10 mile easy run

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!

4 mile recovery run in the fog

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.

Race Recovery

I woke up Monday morning stiff and sore but got on the treadmill and shuffled for 20 minutes and it really helped loosen me up. I was pretty tired by the end of the day at work.

Today I got in another 5 miles easy recovery running. I actually felt good for three days after the race. Nothing exciting about these runs. It is important to get back out there right away and do some easy running for a week or so.

My right calf feels tighter than the left still but it is the best it has felt in the last three months.

Speaking of three months! It is three months until the Surf City Marathon! Actually less than three months! 12 week build up, looking forward to it! The website says that the marathon is nearly sold out!

The Leona Valley Trail Races website was launched today. Give it a few hits so it will come up on more google searches. Check back for updates, race maps, and elevation profiles!


Tip of the week: The Sports Doc on runners world finally had an interesting post about how donating blood can affect performace. When you give blood the fluid lost is typically replaced within a day if you adequately rehydrate. The red blood cells (which carry oxygen to your muscles) on the other hand, don't return to previous levels for up to 60 days! That means a decrease in endurace performance for 2 months! This is also why they usually make you wait 8 weeks before dontating again. He suggests not giving blood for at least a month before an important competition and 2 months if possible. He certainly promotes giving blood and so do I (although I haven't in a long time). I know some of you that participate in races on a monthly basis. My advice would be to not give blood for at least 60 days before a PR attempt or goal race, and realize that your performance may be affected in other races where you have given blood recently, especially in the last 30 days.

6 miles yesterday!

I did get out for a run yesterday. I was sore from hitting the trails hard on Saturday. It was definitely a recovery run at 9:00 pace again. After about 3 miles my right calf started to talk to me again. It was whispering but still talking so I slowed even more. I couldn't figure out why until I remembered that I rolled the same ankle Saturday. The sun was right in my face and I raised my hand to block it when I missed a step and rolled it. My peroneals are still sore today so I think my calf had to do some extra work causing some tightness. It is fine today, besides the peroneal soreness. Sunday was one of those runs you just want to be over with, until I got home and saw this sunrise! This picture was taken from my front door!

Race Results: Keira Henninger won the Diablo 50k in a female course record this weekend in 5:38:16! Congratulations Keira! She was the second overall finisher.

If anyone was planning on running next year's Boston Marathon, I hope you signed up today, because registration started this morning at 9:00 am and they filled the 25,000+ slots by 5:00 pm! Read the RW article on this record closure.

Rest of the week

I did run 8 miles on Wednesday morning. I run a lot by feel, and Wednesday I wasn't feeling it. I finished the 8 miles in 72 minutes (9 min pace). It was pretty slow, but I got through it and felt better the rest of the week. It seriously took me nearly 5 days to fully recover from that 18 mile trail run. It probably didn't help that I flew down the hill the last three miles. So what should I do now, I am headed back up to Lake Hughes in the morning to map out the half marathon course on the Garmin for Leona Valley Trail Races. It is an out and back course shaped like a V (up to the top, down the other side, turn around and head back. The elevation chart should look like the letter M. The course is a little long, 13.4 I think. We'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Another great Thirsty Thursday this week.

Also another great article on Joan Benoit Samuelson with a cool picture from Chicago.

Finally, the new Sports Doc at Runners World answers the question, "Should kids be running marathons?"

I agree with all the Doc's points. If progressed conservatively there is no reason kids can't run long distances. The Doc says, "The adults I know who ran marathons as 10- to 12-year-olds and are now in their 40’s and 50’s have no known problems." Look at the east Africans. These kids run sometimes up to 6 miles to school and then back home every day, with smiles on their faces. There is a reason why they dominate the distance events and that is early aerobic conditioning. He also states, "There is no evidence that long distance running causes any permanent growth plate injury in child or adolescent runners. The growth plate is vulnerable to injury, but probably at much greater risk in the contact and collision sports–football, basketball, soccer, ice hockey, and others that we actively promote for child participation–than in pain-free distance running for a child." I personally think that races farther than 10k should be limited until high school age and marathoning can wait until college age. At least that will be the rule for my boys.

How old were you when you ran your first marathon? Half marathon?

I was 15 when I ran my first half marathon (1:32) and I was 24 when I ran my first marathon (3:15).

3 mile recovery run

"You don't stop running because you get old. You get old because you stop running." --Dipsea Deamon

I usually don't run on Mondays. I think there are many people that don't run on Mondays, but they should. The vast majority of us do our weekly long runs on the weekend, or at least a good chunk of mileage on the weekend. I am no different. I ran 9 on Saturday and 18 on Sunday for a total of 27 for the weekend. Most of us are so stiff and sore from the weekend that we just sleep in and take Monday off. What we should be doing is a recovery run or at least cross training. The recovery run, although usually stiff and slow, will do just that, help you recover buy increasing blood flow to the same muscles that are tight and sore, thus helping flush out all the crap and restore a normal homeostasis.

So today I got out for a 3 mile recovery run. It was slow, not quite a shuffle, but close to it. It should be at least two minutes slower than marathon pace. I was actually suprised how I felt. Symmetrical soreness, a phrase I came up with for normal post hard workout or long run soreness. My run yesterday was nearly twice what I was used to. I am most sore in my calves but they feel equally sore, ok maybe the right is a bit more sore than the left, but they are close. This recovery run will help set me up for better workouts this week.

Keira Henninger had a nice post on her blog about our run yesterday. Thanks again Keira. Looking forward to more trail runs!


Here's a nice article about Joan Benoit Samuelson's race at Chicago. She's AMAZING!

Michael Wardian (world record holder for the marathon while pushing a baby in a baby jogger), just won the Hartford Marathon this weekend in 2:24:38. Why is that so amazing, well it is his 6th marathon victory this year and he was 11th at Twin Cities last weekend in 2:21:13!


"That’s the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is." --Kara Goucher

3 mile...Jog

We stayed out in Acton with my sister-in-law last night. I got up early and jogged to the Acton Park. There is a nice dirt path around the park which is almost a half mile long (.45 miles). I started to have calf tightness after a mile or so. I was able to make it through 3 miles, then walked a cool down. I found that I had less pain with a forefoot strike versus a heel strike due to less dorsiflexion, and less stretch on the calf. More on form later. I did some massage and ice baths today. It was pretty stiff and sore all day. Very similar to my run on August 6th, but not quite that bad.

FYI Frank Shorter ran his first race after having surgery on his hip at the beginning of this year. He had a hip resurfacing, not a hip replacement. He ran the Falmouth 7 miler in just over 70 minutes. I can't imagine how it must feel to run nearly twice as slow as he did in his prime. I hope he is just happy to be running again. I know I will be.

Update

If you are wondering what the lack of blog posts meant, well it meant a lack of running. I strained my soleus last Sunday. There is two muscles that make up your calf. The gastrocnemius being the more superficial and the soleus the deeper. The gastrocnemius crosses the knee joint but the soleus doesn't. To stretch the gastroc you dorsiflex or extend the foot with the knee stright, to stretch the soleus you dorsiflex or extend the foot with the knee bent. The soleus stretch is typically felt lower in the calf just above the achilles tendon. I have no pain when I stretch my gastroc, but I feel the same tightness and pain when I stretch my soleus. Here is the rundown of the last week.

Monday: Calf sore all day from cramping Sunday.

Tuesday: Calf feeling better. Tried to jog to my car...not happening.

Wednesday: Thought about running in the morning but the calf was very tight first thing in the morning.

Thursday: Stayed up too late Wednesday night and was too tired. No pain with walking. No pain jogging to my car.

Friday: Decided today was the day to get in a slow easy run. I just ran up and down M-12 so I wouldn't get too far away and have a problem. It was tight the whole time and after a mile started to get a sharp pain with every step. Now, I have been running long enough to know when a pain is saying, "stop now" and when pain is saying, "be careful." Today it was saying, "be careful" so I stopped at 3 miles. It was sore and painful with every step the rest of the day.

I did an ice bath tonight.

I looked back at the last time I got a cramp as bad as this one. It was April 19, 2009 and I complained about it for exactly 14 days. Although on the 14th day I ran the OC half marathon in 1:27:22. If it takes me that long to recover again I will be ready next weekend.

Tyson Gay beat Usain Bolt in the 100m in Stockholm, Sweden today clocking a 9.84. Watch Tyson turn it on at 60m. His turnover is amazing. He is 6 inches shorter than Usain!

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

6 mile recovery run

The legs were tired from yesterday. It took me 3 miles to loosen up and I just took it easy running down to Lane Park, did 3 laps (1 mile each), and returned home for 6 miles in 51 minutes.

That's a 22 mile weekend and 40 miles for the week. Now I just have to keep this up for a while.

Check out this race, 2nd fastest 800m ever this weekend. If it looks like he is sprinting for a half mile, that's because he is!

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

6 mile run BLAH

The plan was at least 12, I ended up with half that, and felt aweful. I blame lack of sleep over the weekend. Later in the day I felt great, except a little burning on my left heel still from the hills and cross country race last week. Well it is 11:00pm now so I better get to bed.

We did have fun at the beach!

Summer Cross Country Series

Late entry:

I did run an easy 4 miles Wednesday morning. It was a recovery run from those hills on Tuesday and it was SLOW.



Today I went out to the first of the summer cross country races on Thursday nights. There is a 1 mile race that many people use as a warm up, and then the 3 mile race all at Pelona Vista Park. It is a very hilly course on dirt trails. I ran the mile as my warm up in 6:45 then got ready for the 3 mile. I knew my fitness was not near where it was last year so my goal was to go out conservative, RUN UP the KILLER HILL, and finish strong. I think I went through the mile at around 6:20 to 6:30 and felt like I was on the edge of going too fast. I saved enough energy to push the hill hard and was spent at the top. Zac and I kept passing each other every 3-4 minutes but he finished about 10 seconds ahead of me. I was able to finish strong, not fast, in 20:25ish, good enough for 16th place and first in my age group (I think). My PR on that course is about 30 seconds faster in 19:57. My left achilles is a little sore again tonight (remember the VA trip). I'll have to take it easy the next week to be ready for the Newhall July 4th 5k!



Clay took some pictures. I stole this one from his blog. Thanks Clay!





Finally, Sergio Reyes competed in the 10k final at the USATF Championships in Iowa this evening. I missed watching the race since I went to the cross country run. Sergio was seeded 11th in the group based on his qualifying time. Based on the results it looks like it was a 5 mile warm up followed by a low 4 min mile for the winner Galen Rupp. The times were so slow they must have been jogging for the first 4-5 miles. Sergio finished 12th with a time of 29:50. Looks like he finished ahead of a pack of 4 other runners right behind him. Way to finish strong. Congratulations Sergio! I guess it was really hot out there!

5 mile recovery run

I was pretty stiff and flat from yesterday's long run. My run today was only 5 miles at about 9 minute pace. A 20 mile weekend. Not bad, just slow.

Memorial Day Weekend

Total weekend mileage: 17

Saturday morning the weather was great. I decided to do a 6 mile fartlek "speed play" run. I like to use fartlek training as a good way to get used to faster paces before beginning intervals or formal speed work. Fartlek training involves informal increases in pace for varied distances during a run. I like to look ahead and pick a spot to run hard to, the stop sign or that big tree up a head. It may be only 100m or it may be a half mile, then I usually wait to do the next "surge" until my heart rate is under control again. The workout went very well and typically my "surges" were on the hills around Rancho Vista.

Sunday Andi and I met our friends Bill and Dawn for a trail run. We drove down to a trail off of Placerita Canyon. The first 4 miles were up hill on a great trail which was harder because of the 90 degree temperature! I actually ran out of water by the top. We then made it a loop run down another trail which I guess they call a "fire break" along the ridge. This meant that there were some very steep sections that we carfully walked down. The entire run was 7 miles. Besides the temperatures and the steep downhills we had a great time and got some good pictures.

My legs were so stiff from the run yesterday that I just did a very slow recovery run for 4 miles. It helped loosen me up and I felt much better the rest of the way.

4 mile recovery?

So today was a little worse than yesterday, probably from pushing the pace a little. I took it easy today averaging 8:30 pace for 4 miles and didn't want to run any further. 11 miles total for the weekend. That is 11 more than last weekend so I feel better about that. Will take the day off from running tomorrow and return to the lunch strength training routine.

OC Marathon results are in! Michael Graham, who also ran CIM with us last December, finally got his BQ (Boston Qualifier) as he ran a very even race today and finished in 3:09. Nice work Michael, congratulations. Chuck ran 3:35 on a still recovering knee to maintain his streak of running every OC marathon! Dan ran a 1:34 half marathon at OC this morning and said that he was able to follow his race plan perfectly. Sounds like there was good weather and that everyone had a good race!

Amazing Recovery!

I would have never believed that I feel as good as I do three days after running a 50 mile race. The only thing holding me back is my left achilles which is no worse than it was after the Charlottesville 10 miler! I feel WAY better than I did after CIM. I looked back on the blog and I didn't run for 5 days after CIM and was only able to jog for 30 minutes. I only ran two more times the rest of the year and I remember it taking almost 6 weeks to feel like myself again on the roads. This has been much easier. I always wondered how these guys and gals run a 50 mile trail race once a month, now I know.

I have no races on the schedule until July 4th for the Newhall Independence Day 5k, where I would like to break 18 minutes (I haven't since college). So the next 2 and a half months would be a gradual build up to some weekly track work/intervals. I don't think my achilles would handle that well right now.

Then next event for the Stutelbergs is the Iron Girl Triathlon which Andi is competing in on May 15th. This will be her first triathlon and she is excited to see how well she can do and how much she enjoys the event.


The Boston Marathon was this Monday and we followed it online at work. It seems like so long ago that I ran, but it was only Boston 2008. I delt with hamstring cramping early on and bonked on the Newton Hills, limping in at 3:13:56 (slow considering I went though the half in 1:28).

This year, Robert Cheruiyot (the younger) won with an amazing course record by almost 1.5 minutes in 2:05:52!

Ryan Hall ran the fastest American time on the Boston course in 2:08:41 but was only good enough for 4th place! Meb was 5th 2:09:26. The story is that Ryan rubbed Mebs head as he passed him late in the race. Americans placed 4, 5, 9, and 12.

Dale Lister from Palmdale ran a PR, closing strong in 3:19:30. At 40k I think he was still on pace to be just over 3:20. Nice finish Dale, congratulations.

Dave Hoglund of Lancaster ran 3:32:52 a very respectable time.

Justin Patananan of Palmdale faded in the second half and finished in 2:27:26, good enough for 50th place!

4 mile recovery run

I stayed close to the house today to test my achilles and see how I felt. I felt ok and only had time for a half hour but by the end of that both calves were tight. I felt some right lower achilles tightness and some left mid calf tightness. I am glad I have 10 days to get my legs loosened up. It may take that long. There will only be easy running between now and then.

208 entrants for the Leona Divide 50 miler.
24 spots available.

Here is a link to my pictures from the Charlottesville 10 miler.

I forgot to report that last week I surpassed 10,000 blog visitors! At least a thousand of those are me but thanks to everyone else that has visited, read, and commented on my blog.

Cool video from Coach Jay Johnson from a track workout in Boulder, CO.

Ever seen a hamstring pull during a race? How about three out of six teams pulling up in the 4x400m at the World Indoor Championships? Three medals, two DNFs and one DQ! Watch the video here. This video was shown at the conference I attended last weekend before a presentation on acute hamstring pulls.

4 mile recovery run

I bagged the trail run today due to a steady rain and wind most of the day. I just got in a 35 minute easy recovery run as my legs were still a little stiff from Thursday night's workout. I may try and head out in the morning.

Congratulations to my mom who ran her first 5k in 25 years and placed third in her age group with a time of 31:10! My step dad, who is one year recovered from major back surgery, walked the course in about an hour. A year ago he couldn't walk to the end of the block! Congratulations to both!

Another 5 mile recovery run?

I failed to mention that on my trail run Saturday I rolled my left ankle twice on the way down the mountain. It was fine on Sunday, but my peroneals (lateral calf muscles) were really sore all day Monday. I had 45 minutes before work today to get in an easy run so I ran my Lane Park recovery loop totaling 5 miles in 41 minutes. It feels a little better today.

The USA cross country championships were last weekend and no surprise that Dathan and Shalane won their respective races. They are quite possibly the best male and female runners in the country right now. As I checked out the rest of the results I found that Blake Russell placed 8th in the women's race! I had not seen her in any race results since she was the only US female to finish the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. This was her first race since giving birth to her first child last April. There is a prerace interview on flotrack here. She says she gets asked all the time, "What is harder, marathoning , or child birth." She said "hands down child birth" was much harder, even with an epidural. I would love to take a poll from my female readers who have experienced both, let me know!

Here is my Blake Russell story. I was in Boston for the 2008 US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon the day before the Boston Marathon. Blake finished 3rd and earned a trip to Beijing where she placed 27th. She was the only American to finish the race after Magdalena and Deena DNF'd. After the Olympics I wrote to some of the athletes requesting autographs. I sent Blake some photos and mentioned that I was a physical therapist (she is also a PT). She sent the pictures back signed with a nice note and enclosed another 8x10 of the three US women who qualified at the trials, also signed. I hesitated to send it away but finally decided to send it to Magdelena and then Deena, all of whom were prompt in signing and returning the photo. It is now on my wall in my office at home. It is an inspiring photo will all the red, white, and blue.

7 mile recovery run

I got out for an hour while the boys were napping today. We have had a glorious weekend of weather. I was running in shorts sleeves and enjoying every step. I decided to try and get a few more miles on trail so I headed up to the end of 55th, ran under the aqueduct for the first time, and went up to the Joshua Ranch Trail. I didn't realize how nice of a trail that is. If I do run to Acton next week I will take that route. It may be a little longer than the road, but it is much more fun and scenic. I turned around at the second bench, the high point, which is exactly 5k from my house. I ran back on the aqueduct and came home on Godde Hill Rd. As I was running down the hill a man on a bike came up along side of me and slowed down. It was Clay! He was out for a recovery bike ride and had just been to the top of Godde. He coasted down to my house with me and I finished my 7 miles in 61 minutes. I wished I had time to go farther on the Joshua Ranch trail. By the time I got up to the top my legs were finally loosening up and ready to go.

Total weekend mileage: 25

Total weekend trail mileage: 21


Andi ran an "easy" 10 this morning in 79 minutes. She is running 1-2 treadmill workouts during the week and a longer run on the weekend. She is also swimming once a week with her mom and got in a 20 mile bike ride on Saturday. She is all signed up for the Iron Girl short course triathlon in Las Vegas May 15.

5 mile recovery run and Christmas gifts

I was sore from my 3.5 miles up and down the trails yesterday. Mostly sore in my hamstrings and glut medius (the sides of my hips). After an easy mile warm up I was able to settle into an easy recovery pace around 8:15 to 8:30. I made it 5 miles today in about 42 minutes. My left hamstring is more sore than the right but not at the insertion as before, mostly in the muscle belly or mid-thigh (a better soreness to have).
I am planning on getting back into my lunch circuit-core routine 2-3x/wk starting this week. I think I will need to be consistent with that program to make it through some long trail runs.

Some running related Christmas gifts that I received this year included a 4Gb IPOD shuffle, a book titled A Father's Odyssey 75 marathons in 75 consecutive days, and the movie/documentary "Running the Sahara."
I tested out the IPOD shuffle yesterday and it works great. It is so much lighter than my old MP3 player and you can clip it anywhere. Also with 4Gb of storage you can hold well over a thousand songs, put it on shuffle mode, and you could run for over 2 days without repeating a song (the battery would die before a song would repeat).
The book details the story of 57 year old Terry Hitchcock who, in 1996, ran from St. Paul, MN to Atlanta, GA in 75 days to raise awareness for hardships faced by single parents and their children and their "daily marathon." He is a widower who raised three children. I have not read the book yet, but when I do I will write a book report.
I was given the DVD "Running the Sahara" from both my brother and sister (so I have two copies). I guess they know me pretty well. We watched it over the holidays and I would recommend it to anyone, runner or not. It documents the expedition of three men as they ran across the Sahara Desert starting at the Atlantic Ocean in Senegal and ending at the Red Sea in Egypt. I won't give too much away but the movie makes running thousands of miles exciting (and dramatic), and showcases some stunning landscapes in north Africa. The movie also helps raise awareness for H2O Africa, a clean water initiative supporting the water crisis in Africa.

Oh, and I got a nice 8x10 photo of the finish line at Grandma's Marathon, my first sub 3 hour marathon.

Did anyone else get any great running related Christmas gifts? Please share!


"If you don't set goals, you can't regret not reaching them."
--Yogi Berra

I love Yogi!