1600 miles in 2011 (I have to aim high right).
2. I will run 2 Boston Qualifying times, one at Surf City and one at Orange County.
3. I will help organize and support the new Leona Valley Trail Races on October 8, 2011 and run either the marathon or half marathon distance.
4. I will run injury free all year.
5. I will run a sub 18 min 5k at Newhall Independence Day 5k.

Read an old article of mine on goal setting here.

I posted some great motivational autographs after a great half marathon time trial with Dale 2 years ago today.

Since others seem to be blogging about their weight I decided to document mine on the 1/1/11. Today I weighed in at 167.4.

Happy New Year! I hope you all have many happy and healthy miles in 2011!

10 mile easy run

2011-01-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

I was suprised how good I felt this morning. Only mild soreness after 20 miles yesterday, my longest run since LD50! I figured a 6 mile run would help loosen up the legs a bit. It took about a mile warm up and I felt great! I ended up running to Clay's house at around 1:00pm and thought I would check to see if anyone needed to get a run in today. Kendall was at the door and said that Clay was ASLEEP but Zac was there and he joined me without any hesitation! We ran another 4 miles together and I showed him my 800 loops off of 65th west. I dropped him off back at his house and started running home. It was at this moment that my legs started to tell me they were done, especially my right calf. No pain just complete fatigue. I made it home for a total of 10 miles in somewhere around 80 minutes. That is 40 miles in the past 3 days!

20 miles Munz Ranch to Ave S.

2010-12-31T20:43:00.000-08:00

Dale had planned a point to point long run for the past couple of weeks. We all met out at Munz Ranch Rd at 7:00am and headed east. It was in the high 20s at the start. A group of 6 of us started (David, Dale, Clay, Zac, Lauren, and me). We picked up another, Joel, at 110th, then dropped Zac at 70th. After 60th we broke up a bit and Joel and I ran together until about 3 miles to go. I pushed it in and finished the 20 miles in 2 hours 41 minutes. The temps got better in the middle and then the wind picked up a bit toward the end. My last mile was 6:50. A friend of mine Fran ran 14.5 miles for her longest run ever!

I finished 2010 with 1402 miles (exactly the same as last year). I calculated that I was close and needed 40 miles in the last 4 days of the year to tie last year so I did it. My goal was 1600 miles and if I hadn't injured my calf I would have made it.

157 miles for December.

26 feels like 14!

2010-12-30T13:22:00.001-08:00

Wouldn't it be nice if I was talking about miles? Well, I'm actually talking about degrees farenheit. The forcast for this morning at 6:00am was 26 degrees but the wind chill would make it feel like 14 degrees. I think it was actually a few degrees colder than that. Dale met me at my house at 5:40am and we took off around the Rancho Vista area. The houses blocked a good amount of the wind so we tried to stay within the neighborhoods. We had a nice easy run and finished 9 miles then I headed out for one more mile to complete 10 in 86 minutes (avg 8:30). I think the wind picked up during the run because it seemed to get colder. My hands were the limiting factor today and by the end they were throbbing. It was probably the coldest run of the year. Thanks Dale for the company. I never would have made it 10 in that weather alone.

I was trying to find a list of the best US marathon times for 2010 and finally found one. It is a list of all the Olympic trials qualifiers to date. After picking out all the times run in 2010 I realized that Sergio's 2:14:02 at Twin Cities was the 10th fastest US marathon time this year (and two of those are Meb)! He is ranked 12th of all the qualifiers thus far (some people qualified in 2009). He is in some pretty good company. The Olympic Trials Marathon for men and women is scheduled for January 14th in Houston, TX. Check out the men's qualifiers list here.

Why do you run?...Why don't you run?

2010-12-29T08:24:00.000-08:00

I get asked that question alot. A good answer is another question, "Why not?"

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.

John Bingham, Runner and author

Someone was talking about how much better a runner I am than her and that I started running long before she did. My response was, “We both started running around the same time (she looked at me funny)…when we were 2 years old.” It is true, everyone started running near the same age. We just stop running at different ages. Why do we stop running? That is the question of the day.

“You ever see a kid do hot yoga and put on a knee brace? What do kids do? Kids just go. I have a five year old daughter, and when she wants to run she just [raises her arm] goes, “GO!” [leans forward and runs].”

“Somewhere between the age of 5 and 25 we go from really loving [running] to, oh shit I gotta do it.”

--Christopher McDougall

Tempo + AT run with Dale (Mixed Systems Workout)

2010-12-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

I met Dale this morning for a good workout at Joe Walker. I suggested a mixed systems workout. I had read about these type of workouts in Running Times but couldn't find the article (I think it was a McMillan article). Then I found another source when I got to work in the morning. You have probably heard of an interval workout or a threshold workout. Usually they are done separately. In a mixed workout you do a little of both. Exercise Physiologist, Jason Karp discusses them in his book: 101 Developmental Concepts & Workouts for Cross Country Runners. It is a great book because he gives examples of some great workouts and the objectives and coaching advice for each one. He calls this workout AT (acidosis threshold or lactate threshold) run/VO2max intervals mix. He suggests 2 to 3 miles at AT pace followed by 3 to 4 x 800m to 1000m at VO2max pace with a 1:1 work-to-rest ratio. For Dale this would mean 3 miles at 7:00-7:10 pace followed by 4x800m at 3:10 to 3:20. I decided I would run with Dale to pull him along for the AT portion and then run all 4 miles at 6:20 pace for my own AT workout as my AT pace is Dale's VO2max pace. Jason Karp's description of the workout objective is "To increase acidosis threshold and VO2max by combining AT-paced running with VO2max-paced running and to practice running harder off a comfortably hard pace." The part I like the best is "to practice running harder off a comfortably hard pace." What is this? It is race simulation, running hard when you are tired, pushing in the last few miles of a half marathon. Run at your threshold pace for 10-11 miles and then push it in with whatever you have left. Of course this workout is a much shorter version of the real thing, but that is what training is all about. Give yourself a little taste of what it feels like to run hard when you are tired and let your body adapt and remember that feeling.

Dale was a little slow on the AT portion of the run but came back hard on the track and ran each 800m under 3:20 and his last one in 3:10! Jason Karp's coaching point is to "make sure athletes don't run the AT-pace segment too fast." Better to run a few seconds slower than a few seconds too fast any way. I asked Dale if it was any harder to run those 800s after the AT portion. He said, "not really." That guy is in good shape.

My training paces for that workout would be 3 miles at 6:15 to 6:20 pace and then 4x800m at 2:45-2:50. That sounds tough. I will have to try it some day.

My mile splits on the track were 6:11, 6:15, 6:10, and 5:56. The Joe Walker track still measures long. My garmin beeps almost 50m before I hit the 4 lap mark on the track. My total mileage for today was 10.5!

There are some great workouts in Jason Karp's book. I will continue to try some and share them with you in the coming year!

Christmas Weekend Runs

2010-12-26T23:02:00.000-08:00

Picture stolen from Clay's blog.

I had another week of no runs leading up to a long weekend. Here is how it went down. Dale and Clay had organized a group long run for Friday morning. We all met at 60th and the aqueduct, headed west for 5.2 miles then turned around. After a warm up mile we were consistently hitting mile splits of 8:00 to 8:10. At the 10 mile mark a group of us Dale, Jeff, and I were met by Zac Patten and picked up the pace for the next 8 miles. Jeff turned around early, Zac wasn't feeling well, and Dale was finishing a 70+ mile week and I think he was feeling it a little. He was having a tougher time maintaining his MP by mile 15. He is a work-horse though and pulled out a great workout and a great week.

My last 8 miles were 7:27, 7:42, 7:23, 7:32, 7:24, 7:15, 6:47, 6:25!

18 miles in just about 2:20 (avg pace 7:48).

Both my IT Bands were whispering to me and my right calf felt a little tight the entire run. It was a tough 18 miler. I guess that is what I get for only running weekend long runs and nothing during the week. Oh well.

Saturday was Christmas. We had gorgeous weather. There was no running involved but we had a GREAT Christmas with the kids! They were so excited and have been playing with their new toys non-stop since Christmas morning. This year running related gifts I received included: A Twin Cities Marathon shirt, some cold weather running pants, and a DVD documentary titled Running America.

Sunday we all slept in. It was cold and windy (I guess breezy by AV standards). I waited until the boys took a nap and then headed out for a run around Quartz Hill. I ended up running 10 miles in 75 minutes (7:30 pace). During the second half of the run I mapped out a few loops on a dirt road/trail that I found between housing tracts off of "the hill" on 65th. Each loop is just about a half mile and would be great for intervals. I am looking forward to using these loops next year. The are almost exactly two miles from my house. They have some hills but nothing too steep so you could still run fast but vary the grades and avoid the roads or the track!

Dan asked me the other day about tunes for the ipod while running. Here is what I am into at the moment:
"Animal" - Neon Trees
"Lisztomania" - Phoenix
"1901" - Phoenix
"Cousins" - Vampire Weekend
"Dog Days are Over" - Florence and the Machine
"I bet that you look good on the dance floor" - Arctic Monkeys
"Kings and Queens" - 30 Seconds to Mars
"This is War" - 30 Seconds to Mars
"Waiting for the End" - Linkin Park
"If its love" - Train
"Radioactive" - Kings of Leon
"Use Somebody" - Kings of Leon
"The Fixer" - Pearl Jam
"Seven Army Nation" - The White Stripes
"Icky Thump" - The White Stripes
"Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
"I want you to" - Weezer
There are quite a few songs by Muse that I have my eye on!

Dan, hope this helps. I tend to like songs with a fairly fast beat for my running playlist and I always run faster than I planned when I am wearing my ipod shuffle.

500th POST!

2010-12-19T14:13:00.000-08:00

New title picture!

This blog was originally created as a training journal to document my experiences leading up to the Boston Marathon in 2008, hence the name "Karl's Road to Boston." I think I always knew that I would continue with the blog after finishing the Boston Marathon, thus the "and Beyond" portion of the title.
This blog has evolved from a training journal that was shared with basically just Clay, to a sharing of running information with many friends, whether it be educational or humorous. It is still a way for me to document my own training, but now it is a way to communicate with many runners and keep tabs on everyone's plans and progress.

Since starting the blog I have run 3 marathons (including my second marathon with my wife) and my first ultra. I have run as fast as 5:14 for a mile, and I have found a love for trail running. I have PR'd at the 10 mile and marathon distances, and I have watched a TON of flotrack videos. I have dealt with shin splints, knee pain, and a few calf strains. Most importantly I have gained many running friends. My 30 mile birthday run brought many of us together, and it was an incredible day. Chuck and Dale started training quite often together after connecting on that run. I have also found it fun to watch and report on the top US runners over the past 3 years.

I recently went back to my 2010 goals and here is a recap.
1. I will finish the Leona Divide 50 mile run in less than 10 hours. MET
2. I will run a sub 18 minute 5k at the Newhall Independence Day race. Almost MET
3. I will run a sub 5 minute 1600m in 2010. Not MET
4. I will run a personal course record (currently 19:57) at the summer cross country series. MET
5. I will run a sub 1:23 half marathon in the fall (not sure which one yet). Almost MET
6. I will run 1600 miles in 2010. Not MET

So, two out of six ain't bad (almost 4 out of 6).

I like to set a mileage goal even though it rarely pans out. My calf injury in August took me out of that one. Most people I talk to are amazed that I can run a sub 3 hour marathon while never exceeding 45 miles per week. It always makes me wonder what I could do on consistently 70-80mpw, I may never know that answer.

I will post my 2011 goals on my first post of 2011.

Here is the links back to:
100th post
200th post
300th post
400th post

I haven't run all week, I have been busy at home. I am training for the Surf City Marathon but am just squeeking by at this point. I am not anticipating anything spectacular, although I guess I still have 7 weeks to go. It will be a fun time either way. As of right now I am planning on going out at 1:30 and see how long I can hang on.

We were in Las Vegas this weekend, and on my way into town I called up Ron. He said, "I am planning a 20 miler tomorrow, but I'm just not motivated," not knowing that I was headed into town. I replied, "What if I ran it with you?" and we set up a meeting time of 6:00 am. Ron mapped out a 5 mile loop that we could run 4 times, but that morning it was fairly windy. When I met him at the park I thought we could just run 10 and if it got worse we could call it for the day. We ran together and talked for 2 loops and the wind sort of calmed down. We decided to do another loop and this time I ran in the reverse direction and met him on the opposite side of the loop. I finished the day with 17 miles and Ron continued for another loop to make it an even 20! Nice work Ron. Looking back today I am glad we ran yesterday. Today there is 30+mph gusts! That said, I did not run today.

Thanks to all my readers and those who comment on my blog. Don't hesitate to ask me questions. If I don't reply right away I may be saving my answer for another post. Keep reading.

16 mile fast finish long run (1:58:28)

2010-12-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

Pictures stolen from Clay's Blog.
The plan today was to meet Clay and Zac at 7:00 and Zac and I would run a 10 mile run (5 easy, 5 tempo) while Clay ran a recovery run after yesterday. I wanted to put in a few more miles so I got out there early and did 6 warm up at 7:40 avg pace. The weather was perfect, cool and calm. I met up with Clay and Zac, got a hit of Gatorade, and we set out west on the aqueduct. Zac and I eased into a comfortable pace for the first few miles. Zac was making it look easy on the way out. Here are our first 5 splits, 8:02, 7:55, 7:41, 8:02, 7:36. We hit the 5 mile mark in just over 39 minutes and turned around. The first mile back we started to pick it up and each mile there after was about 10 seconds faster than the last. The last 3 miles were tough but we pulled each other along to finish the 10 together in 72:20! We finished our return 5 in just over 33 minutes! Here are our last 5 splits, 6:58, 6:48, 6:39, 6:23, 6:14. Nice work Zac!

Zac is running the Surf City Half Marathon to keep him training through the winter. He will run a good time after a workout like that. Including Zac, we have a good AV presence at Surf City. Clay, Dale, Chuck, Lauren and I are running the full Marathon along with my pal Ron from Las Vegas. Zac, Neil, and recently friends Eric and Dawn are planning on running the half marathon.

Total time for 16 miles today was 1:58:28 (avg pace 7:24).
Total weekend miles 28!

I am trying to get in as much good weekend mileage as I can, when I can. With the holidays, a weekend trip to Vegas and a trip to Colorado planned there will be limited time to train.

They have been getting a TON of snow in Minneapolis this weekend. Check this out! Yes, there was SUPPOSED to be a football game today!

12 mile morning run

2010-12-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

I slept in too long to go any farther. I ran to Highland HS via the aqueduct, then back home on Rancho Vista, added a little extra to make it 12 miles in 90 minutes (avg 7:30 pace).

At about the 8.5 mile mark this song came up on my ipod shuffle. It may be the greatest running song ever. It always makes me run faster! The song is called "March of the Swivel Heads" by The English Beat.

Clay and Dale ran a 10k in Santa Monica this morning. Both had great times. Clay ran 40:55 and Dale was 41:28! Congrats guys! Smokin' fast!

7 mile easy run

2010-12-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

I got in 7 this morning at about 8:00 avg pace. It was a little breezy but warm and I was way over dressed.

Footlocker Nationals is this weekend and Flotrack has been counting down the top 6 Footlocker moments of the past decade. It is fun to see Solinsky and some of the other big names before he was an American record holder. Watch them all, they are great.

High School Cross Country at it's finest! NXN

2010-12-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

Must watch all 9 minutes! This is a brutal course.

4 mile recovery run in the fog

2010-12-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to a thick fog! I didn't have much time but I had to go running in the fog. I could barely see down my street. I ran down to Lane Park, around Joe Walker, and home for 4 easy recovery miles. My right hip is tired. I will need some more easy miles this week.

9 mile marathon pace fast finish run

2010-12-05T23:09:00.000-08:00

If I don't get out first thing in the morning it is tough to get out for a run later in the day. We have busy weekends and today was no different. I didn't feel like getting up at 5 am so I slept in and got up with the kids (6:45). Andi went for a run while I stayed with the boys and followed the Las Vegas Half Marathon and California International Marathon that were run today. Ron PR'd in the half marathon with a time of 2:03:30 (A PR by 3.5 minutes and a course best by 10 minutes!) Way to go Ron! David Weary ran CIM in 3:45 (10 minutes off a BQ), he went out in 1:45 but came back in 2:00. Must have been a rough second half. With CIM this weekend that means it is one year since my marathon PR at CIM 2009 (2:57:11)! That is an awesome race, very competitive! This year there were 292 runners under 3 hours and 32 under 2:30! 10 of those sub 3 hour runners were in the 50-54 AG and 9 in the 55-59 AG! I am close to that sub 3 shape right now I think just less long runs. Looking forward to some 20 milers in the next two months in preparation for Surf City!

So I didn't get out this morning, we went to church, then ran a few errands and got home around 1:00pm. I had about an hour and a half to run and get ready for our afternoon in Acton (Santa was out there!), and we had dinner at my sister-in-laws. My plan was to do 10 easy since my calf was pretty tired after yesterday. After looking at the clock I realized that I didn't have time to do 10 easy, so I planned on 8 and left the house. It started sprinkling just as I left, and with no wind the rain felt nice and cool. I decided my Ranco Vista Loop was a good plan (7.5 miles) but as I started up 45th my legs felt pretty good. I decided to keep up the pace (which was now around 7:15/mi to Hillview MS and then see how I felt. After Hillview it is downhill so I eased up but still maintained 7:00/mi pace. Now I was down on 30th and still cruising along. I decided, "what the heck," and just kept pushing. When I got back to N and 50th I turned left and went up to 55th, down to M-8 and back home to finish 9 miles in a little heavier rain in 62:53 (sub 7:00/mi pace). My calf felt fine. The rain still hasn't let up. Today's workout was faster and longer than the last time I did a similar workout.

Splits 7:33, 7:13, 7:13, 7:22, 6:58, 6:55, 6:47, 6:35, 6:19.

It probably wasn't the smartest decision but I would have dialed back if I didn't feel as good as I did. I get into that same mileage obsession that many people get into sometimes that can just lead down a bad path. The idea that I have to do more, like one more mile is really going to matter. Sometimes the easier pace with less miles may be better in the long run (literally and figuratively). In other words, sometimes the time spent is more important than the distance. I ran pretty hard Thursday and Saturday so was it ok to run at MP today? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see how this week goes. Honestly 7:30 pace feels pretty easy right now.

I have heard other runners and coaches talk about the idea of "callousing," or how running tough workouts toughens us up. I like that idea. The idea that running hard workouts will possibly delay the feelings of fatigue or at least make me more used to those feelings and be able to push through them. Here are some workouts that I think are good at "callousing."

Long Tempo Runs, Threshold Runs, Fast Finish Long Runs, Progression Runs. These runs make me work at a high percentage of my aerobic threshold for a long time, especially toward the end of the run and often, like today, I negative split the workout! Work hard and run fast when I am tired! I love those workouts.

24 miles for the weekend.

Next weekend I'll be following Clay and Dale at the Santa Monica 10k and Chuck at the Rocket City Marathon. Good Luck you guys!

15 mile long run (1:50:48) and NXN vs. Footlocker

2010-12-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

I heard that Dale was running a fast finish long run today and thought he was starting at 5:15 so I planned on meeting him at 6:00 which would meet up with him at 5 miles. I got there a little late and saw his van so I just headed out but could not see him. I met up with him and Lauren after 2 miles and turned around with them. They had just started their run at 6:00 too and were just a half mile ahead of me. We started back running a little faster than Dale had planned but were all conversational. When we got back to the cars Lauren finished but we picked up Chuck (who had three teeth removed yesterday, can you say hard core) and headed out again. We started picking up the pace each mile and I ran hard in with Dale where he and Chuck called it for the day. I turned around and headed out again wanting to run at least 15 today. My right calf was starting to fatigue and tighten a bit but I was able to maintain about 7:30 pace on the last 5 miles without it worsening. It must still be tired from Thursday's 10k tempo run. I finished the 15 in 1:50:48 (avg pace 7:23).

Here are the splits: 8:07, 7:46, 7:48, 7:37, 7:25, 7:38, 7:13, 6:50, 6:43, 7:03, 7:32, 7:36, 7:30, 7:13, 6:48.

Dale's last mile was 6:26 which I ran the last half mile with in my 6:43 split.

Through 13.1 I was at 1:38.

I watched the end of the boys race at Nike Cross Nationals late this morning. I have to say I was impressed, but I am still on the fence whether or not I like this event and Footlocker Nationals. Footlocker is the original HS cross country national championship event that began in 1979 as the Kinney Cross Country Championships. It was and still is an individual event and the first boy and girl were the national champions of HS cross country. There is still a regional qualifying event and the top 10 from each region go on to Footlocker Nationals. The regional events are amazing. I ran the West Regional Meet as a senior in 1996. There is a seeded race for those hoping to qualify but there is also races by class and that year I ran with the Seniors at Woodward Park (also the CA state championship course). I think I ran a pathetic 18:30. That year a freshman girl from my high school Abby Miller was third in the seeded girls race which qualified her for Footlocker Nationals where she also placed third. She would have been 4th but for you history buffs this was the race where Julia Stamps was winning and collapsed less than 100m from the finish line and DNF'd. Cross Country was the only high school sport that had a true individual national champion. Footlocker treated these top kids like rockstars.

In 2004 Nike started a new race called Nike Team Nationals as a way to have a true high school national team champion, a logical progression from having only individual champions previously. Yes, cross country is a team sport and high school cross country teams are a very close and bonded group. It sounded like a great idea, except that some of the top runners in the nation were also on some of the nations top teams. They were either on the same weekend or back to back weekends, I can't remember but either way it was tough or near impossible to do both. So you had to make a choice, run for team title or for an individual title. Hard to tell your teammates, "Sorry guys, I want the individual title, see ya later." So in 2008 they changed the name to NXN or Nike Cross Nationals and added some individual spots from each region to attract other top runners. They also have a nice Nike trophy for the individual winner of NXN. Now you can run with your team but also be competing with some of the top individual runners on the country. But what about Footlocker? Well it is next weekend and there are some kids doubling (Lucas Verzbicas will attempt the double) but west coast teams are at a disadvantage. Some east coast and midwest teams have had their state championships a month ago and have been able to recover and then qualify for Footlocker as well as be invited to NXN. The Footlocker West Regional was also TODAY at Mt. SAC! You can't run NXN and qualify for Footlocker if you are in the west region! The CA state meet was only last weekend! Nike is trying to take over the individual title and seems to be winning the battle as individuals like Elias Gedyon and the Rosa twins along with other individuals have been choosing NXN over Footlocker.

From what I saw today Nike may just deserve to have it all. Is there any other sport where the top athlete in the country, lets say Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant or Peyton Manning shows up to interview the participants of a high school event? Well that is exactly what I saw today. Chris Solinsky, the American Record holder in the 10k and one of the top US distance runners (also a Nike athlete), was down there in a big warm jacket with a microphone talking with ALL the kids, not just the winners. It was awesome. Also the course was incredibly difficult. It was in Oregon and was cold, windy, hilly, and muddy. They even had a section of haybales that the runners had to jump over. True cross country. Verzbicas won and just barely broke 16 minutes. He ran 14:44 at the Midwest Footlocker Regional last weekend. That shows you how tough this course is. Most of the best runners in the country chose NXN this year.

My biggest problem with this fight between Nike and Footlocker is that it extends these young kids championship seasons so long that they risk the health of their bodies just to get there. Some of these kids are 13 years old and their season, which started in September, goes over two weeks longer than college age kids at NCAA Nationals which was November 23rd. Footlocker Nationals is not until December 11th! And most of those college kids don't start racing until end of September at the earliest, most in October! This is too long of a championship season for a high school age kid. If you live in CA you have tough races every weekend starting in mid October with Mt. SAC, then your league championship race, CIF prelims, CIF finals, CA state finals, Footlocker Regionals or NXN and Footlocker finals if you are lucky enough and healthy enough to make it that far. Many of the top runners in CA don't even start racing hard until Mt. SAC for this reason. Sara Baxter, a freshman at Simi Valley HS and the Div I CA state champion (also Mt. SAC freshman course record holder) decided, with the help of her parents I'm sure, not to run in NXN or Footlocker this year. It is just too much for some of these young kids.

Sadly, my prediction is that after 30+ years Footlocker Nationals will be gone soon. NXN and all the money that Nike has will take over.

There was a write up by Bryan Green who gave an interesting solution to this problem so that Footlocker and Nike could co-exist but it still extends the season into mid December.
Here is part one.

And here is part two.

10K THRESHOLD RUN

2010-12-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those great days that reminds me why I love running. Well number one I felt great, but also I got to run with Clay and Dale who were running intervals at the Joe Walker track. Their goal was to run 6x800m in 3:20 or less. I didn't feel like running intervals but wanted to run with Clay and Dale so I decided to just keep running at that pace while they were recovering and pick them up again for their next 800. It gave them exactly a 1:1 work to recovery ratio. I ran another two laps while they ran one recovery lap. We helped each other out. I pushed them on thier 800s and and they helped keep me going toward the end of this long threshold run. We cheered each other on, took turns leading the group, joked around a little, and all got in a great workout. We all even got progressively faster as the workout went on. I think they finished with 3:10 and 3:08 for their last 800s! One of my favorite things about running is that we all have some common ground/pace and we can run together. You can modify any workout to make it a group run. I enjoy pacing other runners and working together. Clay and Dale helped me today just as much as I helped them. Thanks for a great workout guys. "There is no satisfaction without struggle first."--Marty Liquori.

In the past few years I have paced some friends to some great times.
I paced Clay to a 19:36 5k 2 years ago.
I paced Dale to a half marathon time trial of 1:37:52.
I paced Ron to a mile PR of 6:53.
I paced Dan to a half marathon time trial PR of 1:31:04.
I paced Andi to a 21:19 5k last year.

By the numbers: I didn't know how long I would be able to keep up that pace today. At first I was hoping to make it 4 miles, but at that point I felt very relaxed so I decided to push on and take it one mile at at time. I went through 3 miles in 19:30. The last two miles were tough as the pace continued to quicken and I realized that I could make it 6 miles and might as well make it an even 10k. My Garmin said I hit 10k after 24 laps and my time was 38:30. I continued for my 25th lap and finished in 39:56! I am not sure which is more accurate the Garmin or the Joe Walker track. After talking with Dale and Clay I think the Garmin might be closer in which case I am amazed that 38:30 felt as comfortable as it did. On the Garmin my last three miles were under 18 minutes! Total mileage for today was 9.

"In races and training, a runner experiences fatigue, hunger, and thirst and learns to go without to achieve their intrinsic goal of running long and hard. Similarly in life, a runner learns what’s really necessary to be done in support of their (naturally intrinsic) pursuit of happiness." --Dominic Grossman (ultrarunner)

Some great links today to share:
First the Dallas Marathon has a challenge with some of the top local high school athletes to run the marathon as a relay with the elite men. 10 boys running 2 miles each and 6 girls running 1 mile each against the elite men. Hopefully the kids can maintain a 5:15/mi pace to keep up. What a fun experience for those kids!

The army is changing some of its training requirements. They are focusing more on diet and adding new exercises for core strength and flexibility but cut out the 5 mile endurance runs which, "officials say can lead to injuries in new recruits who aren't accustomed to the mileage." WHAT! I think they will be disappointed in the fitness of their recruits. I know they have a high incidence of injuries in boot camp, specificaly stress fractures, but if they would just progress these kids gradually and not make them run 5 miles in army boots their injury rates might not be so high. I think this is a mistake.

Two other articles:
First one about new research on altitude training.

Another on older training methods when recreational running first started and used for fitness and competition. It is fun to read some of the old misconceptions. The New York Times even printed this warning, "to take part in a Marathon race is to risk serious and permanent injury to health, with immediate death a danger not very remote." It took a bunch of crazy runners to prove otherwise. I'm proud to be a "crazy runner."

Clay's Hill Workout

2010-11-30T22:48:00.000-08:00

I met Dale and Clay for a Tuesday hill workout. First I ran to Clay's house and then we all ran over to the first hill which is used as a warm up. By now I had run 4 miles of warm up but was no where close to warm as the temp was 20 degrees. Weather.com said the low of 20 would feel like 16 degrees with the light breeze. It was cold, probably the coldest temps I have run in so far this year. That being said we hit the hill on 65th with me chasing Clay who took off hard from the start. Each hill repeat or loop is a half mile long. I finished the first one in 3:28, Clay was 3:35. I ran the next two loops on the Manzanita Hill both in 3:02 and as Clay and Dale headed back I stayed to run one more loop which I hit in 3:07. As I was running home my hands started to get really cold, so cold they started to ache badly. I couldn't wait to get home and warm them up. Even after a hot shower my hands and cheeks were still cold.

Total mileage for today was 8 bringing my monthly total for November to 108. Last week I ran 45 miles (nearly half my monthly mileage) which tells you how my mileage for November looked. Here is a list of my excuses: short taper for Santa Clarita Half Marathon, recovery from the half marathon, a cold, rainy, and windy weekend mid November, and a head cold.

Snow at 3000ft!

2010-11-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

My house sits at about 2600ft elevation. I awoke this moring to snow dusted hills just above the aqueduct. I decided to run up there and check it out. It was still very cold and windy. When I got to the aqueduct (3000ft elev.) I did find some snow but mostly a heavy frost over most of the hills. Look at the left side of the picture between the houses. I took the dirt side of the aqueduct and caught the trail up to the Joshua Ranch Trail where there was definitely snow. The trail was covered with half snow, half heavy frost which froze the dirt underneath and made the ground hard instead of muddy. It was even colder and windier at the top. I paused long enough to enjoy the view and start freezing my hands before I headed back home. I got back in just under an hour for a total of 7 miles. It was too cold to be out there much longer. Us west coasters are wimps in the cold!

FYI: The Garmin Forerunner 305 (the watch that I use) is on sale at Walmart.com for $99 bucks! A steal!

Check this out: A 91 year old woman who competes in all track and field events and owns many world records for 90+ age group. Watch her thow the javelin and hammer! Amazing!

Aqueduct Marathon Pace Fast Finish

2010-11-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

I heard there was a group meeting at Ave S and the aqueduct this morning and I wanted in on the fun. When I arrived I saw David Weary and his son Philip. Dale and Chuck were also there. We had a nice group for a Saturday 10 miler. My plan was to run a few miles warm up and then pick up the pace to what ever felt comfortable. It was calm when I left home but by the time I drove to Palmdale it was breezy and the temp was about 31 degrees when I arrived. We headed west into the wind and I decided not to pick up the pace until we turned around. I did 3 miles with the guys and then increased to what turned out to be 6:50 pace for the next 5 miles. I was even able to hold this pace into the wind on the second go around. My last two miles were about 6:45 and 6:20, then I did an extra mile cool down to meet back up with the guys and finish the run. My legs felt great until about 6 miles and then my LEFT achilles started to burn like it did in Charlotesville this past April and I thought, "oh great here we go again." It didn't get any better and after the run I looked at my leg and realized that my running tights were rubbing and caused a blister on my left achilles. Whew, that is a relief! The skin will heal much faster than the achilles tendon would. Besides the wind it was a great run!

David is running CIM next weekend. He is hoping to run between 3:30 and 3:40. I told him I was jealous. I guess I have a special place in my heart for that race since I PR'd there last year.

Chuck is running the Rocket City Marathon in 2 weeks in Alabama. He is hoping to run around 3:20.

Congratulation to the Desert Christian HS cross country team who placed 3rd in the Division 5 CA state championships today! All their runners are returning for next year which is HUGE! Who knows what another year of training will do. Can't wait to follow them through track and another year!

Born to Run movie?

2010-11-26T12:15:00.001-08:00

Has anyone read Christopher McDougall's "Born to Run?" In this video Jake Gyllenhaal discusses barefoot running with David Letterman and talks about how he just happened to go check out the Leadville 100 this year. Is there a movie in the works? Nothing official yet.

Shea's Castle Thanksgiving Day Run!

2010-11-25T21:35:00.000-08:00

I planned to meet Clay at 60th and the aqueduct at 7:00am for a long run. It was in the low 20s when we started but it was completely calm and the aqueduct was glassy. We headed west with the intent to turn around after 8 miles making it an even 16. As we ran Clay came up with the idea of running out to Shea's Castle, then turning around and having his daughter pick us up at Johnson Rd. It was 12 miles to the Castle (5 miles of new aqueduct for me past Johnson Rd) and 5 miles back to Johnson Rd for 17 miles. We hit the half marathon split at 1:48 (avg 8:15 pace) and suddenly the miles started to get a little tougher. At that point I just wanted to get the run over with and picked up the pace. I finished the last 4 miles around 7:30 pace. It was a good run. Total time 2 hours 17 minutes. Thanks for the company Clay!

Andi and her brother went for a run after I got home. We all burned some good calories that were replaced at dinner tonight!

Congrats to Ron Gallagher who ran a PR for 5k today in 25:12.

Here is a link to some pictures from Thanksgiving Day runs from the past. Today was my longest Turkey Day run ever. The past two years I have run about 6 miles.

BTW: Alan Webb ran 13:36 to win the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5k today with Galen Rupp close behind in 13:39! Sergio Reyes was 28th in 15:00, an off day.

Good luck to Desert Christian High School this Saturday at the California State HS cross country meet!

7 miler with 3 threshold miles

2010-11-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

It is winter out here for sure. I don't know what the temps were exactly this am but I am guessing in the mid to low 30s. I heard that Clay was running at the track early, but I got up a little late and headed down there anyway. He was running 16, 4, 4, 4, 16, 4, 4, 4, 16 (a great workout) and I got there just before the second 1600. I decided to hop in with him and help him through a 6:30-6:40 mile then continue for a while at that pace around the track letting him use me as a rabbit to chase. He wasn't feeing it this morning and stopped his workout after the 6:45 mile with me. My Garmin says my first mile was 6:36, then I continued for 2 more miles on the track by myself fighting a cold breeze on the home stretch each lap. My last two miles were 6:16 and 6:10. Almost exactly 19 minutes for 3 miles. I then jogged home easy for 7 miles for the day. Again felt pretty good about my workout.

Hoping for a long run on Thursday morning. Lows the rest of the week will be in the low 20s! Time to bundle up!

I'll leave you with a few quotes I read recently.

"My advice to you is to identify the qualities of an Olympian that you can control, (dedication, research, hard work, mental strength, visualization of your goals, sportsmanship, balance, confidence) and make those your focus. Live like an Olympian. Put yourself in positions to be successful. That’s all you can do."
--Lauren Fleshman (2010 US 5k Champ)

"I drive myself out of bed. I tell myself, this is what's going to get you to where you want to go, so you're gonna do it."
--Heidi Westover (elite US marathoner (2:35) and elementary teacher who logs 200+mile weeks)

“Shoot for the moon. If you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
--Unknown

10 mile steady state run (1:14:20)

2010-11-21T23:41:00.000-08:00

We have had cold wind and rain all weekend. Saturday morning was so cold and windy I bailed on any running. My right calf was sore all day as if I had been jumping rope on one leg. I have no idea why. I woke up on Sunday to similar conditions, put on running clothes, looked outside, and thought "this is crazy." I started putting away dishes when I looked out the window again 15 minutes later and saw the sun with no rain and only light winds. I decided to go for it!

I left and went down to Joe Walker where I did a loop and then came back on 55th, then took M-8 to 45th and continued to Towncenter and up to Rancho Vista. It was windier up there so when I got to Hillview I cut back down to 45th and took that to M-4 then turned around and went home.

10 miles in 1:14:20 (avg pace just under 7:30). I was feeling good by the time I got to Joe Walker and decided since I didn't run yesterday that I would try for 10 at a little bit faster pace. Here are the splits: 8:04, 7:24, 7:35, 7:17, 7:44, 7:21, 7:29, 7:23, 6:52, 7:12. The route has rolling hills but nothing too hard. I had little to no calf issues on the run!

Cross Country Championship Weekend

2010-11-19T13:38:00.000-08:00

I managed a cold for the first few days this week and was too tired to run. I did get out on Thursday for an easy 5 and felt pretty sluggish. The clock is ticking now for Surf City so I better get back on track. I can't use the half marathon recovery excuse any more.

This is a big cross country championship weekend.
Saturday is the CIF championships for California at Mt. SAC, where the top teams will go on to the State Meet. GO DESERT CHRISTIAN!!

Saturday is also NCAA Championships. The Division III championships are at Iowa's Wartburg College. My alma mater Cal Lutheran qualified one male and female runner for the race. Both DI and DIII races can be watched live. Here is the link to the DIII video page.

Leona Valley Trail Races 5k & 10k

2010-11-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

I set out this morning with plans on running the 30k course for Leona Divide in April. I even drove an extra 3 miles to drop off a jug of water at the PCT turnaround before driving back to the start at the Lake Hughes Community Center. I Started running at about 7:00am up 7N05 and right away just wasn't feeling it. After about a mile I decided I would run the 5k and 10k routes for Leona Valley Trail Races next October instead, so at 1.55 miles I turned around. I used the 5k as a warm up and finished in 27:15. There is a total of 673ft of elevation gain most in the first half mile. Here is the map and elevation profile.

I then took a quick break and headed out on the same route again but continued all the way to Aid Station #1, which is at 6N04, and is the turnaround point for the 10k. It is actually 3.4 miles to the turn around so the 10k is 6.8 miles! It is the only way to keep the same aid stations for the 10k, half marathon, and marathon courses. I decided I would push the 10k a little and finished the 6.8 miles in 52:13. There is a total of 1231ft of elevation gain on the 10k again mostly in the first 3.4 miles, but if you look at the elevation profile below it is sort of an "M" shape. The first mile is the steepest with 418ft of ascent and I ran it in 9:04. I looked back and when I ran LD50 last April I ran the same first mile in 9:21!I ran another mile along Lake Hughes Rd for a cool down and then packed it in. I have a cold that progressively worsened throughout the day. Total mileage for the day...11 miles.

Tough run today.

2010-11-13T18:53:00.001-08:00

Today's run was one of those runs that you just want to forget about and try again tomorrow. I started off really tired, then after about a quarter mile my right calf started to tighten in a "not so good way." I stopped, stretched, and continued on easy. I was loosening up a bunch of mucus again and at one point started dry heaving on it. Gross. I was just happy to make it home in one piece. I ran 4 miles in 32 minutes, and that was enough. What does this mean? It means I am not quite recovered from last weekend. I could have never run 1:31 with Dale today! Awesome Dale!

We then traveled down to Thousand Oaks for the annual Turkey-Tri that Andi's brother Clark helps organize. They had a lower turnout than last year. I think a total of 5 teams and individuals started and 3 finished. Andi was the first individual to survive the 20+mph winds. We still had a great time and then attended the final football game at Mt. Clef Stadium. They are building a new stadium for next season. CLU won 24-0! They are ranked 17th in the country for Division III. Pictures here!

The Santa Clarita pictures are in! It is always funny to look at the race photos and see how aweful you look!
No one has perfect form. It is something that has to be constantly worked on. Drills, core training, shorts sprints, and hill repeats are all good ways to work on form. Looking at your race photos is a good way to see where your deficiencies are. Here I am mid race looking pretty good form wise, shoulders relaxed, hips level, knees abducted slightly, foot right under my body, and very little trunk rotation.

Here I am nearing the finish line, a little tired, and form is starting to break down. My arms are crossing my chest, my leg is stretched out in front of me with an obvious heel strike approaching, and plenty of trunk rotation! YIKES!

Here is one last picture from the race.