Lots and lots of Hard Work

I have never run so much in my entire life. This week I will be at least 110-115 miles. Perhaps I will run as high as 120 this summer. I am already at 60 miles for the past 4 days. This morning I ran 9.5 and the evening an additional 10. Most of these runs have been moderate, although last week I did some moderate workouts-although the mileage last week was less-only 70. I did some tempo runs such as 2 miles @ 5:10 pace, as well as doing a run starting at 6:00 pace working down to 5:20 pace for several miles. I also jumped in Riley's Rumble last Sunday for a nice workout, finishing in 1:25:00-starting out slow and running the "middle section faster," and finishing up relaxed. It was hot and very hilly-great workout. Yesterday I ran 16 in the morning starting at Old Anglers Inn and heading out on the Canal towards DC before looping back onto MacArthur. I was quite thirsty after the run which I made a note of. I gulped down some gatorade quickly. I ran an additional 5 miles in the evening.

I have picked out and registered for a Half Marathon In August, the perfect time for me to do one before the Marathon in October. It gives me a 7 week buffer which seems to have worked for me in the past. In 2009, I did a half marathon 7 weeks before the Frederick Marathon(which was my most recent best marathon race I've had-back then I ran a 1:16 half on a flat course and a 2:43 marathon on a hilly course). The half I am doing is the Parkersburg Half in WVA on August 21, and is a very competitive but small race. It is also a rolling hills course which I selected on purpose to get a great tough run in before the flat fast Chicago course. More about it later.

Eye on the Prize/July 12-18: 68 Miles/Week

After 100 Miles last week, I took this week as a down week. My body felt kind of "off" with the lower mileage week but it was a good idea considering I haven't gone under 70 in over 2 Months. I did the Rockville Twilighter 8K on Saturday night and unexpectantly ran a lot slower than I thought I would. I wanted to crack the 26:00 barrier which seemed feasible since my 8K PR is a 26:19 SPLIT during my 10K PR this past spring. But it was hott. And I have been training high mileage specifically for the marathon. I must keep my eye on the prize. I'm not supposed to be peaking for an 8K right now anyway! Sometimes I just get caught up in times and forget that I went out there and competed(as well as get a very strong workout in). Lucinda helped gear that in my head afterwards. I competed well, and actually finished highest I ever have in this race-I placed 25th. And I passed people the entire way even though my splits got slower. So all in all, I have to think positively about this because the MARATHON is the GOAL. On another note it's good to run a time you would've been thrilled with last year and want to run much faster. That is where I was with this race. Running 26:50 last year would've left me thrilled, but to me now the time is just another run. I suppose it is technically a course PR for me(2 secs faster than last year). Congrats to Lucinda for placing 4TH OVERALL! And by no means is she training specifically for 8K right now, the marathon is in her sight as well. I cooled down with her afterward for about 30 minutes. Towards the end of the cooldown I noticed my blood sugar got reaaaaally low so I made sure to replenish afterward. this race is so late sometimes it just does crazy things to your body's glycogen stores.

I decided to knock out my long run this morning and met up with Lucinda again who ran one loop of duel ferries with me and then I ran an additional 7 miles on my own to make it a 17.5 miles long run. Pace was moderate: 2 Hours duration. I was pretty tired after and the heat was getting bad as well. I took a nice nap this afternoon. Only 68 miles this past week, will begin running normal mileage again next week-and probably get my body feeling more normal too. It's amazing how your body adapts to the higher mileage and is more comfortable staying in that zone because it is used to it.

By the way thanks to everyone cheering in the race last night-my girlfriend Beth(you are-as-always the best), Ashwin, and all the GRC guys/Pelkey, etc. It was a fun event!

Tues, July 13: 9 miles w/ 3.5 miles @ 5:17 pace

I did a nice pickup workout on Tuesday. I started at Pennyfield Lock on the Canal and headed north and turned around 4.5 miles out. I gradually started to pickup the pace with 4 miles to go and found myself in tempo zone the last 3.5 miles. I averaged around 5:17 pace and actually felt pretty good despite the humidity. It was dang humid though. By the end I was drenched.

July 5-11: 100 Miles/Week

Record high mileage week for me. 100 is a lot for me, so I am proud to run this much during a week. Considering a long time ago when I used to have injury after injury I was unable to run a lot. Actually, there was a time where I really believed I should stop trying to run since I kept getting injured and never got anywhere. I never really had a collegiate running career. I know some people are trying to make up for what they felt was their potential in college, but I felt like I barely scratched the surface. 2001 I was a freshman and just trying to get on the VT team was a challenge. In 2002, I began to show signs of potential by making the VT varsity XC Team but right before Conference I sprained my ankle pretty bad and was unable to come back. It all became downhill from there. In 2003, I started experience an injury cycle, due to overtraining and other errors in my training(not eating enough, lack of sleep, etc.). It only got worse. I got so injured by the time fall college xc rolled around, I was unable to run for even 20 minutes due to my body being broken down. I ended up quitting and did not run for VT again. I did not run again for a long time.

In 2004 I began to get into cycling. I started to shave my legs, and bought a really nice(for me) part carbon fiber road bike. I increased the distance and by the fall of 2004 I was riding centuries, and rode as long as 127 miles all by myself through the Blue Ridge Mountains. But then, the spark of running had returned and I started to run again during the winter of 2004 and decided to train for a marathon. I did not train the right way but I did my best, and ended up getting tendinitis issues 3 weeks before my marathon. I then used the elliptical machines for 2+ hours everyday to maintain my fitness. I ended up running the race of my life, a 2:38:48 time which is still my personal best to date from 2005. But something wasn't right. I wasn't training properly. My body barely held up for the race, and I really was running injured. I don't know how I finished it, honestly. I had tendinitis all over my body practically. And, I wasn't enjoying it. So the injury cycle began again, I tried to get into my training again, but it failed. Again, and again. The rest of 2005 my body was broken down and malnourished. I could barely run 8:00 miles. I was weak, and underweight.

So, I didn't run much for the rest of 2005, and 2006 was much of the same. But then, right around graduation, in February of 2007, I decided to start training right, and self evaluated what I wanted out of my running. I self coached myself and taught myself the do's and don'ts, taught myself how to recover, I began to learn my body. I learned how to train through myself. I ate more again. It took a lot of time and patience, but slowly, I began to get my strength back. And, I began to enjoy running again.

So, here I am now. I have run PRs from 8K-13.1M and have remained injury free since 2007, and now I have run my highest mileage week ever. It is a long way I have come. The only PR(besides my highschool mile) that still stands is that marathon I ran in 2005.

The week in summary:

Monday: PM: 10

Tuesday: AM: 8, PM: 6.5

Wednesday: AM: 3.5, PM: 11

Thursday: AM: 7, PM: 12

Friday: PM: 10.5

Saturday: PM: 11

Sunday: AM: 3.5, PM: 16.5

Total: 100 miles

Sunday evening was a nice medium-long run of 16.5 miles. I picked up the pace nicely the last 35 minutes- I want to say I worked down to 5:20 pace-but maybe that's a tad too fast. Either way it was a good run. Next week I will do some track stuff and it will be a little lower mileage week-Rockville Twilighter next Saturday!

Training is Going Well!

Despite the heat, my training is going really well. I am feeling fit and handling the mileage nicely. I have already run 58 miles for the past 4 days and am probably going to be around 100 or more miles this week(a record high for me). On Monday, I ran 10 miles starting from Swains Lock working down towards Old Anglers Inn and back around the dirt road loop I usually run. Tuesday morning I ran with the Sunrays for about 8 miles in Needwood. We actually ran around a lake which was next to Lake Needwood(a new run!) that had some pretty nice trails going around it and that I will have to explore more of on my own. Tuesday afternoon it was scorching hot and I ran 6.5 miles at the canal-just trying to get through another run. Wednesday morning I ran only 3.5 to get in a shakeout run at 8AM but it was already brutal out. Disgusting weather. But it does toughen me up, and I think I have been handling the heat well. Wednesday afternoon I drove out to Duel Ferries and did One Loop and added on a little after to make it 11. I started around 6:30 and finished around 7:45 and the shade really made a difference(10 degrees I would say). The gradual cooling of the evening always psychologically is nice in my opinion. I find that in the evening runs I feel better towards the end whereas the morning runs I just gradually feel worse as it gets hotter. After the run Wed evening I didn't feel that great and hydrated a lot(which felt better). Thursday morning I ran 7 miles with the Sunrays and felt OK. In the evening I met Lucinda at Old Anglers Inn and we did a nice loop of 10 miles before adding on afterwards to make it around 12 miles total. We started on the Canal heading South and ran for about 5 before crossing a bridge that led to MacArthur Blvd and back. It was a pretty nice run and I felt good in the later miles as we picked up the pace a bit. Luci is definitely getting strong as I think she will run a very good debut Marathon this fall. I will do a pretty good long run this Saturday and try to run it moderately fast. Overall, feeling fit, and happy with where my training is right now. The one "race" I will actually semi-race this summer will be the Rockville Twilighter but it certainly isn't a concentration. After that the slate is blank between then and Chicago in Oct. I really may not do any other races until Chicago(not even a half as of right now)....which is good since I like to race a lot. If I do a half it will be a "training run" and not a race. But you gotta tame the horse. I feel like I am doing a good job taming thus far, but at the same time getting very fit! All I know is I'm feeling good.

WRR 2010 Spring Rankings

1 Kipketer, James 32 Marion, VA
2 Endale, Abiyot * 23 Silver Spring, MD
3 Young, Tim 23 Fredericksburg, VA
4 Megressa, Gurmessa * 30 Silver Spring, MD
5 Berdan, Dave * 29 Baltimore, MD
6 Wardian, Michael * 36 Arlington, VA
7 Hutchinson, Seth ** 26 Charlottesville, VA
8 De Heer, Dirk 28 Silver Spring, MD
9 Church, Aaron ** 34 South Riding, VA
10 Klim, Jake 29 North Bethesda, MD
11 Molz, Jon * 23 Richmond, VA
12 Picard, Jimmy * 24 Richmond, VA
13 Christian, Will * 26 Norfolk, VA
14 Abuya, Jared * 33 Manassas, VA
15 Awol, Mohammed * 32 Silver Spring, MD
16 Puglsey, Ray 41 Potomac Falls, VA
17 Barresi, Matt ** 27 Falls Church, VA
18 Wade, Robbie *** 28 Arlington, VA
19 Mehmedovic, Izudin * 25 Columbia, MD
20 Hurt, Charlie * 26 Richmond, VA
21 Vivani, Will * 27 Arlington, VA
22 Kolata, Stefan 28 Washington, DC
23 Ingram, Benjamin 33 Baltimore, MD
24 Komen, Wilson 32 Washington, DC
25 Bitok, Kipchirchir * 30 Baltimore, MD
26 Wiegner, Joe 28 Rockville, MD
27 Peters, Gareth 31 Annandale, VA
28 Cheromei, David * 30 Marion, VA
29 Rhodes, Thomas ** 26 Arlington, VA
30 Renjifo, Carlos * 27 Columbia, MD
31 Zubko, Sergiy 21 Clarksville, MD
32 Blasiak, Sam 30 Fairfax, VA
33 Whitlow, Dustin * 23 Arlington, VA
34 Tepovich, Danny 30 Virginia Beach, VA
35 Murphy, Patrick 25 Washington, DC
36 Jurkovich, Evan 25 Washington, DC
37 Carroll, Ryan *6 27 Portsmouth, VA
38 Horner, Randy *** 26 Colonial Heights, VA
39 Sloane, Christopher 26 North Potomac, MD
40 Ban, Charlie 27 Falls Church, VA
41 Hryvniak, David 25 Chesapeake, VA
42 Tompkins, Mark * 34 Williamsburg, VA
43 Carrier, Chris * 25 Richmond, VA
44 Smits, Kyle * 31 Baltimore, MD
45 Meeker, Dustin 28 Baltimore, MD
46 Jacoby, Bert * 27 Fredericksburg, VA
47 Belasik, Wylie 26 Washington, DC
48 Daly, Jimmy * 24 Kensington, MD
49 Brown, Karsten * 36 Front Royal, VA
50 Lomogda, John 40 Norfolk, VA
51 Grout, Alex 23 Williamsburg, VA
52 Aaron, Robert 22 Virginia Beach, VA
53 Buschman, Mark 25 Columbia, MD
54 Fritzius, Justin ** 25 Purcellville, VA
55 Deren, Mike * 22 Abingdon, VA
56 Haaga, David 48 Rockville, MD
57 Schmid, Kyle 24 Annapolis, MD
58 Holman, Luke 26 McLean, VA
59 Colaiacovo, Mike 40 Baltimore, VA
60 Klaschus, Matt 23 Street, MD
61 Allin, Sam 29 Arlington, VA

Sunday, July 4: Autism 5K/19 Miles/77 Miles Per Week

This past week totaled 77 miles, a down mileage week after hitting 90 the week before. Sum of this past week:
Mon: PM: 11 miles on own on Canal
Tues: PM: 10 miles w/ Luci @ Cabin John Trails
Wed: PM: 5 miles EZ w/ Mickey on Canal
Thurs: AM: 9 miles @ Sunrays club practice, PM: 5 miles plus 6x200m on track
Fri: 5 miles EZ on roads in Rockville after working Packet Pickup for Autism Speaks 5K
Sat: AM: 12 miles w/ Charlie, Patrick, and Jake-started from Georgetown and ran on the Canal towards Chain Bridge-took that across to VA and ran South until Lee Hwy which we took to the trail that went over route 66 and back to the Key Bridge. Added on at the Canal once back in Georgetown.
Sun: AM: I jumped in the Autism Speaks 5K and warmed up for 2.5 miles before heading over to start. The goal was to run an honest effort and get a good workout in. 3 Africans surged to the front with a gap between me and them. After Mile 1: 5:09, I began to reel them in. Mile 2: 10:19. Ran pretty even and caught #s 2 & 3 just before a mile to go. My last mile was kinda slow(5:20ish) but it was all uphill so I think I was pretty even throughout. Ended up 2nd place overall and won $150. Time: 16:19. Afterwards, I cooled down with Andy, Jordan, and Aaron for 2.5 miles or so. But I wasn't finished running yet. After receiving my award, I drove to the Old Angler's Inn Lock and ran an additional 70 minutes on the towpath, suffering in the heat a bit more. It was a good workout, I got in 19 miles for the day. Definitely so much stronger than last year! This coming week will be high mileage. Should be around 100 miles or more this week.