Grandma's Marathon

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.

High Mileage

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.

I ran today! (5 miles)

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.

California State Track Meet

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.

Why US track and field is still behind?

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.

Conservative training progression and Vibrams

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).

Do you rotate shoes?

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?

Boston Marathon 2:03:02!

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

Finally getting some national recognition

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.

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

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.

Boston Marathon Entry Changes

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?"

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.

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

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!

2010 recap & 2011 goals

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!

9 mile marathon pace fast finish run

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

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.

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.

Clay's hill workout

I got up and ran over to Clay's house to meet him and Dale for their morning hill workout. It is exactly 2.5 miles from my house to his. There was a cool ring around the moon this morning. The temperatures were in the high 30s with no wind. PERFECT! We ran another mile before starting the hill workout. It is a set of 3 differnt hills but the last one is run twice and the first one is a warm up. I didn't know how my calf would hold up to the hills so I stayed with Clay to push him on his sets. He had a great workout. I ran home from there for a total of 8 miles in 64 minutes of varying speeds. I had to stop and stretch my calf between hill sets.

Thirsty Thursdays with Jack Daniels is on the transition from high school to college running. It made me think about my transition from running as a Senior at Green Valley High School to a Freshman at California Lutheran University. It was a tough one. I trained over the summer and ran a downhill road 10k before leaving for school in 36:36 (still my 10k PR). I had a tough transition to college running though and never ran under 30 minutes for 8k my first year. The jump from 5k to 8k was tough on me. I would typically go out too hard and fade in the middle. It is tough to run your own race when most of the guys can go out at 5:00 pace or under and hang on. I seem to remember usually going out around 5:30 pace but still running around 30min. I dealt with the worst case of shin splints I have ever had come championship races and ended the season on a poor note. In track our coached trained most of the distance crew for the 1500m and I gained a lot of speed. I remember doing a weekly workout that was 4 or 6 x 400m and I would be last on each rep running at 67 sec! I never ran farther than 3k that spring, mostly 1500m (around 4:36), but I did run in one 4x400m relay and the head coach clocked me at 54 seconds! I still don't know how accurate that was, I never ran faster than 57 seconds before or after that. I am guessing it was closer to 56. I think by the end of track season I had gained about 10 pounds as well which probably didn't help. I remember weighing about 165 at the end of high school and being somewhere in the 180s by the time my freshman year was over. All in all it was fun and that is what counts, but I remember it being a tough transition to balance school, running, social life etc.

Is anyone reading this thing?

I hope there are some people out there reading this blog besides my local running pals (you know who you are)! There is some darn good stuff out there for runners these days and I only post the best stuff I find. Anything I post here is either very entertaining (to me anyway) or educational. Please share this information with anyone you think would benefit from it. Today is one of those great educational posts.

I recently posted some comments on the RW running doc's post on kids running marathons. Then I found this recent post from Coach Jay Johnson on Metabolic changes vs Structural changes. The gist is that "metabolic changes occur faster than structural changes…and that’s usually why you get hurt." The entire post is worth a read, probably twice. Clay, this is exactly what we talked about today when we were discussing Scott (large engine weak chassis)! This is probably blog worthy for the DCXC blog. Even the comments on Coach Jay's post are all worth reading.

It reminds me of Greg McMillan's philosophies on his new DVD "McMillan's Guide to High School Cross Country." In this video he says we all have two gauges, a musculoskeletal gauge and a cardiovascular gauge, and we are always looking at the wrong gauge to progress training. He is saying exactly what Coach Jay states on his blog, "The point is simply that the athlete gains aerobic fitness (or even anaerobic fitness/tolerance) quicker than their structure – their bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments – can handle that fitness."

So what do both of these great coaches do to make sure their athletes musculoskeletal system can keep up with their cardiovascular system? Form drills, general strengthening (GS), and core training! Greg McMillan has a 3 level DVD program on these topics and Coach Jay posts short GS videos on his blog all the time. Check them out!

Any one coaching, training, or advising young runners should read all these posts and probably order some of McMillan's DVDs. They are inexpensive and FULL of great information. Please comment on what your thoughts are. Agree? Disagree? Have a question? Want more information? Let me know!

9 mile week?

I decided I needed to just rest the leg more. I didn't run at all last weekend. I did have a good time being the lead bike at the AV Fair wave race though. I started the race with Roger "Woody" Wood in the 70+ age group. We stayed together for 1.25 miles until Alan Brown (60+ AG) caught us. I then continued on with Alan for another 1.25 miles until we were caught by Steve Brumwell (50+AG) and I rode with him until 14 year old Vanessa Lopez caught us and won by 8 seconds. It was a fun race, I hope to be able to run next year. In decent shape I think I could have cracked the top 10 (I would have a 14 minute disadvantage)!

I ran 5 miles on Monday and my right calf said that was enough after about 4 miles.

I ran 4 miles today (Thursday) and again I was done after 4.

As I rested last weekend I started to wonder if maybe I actually have some small tearing in my soleus. Fortunately, it has been feeling better all week. My 10k on September 12 has turned into a "hope to finish without pain" run.


There has been some great articles and blog posts this week, that I would like to share.

1. A world record in the men's 800m last weekend by David Rushida of Kenya by .02 seconds. Watch the video here. Amazing!

2. A great interview with Alberto Salazar on getting through hard workouts!

3. A fun interactive site on How Marathoning Affects the Body.

4. A very intersting article from the USATF on stretching and injury prevention. If you read one part of the article read the discussion. My take on stretching is just like my take on running shoes. There are so many factors involved that to make a generalization like "running shoes prevent injury" or "stretching prevents injury" is hog-wash. Running in different shoes or daily calf stretching would not have prevented my calf strain. Does that make stretching bad, no, but it doesn't make it good either. It has to be specific to the athlete and their needs. Also, when you read an article about running injuries make sure you find out what the author classifies as an injury. Their definitions will vary.

5. Deena Kastor is 3 months pregnant. She will not be running the NY Marathon this fall. I didn't pick her to make the 2012 Olympic team anyway. Now she will only have 9 months to recover and prepare for the trials. I don't think it is enough.

6. Both Chicago and New York Marathons are shaping up to be very exciting races. Maybe a morning marathon party is in order. I will let you know when the races get closer.

7. Nick Arciniaga, one of the top US marathoners with a PR of 2:11:47, wrote a good blog post on the mcmillanelite athlete blog page on August 16, 2010. He talks about his coach Greg McMillan's mantra "Go for it," meaning to go into every race with the ambition to run a breakthrough performance. I think what we mid-packers can take from this is that when you are in good shape don't let your watch limit your pace. Yes, run within your own means, but if you have been training hard and you never push it just a little bit harder, then you will never know what your true potential could be. If you are close but you never go out at your Boston Qualifier pace, you will never "break through." Sometimes when you try this you will not make it. This has happended to me twice in marathons. I went out in the 2006 Las Vegas Marathon with a half split of 1:25, hit the wall hard, and scrapped together a 3:04. In 2008 at the Boston Marathon I had a goal of sub 3 hours again, went out in 1:28, blew up again, and walked in the last 5k to finish in 3:14. But if I had not run these races, I would not remember what this feels like to go out that hard, and may not have run 2:57 at CIM last December.

8. Coach Jay Johnson also had a great blog post on August 23rd titled The Uncarved Block. The part I like is the 8 points listed for the high school coach when training runners. My favorite is number 8 because so much of coaching and training runners is trial and error. He writes, "Volume. I know – wait, I think – two of the athletes I work with need to run more. But maybe they don’t. Maybe they need to run more of their current volume hard. Or maybe they just need to run the hard volume they were running harder." What does each individual athlete need? More overall volume? More hard volume? More intesity? There is no right answer. My pal Ron said it best in an email to me recently (I hope you don't mind me posting this Ron): "It seems like that fine line is where all the gravy is. I mean too easy and there isnt enough stimulus to change, and too hard and you invite trouble."

Enough time-wasters yet?