Good Day, Bad Day

Hello Readers,

What can I say? This week didn't really live up to my expectations. I was really hoping my mileage would be a bit higher (mid-upper 70s). I did have some pretty good workouts, including a great Long Run, but the consistency that I wanted just wasn't there. It seemed that I would have a pretty good day and then the next day would be absolute crap. This was mostly due to some pain that I mentioned experiencing last Saturday. It was my popliteal tendon, which is right behind the knee, connecting my calf and hamstring. It was pretty tight and sore, and felt like it was just "catching" as I ran. I definitely did way too much on it Sunday, which made the rest of my week inconsistent.

We had team practice Mon, Wed, Thurs. Here are the deets:


Sunday - 14 mile Long Run in 1:28:58 (6:21/mi). About 38 degrees and raining. My best Long Run pace ever, and it was definitely at the right effort, as I didn't even feel spent afterwards.  Splits: 1 - 6:32, 2 - 6:29, 3 - 6:32, 4 - 6:22, 5 - 6:23, 6 - 6:19, 7 - 6:27, 8 - 6:23, 9 - 6:19, 10 - 6:18, 11 - 6:16, 12 - 6:15, 13 - 6:11, 14 - 6:05. So obviously the splits were very good, and I had a significant negative split. The question is whether I should have even done this long run though, as my popliteal tendon/muscle (right behind the knee, connecting the calf and hamstring) was hurting like I mentioned on Saturday. Right from the start I could feel it, and it was catching every few strides. Ended up toughing it out, but that's obviously never the best decision with injuries like this.

Midway through Sunday's Long Run

Last couple of miles, as the rain let up some

Monday - Planned on an easy 9 or 10mi with strides. Did an easy 6.5 mile run/limp, and couldn't do the strides. Popliteal tendon still hurting, and I probably should have went even shorter, but I was in the middle of the country by the time it was catching really bad and didn't really have a choice but to finish up the run.

Tuesday - Off. When I got home from school I was still on the fence about whether I was going to give the leg a rest or test it out, but my dad didn't want me to even run, so he had a big meal made for me to persuade me not to even run. Obviously I didn't want to take the day off, but I can't keep making this worse. I figure that if I miss a few easy days this week it's not a big deal, the days I can run this week I want to be my quality days.

Wednesday - 8 miles, 51:09 (6:23/mi): First 15min warmup (6:33, 6:37, little extra), then 11x1min on/2min off, couple minute cooldown. The "on" portions were at about 5k effort, the "off"'s were at about 6:30/mi. I had planned on doing 10, but did 11 because I had to take a quick pit stop during one, ha. First few were on the golf course, then on the roads. Afterwards, got back to the track for 10x200 relaxed, with full recovery. Still, these were very slow. I won't put all the splits up, but the legs just aren't moving yet. I tried to run about 3200m pace to mile pace feel. First 5 were mid 37s, next 4 were mid 36s, last one was 35.8. Didn't get down to mile PR pace, but they felt pretty relaxed for the most part. Wore my new Streak XC 2s for the last 8. They felt pretty good, but might be a little big. Popliteal tendon wasn't catching much, but lower hamstring was getting pretty tight. (Total 10mi)

Thursday - 45:00 easy with most of it on the golf course. Form felt off, and tendon was still "catching". I know I was compensating for the pain some, but I kept the overall volume and intensity down today. (~6.5 mi)

Friday - 2.55mi warmup in 17:12 (6:45/mi), strides, 25 minute tempo covering 4.3 miles (5:48/mi), 2 mile cooldown in 14:21 (7:10/mi). Alright tempo, nothing great, but the effort was right. It was a little windy out as well. Form felt a little off and tendon was catching some on the cooldown, so I kept it short and slow. (9 mi total)

Saturday - AM: 5 miles easy (~35min) on Barn School Road. Forgot watch on the way out there, so I had to estimate. Tendon was catching midway through and giving me some trouble. Had to stop a few times to stretch it. Scratched the planned hill sprints, as that would have been stupid to do.
PM: Tried an easy 3mi, which went surprisingly better than this morning. I did a ton of different stretches and rolling out before, which probably helped. Normally would have went 5 again tonight, but I'm hoping for a long run tomorrow and don't want to aggravate the tendon more. Cycled 15 minutes steady on the stationary bike afterwards to get in a bit extra aerobic activity.

Total: 54 miles, and a bit of cycling. Definitely not what I had hoped for this week, but I got in all of my quality stuff just fine, so I'm happy about that. Had my best long run ever, a solid tempo, some rhythm 200s to get the legs moving a bit more, and an alright fartlek. I still made advancements this week, just didn't hit the mileage.

Side note on the mileage: At this point, I'm not too concerned with not running huge miles, or not setting weekly mileage records. Especially if that comes at the cost of me getting more nagging injuries. Because as I've said before, I'm a bit more injury prone in the winter months. I'm not stressing over it too much because I know that I've got a great aerobic foundation. With this summer's consistency (about 6-8 weeks over 70 miles), I've got a pretty big base to build off of. Generally, year by year, I make big gains in mileage. I ran my first week over 70 miles my sophomore year, and although I haven't gotten much higher, I've had a ton more weeks at or above that amount. And compared to then, I'm way stronger aerobically. The quality of my mileage shows, as my long run pace has continued to improve, as well as my tempo run pace, among other things. I feel that I've got a great foundation right now, and some of the work that I put in this summer I haven't even seen all of the benefits from. I plan on keeping the miles at 60-75 for quite a few more weeks, but not making huge advancements in mileage this winter isn't that big of a deal, and shouldn't be my top priority. There isn't anything magical about getting over 80 miles/week. Especially when that wouldn't have been the smartest thing for me to do this winter given the circumstances. I've got an aerobic foundation that most high schoolers don't have, and hopefully I'll start putting that to use. My next focus is just going to be adding more quality, getting the tempo pace down over the next few weeks and spend more time at that pace. Once I get to the more specific training, I should be able to really see some big gains.

I'll be opening up my track season this next Saturday (March 5th) at the Illinois College Inviational in Jacksonville,IL. I'll be running the mile there. I'm not hoping for anything too big yet, just try to accustom the legs to what kind of pace they'll need to be running this spring. I don't know really what to expect since I haven't really done anything specific to mile type speed yet. It'll definitely be fun though, and I'm excited!

Have a good week, everyone!

-John

Aches and Pains

I'm late on getting this post out, so please forgive me. This week didn't go great, but wasn't horrible either. A big upside to the week though was the weather. We got away from the sub zero temps and the daytime high ranged from mid 40s to mid 60s all week, so that was very nice. I had to drop the mileage down some midweek because of some nagging pain though. I also only had one threshold session this week compared to the usual two. I got a new pair of shoes on Thursday, which were badly needed as my current pair of Kinvaras have at least 900 miles on them and I think are part of the reason why I've been hurting so much. This is my third pair of Kinvaras, and I can't explain the relief I felt once I put them on at end of my run on Thursday. It was a big boost! We had team practice on Mon, Wed, Thurs this week, but I did my own training as normal.

Here's how the week played out:

Sunday - 13 mile Long Run. Kept it slower and more relaxed this week. 1:27:07 (6:42/mi). Splits: 1-6:47, 2-6:41, 3-6:46,4-6:45,5-6:39,6-6:43,7-6:41,8-6:47,9-6:37,10-6:38,11-6:44,12-6:33,13-6:41. Great weather! Just a t-shirt and gloves necessary.

Monday - 9.5 miles in 1:03:50 (6:43/mi), 9x80m strides. First day of track practice. I did this while the rest of the team was in the gym doing p90x. Perfect weather. The bottom outside of right foot was really bothering me.

Tuesday - AM: 2 mile shakeout. Right quad and outside of foot really hurting.
                PM: 30min of Aquajogging (swim lessons prevented me from doing more). Had progression run planned, but I was just hurting too much. Decided to give myself a rest. Along with the other things mentioned from this morning, my right hamsting/glute connector was bothering me just walking around.

Wednesday - AM: 7:00am chiropractor appointment with Dr. Jay in Peoria. Had to leave town at 5:30, but it  was well worth it. He did some ART on me, made sure I was aligned well, and gave me some tips on some more strength and preventive things to do.
PM: 8 miles easy in 46:40 (6:40/mi), 8x200m relaxed. I just tried to run 5:00/mi (37s) pace as smooth as possible just to transition smoothly. Obviously that's pretty slow and slower than my race pace, but the key wasn't to go that fast, just to stay relaxed. Shoveled off the track before practice with my dad so that I could do these. Despite the great 50-60 degree weather we've been having, there were still some pretty big drifts on the track. I definitely appreciate him taking a few hours out of his day to shovel lane 8 just so I could do some 200s on the track after my run. Thanks Dad! (Tot. 9.5mi)

Thursday - 2mi warmup in 13:44 (6:53/mi), strides, 1 mile @ LT pace (5:56, slow) aborted workout, 6 mi cooldown. Felt horrible today, and right from the get go in my warmup I could tell. The planned workout was 4-6xmile cruise intervals at LT/Tempo pace. Just didn't feel smooth on the first one and felt it would be good to hold off a day. Put on my new pair of trainers for the last 2.5 miles of my run and my legs felt much better! (Tot. 9mi)

Friday - 3 mi warmup in 20:00 (6:40/mi), strides, 5xmile @ LT pace w/ 2:00 recovery (5:45,5:45,5:42,5:42,5:40), 2 mi cooldown in 13:52 (6:57). Felt much better today. Felt very smooth and I know that I didn't go over the prescribed effort of tempo pace today. (Tot. 10mi)

Saturday - AM: 5 miles very easy in 35:46 (7:10/mi) on seven hills road, 6x8sec Hill Sprints with much better grippage than last week. PM: 5 miles easy in 34:56 (6:57/mi). Tendon that connects the hamstring and calf was really bothering me, but (10mi on day)

Weekly Total: 63 miles. Only one tempo workout, but a quite a bit of days with strides after the runs, some relaxed 200s sprinkled in, and some hill sprints to recruit some muscle fibers that haven't been used for awhile. Not too bad of a week, it just could have been better.

I hope everyone had a good week!

-John

Help! IMPRISONED IN FEBRUARY

I haven't referenced anything from Once A Runner yet in my blog, but I felt that this week's title was suiting. I didn't really do a whole lot other than run this week. It got cold, really cold, midweek. A few of the days I had to get back on that dreaded treadmill, but I can't really do anything fast when the temps are sub zero or when there is ice covering the streets, so I kept the quality miles inside. By Saturday it warmed quite a bit, so that felt really nice!

As a whole, this week went really well. Here's the log:

Sunday - 14 mile long run, 1:30:06 (6:26/mi). Splits: 1-6:35, 2-6:28, 3-6:33, 4-6:23, 5-6:24, 6-6:20, 7-6:15, 8-6:58 (hilly!), 9-6:17, 10-6:24, 11-6:19, 12-6:19, 13-6:19, 14-6:27. Best of all, that felt easy!!

Monday - 9 miles easy, 1:02:00 (6:53/mi). Half outside, half inside on treadmill. It was very cold and icy out, and unfortunately I took a pretty bad fall going around a boulevard. The fall itself isn't what made me head in early, it's the fact that my whole left glove went through a frozen puddle when I was breaking my fall. After my entire left arm was entirely soaked with water, I continued to run for about another 10 minutes and my glove completely froze and hardened up. 10 degree weather will do that to you.

Tuesday - It was 4 degrees and icy, not the best progression run weather so I kept it on the treadmill: 1 mi easy (7:00), 6x20sec strides, 8.5mi progression run in 54:18 (6:23/mi) starting at 6:45/mi and working to 6:05/mi. Half mile cool down. (9mi in 57:48; Total of 10mi in 1:04:48)

Wednesday - 8 miles, 55:00 (6:52/mi). Just 4x80m strides halfway through, quad was hurting some.

Thursday - AM: 2 mile shakeout, 14:22 (7:11)
PM: 3 warmup outside in 20:26 (6:48/mi), 6x80m strides on road, back inside to treadmill-20min tempo covering 3.46mi (5:46/mi), 2min recovery, 5 more minutes at tempo pace covering .86mi (5:48/mi), back outside for 2.72mi cool down in 19:52 (7:18/mi). It was still really cold and icy and I would be holding myself back if I were slowing down for all of the ice around town. (Total of 10mi, 12 on day)

Friday - 9 miles, 1:01:09 (6:47/mi).

Saturday - AM: 5 miles easy, 34:16 (6:51/mi). 6x8sec hill sprints after. The hill sprints weren't quality, and I don't feel that I even benefited from them. The hill was still covered with thick snow/ice and I slipped the whole way up. I don't think that was too smart.
PM: 5 miles easy, 35:13 (7:02/mi). Very nice out, only had to wear a long sleeve shirt, shorts, and gloves. Big change from earlier in the week. (10mi on day)

Weekly Total: 72 miles. Very good week. My highest mileage since this summer/fall. Hopefully I can have a lot more weeks like this. I might drop back down a little bit next week, it just depends on how the body is feeling. I did general strength/injury prevention everyday from Thursday-Saturday. I got pretty lax on it early in the week, and just felt a little "off", so I think that was the reason why. I need to keep progressing that as well. I was hoping for some relaxed 200s this week, but couldn't really get access to an indoor track. Hopefully with the warming trend that is supposed to be happening in the next few days the track can get cleared or it will be easier to shovel it off, we'll see. Regardless, I need to get my legs used to a quicker pace than what I've been going. Aerobically, I'm starting to feel really fit again, and things are just feeling really easy.

I start official  team track practice this week. I don't think my mileage should take too much of a hit though, as I normally do my own thing anyway. I'll update you guys on how that kind of stuff works out for me in a typical track season, as obviously in Bushnell we don't have too many serious distance guys.

Have a good week, everyone!

-John

Snow, Decisions, and Good Training

Hello Readers,

This was a very good week for training (except for Monday, maybe). We were hit with a really nasty blizzard that dumped a good 20'' of snow and got us out of school for three days. Due to the weather though, I had to run inside on the treadmill for most of the week, but I still got in quality training. I got in a solid long run, a high-end aerobic effort in the form of a progression run, and a good tempo as well. Also, I did strides on more days after my runs this week, and one day tried to simulate some hill sprints on the treadmill, which was makeshift at best though.

Also, I made a very big decision. I committed to run for the Adams State Grizzlies next year! I'm very excited about this. I felt that it was a great opportunity for me, and something I didn't want to pass up. I talked about a lot of the things I liked about the school in the last post, so I won't go too deep into detail on why I chose the school. Overall though, I felt like it would be the best fit for me and something new to look forward to for next school year.

Here's the log for the week:

Sunday - 12 mile long run, 1:19:27 (6:37/mi). Felt good and strong. Temps were in the mid 30s so that felt nice. Splits: 1-6:46,2-6:37,3-6:37,4-6:31,5-6:43,6-6:37,7-6:33,8-6:30,9-6:36,10-6:45,11-6:36,12-6:31. Although the splits don't really show it, the legs came off the last couple of miles. I really don't have many long runs under me this cycle yet though. Upper calf was bothering me afterwards.

Monday - Just 2 miles slow on the treadmill. Upper calf was bothering me really bad so I had to call it quits. No additional cross training as it was late and I wasn't up for the 20min drive to and from Macomb.

Tuesday - AM: 30min of Aqua jogging at YMCA. Made it home just as the blizzard was getting bad.
PM: 8 miles in 53:47 on treadmill (6:43/mi). First 45:00 were progression run (6.82mi). I started very slow because of the calf so the overall distance for that time isn't anywhere near impressive. I started at about 7:30/mi and worked down at the end to about 6:05/mi. The last 1.2 miles were cool down at 6:55/mi. Run was continuous. Not a great progression run, but with calf pain it wasn't bad, and it gives me a lot to work on in the coming weeks.

Wednesday - 10 miles on treadmill (Ew), 1:08:23 (6:50/mi). Strides on it afterwards, 6x20sec. Treadmill only goes up to 12mph or 5:00/mi, so they were pretty relaxed. Did them at that speed on 2% incline.

Thursday - AM: 2 mile shakeout on treadmill in 14:44 (7:22/mi)
PM: 2.5 warmup with most of it outside in 18:00 (7:12/mi), 20 min tempo on treadmill (3.42mi--5:50/mi), 2.08mi cool down in 14:17 (6:52/mi). Tempo felt very relaxed, and the pace was slower than what a true tempo is run at for me, but the treadmill just makes things feel forced and unnatural so I kept it conservative. Also, there definitely wasn't any chance of doing anything fast outside, as the roads are still completely covered. (Tot. of 8mi, 10 on day)

Friday - 8 miles on treadmill in 54:36 (6:49/mi). Stopped at 1 mile to do 5x10sec "Hill Sprints". Since my treadmill can't even go my 2mile race pace, these obviously weren't fast enough, but with the incline at the right steepness I think I got the correct stimulus needed from this workout. I did them at 12mph and 6% incline.

Saturday - AM: 6 miles easy OUTSIDE!, 42:00 (7:00/mi). Did it around town. I still slipped around quite a bit but it felt good to get some fresh air. 6x80m strides on my street afterwards.
PM: 5 miles easy, 37:51 (7:34/mi), around Peoria with Bradley University runner Nathan Davis. There was a ton of slush on the sidewalks, and big snow banks everywhere that we were hurdling and running over, so that definitely slowed things a bit. This was my second run that was with other people in the last 62 days! I was in Peoria to pick up a new pair of trainers, as my Kinvaras have nothing left in them. I ended up having to order them, because they didn't really have the colorway that I wanted, and I didn't really want to look at a color that I hate for the next 3 months, so I held off. Hopefully my trainers can last another good 10 days! (Tot. 11mi on day)

Weekly Total: 61 miles. Plus 30 minutes of Aqua-Jogging. That means, excluding Monday, I averaged just about 10 miles a day. I'm getting back up there in mileage, and things are going well. I hope to build on this next week, and put in some more quality. I'm happy about the training that I've been putting in, but also the fact that I think I can stay injury-free, as I've been feeling strong the last couple of days.

Also, before I sign off, I'd like to take some time to say the word marshmallow. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW NATHAN?!?

-John

College Decisions

It's about that time. The time where I decide what school I'll be attending next year. It's been a fun last three months going through the decision making process. It's been nice to take visits, meet the teams and coaches, and get an overall feel for each school. I've been narrowed down to about three schools for the past two months, and those school are Western Illinois University, Elmhurst College, and Adams State College. Each school has something unique about it, and that's what has made the decision so tough.

Western Illinois University (WIU) - Division 1 school, located in Macomb,IL, that I would say is on the uprise in both Cross Country and Track. They have a new coach, David Beachum, who definitely knows what he is doing. The results became apparent this fall, when most of the upperclassmen started running huge PRs and made major jumps in their training loads.

Elmhurst College - Division III school, located in Elmhurst, IL. This school is located right outside of Chicago and has great, close-knit group of guys. Also, their coach is FAST. James Akita, who is pretty young, and coaches just the men's team, holds many of the school records and can still kick most of the guys butts in workouts and races if he wants to. I know a lot of guys on the team, as I raced many of them in high school, and they are all really cool. They are only going to get better as well. Knowing a couple of their other recruits (Will Cross), and how fast they are, I know that would be another big plus to going there.

Adams State College - Division II school, located in Alamosa,CO. Saying they are successful would be a huge understatement. They have won the last three Division II National Championships in XC, and are better than most all Division I programs. It's the norm for their athletes to become Division II powerhouse athletes, and All-Americans. Their head Coach, Damon Martin, is a well-known and respected coach across all divisions, and provides his athletes with opportunities that most big D1 schools can't even provide. This description doesn't even cover the incredible scenery that is out there.

Obviously, this isn't an easy decision. I haven't let myself stress out over it though, and I've just tried to enjoy it more than anything. Everyone has been incredibly helpful at each school, and really, I could see myself being happy at any of those three schools. There are major differences between Division I, II, and III schools though. A downside to division III is the lack of an ability to provide athletic scholarships that other DI or DII schools can provide. I don't know how much information my parents or these schools coaches want me to reveal about what I am/can get scholarship wise from any of these schools, so I'm not going to talk specifically about that.

A lot of the decision not only comes down to how good the team is, it also involves the school's educational programs, the location of the school, and financial information, among many other factors. Here are some pros and cons about each school:

WIU -
Pros: D1 (if I get really good, that's the best stage to perform on and we're in the same XC regional as OK State and those other good D1 schools), it's a big university and there are good educational opportunities, and I know a lot of guys on the team
Cons: So close to home (15 miles), big partying school

Elmhurst -
Pros: Close to chicago, good running community, bigger chance to be really good on the DIII level than D1 or 2 (both individually and team), perfect distance from home (3.5hrs), great group of guys, good education
Cons: No chance for athletic money, they compete mostly close to school

Adams -
Pros: Incredible team and tradition, fast group of guys to thrive off of, complete change of scenery from Illinois, altitude (pro and con), good funding, opportunity to get into very good meets
Cons: 1100 miles from home (pro and con), the possibility that I wouldn't be on varsity the first few years (where as at Elmhurst and WIU I would be a big contributor right away freshman year)

I kind of wanted to give you guys a good idea of what is going through my head right now as I decide. I will most likely be decided within the week. Regardless, I'm excited about what next year will bring!

Thanks for reading.

-John