Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Training July 26-Aug. 1

Monday - 16 (4,12) ... In the evening I stuffed my credit card in my pocket and picked up a badly needed pair of shoes (Brooks Glycerin, since about 2004) mid-run at GRC. Way more efficient than driving there. I even got to recycle my past-dead shoes!
Tuesday - 16 (6,10) ... Felt good in the afternoon. Just throwing this out there: Eating a high-quality carb -- in this case, half a whole grain bagel -- about an hour before training (as I was walking out of work) really helps. I ate a power bar perhaps an hour before that -- so what I guess I'm saying is that getting that double dose of good carbs in the hours leading up to training is very beneficial. This is something I always do before hard workouts, but not necessarily the easier/recovery days -- and it is way harder to execute when training early before work.

At the same time, it can bite you by knocking your blood sugar out of whack (at least, I think that's what happens) and giving you that lightheaded dizzy feeling (which is particularly the case if I try to eat when I wake up an hour before training in the morning). For what it's worth, I also a drink a cup of coffee -- usually while driving home from work -- before my afternoon session. And before my morning session. And before ANY time I run. Not really sure why I just put this out there -- most of it is pretty basic -- but I'll leave it.

Wednesday - 16 (4,12) PM Track workout at BCC: 3 by 2 miles with 400 jog for rest. Very hot and humid. Legs were pretty zapped. My workout was good for 5/6ths of the way, but came undone in the last mile of the last rep. 10:30, 10:19, 10:39 ... This is a lesson in not getting greedy. 10:30s across the board would have been fine.
Thursday - 15 (10,5) In the afternoon, Emily rode a bike beside me as I ran a loop through SE. We got crushed by a rainstorm. Pretty funny.
Friday - 17 (12,5)
Saturday - 22 ... We started from the store in Georgetown and kept it on the towpath: 5 out, 5 back, repeat. Wiggy and I added two more. We started really easy and gradually picked up through the first half: 68-ish. Wiggy and I did the second half in 56-high. This was a good workout, but we got out a bit fast for the second 10; I need to work on that.
Sunday - 13
Total - 115 ... Highest week ever.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Training July 19-25


Floyd Fest photo by friend and pro photog Susan Pleiman. Levon Helm: one of the all-time greats.
Monday - 17 (7,10)

Tuesday - 16 (10,6)

Wednesday - 14 ... No time in AM. PM: Met up with a small group at BCC for a tempo on CCT and some 150s on the track. We probably could have organized this better, as we went five miles out, all downhill, from miles 3 to 7.5 on the trail (~half mile from BCC parking lot to trail) and ran at marathon effort coming back -- you guessed it -- all uphill. Another big surprise was that it was really hot and humid -- by the end, my flats weighed about 10 pounds. I wanted to stay completely under control -- no straining, no hard breathing -- and I think I achieved that. I took splits every half mile and each was between 2:50 and 3 minutes, which I think is OK for this particular stretch. The time does not really matter for this; it's the work you put in. The long uphill grind made my legs feel very heavy and uncomfortable; that said, I like that I was still able to run an even pace. After exiting the trail, and heading back to BCC, I continued to 30 minutes to make sure I got in 5. After jogging around the track for awhile, we did 8 times 150 on, off then finished with two miles of barefoot running on the infield.
Thursday - 13 ... Ran with Dave Fontaine. Usual post-workout soreness, but I felt OK after an hour and extended it, as a work assignment prevented a double.
Friday - 14 ... Felt more sluggish than I did on Thursday. I got home late from work and did not get enough sleep. Six hours won't cut it right now. On top of that, my weekend plan involved going to Floyd, Va., to a music festival, Floyd Fest, for a good friend's 30th birthday. Packed the car and left.
Saturday - So there I was in Floyd, which just happened to be tucked off the Blue Ridge Parkway, which just might very well be the most beautiful road -- granted, I just visited Colorado -- I have ever seen. I ran out and back on it, passing marvelous overlooks, enjoying the cooler weather, running up huge hills, soaking it all in ... 12 ... Seeing the Levon Helm Band this evening was no doubt one of the musical highlights of my life. I've been an admirer of Levon for a long, long time.
Sunday - Drove back to D.C. in the morning, took a long nap in the afternoon (slept right through a big storm), went grocery shopping and then trained at night after the heat (temps in D.C. topped 100) had somewhat subsided. Got in a solid 20.
Total - 106

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Training July 12-18

Monday - PM 13 ... Back in D.C. Ran with Jake Klim and Robert Jarren.

Tuesday - 18 (10,8) ... Got caught in a thunderstorm. Quite a downpour. Didn't really care.

Wednesday - 16 (4,12) ... PM: Met a big group at the BCC track for 6 by 1,000. I worked mainly with Karl Dusen, Joe Wiegner and Charlie Ban. The conditions were odd: the temps were down a bit but the humidity was off the charts. I don't think I have ever sweat so much, and it made my legs feel pretty dead; with that in mind, I tried to keep everything very much under control. 3:05, 3:05, 3:02, 3:04, 2:59 ... Lap jog for rest.

Thursday - 16 (9,7)

Friday - AM 13 with Patrick Murphy

Saturday - Visiting friends in Frederick for the weekend. Ran an easy 10 through former stomping grounds.

Sunday - PM 20 ... Ran from my apartment, did two loops in Hains Point, crossed 14th St. Bridge, ran past Reagan Airport, returned and continued to Memorial Bridge, Mall, added some in neighborhood ... I started to pick it up after about 20 minutes, once I reached Hains Point, and I gradually ratcheted up the pace. Was able to get a few splits: 6:30 pace on the first loop through Hains Point, 6:20 on the second; 5:55 on the way out to Reagan, 5:50 coming back. Continued as such. Shut it down at two hours and cooled down for 10 minutes. This was pretty good considering how hot it was (even at that hour). My shoes were making that squishing, waterlogged sound, to give you an idea.

Total - 106

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Training June 28 - July 11

Photo by Emily Dufton

On July 2, Emily and I left for a road trip to Dillon, Colo., the site of a Peace Corps Niger reunion. During times like these, I've learned it's best to allow some flexibility to creep into one's training plan. Think of it like going off the grid. So I didn't run 100-plus miles a week: I ran in the mid '80s. But there were no zeros, and overall there was plenty of good training. Actually, when I was settled, I was able to hunker down a bit -- though no doubles. It was vacation, after all! On driving days, however, I thought of my runs more in terms of maintenance training. It was kind of cool, kind of like the old days before I got way too serious about all this and running was this amazingly revolutionary vessel that allowed me to think a lot.


Monday - 14 (3,11)

Tuesday - 14 (10,4) AM: 5 by 2 minutes, 5 by 1 minute. On grass. Equal rest.

Wednesday - 15 (5,10) ... PM workout ... Just getting to BCC High School in Bethesda -- I usually Metro; the drive, in comparison, is always terrible -- can be an epic experience. Actually, it can be kind of a total pain. But I am willing to do it for group track workouts; for this, the group is a HUGE advantage. Delays on the Red Line put me there 20 minutes late, cutting my warmup down to a mile and a few strides, but I managed to get through a good one. Joe Wiegner and Karl Dusen set the pace, and I worked quite a bit with Jake Klim to form something of a chase pack. So it goes: 800 (2:26); 1600 (4:49); 3200 (10:08 - even split); 1600 (4:51); 800 (2:19). The rest for all of this was a lap jog with a quick stop to take a sip of water. We had cool temps. A good workout on fairly dead legs.

Thursday - AM 10 PM no time: working late, preparing for trip

Friday - AM 12 ... Drive to 7.5 hours to Toledo, Ohio. Check into an exceptionally sketchy, price-is-incredibly-right Motel 6. Miniature golf. Terrible pizza; the beers, at least, were only $1. Sleep.

Saturday - AM 11 ... Twenty minutes after accepting the fact that I was about to run 40 minutes out and back on a sidewalk along busy road after busy road, I was shocked to find a path off the road that led to a trail that led to a gorgeous park full of a nice people who waved and said hello and wide gravel pathways and open meadows and too-friendly deer. What a find! My legs were very stiff and my pace was very slow, but I was very happy to just put in some time. ... Then we drove 8.5 hours to Clive, Iowa, near Des Moines, where we stayed with my good friend's parents.

Sunday - AM 13 ... On the main road closest to where we stayed, a bike path ran dead straight for God only knows how far. The view to my right flip-flopped between corn fields and development. To my left: houses, shopping centers, mulch factories, machinery. In places like Texas and Tennessee, I will always remember the dogs: They would emerge from yards and force me to sprint. Or, emerging around a corner, I would find them just there, waiting for me, mouth open. ... Out-and-back routes were recalculated. In Iowa, though, I will always remember the red-winged blackbirds -- the guardians of the corn fields -- how they would swoop up into the air whenever the path would get a little to close to the stalks and squawk and hover above me and, I swore, prepare to dive bomb me. Also, it rained pretty hard.

... The rain continued as we drove west through Iowa and didn't clear until we hit Omaha -- and what better time to take in a new state than after fresh rain. The 75 MPH speed limit meant the feeling of moving, progressing. When we hit Colorado, it was like the Earth was a bed sheet the gods had decided to shake out. Everything -- the sky, the road, the terrain -- was more rugged. Sixty miles from Denver, on I-76, we saw a light sketch of the Rockies. Passing Denver, merging onto I-70, the mountains were suddenly on top of us. We listened to LCD Soundsystem. We didn't talk. There was the perfect amount of light. We passed a town called -- get this -- Georgetown. Then we were there, in Dillon, in a mountain house ... Elevation ~ 9,200 ...

There was a party. It was happening. Then I woke up.

Monday - AM 14 ... Having never run at real altitude, I started out timidly. How would I feel? A series of two hills took me to the main road and I followed signs to a bike path that looped around a reservoir. The temperature was shockingly cold. The cyclists wore pants and jackets. I lost track of time.


Tuesday - AM 10 ... Ran to Silverthorne. A gray fox with a bird in its mouth crossed the highway. Visited Boulder in the afternoon.


Wednesday - AM 18 ... Started off on the bike path and killed some wonderful time in a nature preserve, a dirt road. I really had my legs under me. In Dillon, I did not have to start first thing in the morning. There was no reason to (no job!); on top of that, it was almost too chilly in the early morning. Ten o'clock was about perfect, and I'll say this: The opportunity to eat in the morning, a couple hours before training, makes a HUGE difference. After the dirt road, I continued on the bike path and veered onto a road rather than continue to Keystone. I climbed and climbed and climbed. I must be 10,000 feet! This is training! I came around a bend and saw the road jackknife toward the sky. And I knew that hill would be the end of me, so I turned around.
Parts of this I ran at right around 6-minute pace. I noticed, too, that I was getting some interesting looks: There was NO ONE running in Dillon.
A Peace Corps buddy who could easily bench two of me noted that just going to the fridge for a beer seemed to make his heart rate spike. Also, I should probably thank my Peace Corps friends for understanding my routine: When I would sneak off to bed around 11 or midnight, I was maybe the only person who was allowed to get away with it. Ah, sleep. Blissful, blissful sleep.


Thursday - AM 12 ... Because we had to check out at 10 and head to Denver, this was the one run I had to do early. Started at 7. Wore shorts, a thermal underneath a running jacket and a winter hat. (Gloves, clearly, were the missing accessory.) I was pretty tired on this run, and the altitude definitely does make things tougher (although, I think the cool temps, when comparing it to D.C., do neutralize it some). Driving in on I-70, I noticed that I was either hitting the brake to keep my speed under 80 MPH or gunning the accelerator to maintain 60. Running here is very similar: there are no true flats; plus, the inclines are steeper than you think. Dressed in my silly outfit, I could not help but think of that picture in "A Cold Clear Day" of Buddy Edelen, toward the end of his running life, wearing a thick hat and sweatshirt and grinding through a run at some ridiculous altitude in Colorado. The first great American marathoner had mostly trained in England, and the change in setting came as a great shock. About Colorado: Mostly, I'll miss the sheer power of it, its ineffable beauty, the way, in an instant, you can take it all in and remember how extremely unimportant you really are. I finished with four tough hill reps. Turned 29 today.

Friday - AM 11 ... Outskirts of Denver. Found a bike trail that often had a gravel side path. It was functional more than beautiful. It kind of reminded me of Maryland's Northwest Branch Trail. A mile's worth of altitude had little effect.

Saturday - AM 10 ... In Omaha. Had steak the night before this at Gorat's. Then we went to the Elbow Room for an Oil Can that seemed to dehydrate the bejesus out of me. Should have had the Chuck Norris Bomb (Vodka with a house energy drink), maybe. We were at a much nicer Motel 6 on a 100-and-something Street, and I made it through a series of quiet housing developments. The heat was back and I took it really easy.

Sunday - AM 10 ... In Chicago, I met up with Joe Hetland and we ran around a park in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. He coaches high school XC and track with my legendary friend and teammate from college, the Charles Milbert, who was out of town but gracious enough to let us crash in his apartment. I look forward to seeing Mr. Milbert in October.