The 750 Club

I go through a little check at the end of every August.  That check is did I run 750 miles over the months of June, July and August.  My high school had a 750 mile club.  There was a little board on the window of the coach’s office that listed the dozen or so guys that had done it.  There were no lesser distance clubs.  It was 750 or nada.   

The concept of averaging 8.1 miles a day for those 93 days seemed impossible to me.  I made a start at it with a couple of ten milers the summer after my sophomore year.  Or maybe it was freshman, I can’t recall.  I do recall needing to quit on it pretty early because the cotton shorts I had chaffed my thighs raw.  That did not go well with New England heat and humidity in the summer. 

I knew a few of the guys who had done it.  One was a classmate and a pretty good friend of mine.  In our senior year he’d be our number 1 runner in cross.  Basically, it was clear that putting in miles of base helped you as a runner.  We did not have a regular meet up program like it seems kids have now, and so getting that sort of volume on your own was a rare thing. 

While I never did 750 in a summer while in high school, it was a big enough deal to me that when the end of August rolls around, I can’t help but check.  I don’t set out with designs to make that sort of mileage for the summer, but because it was impactful enough to me … like say a 5 minute mile … I check.  While this summer has been my lowest mileage in quite a few, in part because of 17 non running days, I did make “the club.” I am pretty sure I have done this since at least the mid 90s.

There is probably a price though for being able to manage this “what was once difficult but is now easy” task:  speed.  I certainly could not have been able to manage a 29 mile race with a burro in the Colorado mountains when I was 17.  And if I had I would probably be unable to walk for a week.  But for any race less than 10k, my 17 year old self would be waiting a while at the finish line for my current bag of bones.

Recognizing that I am not going to just “train myself up” and then magically show up and run a respectable time … I am going to have to get into a few races where I get punched in the mouth a bit.  To that end I registered for a 5k XC race this weekend.  It is the open “citizen” or “coaches” race over at Waneka Lake before the Centaurus Warrior XC invite.  

Monday 051815

Joe Fejes is exhausted but in too much pain to sleep after running 600 miles.

The boy and a half dozen of his friends went to the Avengers movie last night and I was the cab, chaperone.  At the last second, I did something I never do at the movies:  I bought the extra large bucket of popcorn.  Clearly I was motivated by the “FREE REFILLS FOR EXTRA LARGE” sign.  And the gaggle of 14 year olds made it worth it: we refilled that sucker four times.

Afternoon – a misty climb up Bear out of Cragmoor. 

Part of the reason why I did this climb is that it is the only place on the south side of Boulder (10 minutes from my office) that I can get to without having to pay for parking.  Boulder has made ALL the south lots now fee lots.  And while a short run at 5 miles, it packs a punch with the vertical.

I used to do this route all the time and I got a reminder as to why I don’t so much anymore:  the upper parts of Fern on the north side of Bear are ridiculous.  It is more a challenge coming down for me than the climb up.  How Scott Elliott ever ran all that thing remains a great wonder to me.  That said, on a down in the snow one time JV and I got from the summit to the lot under 21 minutes, and I think we made it to the break in the path from the summit in 7.  5 miles with close to 3k of climbing.

Nice read on Melody Fairchild.

More brilliance from Sharpie.

Monday 092214

AM – early.  Connected up with Tim for hard jogging (hard to believe my mancrush started some almost seven years ago now).  Great to see him as it has been too long.  Man is inspiring on many levels, athlete, father, man.  Gorgeous sunrise while a light rain blew in.  Coyotes, strong smell of sage and deer and stuff.  Conversations on calculus and ego.  Can’t beat it.  12.5 miles. 

No harder stuff for me today – a slight break over the last couple of Mondays but I feel it was baked in yesterday’s run to some extent. 

News stuff:  a post on FKTs on various long stuff.  Nice read on Laura Thweatt.   A coffee focused interview (?!) with Tony.  The Denver Post takes on the Nolans runs.  Some recently posted cool photos from the Fairplay race.  Strava has an interesting view of stuff if you look at your training log. 

Various folks have asked me how KZ is doing at XC.  Usually somewhere in the conversation, a question like this comes up:  “is she running varsity?” or “do you think she will run competitively in college?”

No, she is not running varsity and she is probably not going to run competitively in college.  KZ was a kid who would say to me (before HS) “why do people run?  It seems that is something you do when you are being chased or chasing something – like a ball.” 

And then she came to me the day before the actual season started of her freshman year and said she was going to run XC. 

Not the summer program where you prep for the season.  No, she came the day before the season actually started.

I didn’t really need to say anything.  I figured the lessons of running themselves would be strong enough.

And they were.  Sore legs.  Deep fatigued.  Not being able to discern between an easy pace and a hard pace because it is ALL hard.  She went through it all.  It was not easy for her.  Her first race 5k, which required some walking on her part, was 45 minutes.

And that is where the lessons came back to me.

See – I took to running because it was something I enjoyed, and from the get go had some modicum of success with.  It was EASY for me to run.  Sure, it hurt like anyone else when I was running hard, but I could pin on a result of some time, or even ego of beating those kids who all played soccer or football.  Those were sports I quit because I sucked at them.  I stuck with running because it clicked with me.  I dropped other sports because they kicked me in the teeth.

KZ got that shot to the mouth with running and stuck with it.  That is pretty ballsy to me.  She carved her 5k down to under 40 minutes and then under 35.  She was hugely upset when she failed to crack 30 in her last race of the year last year. 

Now, of course, she is a kid.  No Rocky story here.  She did not get up at 4AM every morning after XC to put in 3 miles and come back to win state.  No, she went back to the other aspects of her life and let running go.  She even skipped the summer training program again before her sophomore year.  But she still ran XC.  She struggled, she learned.  I felt that odd juxtaposition of pride when your kid does something like that, concern when you see them in pain, frustration when you see what you can do to help them and helplessness because you know they need to find their own way. 

I chose never to push her into running.  I’d encourage her, but I was not going to drive her. 

This year she decided to do the summer training program.  And for the first time, at the Saint Vrain meet, she broke 30. By. one. second.  And then at Liberty Bell she crushed that by running 27:27.   The glee on her face was palatable.  It is no varsity time but I could not give a crap about that in the slightest.  She was happy.  She is learning about some basic life principles in this sport.  Maybe she will forget them, maybe they will cement something in her head for life.  I dunno. 

But I am still amazed by her sticking with it when it was not easy. 

She won’t read this.  She does not read my blog.  But maybe she will.  Love you and proud of you crunch and munch.

When I was in the USAF in ME the kids would miss school this time of the year to go harvest potatoes. I was telling my crumb grabbers about this (after the were grousing about how hard school was, and how early they had to wake up)  I even sung the "Tater Raisin' Man" song to them and they thought I was making it up. Had to show them ...

Every morning the ONE radio station would play that song and then they’d go into telling everyone where they needed kids to head to harvest.  And Dick Curless, the Baron of Country … a one eyed cowboy.  Wow.

The Elliott Stairs

In the summer 2006, I was preparing for Imogene.  Along the way, I had planned to run the Pikes Ascent as a prep race for the crossing from Ouray to Telluride.  I ended up so enthralled with the Pikes race, well … the rest is captured here I guess.  But I was prepping for Imogene.  I had run the race in 2005 and I thought I could improve on my performance there.  As it turns out, I never got to do that – as in 2006 weather conditions were too difficult to allow an organized crossing and so we raced from Ouray to Bird Camp and back to Ouray.  I recently found my 2006-7 training log in a MS Word document and I am back date posting those up here.

Anyway, that is not what this post is about.  That summer I had started to connect with Scott Elliott – the 8x winner of the Pikes Ascent – on some of his workouts.  Galen Burrell, at the time a baby faced winner of the marathon, would often join him.  Scott would periodically announce some of the workouts he was doing.  A rather famous one, and one that still seems to get some attention today is “Lindens.”  From an (edited) email from 2006, this is how Scott announced Lindens.

For those of you who are so "inclined", we will be meeting for some
spiffy repeat loops every Monday and Thursday at 5:30PM on the upper
part of Linden Avenue. Galen B. & I both worked out on this course
many times in previous seasons and it was one of the primary reasons I
won the Pikes Peak Ascent and Galen won the Pikes Peak Marathon in
2004. So, keep an open mind about putting your feet to (horrors!)
pavement for a VERY rewarding interval session! As a bonus, if you
choose to make this course a routine, you'll be able to track your
progress & improvement as you get stronger and faster in your
hill climbing ability.
…
The climb is about 750 meters (I'm going to try to measure it and mark
off 100-meter splits sometime soon), and the ascent will take anywhere
from 3:00 (if you're sprinting and in Jonathan Wyatt / Melissa Moon
-ish shape) to 6:00 to accomplish. The grade is very similar to what
the upcoming Mt. Washington (NH) will present to you. Galen is
currently averaging below 3:45 per climb, while I am very close to
4:00, but dropping that average rapidly (I'm approaching 2 months into
a concerted effort to whip myself into Pikes shape.) The rest interval
to get back down to the start should take between 3:30 & 6:00,
depending on how snappy you wish to move (stagger?).
…
The idea of this workout is to keep both your climb AND your rest
periods CONSISTENT. Once you've gotten into a "groove" following the
second or third climb, aim to keep the same time within a few seconds
-- obviously it will get more difficult, but that's why you're out here
busting your butt! And it is equally important to keep your rest
interval the same each time around -- no slacking off.

Of course, I was fascinated, and I joined Scott and Galen on Linden, met JV out there and got totally worked.  I have not made to Lindens in a couple years, as it is a bit of a drive for me to get to (and I think I can sort of kind of replicate it a lot closer to home), but it is a workout that I will probably have “fond” memories of for a long time.

Scott (a pic of his below) re-illustrated something to me that I already knew:  I was not really a competitive guy.  This is sort of funny to some because there are the people who I deal with outside of running.  They think I am hyper focused, disciplined and competitive.  All things being relative however, I am not in the circles of certain runners.  Scott was in that circle that summer.  The man oozed focus on his goal of winning Pikes again (he’d take second to Simon G that year in a race).  I re-realized that my focus and attention compared to many was nada.

Anyway, repeats on Linden is not what this post is about.  Nor is it a biography of Scott.  It is about a set of stairs on Green Mountain.  Scott also sent out another announcement about doing the last stretch on Green as a prep for Pikes.  He did this to help prepare him not just for climbing but navigating the only thing possibly considered technical on Pikes, the Golden Stairs.  His announcement also from 2006.

Howdy.
We'll be gathering for today's uphill repeats at 6:00 on the upper reaches
of the west ridge trail of Green mountain. Since you'll have a choice to
jog from several different trailheads to get up to the start, please
calculate accordingly to arrive by the starting time.
Start -- intersection of the Ranger trail & the Green Mtn. west ridge
trail (i.e., the "four-way trail junction") This is shorter and steeper
than the course we run on Thursdays up Linden Ave.
Finish -- summit of Green Mtn.
Intended repetitions: 7 (max) - hard up, brief rest at top, jog down.
…
Depending on your fitness level, this final section of trail to the top of
Green will take anywhere from 2:35 to 4:15 to ascend. For those of you
entered in the Pikes Peak races, the steepness & steps are somewhat
similar to the infamous "Golden stairs" the confront you in the final
third-mile of the ascent, thus this will serve as good training for that
particular nasty section.
I plan to run a 1-hour-ish mellow warmup from my condo in South Boulder up
Bear creek to the start. Anybody is welcome to join. Other trailheads to
park & warm up from include:
-Gregory canyon to Ranger trail to start
(ascent of ~50:00 - 60:00)
-Flagstaff amphitheater turnoff to Ranger trail to start
(ascent of ~25:00 - 35:00)
-top of Flagstaff road climb to Green Mtn. west ridge trail to start
(ascent of ~15:00 - 20:00)
Hope to see a few folks this afternoon!
-S

JV and I did this workout once.  In pure excitement, I think JV set an FKT for this section (which no longer really starts at a four way junction since the Bear Canyon connector has moved) in like 2:23.  I will let him describe how the rest of that went if he is so “inclined.”

I dubbed this section of trail, “the Elliott Stairs” as a nod to Scott and the stairs he was preparing for.  Anyway, I am going to do this section tomorrow as a workout.  I think JV is joining me.  I am probably going to do five.  Drop me a note/comment if interested.  We will probably start pretty early (like 6?).  I have no clue what I will average but I am going to try to manage these in a way that is consistent, pushes my HR into a VO2 max effort range – and hence, challenging.

Hang Nine and bikes

I have been asked why I don’t get a bike and why I don’t embrace cycling a bit more.  I will admit that I have a bit of apprehension at the entry cost.  I was recently advised that I could get in a decent low end bike for about 1000 bucks.  That just seems steep to me.  Yeah, I recognize that I spend money on other stuff, but I am not ready to swallow that bigger pill.  Yet.

But probably just as much is that I SUCK on a bike.  I don’t mean in terms of performance.  That is obvious.  I don’t bike much so I should not expect to clip in and ride at 25 mph.  I mean that I suck in terms of coordination.  I am ridiculously uncoordinated. 

I had a paper route as a kid.  Afternoon paper delivery and so I had the big baskets on the back of the bike filled with papers.  It was probably 50 houses, over 5 or 6 miles, and about 3 miles from my house.  I was 12, and it was a little bit of an ass kicker at the time.  Anyway, one day I am heading out to the last house on the route and this young attractive also 12 year old lady goes biking the other way.  I recognized her from school (it was Junior High then kids), and so she gave me a polite “hi.”  Of course, in the mind of a 12 year old, or my 12 year old mind this was an invite for additional conversation.  I biked as hard as I could to the last house, delivered that last paper by hucking it to the front porch and then set off like a demon in an attempt to catch her.  What I would say when I got there, no clue – but I am sure my yellow 3 speed with the Auntie Em baskets would have been a significant woo factor.

I spotted her about a quarter mile up on the long road and doubled my effort.  As I did, I shifted to the all so powerful warp drive THIRD gear and pushed harder on the pedals.  The chain slipped however and that is when I made a pretty crucial mistake.  I looked down at the chain, and tried to back pedal to get it to recatch.  I slipped into the side gutter of the road, loss control of the bike and smacked it dead on to a fire hydrant that magically appeared in front of me.  I went flying over the handle bars, smacking my body into a telephone pole just past the hydrant.  I must have slid down the pole like Wiley E Coyote to the ground.

The girl never saw any of this.  As I looked up, through sweat, dirt, blood and tar from the pole, I could see her biking off into the distance.  The home owner who lived adjacent to this scene came running out of her home, as she had heard the crash and claimed she thought there had been a car accident.  The bike was a complete wreck and it took some effort to pull it off the hydrant as the wheel had collapsed in a funky way around it.  I was bleeding in several places.  She let me call my mother who came and picked me up.

When my father got home, he wanted to know what had happened.  I was not going to explain to him that I was chasing some girl, and so I told him I hit a patch of sand and lost control of the bike.  He turned the whole thing into some sort of investigation and went out to the scene of the “crime” where – of course – there was not a lick of sand anywhere to be found. 

I ended up walking most of the paper route thereafter for a bit until I saved up for a new bike. 

So biking might not be my thing.  And there are several additional bike stories like this in my past.

Monday 031212

Wahoo … Spring!  Can ya’ feel it?

Happened to be in Boulder today, and with the gorgeous weather I took advantage of about an hour window I had.  Decided to continue to ride the vertical train, and so jumped on Sanitas (after coming from the south over Red Rocks).  I took the back route down and off it, into Sunshine Canyon.  Great way to assure you see 20 minutes per mile  for part of your run, and sub sixes for another part.  7 miles with 1700 plus of climbing.  Very different than yesterday as it was STEP UPS, and several sections over 30 percent. 

My climb up Sanitas was hardly stellar (22 minutes! – far off my best which is just under 18!) but I was not looking to tag it … yet.  I was working plenty with the climb.  Plenty of work to do, but I was enjoying seeing that today.

I had a coworker ask if I had ever done Running of the Green (as that race was yesterday).  I had to grin at this memory. 

I did that race somewhere in the early 2000s, maybe 2002.  After two years of getting back into running shape after moving here, my times were getting better.  I’d write down goals, and they would come.  It would be work, but I rarely had big failures.  I had done that entire thing over the winter, where I was convinced I was going to get it ON this next year.  I had recently run under 16 for 5k, so I had somehow convinced myself that extending that to 7k was the next natural step.  I was somewhat disillusioned, as I can recall that I actually occasionally dared to think that I could run under 2:22 for the marathon at some point and make the trials.  Yeah … good stuff.

To make this particular race even more dramatic, some friends of mine suggested that I ought to jump in the “A” race there (they had one at that time).  As they say, “with friends like these” The Bolder Boulder used to have such a thing and I knew much better than to get into that affair, but some A or invite races were not of the same standard.  Sure – I wouldn’t win the ROTG A race, but I was more interested in a fast time.  I made the necessary calls, got into the race and was set to go.

Not so long story made even shorter … the gun went off and I was off the back of the chase  pack almost immediately.  I tried to hang on and still blew up.  I don’t recall being chicked, but I think I was second or third to DFL in the men’s race.  Nothing like running like that in front of a crowd in Denver who is drinking it up on St. Patty’s day.  Yeah, I heard it.   Ugh. 

And oh yeah, fast time?  Nope … I think I wrote down that I wanted to run under 22 minutes (about 3:08 a kilo or just over 5 minutes a mile).  I think I ran something over 23.

Good lesson though.

Random photos I came across on an old HDD

About to win the “Run the Rockies” half marathon

Pikes Ascent, 2006
 
Some race at the res … probably in the 90s

I think this commentary from the 2007 USTAF Club Nats in Boulder.
 
One of my favorite places to run too
 
First MAF test with the Punisher

Pretty much the standard message for any treadmill running
 
A bit of mud from 2007 XC Nats

A run with Scott Elliott off Bear Peak.  MLK day 2007 I think.

I think this is the Uni-Hill 2k, 2006?
 
JV finishing 2007 PPA.
 
2006 PPM.  Younger and older Burrells, talking to Andy A.  Galen took second in the marathon off a 2:18 ascent.

Claude Clegg.  A year after he recovered from testicular cancer and they found more tumor in his gut that they had to remove.  He PR’d, saying he better as he was running up the hill with one less ball.
 
My wonderful children.
 
Lucy as a pup, near the London Mine

When this guy brushes his teeth, watch out.
   
Enjoying a home brew post Imogene … 2006 I think.  We did not run over the pass that year.
 
2006 XC Nats in NYC I think.  4k.

Cramping up at the finish of PPM. (per the request of JP)
 
4th ranked ass in the world in 2010.

If you could make it right ...

On my run today, I listened to the second part of an interview with British running legend Chris Chataway. Great interview across these two parts, and really fun to hear Chris recall races, including climb to race the best of the age (Zatopek), and his 5k WR.

In the interview, you can feel him grit – over a half century later - at a race that he did not win that he think he could have. Interviewer Martin Yelling catches this and asks, “so if you were asked could you go back and race any one person any one time, that would be it?” Chataway answers clearly affirms he would and he’d like “to make that right.”

The question got me thinking: what race would I go back and “make right?” I certainly have had more races where I have come up short of my expectations than having exceeded them (or even meeting of them), but there are a couple that I still chew on that I might have let get away.

Some are races where the competition was great, and I was not able to dig in to pull it off. I look at the 2007 Mount Evans event as a race where I had a chance to beat Dave Mackey, but I let him slip by a bit in the middle miles, and then I could not catch him in the later higher altitude miles. Part of me says I went pretty hard to the well that day and that I could not do much better, but part of me thinks …what if?

The 07 PPM, my first is one I definitely feel I jacked. I felt so fit going into that race, but I had a lousy ascent – getting up much slower than I was capable of that day, but I had one of those days on the mountain. I feel I was ready to go sub 4:20 that day, but … well, I didn’t.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Interesting to hear that even 80+ year old guys still bristle at some races. But hey, it is part of why we race, right?

I guess if I had to pick one, it would be the 4 x 800 relay indoors from my senior year of HS. I got passed by 2 guys in the last stretch as I, the anchor, tied up bad. Our team still secured a spot to the state meet with our performance, but as I crossed the line I stumbled a few yards, dropped the baton and exhaled an f-bomb to myself. I thought it was quiet, but it was loud enough for a nearby official, eager to make a point, go ahead DQ our performance for the team. It was bad enough that I botched the anchor position with the team, but then I screw the whole team's chances to go to the state meet with my post line "performance." Yeah, I’d like to make that one right.

So what about you? What performance would you make right if you could have another shot at it?

Sunday 071011

Had a thought that I’d go long this AM, but that was squashed by needing to get the family off for a camping trip, and needing to make a flight to Pittsburgh.

Got the dogs out for a warmup, and then headed over to the local track.  Was surprised to see this Olympian and her also Olympian husband doing some work.  Broomstock does not usually attract such talent (although that CSM coach used to train here a lot, but I think that is a decade ago now). 

In any case, I got to my own work and never said a word to the fast couple (figured if they travelled this far east they did not need to be bothered).  Mile slightly faster than 5k pace (then a bio break) (5:35), then 8 x 200 slightly faster than mile pace (~slightly faster than 5 minute pace) with 200 rest.  Once I got rolling I felt pretty good.  Forgot how there is a little motivational push out there when you have others out there moving too. 

I recall meeting a friend once at Potts Field in Boulder to help with a workout.  He had recently attained master status, and had the goal of breaking 4:40 for the mile (a goal that at the time seemed pretty easy to me as I was a decade his younger, but now seems a helluva lot more impressive).  The workout was something like 10 x 400 with a minute rest with the intervals all going to be under 70 (yes, SEVENTY, not ONE TEN). 

As we warmed up, Mr. G started doing the “classic” 10 x 500 meter workout that Wetmore often had his 5k guys do.  This workout was 500 meters at 5k race pace, with the rest being the jog back across the infield.  At that time, Goucher was hitting these 500s in something definitely under 80 seconds.  That is pretty damn quick.

Okay, so Adam is doing his workout, and my buddy is getting ready to do his.    We had decided that I would not joined my friend on everyone but something like every other one, or the last half.  Adam goes, and then after about 2 second, my friend starts.  Watching from the start line, I can see the problem by 100 meters into the workout.  They are both coming out of the curve and my friend is CLOSING on Adam.  He came through the quarter in something like 62.  I was totally cracking up.  “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” “I GOT CAUGHT UP IN HIS JET STREAM MAN!”

Workout was shot but it was still a blast.

11 miles.  The week was a bit shorter (given a day off in there) than I expected but I made something out of it with 3 workouts.  This week is a travel week, which will either zap me or set me up nicely for the BTMR.  I will let you know which that is on Sunday.

I am pretty certain I ought to never complain about the weather being hot ever again.

Tip of the hat to Mr FF.  Can’t wait to see the HR report.

Monday 062011

Back to work for the first time in over a week …

Karl’s WS odds.  An interview with the guy behind those odds.

I might need to put this race on the list.

Waaay back in 1998, I was on a team that set a pretty obscure WR – that is the record for 10 x 10km, co-ed.   We ran 6:03:48.4 at Potts Field … I think that stacks up pretty well to the latest cut of this record.

AM – wake up 3 miles.  Felt good.  Drank too much IPA with many amazing and wonderful people last night – and so I probably flapped my lips too much, but I felt good physically this AM.  Fresh snow up on those peaks.

A 42 minute 10k by a guy who 80 …

Roes video over on RT.  Great shots in this … about 13 minutes long.  His recent blog entry goes well with the video: I find myself thinking more about what run I'm going to do tomorrow than the run this coming weekend… It would be pretty awesome if we could get Geoff to scream a little less in these interviews though.  I mean the guy obviously has a lot of anger issues.

PM – felt absolutely the opposite of this AM … heavy legged and tired.  Curtailed this to 8 miles.  Surely this was last night’s debauchery catching up with me.

Saturday 051411

AM – aspirations to get out, but I needed to catch up on sleep.  I was up from essentially 2AM to 10PM yesterday, and so hit the rack pretty hard last night.

JZ and I headed to the AMT Readyman event for Webelos today.

In addition to finding the CPR protocols that had changed interesting, I was suddenly in a flashback:  the course was at the Lowry campus.  I had not been here in over 23 years.  Suddenly found myself walking a little straighter and taller.  This  is a picture of my dorm.  I lived here for six months.  It does not appear to be in use at current.  Many of the other local buildings are in use by Community College of Denver.

Old class building.  I went to school here to learn navigation systems for B-52s.  I later learned to install some super secret system that was about getting navigational data from satellites in the sky (now know as GPS).

 

Nothing new here, but another article on the brain-body connection in endurance.

Mock has an article up on RT on a couple of ultra ladies that are in the OT marathon.  I never danced with the OT number for the marathon, but I certainly don’t think the standard for women is on par with the standard for men for that distance.  This doesn’t mean a person has not worked hard to achieve either standard though.

Evening – 11 miles, 3 miles tempo out the door (19:15), mile recovery, 3 miles tempo (18:20), mile recovery and then 30 second strides with 2:30 jogging home.  Was drizzling rain when I started and pretty good pour going at the finish.

Military Running Part II

After Basic I was stationed for advanced training on navigational systems at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver CO.  The base is now gone, but a dirt track that I used to do repeats on is still there.  Once I got more extended privileges, I’d go on “long” runs off the base.  I have no idea how long these were, but I recall them being long enough that I’d go for a fair bit, stop and nap in a park (happy to be away from military discipline for a moment or two) and then run back to the base.  The security police at the gate would laugh at me.

We also had drill running here as well, as part of regular physical conditioning we were all required to perform.  One of the instructors got word that I liked to run.  I don’t recall exactly how it was set up, but there was a competition set.  The squadron would run collectively ahead on a loop that was about a half mile (now right next to Aurora Park) They would get about half way around the loop and then I would be allowed to start to chase down the squadron.  Given they were running around an 8:30 mile and I was running a 5:00 and they had about a 2 minute head start, I’d catch them near the start of the second time around the loop.  Initially, this competition was just me versus the squadron and the instructor had it so the guys had to all stay together.  But then it changed that once I caught the squadron, guys could break ranks and race me.  It became a full on sword fight there, because I’d be catching guys at about a half mile in, and then they could pour it on.  I’d beat most, but there were always a couple of guys I could not put away after already being that deep in the hole.

In any case, this earned me the nickname of “Zack Rabbit” while I was at Lowry.

Looks like the barracks are still there for what it is worth.

Military Running Part I

Not long after graduating high school, I enlisted in the United States Air Force.  It was a bit of stretch from when I was in my best high school shape (June 87) to when I went into BMTS (Basic Military Training School) at Lackland AFB, TX (February 88).  I was not training hard, but I was still running – for what was then – a fair amount.

While in basic I had done little running.  In fact, if you think you are going to get into shape by going into the military, I’d say guess again.  It might be different in other branches of the service, or in more advanced training areas but I was probably losing more fitness than gaining while in the basic.  There was less interest in how fast or far you could run, and much more interest in what you could do together.  So rather than run 1.5 miles at sub five minute pace, we ran in formation, 50 guys … more like 8:30 pace.

Now that said

About four weeks into basic, we were in formation getting the now all too familiar dress down from the Drill Instructor (DI).  We had just all donated blood.  The blood donation was not required, but we were given the option to give blood or to stay in the barracks with the DI.  I think we all chose to give blood gladly.  Anyway, in formation, the DI asks if anyone thinks they want to go out for the field day event.  Field day event?  Hullo?  What is that?  I volunteered.  My DI grumped about it, told me to report to the dirt track a mile away, but to be back within half an hour for our next training event.

I ran over – definitely feeling woozy because of the blood donation, but super eager to compete.  When I arrived, I reported to the DI there and asked what was the longest event they had.  It was a half mile – two laps around the dirt track.  In military fatigues.  In combat boots.  He said I could compete on the field day event representing our training squadron against the other BTMS squadrons if I could beat the fastest time that had been posted that day.  “Okay, what is that?” 

“2:13”

Arrogant, I was very confident that I could do this – and do this easily.  I told him I thought I could do that – ignoring the copper taste building already in the back of my mouth. 

“Go ahead then airman, I ain’t got all day.”

Like all 800s, I probably took off too fast.  The combination of running in pants, with boots, donating blood, not running significantly, and it being a fast paced 800 …well, I really felt that at about a quarter mile.  I don’t remember my split for 400, but I recall it being much faster than the second.  I ran 2:10 and then nearly almost passed out.  I was dry heaving, seeing stars – the whole bit.   I slowly gimped back to the barracks after I did some calculations that took way more effort than they should as to how long I could sit on the side of the track without risking being late.

I recall the actual competition being a week or so later, and it was actually a relay of 4 x 800.  I took our squadron baton down some 120 yards – made a go of trying to catch the guy, put in a fair dent, but then could not close the gap over the second lap.

This was not the extent of my competitive running in the military, but it was all the racing I saw while in basic.

Saturday 031211

Interesting post on PEDs in ultrarunning.

Apparently, you can be pretty zippy post 40 at 5k.  And even faster at 49.

Pikes Flatlander Training.  (registration is next week)

I didn’t realize it at first, but about half way through my run-workout today, I began to think I might be running in the shirt that currently sits as the oldest one I have in the drawer.

So … with that, a memory or two bubbles up.  This shirt has a bit of a sting associated with it, but maybe a good lesson as well.

This shirt comes from the year I graduated high school and specifically the Class Championship meet.  CIAC is Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, and my school was specifically a class L school that year.

Before I discuss the Class L meet and what I learned there, I need to back up a bit.  My senior year of track I was running the 3200 as my primary event.  In retrospect, I was not anything particularly special, but since I was dancing near or under the ten minute mark I was enjoying a fair amount of success in the dual meets in our conference – the CCC (Central Connecticut Conference) East.  In fact, I think going into our last dual meet, I was undefeated in conference meets.  I had been handily worked in the larger conference meets, but I had suddenly did that “step up” where I could hold my own in most races.  Sure, there were other kids in the mile, or even the 5k that I knew could take me out (namely the Kitteridge kid from Rockville who was running about 4:15 for the mile) but I did okay in my event, the near two mile. 

Our last dual meet was on our home track at SWHS.  Our track was what would now be considered “old school” or even what some would call dirt.  It was a crushed cinder, a bit behind some of the newer tracks of Rubkor.  This meet was against a border town rival, Manchester.  Manchester, a bigger school, was one that we had battles against in Wickham Park in XC.  Toeing the line was for their red and white was a sophomore waif of kid named Todd Liscomb, and Sean Tolland who was about as solid as me. 

Not much to speak of that race other than they sat on me for the first mile, made the itsy bitsy of moves and I broke like a house of cards.  I was not used to guys being able to challenge me in dual meets like that and I was not ready for the affair of fighting off two guys who wanted it a bit more.  I walked from the finish line with my first loss in a dual meet (I think) that season, a bit more than pissed … at myself.

So a week or ten days so later, it was conference meet time.  Based on times, I had the number one seed  but Liscomb and Tolland were slotted two and three.  Wearing the gold and maroon of SWHS, and under the lights of Windham HS, the 3200 was the second to last event of the night. 

As we lined up, something occurred that I will probably never forget.  Bill Baron, who was the coach of East Hartford High – looked us up and down and approached me.  He quietly said with a grin, “okay George, show us how this is done.”  I heard it and I knew the guys next to me heard it.  I gave him a little grin but I certainly was not as confident in myself as his statement seemed to be in me.  I knew Liscomb and Tolland heard it but I did not look at them. 

And then we were off.  In a moment of intelligence and race wisdom that I have been challenged to show since, I held back.  Liscomb and Tolland ripped through the 800 in just under 2:20.  I was ten seconds back with a couple of other guys between me and them.  I knew that the pace was not right – and told myself that if those guys were going to run 70 seconds a lap, they were indeed better than me that day and deserved to win.  I was not ready for that.

I can still almost feel and see every step of that run.  The people on the side line.  The uneasy confidence I had that even though those guys continued to edge away.    Hearing my coach, Bob Lebreche, telling me to relax my hands and me thinking he was totally not connected.  My team mates from the other events cheering me on.   The slow grow dull ache of the pain in my legs and lungs as I went through the mile at just a tick or two over five minutes, that grew with each step. 

At about 350 meters to go, I caught Tolland.  About 200 meters to go, I caught Liscomb – he was done from the early pace - and I ran as hard as I could to the finish.  I knew I had the win, but I did not want to leave anything to a fight to the line.  I came in right at a click or two above 10 minutes.  I was conference champ – only one of two from our school (the other was Tim Sanquidst who had won the triple jump and would go on to get a DI scholarship for football to Syracuse).  It was a bit surreal for me.  I had been a bit of an oddball kid, and certainly not considered an athlete.  I mean, I had stolen second base with someone on it in Little League.  In other game, a pop fly had hit me in the forehead when I had missed it in right field.  Don’t even bring up hoops or football attempts.

Okay, got all that?  In case you could not tell, it was a bit of a big moment at that point in my seventeen year something life.  I had worked for something, sacrificed for it, executed well and … well, won.  I say that sheepshishly now, as I again, I know there were dudes on the sideline that could have left me in the dust. 

But back to the t-shirt above.

See, this race I just described left me set up for a total failure the following week at the Class L meet.  Different dudes, different day but still a 3200 meter run and 400m oval.  But, after that success, I left the “breath” go, and exhaled.  I let my guard down and … faded badly.  I think rather than running near 10 flat, I ran closer to 10:40 and did not qualify for the state meet.  And in a backward sort of way, I did not really care.  But I learned something.  Frankly that a kick in the ass, and coming off failure sets me up better for future success than success itself. 

Okay, stroll down memory lane over.

Today, I snuck in a workout at the local track between sessions at the piano competition for the kids.  And, just to be clear, today’s intervals were slower than what I managed for nearly two miles outright two dozen years ago.  After 2 mile warm up (136th, Main to HS track), I got to work with an oldie but goodie:  6 x 800, 1 minute rest with the 800s at an effort slightly faster than 5k pace.  In the old Owen Anderson literature I used to follow, I’d do these at about 4-5 seconds faster 800 than 5k average mile pace.  So, if I was going to run say 16:40 for a 5k, that would be 2:40 pace per 800 – so the workout would say do them at 2:35.  My current 5k pace is probably near 5:45 per mile (I hope), so anything better than 2:50 per half here would have been nice.  The 1 minute is enough to walk for about 30 yards after each one before getting back to work.  These workouts are about as much mental discipline as they are actually doing the work.  2:47, 2:48, 2:47, 2:47, 2:48, 2:44.  Ugh – nuthin’ stellar there but it was work, and fwiw, there was a 8-15 mph breeze out of the north (backstretch).

After a bio break, and a mile jog, I tacked on 6 200s with a 200 walk jog (no concern on recovery here).  37, 38, 37, 37, 36, 35.  Work to be done on general turn over.  10 miles on the day.

Plans for next year (in no particular order) (first authored 8/28/2006)

Plans for next year (in no particular order) (first authored 8/28/2006)

Diet

Staying Light – For most of the last few years, I have hovered north of 145, and occasionally as high as 155. Rarely I have snuck under 145 and with many of those occasions coming at the tail of a long run. I made true commitment to diet outright or any declaration on any given day but was able to progressively tweak more bad foods out of my diet than good ones. This included the painful elimination of beer from my diet in July (starting before the Barr Trail Race) and sticking with that throughout August. In short, in 2007, I would like to stay light and so recognize the need to keep a food log, and to eliminate unnecessary foods or foods that are difficult. At current, I think brew is bad for the race season, but I feel a strong correlation between poor performance – weakness and milk, ice cream, peanut butter, excessive nuts (cashews), and foods heavy on garlic and onions. This all stinks of course, and I think I can enjoy these periodically but less so in the summer months as the racing gets close.

Additionally, I need to assure that I get proper nutrition post a workout (within 30 minutes) to aide in the recovery process.

Vitamins – I took B, Fe, and a multi daily. I think these helped when taken consistently over time but I have no scientific evidence to prove that. I will visit a Vitamin Cottage to see if there is anything else I may consider to assure complete coverage. I think the iron was a nice addition to assure rich blood (or something like that)

Hydrate – I stink at this. I need to be better at having a water bottle with me all the times. I pass on drinking and there is no good reason for this.

Mileage - in the months post my schedule layoff (late September, October), I need to build my regular mileage into the 80’s, 90’s and find those 100s on occasion. If I can maintain this through March, I should have a very solid base.

Train at Altitude – Two thoughts here: the splits show that I slowed down significantly above the A-Frame but at the same time I think I did okay above tree line. I think I slowed down because of the earlier burning effort in the W’s and so I did not have the ability to dig up there but I am sure the altitude also had some level of effect. But I feel that my training efforts at higher elevations, and sleeping in Fairplay made something of a difference (positive). I need to assure that I continue to get training sessions, both long and hard (but not necessarily at the same time) at elevation. When in Fairplay, I need to make the most of the time I have there for workouts.

Mosquito Pass – something I discovered late last year and was able to use as a training aide was Mosquito Pass. I need to do more of this, as I only made it to the Pass once and then it was an aided run (I was dropped off at Rte 9 and picked up on the way home). It is clear this could be a great long run at altitude and that I could do some great interval workouts here. Additionally, there are other passes I need to explore including Boreas Pass, Kenosha Pass, and the like in Summit and Park counties.

Long Runs - if I am going to run for 2:37:24, it is clear that my having a long run is key. In the year prior I had only one run of this length (well, two if you count Imogene). The long run of 2:30 plus to 4 hours needs to become a monthly part of my training diet. Sure, I am not going to bang out a 4 hour run tomorrow but I need to be able to build to 3, 3:30 and 4. I need to be a bit careful here because I feel that these runs can be destructive if not done carefully and with lots of consideration to preparation (water, gels, easy throughout the run) and recovery (water, food, ice).

Hill Running in general – As much as possible, just getting on the Mesa and all its forks to get vertical – the more vertical running the better.

Turnover workouts undoubtedly this year I lost a bit of turnover. My overall speed declined. While on whole, I am not overly concerned about this, I do not want to lose too much familiarity with 5/m/m pace or better. Periodic intervals from 30 seconds to 3:30 at this pace or better should do the trick.

Stretching – yeah, like hydration, I suck at this and just need to assure that I take a few days a week to go through the routine of push ups, hamstring stretches, calf raises, rotating everything to keep it nimble.

Running and not walking, getting stronger - all this is geared towards eliminating as much walking as possible.

Hill Intervals - while I am generally happy with the way the race played out, it is clear I am weak on hills. I know some of my peers may not see that or believe it but with the degree of walking that I did, it is clear to me that I am weak on hills. If I could have eliminated 50 percent of my walking, I know I would have broken 2:35 and may have even run closer to 2:30! I am committed to get stronger on hills so that walking becomes less of a crutch for me (because I actually walk pretty damn well!). I need not give into the walking crutch in my workouts as it sets the tone for my races (I ended up walking!)

Lindens - these Scott Elliott killers make my calves quiver. Twice a week throughout the late spring and into the summer these intervals are tough. I need to get out there once a week to make these a regular part of my training diet. Doing so will teach me to run faster uphill and to run hard when tired. Again … no walking.

Flagstaff Tempo Runs – this is a workout that I became aware of on the tail end of the year. Running from Gregory Canyon to the top of Flagstaff is a bit of a killer but comes in around the tempo mark of 18 plus (as of this writing). Doing this regularly will serve as a solid uphill tempo. I am even contemplating making this the long run as a double Flagstaff (run down Gregory for some downhill work) or the triple Flagstaff (estimating each loop to be about 50 minutes). Some tempos may need to be longer than this (30 minutes, 40 minutes …)

Enchanted Mesa (Secret Hills) – the old Sandrock standby will serve as a tough combo run, a long hill (10 minutes) followed by 8 uphill springs.

Getting to the Peak – this is the one thing I am not certain I can do but I think the benefits are obvious. If I can specifically train on the peak, I gain specificity training. J