Track Work for Marathoners

A couple of weeks ago I started my 20-week training cycle for the Big Cottonwood Marathon in Salt Lake City on September 14th.  Nothing remarkable about that as we have now started 10 such training cycles, each one of them carefully put together to put us in position to run a strong marathon come race day.  The goals have changed over the years from:

“Finish without walking” – Philadelphia 2006

“Qualify for Boston” – Pittsburgh 2009

“Run for Dom” – Boston/Pittsburgh 2010

“Requalify for Boston” – Austin 2011

“Run a best-ever time” – New York 2011

And now 2:59:59 is the goal at Cottonwood.  There is no fallback position, no “B” and “C” goal for that race.  If I run well things like a new PR in the marathon and re-qualifying for Boston will take care of themselves.  The math is pretty straightforward.

26 miles, 385 yards in 179 minutes and 59 seconds.

6:52 min./mile pace.

That is one of the things about road racing that I love so much.  It is in fact very uncomplicated at its core.  Sure we tend to muck it up as humans do.  Assigning all types of if this, then that propositions to it.  But in the end whether it is hot or cold, windy or calm, the course is long or short, my legs feel fresh or flat – all of that is just noise.

26.2 miles, 6:52 pace.

Period.

So going into this cycle I knew that I needed to do something different than I have in the past.  I was able to take more than 50 minutes off of my marathon time over the past 6 years and was able to PR in New York City by just under 7 minutes – the last marathon I truly got a chance to “Race” as Boston in 2012 brought 88 degree temperatures on race day and we just trotted that one in to err on the side of caution.  Houston earlier this year – well, that has been well documented as we missed the race due to an untimely strain to our left Achilles.

Running the requisite mileage is something that I think everyone who knows anything about training for a marathon understands is an absolute necessity.  You need the strength, stamina and mental toughness that comes only from running several long runs of 20, 21, 22 miles to be ready for what is coming on race day.

But the one area that I could look at as a “missing piece” in my training was true speed work or track work.  It is something I had never done in the past, and if I was really serious about making some changes in my training and not just “talking about doing it” like many athletes do – I needed to do it and do it now.

That was the reason for meeting with Coach Carmen Troncoso – talking about her philosophy in preparing runners for road races, and how we could take my current level of fitness and race experience to the next level.  Most things you really want in life don’t come to you because of dumb luck or by accident.  It is pretty close to a miracle that I ran a Boston time in my second ever marathon as a self-coached athlete with less than 2 years of running experience.

Since then I have learned a lot, made my fair share of mistakes, analyzed them and improved.  But how can my knowledge base compare to someone who has been training, running and racing at an elite level – first as a collegiate runner – then as a Masters Runner at the national level for more than 30 years?  Perhaps just maybe, she might have a thing or two to teach me.

But as I have been posting my workouts in my training logs I am starting to get a lot of questions from my friends and peers.  Why that workout?  How hard was that to execute?  What are the benefits?  How does that speed work help on marathon race day?

All great questions – and ones that I pondered myself before I started to work with Carmen.  Fundamentally there are three key benefits to speed work (track workouts) for marathoners.  Greg McMillian posted a great piece about this in Running Times.

1) Short, fast repeats improve your running economy (the amount of oxygen consumed at a given pace), and improved running economy is very important in the marathon. Think of it as getting better gas mileage–you can go longer before running out of gas.

2) Short, fast repeats break the monotony of training. Often, marathon training starts to put runners in a pace rut. Fast repeats challenge you to turn your legs over and help avoid the “marathoner shuffle.”

3) Short, fast repeats allow you to insert some volume of running at a pace that is significantly faster than marathon race pace.

This last point is a critical one – as this Wednesday’s workout called for 10 X 400′ at :90 seconds with :19-20 seconds of rest between repeats.

A :90 second 400 meter interval equates to a 6:00 min./mile pace.  During the workout I ticked off those 10 400′s in:

88′, 90′ 88′, 87′, 87′, 88′, 89′, 89′, 88′, 87′ – basically 5:56-5:58 pace per mile.

On just under :20 seconds of rest between 400′s – the last mile of the workout requires quite a bit of focus and effort.

This Saturday – the workout will be a 3-5-8-5-3 session.  Where the numbers correspond to the number of minutes run at Tempo Interval Pace (6:10-6:20 for me) – or 10K pace + a handful of seconds – with a rest period of 1/2 those minutes at a recovery pace.

So the workout will look like – 2-3 mile warm-up:

3 minutes at 6:15

1.5 minutes recovery pace

5 minutes at 6:15

2.5 minutes recovery pace

8 minutes at 6:15

4 minutes recovery pace

5 minutes at 6:15

2.5 minutes recovery pace

3 minutes at 6:15

1.5 minutes recovery pace

1-2 mile cool down.:

Between Wednesday’s workout of 2 miles at sub 6:00 minute pace and Saturday’s workout of just a hair under 4 miles at 6:15 pace we are able to add 6 miles of basically race pace running to our training week.  Each and every week the duration or intensity of the workouts will increase with the exception of our step-back weeks where we will dial back just a bit to make sure we stay healthy.

At the end of the training cycle we will have well over 125 miles on our legs at 10k, 5K or even sub 5K pace.  The equivalent of racing more than a 10k every week between now at race day.

With the goal of increasing our running economy, keeping us mentally sharp avoiding fatigue in just grinding out the long runs day after day,  and making Marathon Goal Pace “feel” a whole lot easier on our machine come race day.

After running so much up-tempo work in the Texas heat this summer – when we get off of that bus in Cottonwood Canyon and those 40 degree temperatures hit our skin, we are going to start ticking off those 6:52′s like nobody’s business.  The first 8 miles are going to be our warm-up, the middle 8 miles will be the start of the fight.  The third 8 miles will be the time where our will and our want to starts to be tested.

The final 2.2 miles are going to be an all-out street fight.  There are no two ways about it.  I am going to have to fight, scratch and claw for every single step to hold pace until we reach the final 400 meters.  But if all it is going to take to get there is a 102 second 400 to make it, I am going to lean on those hundreds of laps around the track this summer where we ran 86′, 85′, 84′ lap after lap after lap.

If there is one thing I learned growing up it is this.  When it comes to a street fight, never bet against the guy from Philly.

 

18 Weeks to Cottonwood

I made my hotel reservation for next spring’s Boston Marathon yesterday.

Pretty ballsy for someone who is not sitting on a qualifying time at the moment.  But to be completely honest, I’m not worried at all about running a “Boston Time” at the Big Cottonwood marathon on September 14th.  If it weren’t for the fact that I think hotel rooms are going to become incredibly scarce (and expensive) as Boston approaches next year – I wouldn’t be thinking that far ahead at all.

For the first time in a long, long time I am 100% focused on the here and now.  I’m not looking too far down the road or worrying about an upcoming race or workout – I’m completely committed to my training plan and to relying on Coach Carmen’s ideas about how to prepare me for September 14th.

If the plan calls for 8 miles with the middle 6 at steady date 6:20-6:30 like this past weekend the day before my Sunday long run – I’m running them as prescribed.  No thought about is it too much, too little, will I be able to bounce back quick enough for Sunday’s workout.

Just shut-up and do the work.  (I crushed the workout on Saturday by the way).

Tomorrow morning’s workout calls for a 2-mile warm-up, dynamic exercise and then 3 miles in and out 100′s at 6:30 pace.  Meaning I am going to “run” the straightaway 100′s at 10K pace (6:10 ish), then dial back on the curves of the track for 100 meters around 6:50 min./mile.

Run the straights, cruise the curves X 12.

2 mile cool down.  It will end up being a 7-mile workout, with 24 100′s at 6:10 pace, 24 100′s at MGP.  It will be my 9th run day in the last 10 days and I could not be more excited about the workout.  My legs feel strong, my cardio is in a great place – and even though we are coming off a rather disappointing race at Bun Run a week and a half ago – I’m moving past it – chalking it up more to course and conditions than anything else.

Today’s easy day left me feeling like I had a lot more to give at the end of 8 miles as I was cruising along in the low 7:20′s – feeling no fatigue or beat-down from the increase in runs and mileage.

I know that we have a long way to go – and that as the summer heats up here in Austin there are going to be tough days and flat workouts.  That is all part of the making of the marathoner.

But right now I am just taking the workouts one day at a time, one mile at a time, one lap at a time, one 100 meter interval at a time.

On race day I am already visualizing that same approach.  I am going to glance down at my pace tat on my left forearm at the start of every mile and run 26 consecutive one mile races.

No faster, no slower, no worries about mile 22 when I am on mile 16 or mile 6.  Just run the mile that is at hand.  When that one is done, run the next one, then the next one and the next one.

All of the pressure that I had been putting on myself to plan my workouts, execute those workouts and evaluate them has been passed over to Coach.  It is perhaps the greatest gift I have ever gotten in the sport with the exception of watching Dom’s battle with cancer and being taught what true courage really is.

I feel like a giant weight has been lifted and now I am just a runner who is doing what he is told to do.  Carmen and I are still getting to know each other, feeling things out.  I think that she knows that I am motivated, dedicated and I am proving to her that I am a coachable athlete.

What I don’t think she knows just yet is how much I am willing to hurt.  How much it takes to break me.  On race day, how easy it is for me to remember why I am running, who I am racing for and that giving up or giving in would hurt me a whole lot more than any physical pain that the marathon can put on me.

I have been confident in the past, but there has always been a small nagging feeling in the back of my mind wondering if I was really good enough, fit enough, tough enough to race the marathon to our potential.

I’m sure I will have my moments of doubt again this summer at some point after a tough workout or a flat performance.  But the important thing is going to be my ability to shake it off, learn from it and keep moving forward.  No matter what, just focus on the next task at hand and keep pushing.

That is how winning is done.

That is how we are going to race Big Cottonwood.

Once mile at a time.

 

Marathon Training Begins

I remember my final 22 mile long run prior to the New York City Marathon in 2011.  When I got back home I dropped my soaking wet shoes, socks, shorts, runderwear outside to dry out and shuffled into the bathroom.  Dawn was there getting ready to go to breakfast and I said, “I am never training for another Fall Marathon again”.

Now, the first mistake that runners make is when they start a sentence with, “I am never …..”

It is just an absurd opening line.  We absolutely are going to do whatever it is that we say we are never going to do again in the future and the future might be as nearby as just a few months away.  I made the same mistake just seconds after crossing the finish line in New York on a day when I ran my best ever marathon, and I said aloud, “never again”.  Everyone in the finish area, runners and volunteers alike actually just laughed.

Perfect strangers, and even they knew that I was completely full of sh#%.

But I have to admit, I really meant it when I swore off of Fall Marathons.  Training for a marathon is difficult enough, especially if you intend on really “racing” the marathon.  Running as close as possible to your abilities and fitness level.

But to train for that distance through a Texas summer, where the coolest temperatures of the morning take place at 4:00 a.m. and they are sitting at 77 degrees with humidity in the 84-88% range through June, July, August and September.  It’s just a beat down, and there really is no relief in sight.  Quite honestly, without any traveling planned during this training cycle, the next time I feel cool temperatures on my body in the 40′s will be on Race Day in Utah.

I am hoping that is actually going to pay huge dividends on race day, as in those temperatures after a summer of battling the heat, humidity and hills here in Austin – I should be ready to eat thunder and crap lightening.

But getting to that point is going to be the real test.  We started this 20-week marathon training cycle with 118 runs and 1,201 miles to get through the finish line at Big Cottonwood.  We are going to be going to 6 run days this cycle, only taking Friday as our day to rest, recharge the batteries and get ready for our Saturday team workout with the Rogue Elite Training Group.

After that weekly beat down we will pull ourselves together on Sunday mornings and go long.  Our mileage on Sundays this cycle will be:  14, 15, 16, 14, 18, 19, 14, 20, 20, 14, 20, 21, 14, 21, 22, 14, 23, 16, 10 and then finally race day.

1,200 miles +/-, 7 long runs of 20 miles or more, 40 track workouts and plenty of endurance work mixed in at paces ranging from Marathon Goal Pace of 6:52 min./mile to our Recovery Pace of 7:52 or MGP +:60.

I am not a huge believer in running a lot of “total mileage” during a training cycle just for the sake of it.  There are plenty of 55-60 mpw (mile per week) runners who can dismantle 70-80 mpw runners on marathon morning.  But I do know for me that I was a much more fit and well prepared marathoner in New York City, running in the high 60′s and low 70′s per week than I was when I was topping out around 55 miles or so.

This cycle will have us running 53, 56, 58, 59, 62, 63, 55, 67, 67, 55, 68, 70, 55, 72, 73, 55, 76, 61 and 46 during our last week leading up to race day.  Those 55 mile weeks that are highlighted are serving as my “step-back” weeks, where we back off of the mileage just a bit before increasing mileage during the subsequent next two weeks to guard against over-training and injury.

The thought of a 55-mile week being a “step-back” week is a bit surreal as that was my peak mileage training for Pittsburgh back in 2009 where I ran my first Boston Qualifier in 3:17:43.  Now 55 miles is just a business as usual type of week.

So the formula is set, the dye is cast, we are doing things a little bit differently this time around working with Coach Carmen and training 2X per week with the Rogue Team.  But we are keeping just enough of the things that we have done in the past that made us successful to make me remain calm, confident and relaxed heading into what is going to be a tough summer of training here in Austin.

There are going to be runners much faster than us at Big Cottonwood in September, of that I am certain.  There will be others who are younger, stronger, more fit, have run more miles in their training and have big aspirations for race day just as we have.

Last year a sub 3:10 marathon was good enough for 10th place overall in the event.  A sub 3:05 would have placed us in the top 4.  Being the first year of the event last year, the crowd was small and nobody had a real sense of how the race would unfold.

This year there will be more competitors, faster runners, more at stake with Boston Qualifying times more precious than ever.  I can’t really control any of that.  All I can do is put in the work, take care of myself and put the best conditioned physically, most ready mentally marathoner we have ever been on the starting line on Sept. 14th.  When that gun fires and we cross the mat – I want to have zero doubt in my mind that there was anything more that I possibly could have done to be ready.

If we are able to run that first mile with all systems firing, physically, mentally, spiritually – those other runners will be in a world of trouble on race day.

Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.  I ran the last one for me Dom in New York, this one is for you brother.  We’re headed back to Boston and once we get there next year, we are going to crush it.

31st Schlotzky’s Bun Run Sunday

Sunday marks the 31st running of the Schlotzky’s Bun Run here in the 512.

An Austin institution that added a 10K race just last year to the traditional spring 5K.

As I was putting together my spring plans coming back from the Achilles strain that had us on the shelf for 5 weeks over the winter, I knew that one of the fastest ways for me to get my speed back would be to do a little bit more racing than we normally do this time of year.  Sunday will be our 5th race in the last 56 days, which even for us who tends to race fairly frequently is an aggressive pace.

3 5K races at the Texas Independence Day, Thin Mint Sprint, Red Poppy 5K and two 10K races at the Cooper River Bridge Run and Schlotzky’s.

No PR’s during this stretch of races, and really none were expected.  The courses, our fitness level coming back from injury and our goals for each event did not lend themselves to those types of performances.

What I have seen however is what I have hoped to see, which is steady improvement, not a single peep from our Achilles and a return of my racing mindset.

Closing 400 at Thin Mint Sprint

After Sunday we will have only one more race on our calendar before we stand at the starting line at the Big Cottonwood Marathon on September 14, as we will be once again heading up to Holland, TX for the Cornfest 5K for the 5th year in a row.  Still Age Group undefeated in Holland, I’d like to keep that streak intact for at least one more year.

But after that race it will be nothing but training for Cottonwood the remainder of June, July and August.  It is going to be a hot summer here in Austin, filled with new workouts with our coach and training group and fitness gains that will put us on the starting line in September the most prepared and dialed in marathoner we have ever been.

On Sunday at Bun Run we are going to let it all hang out.  My race plan is not going to put us in a position to approach our PR of 37:30.  That will have to wait for the Fall and the IBM Uptown Classic.  But I hope to run a solid 1 min faster than we did at the Cooper River Bridge Run three weeks ago.  A solid :10 second per mile improvement should be a good target given the course differences and improvement to my fitness level since Charleston.

So there will be no overall wins this weekend, no PR’s, no age group accolades likely.  Just another stop on the way to Cottonwood and hopefully a time of 38:19 or better.

Sunday morning for the 5th time since Texas Independence Day – Boom goes the dynamite.

Getting Back to Boston

There was a time when running the Boston Marathon was my absolute, no questions asked, number one goal when it came to distance running.

In May of 2009 I calmly stood at the starting line of the Pittsburgh Marathon after the most aggressive and difficult training cycle I had ever completed with a couple of numbers etched in my mind.  3:19:59.  7:37.

7:37 pace would give me my qualifying time of 3:19:59.  If I could lock in, navigate the hills in Pittsburgh and run strong to the finish I would find myself at the starting line of the greatest footrace on the planet that April.

In one of the top 5 race plans I have ever executed regardless of distance, I ran fearlessly to a 3:17:43 finish at 7:31 min./mile pace.  I, just a novice runner who took up the sport in 2006, running in my third ever footrace at any distance and second marathon had qualified for Boston.  The experience was surreal.

In just over a month we would be made aware of Dom’s illness.  Cancer would come into our lives for really the first time up close and personal.  Boston became much more important than just a footrace.  It became part of a two marathon in 13 day adventure that changed my life forever.

In 2012 I went back to the Boston Marathon not running for Dom or against cancer or for any other “statement”.  I was now a multiple marathoner having run a 3:08 in New York in 2011 and I went to Boston as the 5,280th fastest qualifier for the race.  I “belonged” in Boston and was looking forward to my second attempt at slaying the dragon which is the course from Hopkinton to Boston.

Fate threw us 87 degree temperatures in 2012 and I never really got to do any racing.  I decided I would just “trot it in”, live to fight another day and reload for a different marathon somewhere down the road.  “Boston” had been crossed off of my list not only once, but twice and I doubted that I would ever return to Hopkinton and if I did, it would be a long time down the road.

Perhaps when I turned 50 I thought or if I was still running marathons at age 60, maybe that would be a race that would mean something to me.

Last Monday a lot of things changed for a lot of us.

“Boston” all of a sudden became something that I know in my heart that I need to do next year.  I am a runner and more appropriately, I am a marathoner.  And the place where a marathoner belongs next April is at the starting line of the Boston Marathon.

For the first time in a few years I do not have a “Boston time” in my back pocket when registration opens in September.  Knowing the outpouring of support in the running community for the victims of the blasts last Monday and the support for the city of Boston and its iconic road race – this will be the most competitive registration process ever for Boston.  Registration will open in the middle of September and the race is going to fill up faster than ever.

Due to some changes in the way the registration process works that started for the 2012 race, runners with times 15 minutes better than the qualifying standard will have an exclusive registration window to go first.  Then runners with a time 10 minutes better than their qualifying standard.  When that period ends, it will be runners with better than 5 minutes and then finally everyone with a qualifying time that is :01 second to 4 minutes and 59 seconds better than their BQ or Boston Qualification.

The “faster” runners with the better times will get in before the “slower” runners vs. their goal time.  So the cutoff will more than likely be somewhere in the 2 minute to 4 minute range based on previous years.

As a runner who will be 46 years old next spring at Boston my Qualifying time is 3:25:00.  7:48 pace.

A 3:20:00 will more than likely get me a ticket to the party – right back to my friend 7:37 pace.  The irony is not lost on me.

With a solid training schedule and good health, we should be able to comfortably run a marathon on a neutral course in neutral weather conditions in 3:05-3:10.  2:59:00 is really the target goal that we have our sights set on.  But the marathon is a fickle race and a lot of unexpected things can take place.  So we are going to be taking nothing for granted.

The biggest problem for us right now is the “when” not the “if”.  I needed to find a fall marathon that would give me an opportunity to run my Boston time prior to registration opening.  After looking long and hard at all of the races around the country, very few in the month of September presented a great chance for cool weather and a flat or fast course before September 16th.

After a lot of consideration today we registered for our next marathon.  Big Cottonwood in Salt Lake City, UT.

A race quite frankly I had never heard of before last week’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.  A race that was run for the first time last year.  But the dramatic downhill course coupled with a 6:40 a.m. start (7:40 Austin time) and it’s point to point nature if weather conditions are optimal will allow us the opportunity to toe the line with a great chance of executing our race plan and earning our way back to Boston.

At some point on September 14th the battle is going to start.  My body telling me that it is ready to quit and my mind telling me that we have more to fight for.  In a strange way I am looking forward to the pain, because just like 2009 I know that I have what it takes to set all of that aside and fight tooth and nail for that Boston time.

If I run a new PR, good for me.  Break 3 hours?  Even better.  But if things don’t set up that way for me through the half-way point and we are not clipping along at 1:28:30 and the elevation is taking a little bit of a bite out of us – not to worry.  We still have a lot to fight for and come hell or high water I can honestly say that I am willing to do whatever is necessary to hang on like grim death over the final 10 kilometers to the finish.

I am going to be flying out to UT alone on Friday morning, running the race on Saturday and flying home alone again on Sunday morning shortly after sunrise.  There will be no wild celebrations, no post-race breakfast parties or dinners out with friends, no hugs from Dawn and Landry at the finish line or high fives to my runner buddies here in Austin.

This is nothing more than a business trip.  I am going to collect my medal, pose for the post-race picture and savor the day for a few moments.  I will then immediately start thinking about April 2014 and how we are going to prepare for our greatest effort at the greatest road race in the world.

I would not miss being there for anything.

On to Big Cottonwood.

Boston Marathon – Sadness on a day that should have been anything but

The Boston Marathon will never be the same, but for the families of the two people who were killed and the dozens who were injured at the finish line on Boylston Street – their lives are forever changed.

I can remember the first time I turned onto Boylston Street running perhaps the greatest 3/10 of a mile in road racing for Dom back in 2010.  Enjoying the spotlight, the rockstar treatment as spectators lined the street and yelled encouragement.  Those spectators make the pain that has manifested itself over the last 26 miles fade to the recesses of your mind and for at least a few moments, you feel whole again.

Those cheers fuel runners on when everything in their mind and bodies is screaming at them to stop.

It should be a celebration for so many.  Not only for the runners themselves, but for the families of those runners who put up with all the lunacy that goes along with training for an event like Boston.

The early nights to sleep.  The earlier alarm clocks on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Missing out on “fun things” as runners are preparing for their training runs and especially those 20 mile+ training runs.

I think of the marathons I’ve run to date and Dawn has been there at the finish line of every last one of them.

Waiting there patiently for me to finish.  Hoping to see me make the final turn and speed toward the finish line.  Never once did we ever worry about her safety or that of Landry who was at the finish line in Austin, New York and Boston in her first 2 years on the planet.

So today we are faced with a new reality.  Just as we were after 9/11.

It is times like these when you know making proclamations is a fools errand.  I’m going to run again.  Heck, I’m going to run tomorrow morning.

I’m going to race again and I’m going to run marathons again.  Boston III?  New York II?  Chicago?  Berlin?  All races that I pondered either making a return to or running for the first time such as Chicago or Berlin.  I’m just not sure that I want to put my loved ones in situations like that going forward.

It is a shame as I know that changing the way that you live your life after moments like these are exactly what terrorists want.  They want to create fear and chaos.  They want to strip away of freedom.  Rob us of those experiences.

As much as I don’t want to let that happen, or contribute to that response to what happened today in Boston – as a Husband and a Dad I need to take the long view here and make sure that I am making the right decisions that are best for everyone.  Boston is more than likely no longer in my future – which is truly sad.

For those families effected by the events of this afternoon – my heart goes out to you.  I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers here in Austin and tonight Landry will add you to her list of people she asks God to bless before drifting off to sleep in her big-girl bed.

As for the cowardly pieces of human garbage that are responsible for what took place today in Boston – I hope you get everything coming to you.  Karma is a bitch and I hope that it rains down on you with furious vengeance.  I wouldn’t waste a squirt of piss on you if you were on fire standing in front of me.

1% improvement is all we need

One of the more interesting things I find about distance running is that there really  is no “best way” or “right way” to prepare for races universally.

Some runners thrive on high-mileage weeks where others break down or suffer from over-training.  Other runners focus on leg turnover, interval workouts or threshold pace runs but stay away from the “long stuff”.

Some race far better than they train, others are the exact opposite, where after posting impressive workout after workout come race day they leave their best running on their trail, treadmill or neighborhood and fail to deliver at their event.

Mental, Physical, Genetic Pre-disposition and Nutrition all play a role in how to best prepare a runner to reach their maximum potential.  “Working hard” is only a small piece of the puzzle, but it is the one that many of us focus on the most and assign the greatest value.

Perhaps that is because we think we have the greatest amount of control over the work ethic piece.  The fact of the matter is on Saturday morning quite a few of the 178 male finishers who “beat me” in Charleston, SC probably do not work as hard as I do at the sport.

Likewise, of the more than 35,000 runners we were fortunate enough to finish in front of – there are a large number who work harder than I do.

The hard work part is just a piece of the pie.  Focusing on the right workouts, creating the perfect “cocktail” to force positive adaptation is the goal in any well thought out and executed training program.

After seven years of training, running and racing I have finally come to the conclusion after reading Dr. Jack Daniel’s book “The Daniels Running Formula” – I am going to spend the next 2-3 years perfecting my own preparation for the 1/2 marathon and marathon.

On a cool day with good race conditions and a neutral course I can cover 13.1 miles in 83-84 minutes.  If I am able to improve my half-marathon time by just 1%, I will take :49 seconds off of my Half-Marathon PR and make me a 1:22:45 guy.  A very respectable time for a 45-46 year old runner.

That time of 1:22:45 would project to a Marathon time of 2:53:00-2:55:00 using the most widely accepted formulas that in a sense ask you to double your half-marathon time and add somewhere around 7:00 minutes.

1% improvement and we are in a position to accomplish all of the goals that we have out in front of us.

Reducing our 5K PR from 18:02 to sub 18:00 minutes.

Breaking 1:23:00 in the Half Marathon.

Breaking 3 Hours in the Marathon.

1%.

Having never been formally coached, having never had training partners or a peer group to lean on, learn from and push me to new levels – I think that is a very realistic goal and expectation to set.

Of course we are running in a race we cannot win against Father Time.  We may be losing 1% of our ability over the same period of time naturally, so the reality is we probably need to make a 2% improvement through our training and approach, while losing 1% to age and deterioration of our speed and endurance.

Even still, I like our chances for success.  For the first time in a long time I have a hard tangible goal out there that was not just arbitrarily chosen based on past performance or a round number such as 2:59:00 or 1:25, 5:00 flat or 18:00.

When you have a goal in front of you and you have a plan on how to get there, this is where that hard work piece comes back into play.  It is a matter of staying focused, running each and every workout with a specific purpose and pushing hard enough to put yourself in a position to be successful.

If you are able to do that, you are going to be pretty darn tough to deal with on race day.  Even the approaching heat of our impending Austin Summer is doing very little to dampen my spirit or determination right now.  Come October when Fall arrives to upstate Pennsylvannia, the leaves begin turning colors and there is a cool, crisp morning dawning over Scranton Pennsylvania there is going to be a slightly built, quiet Texan boarding a bus to the starting line of the Steamtown Marathon.

There will be very little distinguishing him from many of the 3,000 runners strapping on their race shoes that morning other than the quiet confidence that all the hard work and heavy lifting has already been done.

There will be little in the way of chatter or bravado.  No talk about race splits, mileage totals or how much hill work has been done in preparation.  Ear buds in, steely eyes on the road from the front of the bus downloading ever twist, turn, tangent and ripple on the road that he will be racing over in a couple of hours.

Race day.  October 13.

Boom goes the dynamite.

Time for a little help from our friends

It is often and rather famously said, that doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. The proverb applies more to life in general than it does to the sport of distance running, but as running in many ways is a perfect metaphor for life, the principle applies.

Since 2011 I have set more goals than the typical 45 year old guy walking around on the planet. I’m a keenly aware of that fact. Amazingly I have been able to plan the work, work the plan and reach or exceed every one of those goals on my list when it comes to distance running with the exception of one.

I am not the most talented runner, this is a fact not opinion. I have to work extremely hard at the sport and earn every second that I take off of the race clock. For others it comes much easier. That is not to say that I am complaining. I think most coaches would rather work with an athlete that works hard, is dedicated and is willing to put in the hours and suffer the pain to get as close as possible to their potential.

While other runners may have more natural ability, they are not willing to pay the price in reaching their full potential – or ever really approaching it. Good enough is simply good enough, and that is as far as they are willing to push themselves.  I’m not about to start preaching about the virtues of trying hard and failing vs. using your natural talents to succeed. Trust me, it is all about the succeeding piece for me. It is about race day, goal setting and goal achievement. I don’t publish my weekly training mileage and carry it around like some badge of honor. It’s simply the means to an end.

I train to run races. Period. End-game.

As I write this I am sitting on a United Airlines flight – seat 12B to be exact – on my way to South Carolina for the 2013 Cooper River Bridge Run. Myself and 39,999 entrants will be toeing the line Saturday morning and testing our metal at an incredibly difficult 10 Kilometer Race that spans an enormous bridge, usually combats strong headwinds and will push each of our limits.
It is our first large race of 2013 after a brief set-back to start the year due to injury, but as of right now we are just about 95% all the way back to our peak fitness in December. It simply is a matter of continuing to get our miles in, rebuild our stamina and endurance to the previous standard. The body is fine, the mind and spirit are there, we’re just tuning up the engine a little bit more. It’s a process, but one that is nearing completion.

But this race is the end of an era for me as it will be my final race as a self-coached runner.

On Wednesday I had lunch with a tremendous coach in Austin who has worked with many of the runners I compete against at local events for several years. She is in her own right a tremendously talented runner, now nearing age 50, and has forgotten more about running, training and racing than I will probably ever know.

I have come to the conclusion that I have at best three more race seasons to run my best ever marathon. Whether that means 2:59, 2:55, 3:02 I really have no idea. That is what we are about to find out.

But I simply cannot keep doing the same things over and over again and expect a different result.

Instead I am willing to admit that I need a little help to get over that final goal that I have been carrying around with me since the Austin Marathon in 2011. I want to run a marathon in less than 180 minutes. In fact, I would trade every Age Group Award, finisher’s medal, PR, ribbon and trophy I have ever been fortunate enough to acquire to find myself with one more mile to go at the Steamtown Marathon on October 13th and 6 minutes, 52 seconds to get there.

I am willing to scratch, claw, fight, hurt and bleed to do it.

But pushing hard on race day has never been our problem. There is plenty of fight left in this old dog.  It is in the approach to getting to that position through training where I have not been able to dial things in perfectly at the marathon distance. A race where the smallest of errors are magnified significantly, where heart, guts and hard-work can only take a runner so far.

I need an edge. A new weapon in my arsenal. Someone who is going to simply tell me what to do and when to do it. Someone that will watch me run two times a week – providing a set of eyes that can step outside of my own head and tell me if I am pushing hard enough, need to back off, need to change up our training strategy – and finally, someone who one week before Steamtown is going to give me an honest number to shoot for on race day that is not one that I have arbitrarily self-selected to define me.

Whatever that number is, is the number we are going to go get. If it is 3:03 or 2:59 or 2:56 – I am willing to go out on race day and make it happen. But it is going to be based on more than my own definition of “excellence” – it is going to be based on her years of experience coaching athletes, predicting race-day potential and pushing athletes to the edge of the cliff and then pulling them back just in time before they risk injury or a flat performance.

The final piece of the puzzle is I am going to have training partners for the first time ever. There are reasons why the top distance runners train in groups – providing someone to push you in workouts, someone to help you suffer through grueling sets of repeats and intervals. My good runner friends Andy and Scott are both part of this training group. There have been race days that I have run with them, others when they have run away from me and the rare performance where I’ve been able to hang on and beat them.

Well now perhaps we can work together and push each other to new personal bests and times that to this point have seemed untouchable. What do they know that I do not? What can I learn from them? Is there really more inside of me that I just have not realized or tapped into? All great questions.

I used to feel as if accomplishing my goal time in the marathon by myself and not with the help of others was going to somehow legitimize it more. I’m not sure where that notion formed in my mind, or why it did, but it has definitely been a part of my runner psyche for some time.

The reality is that without the help of my swim coach there is absolutely zero chance of me completing last Fall’s Half Ironman. ZERO chance. Trust me, I was there when I tried to swim my first 25 meters, you were not. When I say zero, I might actually be overestimating my chances.

Without my friend Ed’s advice and the help of the guys at Austin Tri Cyclist to fit me for my bike, put me in the right gear and help with nutrition, there is no way I ride a 2:38 bike split over 56 miles and podium in Kerrville.

The run part? O.K., that was all me last year. But it is time for that to change.

So this weekend when we toe the line in Charleston I am going to take a moment to run my fingers over Dom’s initials on my shoes like I always do and think about all of the races we’ve run together since he got sick back in the spring of 2009. I guess I really never was truly alone out there in the end.

We just recruited another member to the team this week Dom. So what if we need a little bit of help to get to that point at Steamtown this Fall. That is still going to be the greatest mile I will have ever run, win, lose or draw.
26 weeks to race day. 6 months to make it all come together. Time to go to work.

It’s Race Week! Thanks B-Doe!

Hi guys!  Checking in from “race week” as we are starting to get that eye of the tiger going for Saturday’s 5K.

Training has been a little challenging with Momma Bear in Barcelona this week, and Landry and I holding down the fort together – but so far we are both still alive, eating three times a day, grooming ourselves and haven’t missed work or school yet – so I’m counting that as a win.
I wanted to share an interview that I took part of this past week here in Austin talking about Back on My Feet and our upcoming 24-hour race May 11th and 12th.

http://www.klbjfm.com/local/index.aspx

B-DOE from 93.7 FM here in Austin has a tremendous program called local insights, where he focuses on one of the wonderful non-profit organizations that help make our city such a wonderful place to live.  I was fortunate enough to be able to drop by the studio and speak to B-DOE about our organization and talk running, racing and a little bit about paying it forward.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as we did putting it together.

And B-DOE – I completely expect to see you out there on May 12th for the Pajama Run 5-Miler!  No excuses

 

Taking Stock – Onward and Upwad

Tuesday marked my first day of running “doubles” in 2013.  A 6 mile off/on workout in the morning, followed by a moderate 6 miles 12 hours later.

I bounced out of bed Tuesday morning feeling the best I have in quite some time.  After feeling no ill-effects from the Texas Independence Day 5k, my legs had started to bounce back from my runs closer to normal and there was still no pain or stiffness in the dreaded Achilles.  It was time to move on, stop thinking of myself as a runner coming back from injury, and just thinking of myself as a runner who was training for a race.

It seems like the physical piece always comes back before the mental one does.  Tuesday was a big day and I knew it.  Funny how I was the only one at 4:45 a.m. in Avery Ranch who thought so – but that is why running is such a great metaphor for life – sure you can run with friends or with a running club, but most of the time the big gains are made on some unlit trail or street in the wee hours with nobody watching except for your conscience.

The first workout is an easy one to follow.  The first mile is a warm up or “Off” mile, with the second mile one approaching 5K effort or “On” mile.  Repeat the process Off, On, Off, On, Off, On until reaching 6 total miles.

To make the workout a bit more challenging run each mile whether it is Off or On a bit faster than the last mile of its type.

Or to put it simply, each off mile should get a bit quicker throughout the workout as should each on mile.  Tuesday’s results:

Off Miles:  8:06, 7:58, 7:53

On Miles:  6:10, 6:04, 5:58

Not the fastest I have ever run this workout, but it was a rock-solid effort dropping pace by just about :06 per mile regardless of whether we were talking about the “Offs” or the “Ons”.  The whole point of the workout is to help you run race-pace miles in a controlled environment.  With the alternating easy miles or recovery miles thrown in, you can get right back to training the following day, or in my case only 12 hours later – without the fear of aggravating something or winding up injured.  Key concerns for Masters ( Over 40 years old) runners.

For the afternoon workout I decided to keep it short in distance and just roll up and down over the hill route for 6 miles.  In a few weeks these workouts will stretch out to 8 miles each and turn Tuesday into a 16-mile day.

With the temperature now 75 degrees the p.m. run was a solid progression in:  7:30, 7:22, 7:21, 7:16, 7:13, 7:00.

Nothing glamorous, nothing overly impressive – just a solid training day.  The kind of day that makes all the difference come race day.

The next week is going to prove to be a bit challenging with Momma Bear traveling to Spain for a week.  Landry will be “helping Dad train” this weekend as she puts it.  I’m not sure how long she will be content riding in the jogging stroller, but we’re going to give it a shot.

It might mean some early mornings or late nights on the TRI bike trainer in the garage with the baby monitor next to me – but we’ll consider those workouts mental toughness training for half-ironman at the end of our race season.

Right now it just feels good to be training again – and not too far off of where we want to be/need to be heading into the season.  As the weather heats up here in Austin, we should be as well.  Going to be an interesting summer race season.  We’ll be a bit of an underdog at some of the upcoming events in our age group – but that’s just the way I like it