tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86230573923039580492024-02-06T20:40:21.390-08:00Chasing SlaterJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-38383360134847648812012-05-21T16:24:00.004-07:002012-05-21T16:24:41.257-07:00First Year Down. Ready For Summer Training.<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Track season has come to a close and I have taken my 2 week break/transition between seasons. It’s nice having time off for something not related to an injury. The two weeks went by quickly with finals and some traveling during the first week of summer break. I started my summer training on Saturday with nothing but a 40 minute easy run. It’s strange starting summer training this early (mid May), when I’m usually not even done with Track season yet. Typically it isn’t until mid-June when my Summer training begins. With this said, it’s smart not start back too hard too soon. For one, I don’t want to burn out. Two, getting really fit really early can often result in peaking too soon and not being at my best come the end of the Cross Country season. The benefits of starting this early are that I will not have to rush any training, and will be able to build up to the mileage that will help me improve most. Starting this early means that I will definitely be getting as fit as I can possibly get this summer, which is exciting!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Track Season:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Considering that I did not write any blog posts during indoor or outdoor track season, I have some catching up to do. Things went well for the most part, I got in some solid uninterrupted training, and finished with some PRs.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>February</b>- </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ran a crappy 3k indoors at Albuquerque. We’ll go ahead and leave the time out.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ran a slight converted PR in the Mile at Colorado School of Mines indoor meet. It converted to a 4:35 mile or 4:34 1600, which would be about a 3 second PR off a very mediocre High School time.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>March</b>- Got in some very good training, even hitting one 80 mile week. My workouts continued to progress each week as well. My speed improved considerably as well, the track workouts continued to get better and my tempo runs got much quicker even while they were increasing in distance. My confidence definitely grew through the good training.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>April/Early May</b>-</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opened up the Outdoor Season with an alright 3k at Albuquerque, that converted to about a 9:47ish 3200 mile at sea level. So alright, but not even my High School PR.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Went home and raced at Western Illinois University in the 3k and ran a PR of 9:04 (9:40 3200). Going sub-9 was obviously the goal and I felt I could have done so much better in this race. I had at the very least 5 seconds left in the tank. I still am getting used to racing again.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ran my first 1500 in Fort Collins in 4:09 which is a big mile conversion PR of close to 10 seconds. Was very happy with the race.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Finished the season with a little time trial, running a 4:07 altitude conversion, which is the equivalent of about 4:24 in the mile, or a 4:23 1600. Doing that at 7000 feet was not much fun though.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is a very brief and choppy recap of my short indoor and outdoor seasons. I feel I could have went MUCH faster in the 3k if I would have extended my season a bit more, and definitely could have gotten more out of the 1500 as well. At the same time, I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and played it conservative, shutting my season down early. It was my redshirt year and I got in some good racing experience which I feel was the most important thing I needed, especially after not having raced in such a long time.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Now that the Summer base training has begun for what I hope will be a breakthrough year, I’m excited to start writing blog posts again. I am hoping to build up to a higher amount of mileage than I have ever done before as well as continuing to improve my lactate-threshold and develop my high-end aerobic system. I’ll detail tempo runs and long runs, easy days and hard days. The hope is that the end result will give me a chance to make a national-championship team, or simply to have a breakthrough cross-country season that will lead to bigger and better things throughout the year.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I hope you’ll be reading more as I feel the best things still lie ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">GO GRIZZLIES!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-John</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-54143614553310617442011-12-31T22:00:00.000-08:002012-01-16T08:42:46.827-08:002011 - Year In Review: A Big Buildup, A Big Letdown, and A Slow Comeback<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">I couldn’t be more happy for 2011 to be coming to an end and to have a new year, with a fresh start right upon me. The title of this post describes my year nicely. I’ve explained my feelings and other thoughts in much more depth throughout the year, so I won’t write any more on that, and quite frankly I’d like to stop thinking about the negative sides of this year. I’ve rebounded and learned from any mistakes that I made.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro-1, myriad-pro-2, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 16px;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro-1, myriad-pro-2, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">On a positive note, here are some important things that happened in 2011:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">January - Started writing the blog</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">February - Made my college decision and decided to attend Adams State College</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">March - Had the most successful string of indoor meets of my High School career (not long enough to be considered a true season) and medaled at Illinois Prep Top Times</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">April - Ran PRs at all distances from 800m-3200m even if some were very slight</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">August - Made the biggest move of my life, leaving Illinois for Colorado</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">August-December - Got to be a part of a collegiate XC/Track team, a very successful one at that.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I don’t have an exact mileage count for 2011 as this fall I didn’t really record much of my training in an organized fashion.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I don’t know what 2012 will bring, but I can only hope for good things!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span>Log for last week of the year:</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Sunday (Christmas Day) - 15 Mile Long Run in Nebraska. Incredibly nice day for Christmas with the temperature getting up into the mid 50s!! Finished with my shirt off which is a first for a run on Christmas or December for that matter!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bWbdUvscwkwZJCuI6_xdKSMG53WjFWSBrwChQNqq7eQjKHWT4l6B3YGaEuNNUjIi2sHe-C_OmxRyAAYvpnGef4_TIr6IKRMVgJSUxodNYYwKcNg-Gd9iA0nPhc_5Rgkkt-ISgepVMnsP/s1600/IMG_2329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bWbdUvscwkwZJCuI6_xdKSMG53WjFWSBrwChQNqq7eQjKHWT4l6B3YGaEuNNUjIi2sHe-C_OmxRyAAYvpnGef4_TIr6IKRMVgJSUxodNYYwKcNg-Gd9iA0nPhc_5Rgkkt-ISgepVMnsP/s200/IMG_2329.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro-1, myriad-pro-2, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 16px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxDWqmESByAtCLuS9-67CxVjeNRQpuRpOwEnRqsA0Ujpu17wBJhjIHuxDJpaJ8w16rOpO5j1iCudUm71791Wjh5PNU7l5rua3Mcp_74LuTP5GCflWVU5GLHpJgL2hhrroi9cK3dLfXL7E/s1600/IMG_2355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxDWqmESByAtCLuS9-67CxVjeNRQpuRpOwEnRqsA0Ujpu17wBJhjIHuxDJpaJ8w16rOpO5j1iCudUm71791Wjh5PNU7l5rua3Mcp_74LuTP5GCflWVU5GLHpJgL2hhrroi9cK3dLfXL7E/s200/IMG_2355.JPG" width="200" /></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro-1, myriad-pro-2, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 16px;"><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Monday - 60 minutes easy (8 miles) with some strides scattered throughout</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Tuesday - 2 mile warmup, 5x4x200s, 2 mile cooldown (8 miles)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Wednesday - 70 minutes easy in the trails at Spring Lake (10 miles)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Thursday - 60 minutes easy (8 miles) and 6x100m strides after</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Friday - 2 mile warm up, 6 mile AT run (on treadmill) in 35:40, 2 mile cooldown</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Saturday - 50 minutes easy (6.5 miles)--tired and being cautious</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Total: 65.5 miles</span></div>
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</span></span>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-24399646225909835282011-12-23T14:59:00.000-08:002011-12-23T14:59:30.961-08:00I’M STILL ALIVE<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Written on December 17th-</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s now been over four months since I’ve posted a blog entry. I wrote my last entry while in the car on the way out to attend my first semester at Adams State College. I’m writing this entry on the train on my way back home after my first semester. A lot has changed. The last time I posted was with an optimistic view of what was to come while being out there. I had been coming off of a four month layoff and one of the most difficult times of my life. Luckily, that’s over with and my training is now progressing the way that I have hoped. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are a combination of factors and numerous reasons why I took the long break in posting. I didn’t want to rush things and come back too quick. Oftentimes while training with everything public, I would often do things that my body wasn’t ready for. I wanted so badly to be able to post happy, upbeat entries where everything was coming along just fine. But it wasn’t. I also needed a break. I needed a break from the meticulous totaling of weekly mileage. From the constant assessment of where I was in relation to my goals. I needed a break from setting goals.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While being at Adams I’ve put my focus off of myself for a bit. It’s awesome being surrounded by such great teammates. 4:03 milers, national champions, international talents. I’m such a small fish in a big pond. Instead, I’ve just been trying to enjoy the experience as much as possible. It’s truly an honor to be surrounded by such phenomenal athletes on a daily basis. I chose to just soak everything in and focus on taking small steps in the right direction. Nothing else.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Alright, now we can get to the details. I became able to gradually increase mileage in the beginning of September. I did this with 20-30 minute runs on grass fields and then slowly transitioned to dirt and gravel trails and roads. I would supplement this running with cross training after and several times a week I would still only cross train. Aside from a couple days here and there with minor nagging injuries, I was able to increase quite rapidly and saw the gains in fitness coming back quickly. By the beginning of October I was already doing 75 minute long runs. When I’d try to hop into team workouts, I’d get blown away by the rest of the Freshmen who had a summer base. I think I may have tried to jump into the fast stuff a bit too soon, as I had a tiny setback period in mid october where I kept missing a few days here and there with more aches and pains. I just wasn’t structurally adapted to the training that I was trying to do yet. So, after several weeks of trying to do XC workouts, I went back to just easy running. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Through mid to late October I continued to only run easy and started seeing mileage increases without any setbacks. By November I was doing similar mileage to the rest of the Freshmen most days of the week. I then started doing workouts with an emphasis on long aerobic strength building. The tempo runs I was attempting to do in September were laughable, but these were now starting to feel a bit more promising. Week by week I was seeing small but noticeable improvements. With the mileage and quality of my workload increasing, I was starting get on the same level of training as the rest of my first-year teammates.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I can feel myself getting stronger each week. Tempo run paces are getting faster while the effort seems to be dropping as well- even at 7500 feet! Yesterday while doing a tempo workout on the country roads surrounding Alamosa, I started to get a feeling that I haven’t experienced in all too long. I was gliding along, clipping off 5:40s and it felt effortless. Effortless! I felt smooth, controlled, and powerful.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While my fitness still isn’t where I want it to be and far behind most others on my team, I know it’s headed in the right direction. I haven’t ran a race almost eight months. I’m finally started to get the itch again though. Confidence in my ability is coming back. I’m looking forward to hopping into a few late indoor meets, even if I am getting my butt kicked. The adrenaline that comes with toeing the line is something that I’ve missed for far too long. I want to get back to the level of fitness I had before the injury and then continue to build and continue to get stronger. This time though, I’m smarter.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If I’m feeling pain, I take a day off and cross train. No question. There’s no guarantee that I’m going to stay injury-free and follow the path that I want, but I’ll give it the best shot I can. I still have so much I want to get out of myself. I’m only 19. I know I’ve got loads of untapped potential. So if I stay smart and diligent with my training, the improvements will continue to come and I will see what I can get out of myself.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Like always though, the number one reason that I run is because I enjoy it. I’m thankful to be able to take personal satisfaction from it. To be able to get out there and cover distances on foot. It’s not a solitary pursuit anymore though. I have a group of teammates, all of whom are pursuing their own goals and all of whom are extremely motivated. As a group they come together and really represent Adams State well. They are what makes Adams State excellent. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here's a quick video of the our guys finishing (and winning) the regional championships:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I won’t get too detailed on what I did last week, but here’s a brief overview (12/11-12/17):</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">14 mile Long Run with the team on Sunday, which was my first one in a very long time. Started off at 0 degrees, but warmed up slightly throughout. The rest of the week consisted of a moderate tempo run on Tuesday a tempo repeat workout on Friday and easy 65-70 minute easy runs on all other days.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll get back to the detailed logging of mileage for this next week of training.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas break.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-John</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-32166493180598091432011-08-12T14:19:00.000-07:002011-08-12T14:19:15.580-07:00Struggling Times and New Beginnings<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Wow, it's been awhile. I haven't been in my normal blog writing mood as of late. I'd say that's mostly due to things not going so well in terms of running. I've had numerous more problems since the last entry and my layoff was extended considerably. I figured if I was having bad news on a weekly basis, why keep writing about it? I know my readers wouldn't want to listen to me moan and complain about how shitty my training is, or how my foot hurt today, or how I'm feeling quite down about this, especially on a weekly basis! I know I wouldn't want to read about that.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Well, I think things have changed for the better. I'm not going to proclaim that "I'm back" or that I'm sure I'll now be training uninterrupted from here on out, but things are looking the best that they have.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Here's the somewhat depressing outline of how the last 8 weeks have played out (with plenty of aqua jogging and biking in between that seemed to get less enjoyable with each passing day) :</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Day after I got out of boot- Started having very bad knee pain (I've speculated many different causes, but still don't exactly what happened for sure, although I think it may have been a minor meniscus tear due to twisting my knee some on the day I watched NCAA's as I'm still feeling it a little now, but luckily it got better). For a good 10 days I was limping around considerably.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">6/22 - 10min easy on grass at Spring Lake</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">6/25- 10min easy on grass at Spring Lake</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">6/28 - 12min easy on grass at a golf course in Nebraska</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Felt some pain in my RIGHT foot while walking down the stairs and the next several days while pushing on it. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">7/4 - 10min easy on grass at Spring Lake</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Got the right foot imaged, stress reaction in my intermediate cuneiform.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Two more weeks off.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">7/17 - 2 miles easy on grass at Spring Lake in 14:19 (7:10/mi)</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">7/19 - 2 miles easy on grass at Spring Lake in 13:40 (6:51/mi)</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">7/21 - .9 miles-quit with unbearable pain in my left toe</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">10 days off, with which the toe was still bothering me after, but bearable</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Last several days of building back up - I'm still having daily pains walking and sore spots here and there, but am running with hardly any pain:</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">8/3 - 2 miles very slow on treadmill testing the toe out</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">8/3 - 2.62 miles outside at western soccer fields and roads, felt toe some on the fields to did what I normally don't do and ran on the hard roads, but the smooth surface really made it feel better</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">8/5 - 3 miles very slow on treadmill</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">8/7 - 3.5 miles on crushed gravel trail averaging 6:52/mi</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">8/8 - 2miles very slow on treadmill</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">8/10 - 4 miles with first 3 on treadmill, last on outside in 6:32! 27:32 (6:52/mi)</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">8/11 - 2.63 miles on golf course in 18:25 (7:01/mi)</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">As of now, that's where my comeback stands. I'm going into this with no expectations. I'm really just trying to enjoy running right now and enjoy the confidence boost that occurs with watching my fitness improve on a daily basis. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I'd obviously like to be in much better shape coming into a top notch program as I am usually adequately prepared and confident in the training I have done in the prior weeks and months coming into a season. The important thing is to get (and stay) healthy. I'm going to try and not compare myself to the other freshman or teammates constantly, who have had healthy and good summers of running. I don't think it will take me long to bounce back long if I stay patient</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">----------------</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Okay, putting my training aside and where my fitness is at, I'm at a very exciting point in my life….</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I moved out of my house today and am currently on my way across the country to my new home- Alamosa, Colorado. It's a definitely a bittersweet moment, but I'm ready. I'm ready to get out and see my new teammates (as a real team is something I've never really been able to be a part of), scope out my new training grounds, be under Coach Martin's expert guidance. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I'll be stopping at my Grandparents in Nebraska for a couple of days before resuming the trip out there. I'll be moving my belongings into my dorm room on the 14th or 15th. We have a team meeting/barbecue on the 17th and my three-day freshman orientation starts the following day. Classes will begin soon after on Monday the 22nd. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I'll keep you guys updated!</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Thanks for reading.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">-John</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-83958729828152985962011-06-12T11:46:00.000-07:002011-06-12T11:49:17.097-07:00Week 6 - Inching My Way Closer To RunningHello Readers,<br />
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I really only have good news this week. Yesterday I spent most of the day traveling to Des Moines and watching the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, which turned out to be a good meet. I headed over with Bradley University runner Nathan Davis early in the morning and made a day out of it. In the distance races Chelanga and Centro didn’t disappoint, although I couldn’t help but pull for Illinois natives Dorian Ulrey and Chris Derrick in both races. I also got to meet one of my future ASC teammates, Brady McGuire, who travelled over from North Platte, NE to watch the meet.<br />
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Although I was unsure of what to think of my foot in the last entry, things are definitely looking up. The most recent x-ray looked good and showed bone growth. I’ve been walking in regular shoes a lot and I think today I will finally be able to say bye to the boot for good. It has now been 6 weeks since the injury occurred, which is supposed to be when I could resume running. I’m going to give it a few more days before I start easing back into running on soft surfaces, just due to the fact that I’ve only begun walking within the last week.<br />
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Cross Training Log 6/5-6/11:<br />
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<b>Sunday</b> - 61 minutes of aquajogging<br />
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<b>Monday</b> - AM: 15mi of cycling on a pretty hilly course in 1:06:23 (Avg. HR of 138bpm); PM: 30min of aquajogging<br />
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<b>Tuesday</b> - AM: 45 minutes of cycling on stationary bike pretty hard; PM: 45 minutes of aquajogging that wasn’t very intense<br />
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<b>Wednesday</b> - 60min of aquajogging including hard portions and some swimming with Chase and Gatlin Marlow. My first real cross training session with someone else, which definitely made things easier and more enjoyable.<br />
<i>*Walking: 14min of walking on treadmill </i><br />
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<b>Thursday</b> - AM: 45min of cycling on stationary bike; PM: 41min of aquajogging<br />
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<b>Friday</b> - AM: 14mi of cycling in 1:00:00 (stopped 6min in to help some old people catch their dog on my bike and earned $2, score!) , wind really slowed me down; PM: 30min of aquajogging with Nathan Davis before getting kicked out by a storm and lightning that were rolling through<br />
<i>*Walking: 13min gradually getting faster</i><br />
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<b>Saturday</b> - 60min of cycling on stationary bike covering 21.2 miles. First 15min weren’t too intense but I definitely started going hard midway through and had a few hard, sustained portions to make it a good workout<br />
<i>*Walking: 1 mile of walking on the treadmill slowly getting up to 3mph and 3.0 incline and then working back down in 21min</i><br />
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<b><u>Weekly Total</u></b>: 543 minutes of aerobic activity, 267 of that from aquajogging and 276 of that from cycling.<br />
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Not a horrible week, but like I’ve said cross training is just getting old. Being able to walk now and mix some of that in there has helped a lot. I’ll definitely be upping the supplemental walking this week and hoping to start running some mid week! It won’t be much running I’m sure, so I’ll still be cross training about the same amount in addition to keep my aerobic fitness where it is. I'll likely add the elliptical to my cross training routine, since I can now probably do that pain free.<br />
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Hopefully everyone had a good week and is enjoying their summer.<br />
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-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-32053029341006220982011-06-06T20:14:00.000-07:002011-06-06T20:14:22.225-07:00Cross Training Week 5: 5/29-6/4Readers,<br />
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I haven’t been getting my posts out like I should be at the end of my training week (Saturday), so I’ll try to be better at doing that or at least being closer to that day. It’s not like I have had anything more important to do that’s been occupying my time! Last week I was talking about the progress that the foot had made, but now it seems I’ve taken a couple of steps back. I was implementing some walking in regular shoes into my daily schedule starting at the end of week 4 and into the beginning of week 5. I didn’t experience any pain during these short 10 minute sessions, but did feel very weak in my left side. After a few days of this though, I started getting some soreness in my foot/toes when walking in the boot again. Like I said, I didn’t have any walking in normal shoes though. Really, this could also have been from me early on in the week getting out of the shower and walking across my bathroom barefoot for the first time in 5 weeks and doing the same thing in my bedroom. Again, I didn’t have ANY pain doing this, but it just could have been a little thing that contributed to a bit of a setback with the foot. Today though, it’s feeling better and walking in the boot has been pain free as I made a point to stay off of it all day yesterday (used crutches again).<br />
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Here’s the Week 5 Cross Training Log:<br />
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<b>Sunday</b> - PM: 5min of aquajogging, just wasn’t feeling it, 34min of cycling outside. I think mentally I was tired from the cross training the day/week before, which is a poor excuse regardless.<br />
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<b>Monday</b> - AM: 1hr of cycling on stationary bike in which I went really hard-10min warmup, 5x3min hard ~170bpm (1:30 recovery) , 10min moderate, 5min ~Tempo pace, 2min moderate, 5min ~Tempo pace, 7min cooldown. (Avg. HR of 144bpm); PM: 30min of easy aquajogging<br />
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<b>Tuesday</b> - AM: 14.75 mile bike ride to Macomb which was exclusively against the wind in 1:17:50; PM: 53min of aquajogging<br />
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<b>Wednesday</b> - AM: Only 18min of Stationary bike cycling-aborted workout when I felt slight soreness in my left foot; PM: 60min of aquajogging with some hard portions<br />
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<b>Thursday</b> - None, completely off. Spent most of the day in St. Louis with my friends and was walking in the mall more than I would have liked, which made the foot sore again.<br />
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<b>Friday</b> - AM: 20 mile bike ride in 1:24:30 (Avg. HR of 150bpm); PM: 30min of Aquajogging<br />
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<b>Saturday</b> - AM: 45min of easy stationary bike cycling; PM: 30min of Aquajogging<br />
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<b><u>Weekly Total</u></b>: 545 minutes of aerobic activity. 208 of those minutes being aquajogging and 337 of those minutes being from cycling. Really am not that happy with the totals and was hoping for a jump from last week, but on two of the days this last week, I just wasn’t feeling it.<br />
<br />
Cycling is much more enjoyable than aquajogging (except for how my butt feels afterwards). I could continue to ramble on about how much I dislike cross training, but I really don’t want to talk about it more than I have to, as it just makes me more sick of it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8cgWC07afE72DbqCwMqedEit3N64cxkh-3hhSIiBfKVOIi4_EIRipq6cp7B58rcIQygyDSvPCvD3eS_xhxRday_E4W1DvJMpsuaOYj1kNZmMrsSKdH-AxSvLl7gGVBROYWCUb8bfUI0Q/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8cgWC07afE72DbqCwMqedEit3N64cxkh-3hhSIiBfKVOIi4_EIRipq6cp7B58rcIQygyDSvPCvD3eS_xhxRday_E4W1DvJMpsuaOYj1kNZmMrsSKdH-AxSvLl7gGVBROYWCUb8bfUI0Q/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sitting out writing this entry</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
I was supposed to be off of running a total of six weeks, which would mean that I would be able to ease back in by next week, but at this point I’m unsure of whether I’ll realistically be able to do that or not. Until next week, I’ll just continue to play it by feel and see how the foot is progressing day by day. That’s really all that I can do.<br />
<br />
-John<br />
<div><br />
</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-33880662013165422162011-06-01T19:02:00.000-07:002011-06-01T19:02:13.874-07:00Cross Training Week 4: 5/22-5/28Hello Readers,<br />
<br />
It’s been awhile since my last post, but I feel that a bit of a break from the blog was a good thing. Since the last post, I've graduated and the IHSA track season has officially come to a close. Things seem to be going better now though. The quality and volume of my cross training has been improving over the last few weeks, although I am getting sick and tired of aquajogging. It’s not the least bit enjoyable now. Fortunately, as the recovery of the foot has gotten farther along, I’ve been able to add in some cycling. At the moment that’s probably the training that I enjoy most. At first, the change of scenery that came with biking was a big bonus. Aquajogging is just about as boring as the treadmill, or worse. It has been harder to drag myself into the pool each consecutive day. It’s a motivation problem that I don’t seem to have with running.<br />
<br />
Progress has been the theme of the last couple of weeks. First it was getting off of my crutches, which I couldn’t stand. It’s amazing just about how much you appreciate walking when you can’t do it. I got off of them gradually by introducing small spurts of walking in the boot. My crutches have been laying in the back seat of my car for about 6 days now, and I don’t miss them one bit. Now I’m getting around exclusively on foot, which is nice and I’m even taking the boot off for a small amount of time each day. Soon I’ll be getting around in normal shoes and (hopefully) introducing small amounts of running into my schedule.<br />
<br />
<br />
Here’s what week number four of cross training looked like (5/22-5/28):<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - AM: 35minutes of aquajogging; PM: 45 minutes of aquajogging/swimming - This turned out to be scheduled nicely around my graduation and graduation party<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - 75min of aquajogging, with some hard portions<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - AM: ?; PM: 30min of Stationary Bike<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 3pm: 13mi bike ride in 52min (Avg. HR 150bpm); 9pm: 30min of aquajogging<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - AM: 10mi of cycling outside SLOW with first half into wind, with first half into the wind 47:48 (Avg. HR 146bpm); PM: 45min of aquajogging<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 18mi of cycling outside in 1:16:35 (Avg. HR 152bpm)<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - AM: Hard aquajogging workout- 10min warmup, 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 hard w/ half recovery, 5min easy, 100m swim, 5min easy, 3x(60sec-45sec-30sec) No hand w/ 30 sec rec. in between, 5min easy, 100m swim, the rest cooldown easy (Tot. 65min); PM: 60min of stationary bike covering 20mi (Avg. HR 136bpm)<br />
<br />
<u><b>Weekly Total</b></u>: 561 minutes of aerobic activity (9 hours, 21 minutes); 295min (4:55) of that aquajogging, and 266min (4:26) of that cycling<br />
<br />
<br />
I was pretty happy with the week as a whole. The hard thing about cross training, especially aquajogging, is that you don’t get the feedback that you do from running. I don’t get any splits, there is no way to monitor my pace or speed, it’s just me judging effort, which can sometimes be nice, but ultimately leaves me questioning how good my workout was, or makes it hard to compare workouts to one another.<br />
<br />
I had a check up x-ray and things seem to be healing like they should. I’ll be getting another one in a few weeks to make certain that everything is fine. I was worried for a while that it had led to something worse than a regular stress fracture as I wasn’t able to walk at all. A friend of mine who recently had a stress fracture was walking fine in his boot right away, whereas I was still having considerable pain, although along with my stress fracture I found out that I had multiple stress reactions in various spots around my left foot as well. The recent clean x-ray image that was taken 3.5 weeks after the injury cleared up some of that fear I was having.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now, enough of that..<br />
<br />
<br />
The IHSA State Track Meet was this last weekend. I tried to ignore the fact that if I were running, I would have been able to place considerably well, and dare I say be in contention for the title with the winning time being 9:27. Regardless, I didn’t run, and hypothetical situations don’t mean anything in the real world. With that said, I tried to focus mainly on the Men’s 800m where a teammate of mine, Lance Curtis would be running (the only other serious distance runner in Bushnell).<br />
<br />
Lance didn’t disappoint. He went to Charleston with three goals in mind: 1)Get to finals, 2)Medal, 3)Break our school’s 50+ year old 800m record. He accomplished all three, as a Junior! He battled all year with that two minute barrier, running equal to it several times throughout the season, but it continued to elude him. At the sectional meet he ran yet another 2:00 and was probably his closest to being under so far (as I had hand timed him at 1:59.8). Going into prelims at the state meet he knew that he would have to be sub 2:00 to have any chance of making the final. With the right competition, he was well under it with 1:59.39. Now, I’m pretty sure he was somewhat relieved to finally be sub-two, but he would still have to put together a heck of a race if he wanted either a medal or the record on Saturday. Lance has always been able to perform well and exceed his/others expectations on the right day. So I’m sure Saturday before the 800m final he was quite nervous. It seems that nerves only helped as he ended up placing ninth (the last medal spot) and cementing his name in B-PC history by dipping under the school record with a time of 1:58.01.<br />
<br />
That gradual progress has come quite well for Lance as each successive year since he started running in sixth grade has consisted of him chipping away at the clock bit by bit, second by second. Now I know that once you get to a certain point in the 800 (or time for this matter), improvement is harder to come by and the gains are smaller and smaller as one continues to get faster. So most are probably thinking that for next year at least, Lance shouldn’t be looking to improve as much as he has been, or make monstrous leps. I look at this a bit differently. I feel that Lance still has considerably more room to improve and that he still hasn’t come that close to developing his full potential. Most of his previous success and gains have come from his great foot speed and a gift of natural endurance. This fall was his first time ever running Cross Country. He went from a relatively mediocre 18:45 3mi XC time in early September to a 16:37 over tough terrain by the end of the Cross Country season. Aerobically, he has a great amount to improve. With him establishing his first solid base this summer and having all fall to develop his aerobic strength and build the mileage, he’s going to be a runner to lookout for. He’ll be flying under the radar in the fall, but I feel he can do some damage at the State XC Meet and most likely be turning some heads with the proper training. If all goes as planned he’ll go into next track season more experienced and better equipped to tear it up over 800m and keep the big gains going. So keep an eye out!<br />
<br />
I have the intentions to be posting the weekly cross training from here on out, and hopefully within a matter of weeks you will be seeing some running included in the log!<br />
<br />
<br />
Have a good week, everyone!<br />
<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-42593823555424286682011-05-14T09:38:00.000-07:002011-05-14T10:17:14.814-07:00Well, That's A Wrap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hello Readers,<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I haven’t been posting my weekly entries on the normal dates for the past two weeks due to my aforementioned foot injury in my last post. Unfortunately, my worst fears have been realized and it is a stress fracture located in my third metatarsal. After dealing with the pain for close to a week before the official diagnosis was made, I had already come to the realization that was probably what it was. Obviously I’m not at all happy about this, as my expectations coming into the last four weeks of my high school career were at an all time high. I won't be able to finish out the season, or see what I could have done at the state meet.<br />
<br />
It’s crazy how fast things can change. One day I’m feeling on top of the world, exceeding my expectations in workouts and races, and a week later I can’t even run. I know where my fitness was, and I truly believe that I was capable of running sub 9:30 or even quicker as the fast meets actually featuring good competition were just getting ready to start. Both of the outdoor 3200s that I had run were completely solo without any competition. I was also just starting the fast work and going to start getting those splits down there in my 3200 specific workouts as well.<br />
<br />
I'm thankful for the good block of training that I was able to put in over the past few months. Last 12 weeks mileage before the last week: 64.5, 66.5, 64.5, 69.5, 61, 62.5, 72, 65.5, 54, 63, 72, 61. My fitness has been raised to a whole new level, and I know what it takes to get to those quick times now. I feel that I wasn't able to reap all of the benefits of the training though as I was definitely aiming to peak at the end of May.<br />
<br />
Here's the week of training that I never posted with comments that I had during the week in my log:<br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
<i>4/24-4/30-</i><br />
<i><b>Sunday</b> - 7 miles easy in 46:15 (6:37/mi); 10x80m barefoot strides on </i><br />
<i> football field at school. Felt very good and had to keep slowing myself <br />
down on the run. (Tot. 7.5mi)</i><br />
<div><i><br />
<b>Monday</b> - AM: 10min shakeout. The weather was cool and it felt really good. <br />
Hoping for a quick mile tonight, and hoping for the rain to stay away!!<br />
PM: Meet cancelled as it was supposed to storm (which didn't turn out too <br />
bad). It was hard to tell what to do but I did 5.62mi easy in 37:24 <br />
(6:39/mi), strides, 2x200 in 35.3 and 34.03 to get the legs feeling the <br />
pace, more strides and then .53 mile jog back home. (tot. 7mi, 8.5 on day)</i></div><div><i><br />
<b>Tuesday </b>- Warmup totaling 4mi with a 2mi warmup in 13:00 and a quicker <br />
portion and good amount of strides; 1600m race in 4:37-PR but not at all <br />
satisfied with the race; 5mi workout/cooldown with fartlek (5x1min hard, <br />
1min easy in the middle). Tot. of 10mi<br />
Race thoughts- Was hoping for a big PR today with some solid competition <br />
(4:24 guy, 4:29 guy). I ended up leading the first 1500m and then getting <br />
out kicked. I had originally planned to run 4:32 pace but after such a slow first lap that was thrown out the window. They definitely weren't wanting to run a quick time with the <br />
wind, and were running for place. Huge negative split: 2:22 first 800m, <br />
2:15 second 800m! Can't complain if it's a PR, just know that I had more.</i></div><div><b>*Video of race will be uploaded soon</b></div><div><i><br />
<b>Wednesday </b>- 6.5mi recovery on Golf Course in 46:00 (7:09/mi)</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i><b>Thursday </b>- AM: Running short on time before school, just a 1mi shakeout in </i></div><div><i> 7:33, very stiff</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEOJD6U1n4UyXF8oRuM9BP8BeamtGPRVqLisy9WYcPVl_gTVveDFDgsi-ehNVtxj1M5Pl9khcQew7PL44n9e7ZOgiBdlj1t6V5pUtXXjEZd9uQ5a9Dg3LJIOLqejiERs3QTKHesLHxmsq/s1600/Weather.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEOJD6U1n4UyXF8oRuM9BP8BeamtGPRVqLisy9WYcPVl_gTVveDFDgsi-ehNVtxj1M5Pl9khcQew7PL44n9e7ZOgiBdlj1t6V5pUtXXjEZd9uQ5a9Dg3LJIOLqejiERs3QTKHesLHxmsq/s200/Weather.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
<i>PM: WINDY! Warmup totaling a bit more than 3mi with a quick portion. 800m </i><br />
<i> race in 2:09-poorly executed, 5min shakout, 1600m race in 4:39 in flats, <br />
solo-felt very smooth!, some jogging around when I found out that I would <br />
be hopping into the 4x4 for the first time in high school, 400m split in <br />
56.85-considering that I've never officially broke 60 it was nice to see what I could run.; Only a mile and a half cooldown as I had to get on the bus(Tot. 7.5mi)</i></div><div><i><br />
<b>Friday </b>- 8mi recovery in 55:56 (7:00/mi). Started feeling a pain in the ball of my foot yesterday when cooling down. I didn't feel it at all today at school, but started feeling it again midway through the run, it almost felt muscular or like plantar fasciitis, but it made me compensate my form some towards the end.</i></div><div><i><br />
<b>Saturday </b>- 3mi warmup around town in 20:24 (6:49/mi), strides, planned <br />
20min tempo, stopped at 13:12/2.22mi due to foot pain becoming unbearable. <br />
(Tot. of 5.2mi) </i></div><div><i><br />
<b><u>Weekly Total:</u></b> 54.2 miles with the workout cut short on Saturday. The week was shaping up to be my first week under 60 miles for a very long time.</i></div><div><i><br />
</i></div><div><i>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</i></div><div><div><br />
As you can see from my log, if anything my mileage was much lower that week. It was my first week without an actual long run and it was going to be my first week under 60 miles in quite a while. I had a good amount of intensity crammed into a few days between Tuesday and Thursday and then doing a medium workout Saturday, but still nothing too far out of the ordinary. Spiking up and going really hard in that 400 probably brought the pain out some when I felt it during my cooldown, but it couldn't have been caused by that as these injuries happen over a course of time.<br />
<br />
Looking back, I probably got a bit too caught up in not wanting my mileage to dip below a certain amount, or not wanting my easy days to be below 7 or 8 miles. I've handled mileage in the mid 70s (up to 78) quite fine for the past couple years, but that's generally during my base phase without much intensity and racing hard on top of it is a whole different stimulus. I probably could have handled this intensity with the mileage I was doing, but I don't think I executed it properly. I should have had a "down" week or a lower mileage week for me to absorb some of the training a bit better and to let my bones and muscles recover. I probably could have afforded to take a day or two off over the past couple months. It's just really hard to tell yourself that when things are going so well.<br />
<br />
I've looked back at the things I could have changed to avoid this and have learned some more valuable lessons to take with me in the future. I can't continue to dwell on what I could have done at the end of my high school career as that's not going to help things at all. As my future Coach Martin told me on the phone "you're best days are ahead of you" along with the numerous other friends and competitors reassuring me that I've got bigger things to look forward to in the coming years.<br />
<br />
So, the best thing for me to do is to look forward. Currently I'm trying to cross train the best that I can to maintain my fitness. I'll be off of running a total of 4-6 weeks. Right now about the only cross training I can do is aquajogging. I'm trying to increase that daily, but I have to go hard everyday in the pool to really get the effect that I want. I'm hoping I'll be able to start biking soon once I can walk in my aircast without pain (and I'm still on crutches).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVWmLXRfMiJobz9OJHTPK4raI7A9-16gcJIvrSlBaC6Mqim_Uc9V78Mo1taXYAXzcWunYIXf8j3K3ngAPsEHnSRTBOJkwVjLFmZMBIgKBFrJVIMWObxfjjUW0jcnSByBnbYtUCGpVK5XV/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVWmLXRfMiJobz9OJHTPK4raI7A9-16gcJIvrSlBaC6Mqim_Uc9V78Mo1taXYAXzcWunYIXf8j3K3ngAPsEHnSRTBOJkwVjLFmZMBIgKBFrJVIMWObxfjjUW0jcnSByBnbYtUCGpVK5XV/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a>I know that I'll make a great comeback and within a matter of weeks will be increasing my mileage and getting back to where I was. I'm still confident I can have the great summer of training that I envisioned, this time with more knowledge than before. I'm definitely excited for being a part of a great team and tradition next year and being able to take my running to the next level.<br />
<br />
Lastly, when I put the complicated training aside and the racing aside, I enjoy running. I'm fortunate enough to have the ability to cover long distances on foot daily. Just being able to run and enjoy nature and the outdoors is extremely satisfying to me, and from not being able to run over the past two weeks, I've found how much I take that for granted. Giving this the proper time to heal is of utmost importance, so that I can come back and be able to enjoy running again.<br />
<br />
<br />
Thanks to everyone for reading. It truly means a lot.<br />
<br />
-John<br />
<br />
<br />
</div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-34628240746800751922011-05-03T20:48:00.000-07:002011-05-03T20:56:26.604-07:00Ouch.Unfortunately, the reason I'm several days late on this blog post isn't a good one. I won't be starting out with what has become the typical, upbeat "what a great week of training" paragraph.<br />
<br />
I'm injured and it's not looking good. What started out as a slight nuisance on Thursday during a cooldown after our meet, escalated into an unbearable pain by Saturday morning. I'll elaborate:<br />
<br />
Thursday we had a meet in Warsaw. I was doubling up in the 800 and 1600, hoping to run a quick 800 and then get in a solid effort in the 1600 for the win. After an okay 800, I won the 1600 in 4:39 in flats feeling controlled. With that I was pretty excited, so when getting ready for my cooldown my coaches asked me if I'd be able to hop into the 4x400 as one of our runners was having a bit of an injury. Tired, but still feeling good, I figured I'd do it and put a little more speed onto a solid day of work. For not having run a 400 since Junior High and (embarrassingly) never having broken 60 in the race, I wanted to see what I could do. I ended up running 56.85 for my split which I was pleased with for a "slow distance runner". My parents weren't at the race, and since I was riding home on the bus, I had to hurry up and get my cooldown in. When cooling down on the track though, I did notice a slight pain in the bottom upper part of my foot. It was hardly noticeable though, so I didn't think much of it.<br />
<br />
Friday I didn't notice anything when walking around during the day with flip flops, so had really forgotten about it. During my 8 miler though, I noticed the pain again midway through. It was still more of a nuisance, and definitely bearable. I couldn't distinguish whether it was the bone, my arch or what though, so did normal mileage. Afterward though it was more noticeable walking around and I started taking it a bit more seriously.<br />
<br />
Saturday morning I had a tempo run on the agenda, and a tentative plan to get a total of 10mi in on the day. In hindsight, this was the mistake. Knowing about the foot but not wanting to have the week's mileage suffer I didn't change the plan. When on my 3mi warmup, I was somewhat confident that the pain was in my foot tendons and not the bone. The pain was a bit more noticeable but still "nothing". Did some strides and started off on my 20min tempo run. I opted to wear trainers being somewhat cautious about the foot. I felt that I was compensating some with my form as the pain was maybe 4/10 on a pain scale, but still felt fine. At 13min in though, it was as if a switch had flipped and the pain had suddenly become unbearable. I immediately stopped and was lucky that my Dad was following me, so I hopped in and headed for home, scratching the planned 200s as well. Since that point I haven't really put any weight on the foot as it has been to painful to even walk.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GlX14gMxHG4tU2VaUVA9dHXZ_IkXntl6cFhG75L_HvjtmIs6LInOWHsK0mur4mxbsBqaeSR5q-y0NLJa_EEjFUcABZ-gQj3Md6tikrpy5j-yUx5kgJnKRsR_JCk-6Dw-816Xx1mC7xyz/s1600/photo-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GlX14gMxHG4tU2VaUVA9dHXZ_IkXntl6cFhG75L_HvjtmIs6LInOWHsK0mur4mxbsBqaeSR5q-y0NLJa_EEjFUcABZ-gQj3Md6tikrpy5j-yUx5kgJnKRsR_JCk-6Dw-816Xx1mC7xyz/s320/photo-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left foot's purpleness compared to right one..</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
It's crazy how quick things can change and how I felt on top of the world even Thursday, but by Saturday couldn't even walk. I'm still on crutches, and will be until I feel that I can walk pain free. This obviously couldn't have happened at a worse time, and I've been pretty upset over the matter. The worst case scenario is that it's a stress fracture, which if that's the case, I can kiss my season goodbye and all of the work that I've put into it.<br />
<br />
I've been getting around on crutches for the past 3 days. I went to Benningfield Chiropractic on Monday in Peoria, and as I've mentioned in a previous post, they've done some good things for me. We took the conservative approach and tried some ARP shock treatment which will help if it's not a stress fracture. I'm going back tomorrow (Wednesday) to see if there is any improvement and most likely take an x-ray, or MRI, or bone scan.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Video of the treatment:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/k2XIlG-qjNk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The last few days have really only consisted of aquajogging, which isn't too exciting.<br />
<br />
At this point, I really don't know what to think. I'm still holding out hope and will definitely update you guys when I find out more.<br />
<br />
I'll also post the last week's log sometime soon..<br />
<br />
<br />
Hoping for the best<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-65095141858952591712011-04-24T20:07:00.000-07:002011-04-24T20:07:30.695-07:00What A Difference A Year Can MakeGood week. I had Thursday's Rob Garcia Invitational at Rushville penciled in as a day to go for a fast 3200. I ran 9:45 two weeks prior and although I wouldn't have any competition there I wanted to be sub 9:40, which doesn't seem like that big of a jump. Well, the problem with picking a random day in the middle of April to go fast several weeks in advance is that you don't have any idea about how the weather will be. Basically, I was praying for a calm day with moderate temperatures. A few days in advance it seemed that the weather would be perfect, but as the day drew near I realized that they were calling for pretty a pretty strong wind. With temperatures in the mid 50s and a 21mph wind accompanied with 27mph gusts, the weather was eerily similar to that of the Boston Marathon a few days prior (except for the fact that I would be running in a circle!) So, I just dealt with it and ran 9:52. I guess the effort is what counts. More thoughts on the race are below, but it got me the meet record (sorry, Nate) and that's something I was very happy with especially considering where I was at this point last year...<br />
<br />
<br />
Local news did a video of the race. Skip to around 4:45 in: <a href="http://www.connecttristates.com/sports/story.aspx?id=608812&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4db1f1762f2f4a84%2C0">http://www.connecttristates.com/sports/story.aspx?id=608812&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4db1f1762f2f4a84%2C0</a><br />
<br />
In the 2010 version of this meet things weren't going so well. As I've touched on some in the past, I was dealing with some injury struggles. What started out as good winter training block transformed into a downward spiral of nagging muscular injuries that wouldn't allow me to train anywhere near optimally. What made matters worse was that once I got on top of the issues my left leg was randomly losing control. Having a solid aerobic foundation, I wanted to get into the race specific work, but with new nagging injuries popping up weekly or my lack of leg control preventing me from doing any good tempos or long intervals, my fitness wasn't developing like it should have been.<br />
Actually, at this point last year I had only run 10:35 so far for 3200 meters (50 seconds slower than where I'm at now) and hadn't run any fast than 4:59 for 1600 for the season (both of which were well slower than my PRs set my Sophomore year). So back to this same meet last year..I was wanting to run somewhere around 10:10 (which my fitness didn't indicate I was anywhere near). I ended up going through the first mile in 5:05 trying to stay in contention with Nathan Davis of Lewistown who ended up running 9:59 and breaking the then meet record. I faded horribly and kept getting slower each successive lap due to leg coordination problems. I was pretty upset and crossed the line in just over 11 minutes, luckily not getting lapped by Nathan. Discouraged by that horrible performance, I wasn't a very pleasant runner. Nathan listened to me whine and complain about my injury troubles and how I didn't even know if I wanted to continue running anymore. Luckily I pushed through it, and ended up making the best of the season with some slight PRs several weeks later. After the season, I focused on gaining better overall strength in those areas, which has left me much better off.<br />
<br />
With consistent work over the past 12 months, I'm in a much better position than I was here last year.<br />
<br />
<br />
Here's the log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 12 mile Long Run on varying terrain at Spring Lake<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - WINDY! Low key race and workout at Bushnell for Muggs McGinnis Relays. Warmup totaling 3.5 miles, race 1600 wanting to "cruise" to a 4:40 again, wind didn't allow that-4:47 (felt easy though); 1.5 mile cooldown with Gatlin; .5mi warmup for workout, Aussie Quarters (7x400 at 3200 effort with quick 200m recovery jog) - 74 (46), 74 (47), 75 (47), 75 (48), 76 (49), 75 (49), 74 (46) covering 4200 meters in 14:21; ~1.25mi cooldown. Everything slowed by wind, but workout felt under control. Wanted to hit 73s, but adjusted them to 74s due to wind.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - 7 miles very easy in 49:39 (7:05/mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 6.5mi in 43:12 (6:32/mi); 4x200m relaxed in Matumbos going 36.26, 36.57, 35.71, 35.48 jog back recovery (Tot. 7.25mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - <i>AM</i>: 10 minute shakeout covering 1.4 miles<br />
<i>PM</i>: 2.5 mile warmup in 16:40 (6:42/mi), strides, 1:42 quicker (.3mi @5:40/mi), more strides<br />
3200m race - 9:52<br />
.5 mile shakeout in 3:30, Meet cancelled due to lightning-was going to run 1600m as well, 3 mile cooldown in pouring rain in 21:50 (7:13/mi)<br />
<br />
Thoughts on race: Felt great! Probably went out a bit agressive (4:49, 5:02). Wind ate me up though. I generally prefer to run even to negative splits, so that wasn't great. Also had no competition, seeing as I lapped the whole field.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 8 miles recovery on Barn School Road (no crazy weather this time) in 57:59 (7:14/mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - 3 mile warmup in 20:07 (6:43/mi)Strides<br />
20 minute tempo run covering 3.6 miles (5:34/mi). Splits: 1-5:36, 2-5:32, 3-5:30, 3.6-3:20<br />
1.25 miles easy in 8:07 (6:37/mi)<br />
6x200 progression: 36.01, 35.61, 33.59, 34.73, 33.41, 33.88<br />
.75mi cooldown<br />
<br />
<b><u>Weekly Total</u></b>: 64.5 miles. Core and general strength every day but Saturday. Hurdle drills and inversion table done several days as well.<br />
<br />
Happy with the training. I felt pretty crummy on most of my easy days, but great on my hard days. I guess that's the point when training hard, and it shows that I'm recovering well. It's going to be awhile until my next 3200. I'm going to take a few weeks to jump into some more serious 1600 and 800s, but still try to keep solid mileage and good 3200 specific workouts.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow I'm racing in the Fulton County Invite and running the 1600m. I'm hoping for a fast one and a PR as there will be some good guys in the field. It will also be my first 1600m that I'm spiking up in so far this year!<br />
<br />
I hope everyone had a happy Easter!<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-29817669238512781102011-04-17T08:10:00.000-07:002011-04-17T10:35:17.368-07:00Trying To Find My WheelsHello Readers,<br />
<br />
The 2011 outdoor season is starting to get into full swing. Our team headed down to Canton, Missouri for the Cansippi Relays on Thursday. I hopped into an 800m in addition to the mile to get the legs turning over a bit quicker and to use it as some under distance speed work. Besides the meet Thursday, I had quality workout days on Monday and Saturday.<br />
<br />
Log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday </b>- 11 miles easy around Spring Lake. Mostly on grass and trails. No time and with GPS off. Felt better than expected considering afterprom last night. Still cut it a bit short and stayed at a VERY comfortable effort. Last 10 minutes or so barefoot<br />
<br />
<b>Monday </b>- Workout in Monmouth due to us having a little meet there. 3.11 mile warmup with Gatlin Marlow from Monmouth-Roseville to Monmouth college, strides; 6x800m intended to be run on Monmouth College track, but right when I was getting ready to start the workout the whole MC track team came out for their workout and was using basically the whole track. So I used my watch to measure an improv 800m route on the sidewalk with sharp 90 degree turns and hills. Originally wanted to run 2:26s on the track(right at 3200m effort), but with the route change it slowed things drastically. I worked from mid 2:30s on the first few down to 2:28 on the last one. Gauging by my effort, I'm sure these were run at the right pace. I used about 2min recovery with a bit of jog in between; 2 miles easy to MC soccer fields (getting turned around on the way there); 8x80m barefoot strides; 3.61 mile cooldown back to the high school, getting somewhat lost again. (Tot. 12mi, way more than I had planned)<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday </b>- 8 miles easy in 54:57<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday </b>- 6.11 miles easy in 40:10 (6:35/mi); 6x200m progression w/ jog back recovery: 35.96, 35.5, 34.32, 34.83, 33.59, 33.67 (Last 2 wearing victories, trying to break them in some) Tot. 7.1mi<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday </b>- <i>AM</i>: 10min shakeout before school. Muscles pretty stiff, but feeling good (1.4 miles)<br />
<i>PM</i>: Cansippi Relays in Canton, MO - Various warmup totaling 4.2 miles; Race 1600m wanting to cruise to 4:40 as comfortable as possible, ran right at 4:40 which got me the win by quite a bit; Half mile easy after 1600m; Half mile warmup and strides, 800m in 2:06.3 (2nd); 2.5mi cooldown with most of it barefoot. The 800m was a 4 second PR, and for someone who has absolutely no speed, I was pretty happy with it.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday </b>- 8 miles easy in 56:40 (7:05/mi) on Barn School Road. The weather got really bad really fast midway through my run. I was still quite aways from my car, this road is 8 miles from town, and there is an about one house per mile on this road. I was mainly concerned with the lightning, but the clouds were making weird formations as well. Somehow, right as it began to hail and get even nastier, I see my dad who came out to get me. It was quite the experience, but I'm happy he came and got me. Later I found out there was a tornado spotted about 10 miles east of there. I finished the rest of my run in town when I got home.<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday </b>- 3 mile warmup in 19:20 (6:27/mi), strides, 25 minute *Wind Aided Tempo Run covering 4.45mi (5:37/mi), splits: 1-5:43, 2-5:40, 3-5:34, 4-5:31, 4.45-2:31; 2.5 mile cooldown in 17:39 (7:04/mi) (Tot. 10mi)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Total</u></b>: 66.5 miles. Good core/general strength workouts every day but Sunday<br />
<br />
I'm pretty pleased with this week's training as a whole. I'm still keeping the mileage up, but the intensity has been increasing quite a bit, which makes the overall training load that much tougher. I'm trying to balance the hard days with the recovery days, but still am probably in a pretty high state of fatigue overall.<br />
<br />
This next week we'll have a home meet on Monday where I'll just run the mile and do a workout after. I'm wanting to cruise to a 4:40 again and get in a specific 3200m pace workout after. The plan is to go for a fast 3200 on Thursday in a meet in Rushville (weather permitting). Like I said, the mileage is staying up there, as I don't respond to dropping the mileage that much, especially not this early. I'm trying to get in a solid tempo run weekly and not get too far away from that stimulus either. The week after next, I'll be trying to go for a fast 1600m at the Fulton County Invitational, as there will be some good competition there.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-77451603647955999722011-04-10T20:54:00.000-07:002011-04-10T20:54:34.807-07:00Time Trialin'I do have an excuse for being late on getting the post out this week. Prom was yesterday, which outside of my run, ate up my whole day. After staying up way too late last night, my body was pretty tired/run down. So I got my run in this morning, ate, and then napped for a few more hours.<br />
<br />
The week featured some pretty average workouts, but also a very good time trial. The plan was to race Thursday, and run both the 3200m and 1600m, with the goal being to get in a fast 3200. Well, the meet ended up being cancelled due to the weather on Thursday (which I thought was fine), but I decided to follow through with the plans for a quick 3200m, as I wouldn't get another chance for another 2 weeks. I'm quite happy with my decision to do so, because it resulted in a new PR. I ran 9:45 solo. I was very pleased with the effort, but gotta keep moving forward<br />
<br />
Here's the log:<br />
<br />
Sunday - 12 mile Long Run at Spring Lake. Kept pace function off on watch. Ran by feel, and enjoyed the unusually warm weather we were having. It ended up hitting a high of 87 degrees later in the day!<br />
<br />
Monday - WINDY! Wanted to get in some long, cross-country type repeats at a bit slower pace to touch on that system some, but also sprinkle in some 400s at 2mi pace to try and run that pace when tired. 3mi warmup with the last mile at tempo pace, drills and strides; 2x1200, 400, 1200, 400, 1200; 2.5mi cooldown<br />
<br />
Tuesday - 7.5 miles easy (6:35/mi); 6x200 relaxed starting at 3200 speed and working to mile effort (last 4 in spikes): 36.26, 35.92, 36.39, 35.8, 34.7, 35.44<br />
.5 miles back home (Tot. 9mi)<br />
<br />
Wednesday - 6.5mi easy in 44:32 (6:51/mi); strides and a 200 (Tot. 7mi)<br />
<br />
Thursday - 2mi+ progressive warmup (14:10--6:35/mi); drills, strides, .42 quicker (2:18--5:28/mi), 2x200 in 37, 36; 3200 Time Trial - 9:45 (4:48, 4:56); 4x200m in 35, 35, 35, 33; 4mi cooldown in 28:44 (7:11/mi). Total of 9mi<br />
<br />
Friday - 8 miles very easy on Barn School Road, 56:38 (7:04/mi)<br />
<br />
Saturday - At Lake Argyle- Hilly 3.5mi warmup very slow, including a pretty hard fall going down a hill; some strides; 20min tempo covering 3.46 (5:46/mi) with a very steep, long uphill to start out with, splits: 1-5:58, 2-5:37, 3-5:48 (varying terrain), last portion at 5:36/mi; 3mi hilly cooldown again in 22:17, by this time it was pretty warm out and the hills were rendering me to a very slow crawl. Solid workout overall.<br />
<br />
Weekly Total: 64.5 miles. Was pretty diligent with all of my core and general strength work all week as well, getting in some hurdle drills on several days as well.<br />
<br />
This next week I'll get a chance to have the legs moving a bit quicker, as on Thursday I'm entered in both the 1600m and 800m at the Cansippi Relays in Canton, MO. That will serve as some under distance speed work and my first real bit of stuff faster than mile pace. I'll also be looking forward to a good 3200 specific session and a tempo run.<br />
<br />
This was my first PR set in the 3 1/2 months that I've been doing the blog, hopefully we can have a lot more of those soon as the outdoor season gets rolling along..<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-29692473579437331062011-04-03T19:43:00.000-07:002011-04-03T19:43:35.559-07:00Late Post. Outdoor Season Is Here!Hello Readers,<br />
<br />
I'm not in the "in depth training rambling" mood right now, so I'll keep this post somewhat brief. Another good week. I'm happy to be keeping the mileage up this far into the track season. I wanted to hit 70 or more this week since I was feeling good, but my planned early morning shakeout on Wednesday and Friday didn't happen due to my sleep deprived body's cravings for more rest.<br />
<br />
Log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday </b>- 13 mile Long Ru<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">n to Macomb, 1:23:54 (6:27/mi). Splits: 1-6:37, 2-6:26, 3-6:31, 4-6:34, 5-6:27, 6-6:27, 7-6:28, 8-6:25, 9-6:28, 10-6:25, 11-6:20, 12-6:23, 13-6:17. About 24 degrees, which is too cold for Spring!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span><br />
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</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b>Monday </b>- </span>7.5 easy in 50:40 (6:45/mi); 12x200 relaxed, jog back diagonally recovery, working from 3200 pace to a bit quicker than mile pace. Splits: 37.04, 36.49, 37.34, 36.22, 35.67, 36.27, 35.88, 35.33, 35.5, 34.77, 35.17, 34.94. Put on the Matumbos the last 6 to break them in some. First time in spikes so far this year.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday </b>- 9 mile, 1:01:09 (6:47/mi). Lower right back/piriformis hurting some throughout the day. Had bothered me some in the past few days. Icing and stretching good.<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday </b>- 2.5mi warmup, drills and strides, 20min tempo covering 3.57mi (5:37/mi), 5x10sec flat sprints with full recovery, 2.5mi cooldown. Total of 9mi<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday </b>- 7.5 easy in 51:07 (6:49/mi). Strides and 2x200 after. (Tot. 8mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday </b>- WINDY! - Complicated warmup totaling 4.75mi with a few miles at low 6min pace and some strides and 200s (misjudged my race time and the meet was going slower than planned so I initially warmed up way too early), race/cruise a 1600 in 4:45, 2mi easy, workout-Aussie Quarters (just 6x400 at 3200 pace (74-75) with 200m jog recovery). Splits-1:15 (:50), 1:14 (:52), 1:15 (:50), 1:15 (:52), 1:14 (:53), 1:15 (:52).; just a half mile cooldown home, spent. Total of 10.5mi<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday </b>- AM: 5mi recovery in 38:15 (7:39/mi). Tried to go way slower than I have in a long time. Very windy. PM: 5mi easy in 33:49 (6:46/mi), perfect weather.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Total</u></b>: 69.5 miles. This shows that there isn't a magic number. It's tough to see that 69.5 there, as I would rather have ran 70 or more miles. I also didn't total the week's mileage until today. Very good week. Friday I just wanted to run my season goal 3200 pace for that mile (4:45) and still get in a solid workout after. I did that even with some crazy wind. I did have problems with my lower right back and my piriformis/glute this week, but have been doing everything I can to keep that at bay. If it gets worse I might have to take a day off, hopefully that's not the case.<br />
<br />
This next week I'm hoping for some more solid work. I'll be gunning for a quick 3200 time on Thursday with weather permitting. It's a small meet, so it will be more of a time trial, and I'm going to double up to make it a good day of work overall.<br />
<br />
If I can keep stacking weeks like this together, I'll be looking for somewhat of a breakthrough soon.<br />
<br />
I hope everyone had a good week!<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-29810206239412418922011-03-26T21:02:00.000-07:002011-03-26T21:02:47.304-07:00Illinois Prep Top Times<div>Yesterday I raced at the Illinois Prep Top Times meet in Bloomington, which serves as our “Indoor State”, although it isn’t affiliated with the IHSA. I was 7th in 9:57. “Stepping stone” is the term I would use to describe this race. I feel that I’m in the right place for this point in my training cycle. Honestly, I'm really confident with where I'm at right now. I feel that the specific work that I’m doing is going to keep building on it’s self over the next few weeks, and that I’m going to be in very good shape come the end of May if everything goes according to plan. I can’t speak for any of the guys training that finished ahead of me, but knowing a few of them I’ve got a pretty good idea of what they’re doing, and when you’re running huge PRs or 9:30 indoors, where are you going from there? I'm confident my aerobic base is better than most of theirs and know I'll be ready to race my fastest when it matters most.</div><br />
I’m excited to see my workouts progress over the next few weeks. The few specific two mile workouts that I’ve done have been just been run at 75s (5:00/mi pace) and I ran 9:57 off of those. So the goal moving forward is to get those workouts to feel just as easy when running 74s, and then 73s, and so on. <div><br />
Log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 12mi Long Run. Kept GPS off, just ran around Spring Lake for 1:21:00 (6:45/mi). Felt good. Ran the trails for a long time, and some on the roads and XC course as well. 6x10sec Hill Sprints/Flat Sprints after. Felt strong and fast.<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - 9mi easy in 1:00:54 (6:46/mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - Windy. At Knox College track because our team had a small indoor meet there. 2mi warmup, drills and strides; 12:30 tempo run on the track covering 2.2 miles (5:41/mi); change into flats- 2x800 in 2:30 with 200m jog, and 4x400 in 1:15 with 100m jog. Hit each split perfectly (within the second) and felt pretty relaxed; 2mi cool down in 14:05 (7:03/mi) and some more strides. Total of 9mi counting jog rests and strides.<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 6.5mi recovery in 45:05 (6:56/mi). 4x200m relaxed after progressing from 2mi gear to mile gear: 37.16, 36.28, 36.28, 35.34. (Tot. 7mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - 7 miles easy in 47:11 (6:46/mi) and 6-8x80m strides<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 5min shakeout inside, some stretching,1.12 miles outside with some strides and a 200 at race feel (slow), jog back to shirk center, more relaxed running inside (they were behind schedule) with some quicker stuff and strides right before, Race 3200m IPTT in 9:57, after procrastinating on the cooldown for too long from talking to various runners that I don't get the chance to talk to that often I did about 6min inside and then an extra 3.11 miles outside for about 4mi total cooldown. (Total of 9mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - Easy 8mi at Spring Lake in 56:00. Had GPS off and just ran by feel. Felt really good, probably too good to have ran a race the day before. The temperature was too cold for my liking in the Spring (35 degrees with a 22 degree wind chill), but once I got into the woods it felt a lot better without the wind..<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Total</span></b>: 61 miles. General Strength/core just about every day but two, with a very good core workout today with hurdle drills and other mobility stuff.<br />
<br />
<br />
Another good week.<br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div><br />
The last few months I’ve been experimenting with monitoring my resting/sleeping heart rate to gauge my fatigue level and to see how it fluctuated based on the various training that I have been doing. I’m not going to put much of that data up this week, as I don’t have the time to do that, but that might be something to add to the log. The first week that I did it I found that my resting heart rate dipped below 40 bpm a few times throughout the night, hitting around 38 bpm for the lowest point. I didn’t wear the heart rate monitor to bed much early on this week, but I did the last few days. For example, my average heart rate for the 8.5 hours that I slept the night before my race on Friday was 47 bpm, and I felt pretty good that Friday. Last night I averaged 50 bpm, which really isn’t much of a jump, but it shows how heart rate fluctuates during varying levels of fatigue. It’s definitely an interesting (and nerdy) thing to do. I'll try to post more of this info in the next few weeks</div><div><br />
</div><div>Our team races a lot (too much), and has a pretty hectic meet schedule, especially in April. I’m trying to change that. With over 20 races on the schedule in less than a 3 month period, that’s too much. When racing that much you can’t train optimally and it jleads to burn out. Soo..We have two meets on the schedule this week, with both of them being small and at home with little overall importance. I won’t be racing the one on Monday, and on Thursday I’ll just be running the mile. I should be able to get in a few good workouts and put in some good mileage with no important races to worry about. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some pics of the week up and a race video.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Thanks for reading</div><div><br />
</div><div>-John</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-45134046486366920962011-03-20T18:19:00.000-07:002011-03-21T16:33:38.258-07:00A Taste of SpringSorry about the late entry. Last night I was way too tired to write a post, and this morning after my run I was too occupied watching on demand coverage of both the NYC Half and the IAAF World XC Champs.<br />
<br />
Last weekend I started developing a bit of a cough and sore throat, which seemed to get worse through the early portions of the week. I went to the doctor Wednesday and luckily found it wasn't anything more than some bronchitis and sinus drainage. I got put on some antibiotics just to be cautious, as I didn't want it to develop into anything more that would cause me to miss training time. The week did feature good training overall, with one mediocre race that I didn't feel too great about, but the important thing is that I am making gradual progress in my training. Even if the results aren't fully apparent, I feel really good about the direction that I'm heading in.<br />
<br />
Great weather this week. Here's the log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 8 miles easy, 53:38 (6:42/mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - 6.5mi easy, 42:47 (6:37/mi); strides, 4x200m relaxed-37.2,37.4,35.28,35.1 (Tot. of 7+)<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - 5:17 shakeout, stretching, 1 mile warmup in 6:15, drills and strides, 2x200-38.9,37.5, 3min more of warmup, 2min of more running including a quicker portion, more strides and waiting; Race 3200m- 1st in a mediocre 10:10; Cooldown totaling 5mi, with 4.5mi in 33:13 and 4x80m barefoot strides on MC turf football field. (Tot. of 10mi)<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkS5HSOIZY6Us6w_pqOcO23o0WyCXKltSNvRKg8v1ajfAtmLFaAGrm1mpWOY3t2GKkbwDO7WIPozwrZEHh4HOHBzFyuC696W8TG03VqgJ5cgOOVQpQpzwbjyOWwFbHJ8OyjQAadbuO6L0S/s1600/71E1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkS5HSOIZY6Us6w_pqOcO23o0WyCXKltSNvRKg8v1ajfAtmLFaAGrm1mpWOY3t2GKkbwDO7WIPozwrZEHh4HOHBzFyuC696W8TG03VqgJ5cgOOVQpQpzwbjyOWwFbHJ8OyjQAadbuO6L0S/s320/71E1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting a postion the first 200 meters. Photo courtesy of David Giagnoni</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Thoughts on race: Ran almost all of it solo, with no one to gauge off of. Running a fast 16 laps indoors is hard to do without competition, as the race can get pretty dull, and it can be easy to lose momentum after the first mile. I didn't feel that I put in a full effort, but all that matters is getting my qualifier for Illinois Prep Top Times (which was only 10:25 for Class A).<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 8.5mi recovery, 1:00:31 (7:07/mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - 3mi warmup including strides @ 6:45/mi, 10min @ LT pace (1.71mi--5:51/mi), 90sec recovery, 10min @ LT pace(1.72mi--5:49/mi), 90 sec recovery, 4:24 @ LT pace (.79mi--5:34/mi); close to a mile of barefoot strides on the football field; 2mi cooldown in 13:27 (6:44/mi) Tot. of 10+<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 10mi easy, 1:08:34 (6:52/mi)<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - <i>AM</i>: 2mi warmup in 13:23 (6:42/mi), drills and strides,<br />
Workout (goal splits in parenthesis):<br />
800m (2:30) - 2:28<br />
Few minutes recovery, then into a continuous alternation of 400m at 75 (5:00/mi), 400m at 90 (6:00/mi). Really just alternating ~2mi pace with a little slower then tempo pace. Since the recovery is run so quick this can get tough!<br />
400m (1:15) - 1:15.07<br />
Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:26<br />
400m (1:15) - 1:15.37<br />
Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:28<br />
400m (1:15) - 1:13.95<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:29</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">400m (1:15) - 1:15.01</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:29</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">400m (1:15) - 1:15.2</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:30</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">400m (1:15) - 1:14.85</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:30</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">400m (1:15) - 1:15.35, Stop. Didn't want to overdo it in a workout (3.25mi in 17:39--5:26/mi)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">~2min recovery. Decided on one more.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Last 400m (1:15) - 1:13</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">3mi cooldown in 20:34 (6:51/mi). Workout felt good and under control. Had to dig a bit deeper than what I've been used to, but overall it felt like I was working aerobically, and was the right intensity. Total of 9mi<br />
<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>PM</i>: 45min of Aquajogging and 100m of swimming with Gatlin and Devin Clark from Monmouth. Since Gatlin's injured with a stress fracture in his foot, I figured I'd head up to Monmouth and join him for some of his pool workout since I know it can be boring. Also spent much of the day watching another Monmouth College HS Invite. After a solid workout in the morning, I was spent!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><u>Weekly Total</u></b>: 62.5 miles, and 45min of aquajogging. Pretty good mileage without a long run or any supplemental morning runs (I was just too tired in the mornings!). Tuesday's race wasn't great, but with doing it mostly solo, the hassle of lapping that many people, and not really any specific work yet, it wasn't horrible. Really, I don't want to be running super fast this early in the season anyways. Thursday's workout was kind of rough, but good to get in some tempo stuff and the barefoot strides felt good. I was really pleased with Saturday's workout, it was my first real workout at 2mi specific paces, and I expect to keep building on what I did. I'm thinking Prep Top Times will offer a good opportunity to run a quick time with competition, and I'm excited about that, because I know I'm in good fitness. I'm hoping we're all in one heat there, or that I'm at least in the fast section. The last thing I want is to be in the slow heat.<br />
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Thanks for reading<br />
<br />
-John</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-68128874772365967972011-03-12T20:18:00.000-08:002011-03-12T20:18:57.151-08:00Wet and Windy WeekHey there, readers!<br />
<br />
The last seven days have featured some crummy running weather, most of which occurred mid-week, but it wasn't anything atypical for the middle of March. Most days were mid 30s to mid 40s, some days very wet and rainy, and it was really windy all week long. I did get in another solid week of work, so I can't complain.<br />
<br />
<br />
Log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 12 mile Long Run, 1:21:00. Day after race, kept the effort easier than normal and turned off the GPS on watch so that I wouldn't be looking at splits. So, basically guessed that I ran 6:45/mi, could be off, but that's about 15sec/mile slower than normal. All of run done on soft surfaces at Spring Lake in the trails and on xc course.<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - 9 miles easy in 1:01:30 (6:50/mi), 6x80m strides<br />
<i>XT</i>: Full general strength routine (L/R side plank, regular plank, glute/hip raise, pushups, supermans, leg lifts, single leg raises, med. glute exercise), stretching, rolling out, hurdle drills, inversion table<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv75p_ANgyQBc7phPFa3QmFiI980zK5piK-8Vcol7csEccaYyuBmb6yBw7UE65wPwbadZ9obzreW7nDWX81VA18M7i2cj22XNi1F9Q4oaTAytu3PbDhzbJR_Ks2e4NeiY3IebWISR1FdmH/s1600/Photo+Mar+12%252C+9+21+21+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv75p_ANgyQBc7phPFa3QmFiI980zK5piK-8Vcol7csEccaYyuBmb6yBw7UE65wPwbadZ9obzreW7nDWX81VA18M7i2cj22XNi1F9Q4oaTAytu3PbDhzbJR_Ks2e4NeiY3IebWISR1FdmH/s320/Photo+Mar+12%252C+9+21+21+PM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doing General Strength routine</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - <i>AM</i>: 2mi shakeout<br />
<i>PM</i>: Cold and pouring rain, not fun. 2.5mi warmup (17:07-6:51/mi), strides, 25min tempo run covering 4.33mi (5:46/mi)-splits: 1-5:54, 2-5:49, 3-5:44, 4-5:40, 1:51; 4x400m relaxed (1:14, 1:13, 1:16, 1:15), 2mi cooldown in 13:56 (6:58/mi). Total of 10mi, 12 on day<br />
<i>XT</i>: Full general strength routine, stretching, rolling out, inversion table<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 8 miles recovery, 57:05 (7:08/mi)<br />
<i>XT</i>: Full general strength routine, stretching<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - <i>AM</i>: 1mi shakeout. I know, 1mi shakeout? I didn't have enough time for anything else, as I woke up far too late.<br />
<i>PM</i>: WINDY! First half of workout into it, second half with it. 9miles: 15min warmup-7:20, 6:50, :52, fartlek- 5x1min "on", 1 "off", 5x2min "on",2 "off", the rest cool down cooldown (58:21-6:29/mi); 6x200m relaxed, starting at mid 37s working to high 35s (Tot. of 10mi, 11 on day)<br />
<i>XT</i>: Full general strength routine, stretching<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 9 miles easy, 1:01:00 (6:47/mi). No track practice, so I got to do it on Barn School Road, a rolling dirt road. Very windy, first half into it.<br />
<i>XT</i>: Half of general strength routine, stretching<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - 11 miles with wind, 1:07:12 (6:07/mi): First 8 progression-6:27,6:20,6:02,6:08,5:57,5:51,5:53,5:46, mile easy-6:25, 3x1min hard/2min easy, the rest cool down. Felt very controlled and relaxed.; 6x10sec Hill Sprints afterwards, full recovery. Trying to get SOME leg speed. Great workout overall.<br />
<i>XT</i>: Full general strength routine, stretching, Inversion table<br />
<br />
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<br />
<b><u>Total</u></b>: 72 miles. Good mileage and good quality.<br />
<br />
Happy with the week. Consistency is what it's all about, and things are going good. I got in my general strength/injury prevention everyday this week but Sunday. Also, in addition to my main workouts this week, got in some hill sprints this week to assist in my embarrassing top end leg speed. Wanted to do a lot more of this during the base phase this winter, but with no hills in town it was always too iced over or snow covered out of town. Or I seemed to be dealing with some little nagging injury. I'm not really having any nagging pains right now, and in contrast to last year, I have full control of my left leg. Hopefully it can stay that way for the foreseeable future. Still doing a lot of long tempo stuff which I seem to thrive off of well, also touching on the race pace stuff with the 200s and 400s I did after my workouts this week, but still nothing too hard yet. I'll be getting into the more specific track stuff here in the next few weeks. Once I start hitting those workouts, I feel that I'll be reaping more of the benefits of this good aerobic work. I'm excited.<br />
<br />
I'll race Tuesday in a 3200 at Monmouth College. Hopefully that'll be my qualifier for Illinois Prep Top Times (our "Indoor State"). Most likely the effort will be solo, as a good friend of mine from Monmouth-Roseville, Gatlin Marlow, is out with a stress fracture in his foot and Coffey isn't in the 3200. We'll see how things go, though.<br />
<br />
Feeling Strong<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-41188586649943222762011-03-06T08:41:00.000-08:002011-03-06T12:13:24.897-08:00Bustin' That RustSolid week.<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday </b>- 12 mile Long Run, 1:19:02 (6:35/mi). Kept the effort a bit easier this week, and stayed cautious about the popliteal tendon. Luckily it didn't hurt and I felt pretty smooth. It was 32 degrees and raining most of the way, that was the least enjoyable part-ending the run soaked.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYHoyFUaNhh0onbbV28ItJmYKrDct3AzMNtbDddrC84tyK-yAhfWJSVMkw3hcip1h1BIpQO4BswgSg-xKzu7xNJbXwXicQ8gnjK_1X7SjL9vKkbQ5gWHZw0hMViDVhRzRDNjG2xcHCGIyT/s1600/Rainy+12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYHoyFUaNhh0onbbV28ItJmYKrDct3AzMNtbDddrC84tyK-yAhfWJSVMkw3hcip1h1BIpQO4BswgSg-xKzu7xNJbXwXicQ8gnjK_1X7SjL9vKkbQ5gWHZw0hMViDVhRzRDNjG2xcHCGIyT/s320/Rainy+12.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Monday </b>- 9 miles in 1:01:29 (6:50/mi), 8x80m strides afterwards<br />
XT: General strength/Core<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday </b>- 10 miler in 1:04:09 (6:27/mi): First 4 miles gradual progression, then 7x1min "on" (~5k effort), 2 "off" fartlek, easy cooldown the rest. Splits: 1-6:45, 2-6:17, 3-6:05, 4-5:44, easy 5min, 20min worth of fartlek, cooldown 2+ cooldown at 6:42 and 6:43; 6x200 relaxed, starting at mid 36s working to high 35s. (Tot. 11mi)<br />
XT: General Strength/Core, hurdle drills for hips, inversion table<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzAgFMdsSFgCNSVqpDWmjy9kTJa2hK6aFb1UoCccywyFARM3VjcWKkcSXSnHR2O2yUk0u4XX5PbXUAuJO0yDAm5IDYbCFOBMQy6gM6h1GJ0RoqK8pS_IJakG6DnSWJmNQaS7pk2tAHJLb/s1600/hurdle+drills.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzAgFMdsSFgCNSVqpDWmjy9kTJa2hK6aFb1UoCccywyFARM3VjcWKkcSXSnHR2O2yUk0u4XX5PbXUAuJO0yDAm5IDYbCFOBMQy6gM6h1GJ0RoqK8pS_IJakG6DnSWJmNQaS7pk2tAHJLb/s320/hurdle+drills.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hurdle Drills. Made sure to keep it light since it's been awhile.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday </b>- 7.5 very easy in 53:14 (7:06/mi), knowing the rest of the week will be hard, I'm trying to get some good recovery. Most of it on golf course. It's good to get on the soft surfaces now and to be on something other than a flat hard road so that I can engage those stabilizing muscles some.<br />
XT: General Strength, inversion table<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday </b>- 2.5mi warmup in 16:33 (6:38/mi), strides, 5xMile cruise intervals @ LT pace. Splits: 5:42, 5:42, 5:37, 5:41, 5:36. 2.5 mi cool down in 16:47 (6:43/mi). (Tot. of 10)<br />
XT: Light General Strength/Core, Inversion Table<br />
<br />
<b>Friday </b>- 7.5 easy in 50:59 (6:47/mi), 4x80m strides, 4x200 relaxed in racing flats: 36.88, 36.98, 36.08, 35.56. (Tot of 8+)<br />
XT: General Strength/Core<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday </b>- Jacksonville Invite- Warmup (~2.75mi): light stretching, 6min really easy outside(7:28/mi), check in for race, 1.03mi a bit quicker (6:18/mi-didn't feel like I was running that quick), dynamic stretches and drills, strides, 2x200 trying to feel out mile rhythm (37.19, 37.28-too slow,felt sluggish), back inside for half mile more of jogging around and strides. Race 1600m in 4:42-felt good, race description below. Total cooldown was 4.25 miles in 31 minutes with the first 5min or so with Will Cross and Cole Dill of Tremont, and the rest of the first mile with Cole. (Tot. of 8mi)<br />
XT: Light General Strength/Core at home afterwards<br />
<br />
<b><u>Total</u></b>: 65.5 miles. 3 good, quality days-which included 2 good workouts and a solid race.<br />
<br />
<br />
Race Summary: This meet's always a long one, and I knew I was going to be waiting awhile. I ate good throughout the day, and also somehow got a random bloody nose while napping, which took about a half hour to clear up, but luckily didn't get on my clothes or affect me at all. Going into the race I was realistically hoping for 4:45 to 4:48ish. Based on not having done anything fast or mile specific yet, I just wanted to re-accustom the legs to the pace they would have to be running this spring. My heat of the mile (final heat), included some solid guys: Will Cross of Delevan (9:38 3200m and 3rd at State last year), Cole Dill of Tremont, and Shane Hoerbert of PORTA. We ran smart splits, and didn't have anybody take off ridiculously fast, which was nice. I found myself in the lead the first lap or two and wasn't really expecting that, right after-Cross took care of the pace and kept us pretty solid. We were 4:45 pace throughout most of the race and negative split pretty good. My Splits per 200 (within a half second): 35, 1:11 (37), 1:45 (34), 2:22 (37), 2:59 (37), 3:35 (36), 4:09 (34), 4:42 (33). Overall, I was happy that I'm not completely slow right now. I know I'm in great shape aerobically and I'm excited for what's going to happen when I start with the specific work.<br />
<br />
Here's a video of the race. I lowered the audio in parts, just so that my dad's loud yelling wouldn't annoy anyone too much,ha..(I'm third from the left on the starting line) :<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Also, I want to give a shout out to Mr. Will Cross for officially being back, and racing for the first time in entirely too long. He struggled with a pretty bad hamstring injury for a good part of the summer and all of this fall during XC. Hopefully he's past all of that now, and will be posting some fast results this Spring!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-35299104644206261872011-02-27T14:35:00.000-08:002011-02-27T20:56:59.565-08:00Good Day, Bad DayHello Readers,<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
We had team practice Mon, Wed, Thurs. Here are the deets:<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday </b>- 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.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnylJcni73jB11gIw7CbUPdg7qUmTJ0vmX9gN-qhVex7BYLKJX9kqgoVLpRIXbTkyW3hDgp4n6laa2OM_JLaVgdf8ya87ar6JGwPumqt_i9q7J64_C9e0eg-zABgvMw0_VZQ-cO9brykC/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnylJcni73jB11gIw7CbUPdg7qUmTJ0vmX9gN-qhVex7BYLKJX9kqgoVLpRIXbTkyW3hDgp4n6laa2OM_JLaVgdf8ya87ar6JGwPumqt_i9q7J64_C9e0eg-zABgvMw0_VZQ-cO9brykC/s200/photo.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Midway through Sunday's Long Run</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUeeRp0yJxu5zdfKr9sDTwsA-elvm-kL9dJ0cRS1FV545Hn_UMtX-wbpGRMvU1_Ek-YgR3U67kPZDjB_XCRqDO7b_76SI0b8m70F7P1TE_TTcJmwbbC-2EqfGSqdPRyRaWpPpDuLTuUQUR/s1600/photo+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUeeRp0yJxu5zdfKr9sDTwsA-elvm-kL9dJ0cRS1FV545Hn_UMtX-wbpGRMvU1_Ek-YgR3U67kPZDjB_XCRqDO7b_76SI0b8m70F7P1TE_TTcJmwbbC-2EqfGSqdPRyRaWpPpDuLTuUQUR/s200/photo+%25282%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last couple of miles, as the rain let up some</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<b>Monday </b>- 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday </b>- 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday </b>- 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday </b>- 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday </b>- 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday </b>- 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.<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Total</u></b>: 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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!<br />
<br />
Have a good week, everyone!<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-87310352798677445132011-02-20T19:33:00.000-08:002011-02-20T19:39:37.870-08:00Aches and PainsI'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.<br />
<br />
Here's how the week played out:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Monday </b>- 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday </b>- <i>AM</i>: 2 mile shakeout. Right quad and outside of foot really hurting.<br />
<i>PM</i>: 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday </b>- <i>AM</i>: 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.<br />
<i>PM</i>: 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday </b>- 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday </b>- 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday </b>- <i>AM</i>: 5 miles very easy in 35:46 (7:10/mi) on seven hills road, 6x8sec Hill Sprints with much better grippage than last week. <i>PM</i>: 5 miles easy in 34:56 (6:57/mi). Tendon that connects the hamstring and calf was really bothering me, but (10mi on day)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Weekly Total</u></b>: 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.<br />
<br />
I hope everyone had a good week!<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-48254695020530082642011-02-13T19:55:00.000-08:002011-02-15T20:15:59.786-08:00Help! IMPRISONED IN FEBRUARYI 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!<br />
<br />
As a whole, this week went really well. Here's the log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 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!!<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 8 miles, 55:00 (6:52/mi). Just 4x80m strides halfway through, quad was hurting some.<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - AM: 2 mile shakeout, 14:22 (7:11)<br />
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)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 9 miles, 1:01:09 (6:47/mi).<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - 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.<br />
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)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Weekly Total</u></b>: 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Have a good week, everyone!<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-19715803516147995082011-02-06T16:38:00.000-08:002011-02-06T16:42:17.135-08:00Snow, Decisions, and Good TrainingHello Readers,<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Here's the log for the week:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - <i>AM</i>: 30min of Aqua jogging at YMCA. Made it home just as the blizzard was getting bad.<br />
<i>PM</i>: 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - <i>AM</i>: 2 mile shakeout on treadmill in 14:44 (7:22/mi)<br />
<i>PM</i>: 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)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - <i>AM</i>: 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.<br />
<i>PM</i>: 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)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Weekly Total</u></b>: 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.<br />
<br />
Also, before I sign off, I'd like to take some time to say the word marshmallow. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW NATHAN?!?<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-18836330442868745702011-02-02T12:50:00.000-08:002011-02-02T12:50:14.987-08:00College DecisionsIt'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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Western Illinois University (WIU)</u></b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Elmhurst College</u></b> - 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.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Adams State College</u></b> - 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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:<br />
<br />
<b><u>WIU</u></b> -<br />
<i>Pros:</i> 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<br />
<i>Cons:</i> So close to home (15 miles), big partying school<br />
<br />
<b><u>Elmhurst</u></b> -<br />
<i>Pros:</i> 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<br />
<i>Cons:</i> No chance for athletic money, they compete mostly close to school<br />
<br />
<b><u>Adams</u></b> -<br />
<i>Pros:</i> 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<br />
<i>Cons:</i> 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)<br />
<br />
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!<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading.<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-65048082577160166112011-01-29T21:59:00.000-08:002011-01-30T09:22:04.910-08:00Adams State VisitHello Readers,<br />
<br />
This week was a good one! So I'm happy with that. Training is getting back up there in volume. I was also fortunate enough to have my visit to Adams State this week, which went well. ASC is one of the most storied programs not only in Division II, but across all divisions. Sunday morning I met up with the coaches at ASC, and got to visit with them and the team for a bit. It was long run day for the guys, so I joined in for 12 miles with them. I could definitely notice the altitude, but I handled it well and it didn't really affect me too much with going an easy pace. After the run, we went out to Campus Cafe, a local breakfast place in town that used to be regular eating place for legendary coach Vigil and the team. The resturaunt was decorated with pictures and plaques from various cross country and track invitationals. Jordan Patterson, a junior on the team, whose from Illinois as well, helped out with the visit a lot. He was in my XC sectional my Freshman year, so it was nice to see a familiar face out there. ASC's graduate assistant coach, Zach Hall, gave me a tour of Plachy Hall after we ate. I was impressed with most everything. They definitley have the funding for different equipment that a lot of schools don't have. They are also fortunate enough to have an alter-g treadmill, for when/if any of their athletes get injured or are coming back from injury. Sunday evening I stayed with three of the sophomore guys on the team. We went out for pizza and some bowling. Monday morning I attended a class with Jovanny (my host), had my meeting with Coach Martin, and then got a campus tour. After everything, my dad and I had lunch in the student cafe and headed back home. I had a really good time, and everyone there was very personable and helpful.<br />
<br />
<br />
Here's the Log:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 12 miles with ASC guys on the dirt roads outside of Alamosa, 1:21:52 (6:49/mi). Most of them were going 16-20 miles. Started slow, then started hitting solid splits, especially for altitude. Splits: 1-7:28,2-7:14,3-6:58,4-6:43,5-6:49,6-6:41,7-6:43,8-6:36,9-6:32,10-6:37,11-6:42,12-6:44. Felt really good overall. Definitely could feel the altitude towards the end, as the effort went from casual to trying to hold on the last 2 miles.<br />
<br />
<b>Monday</b> - 60 minutes easy on the dirt roads of Las Animas County,CO on the way home (~8.5mi). Kept the pace function off on my watch as I wanted to relax. Stayed overnight at a little hotel in Oakley, Kansas and did some Injury prevention/core there along with my stretching/rolling out.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhEcSw2ORL1zBSp1Aymto4jbXXfG6TMLeSCJlGFDcEACr6egcwdhX2jpr7eJiKEyVjNb2_IUzDad3D_xZVOMmOJt3poXcOjqZeP5r50DlMDexAVvIQ1ZVA8Zk22vN6dAaQh-Ng2om8qYO/s1600/IMG_0682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhEcSw2ORL1zBSp1Aymto4jbXXfG6TMLeSCJlGFDcEACr6egcwdhX2jpr7eJiKEyVjNb2_IUzDad3D_xZVOMmOJt3poXcOjqZeP5r50DlMDexAVvIQ1ZVA8Zk22vN6dAaQh-Ng2om8qYO/s400/IMG_0682.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Running Monday in Las Animas County, CO (I'm that little orange speck in the distance)</td></tr>
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<b>Tuesday</b> - 9 miles with some intervals at tempo pace in the middle of Missouri. I did 5min on,2 off,4 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 2 off, 1 on at LT pace in the middle miles. Most of my tempo pace portions were at around 5:45-5:50/mi, not quick but the roads were icy. First few miles were very slow as I was on worse roads than the main portion. 59:53 (6:39/mi).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHmtkD9rilWgax5ncCB24DWzJSk8LNMBiuh86plS-92KSYL6hAiVnBqNkvT6gC857l0IpaYA5G8Hgai44LnS-rYvmZ6yIJlh_7kl0V3LLNJE50QJtHB6NK9_QxTq59Z8JxJgTUfvx2B6Hb/s1600/IMG_0713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHmtkD9rilWgax5ncCB24DWzJSk8LNMBiuh86plS-92KSYL6hAiVnBqNkvT6gC857l0IpaYA5G8Hgai44LnS-rYvmZ6yIJlh_7kl0V3LLNJE50QJtHB6NK9_QxTq59Z8JxJgTUfvx2B6Hb/s320/IMG_0713.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost home. 9 miler in Missouri.</td></tr>
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<b>Wednesday</b> - 8 miles easy around Bushnell, 55:00 (6:52/mi). Left Sartorious muslce was tightening up again, and I didn't want to push it much with it. I think I had problems today because yesterday when I ran, I got right back into the car afterwards without much stretching or rolling out.<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - 2 warmup outside (13:47), 6 uptempo on treadmill (37:54) , 1 cooldown outside. The effort on the treadmill just feel different from outside and my rythym just feel unnatural, so I usually don't go as quick on it. Obviously the pace I was running wasn't that quick, but I just wanted to get in a bit better effort than my normal days. Judging by my ability to run 10 miles at 6:11/mi pretty easily a couple of weeks ago, including my first few warmup miles, I can go a lot faster for my uptempo runs. Hopefully the weather will cooperate soon. (Tot. 9mi) Injury prevention and core afterwards.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 9 miles easy, 1:02:27 (6:56/mi) on loop just outside of town. Did a few strides during to get the legs going. Injury prevention and core afterwards.<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - 9 miles, 59:56 (6:39/mi) around town/country. Felt really good. Stopped at a mile to do 6x80m strides. Doing them this way I think is better when my quads aren't 100%. This way I'm not doing them when my legs are more tired after the run. Injury prevention and core afterwards.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Total</u></b>: 64.5 miles, with more quality than last week. The leg felt much better this week. I'm still trying to be fairly cautious with it, but we'll see. I'm definitely more happy with what I did this week than the previous weeks. It also feels like I'm getting into more of a routine with my injury prevention. Next week I'm looking to add more overall volume, whether that is some easy morning runs, or some additional cross-training, we'll see. Also, I want to do strides more days after my runs (well, maybe in the middle), hopefully I can get my leg back to 100% and I can do it no problem.<br />
<br />
Here are some more pictures of campus and the scenery around Alamosa:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjigR70Ih2uXXPdHgWP641zvOLu97hbcpRh2dwKyaP4BX1me17gBsgGxJrRI8Dninru0zKGJW29e6kGzYThafWfL40dwEgy3zdr1twRQmwAFT_ByJGP-VVUtyxjWxeMJLhQlIJlMS6AvEPi/s1600/IMG_0632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjigR70Ih2uXXPdHgWP641zvOLu97hbcpRh2dwKyaP4BX1me17gBsgGxJrRI8Dninru0zKGJW29e6kGzYThafWfL40dwEgy3zdr1twRQmwAFT_ByJGP-VVUtyxjWxeMJLhQlIJlMS6AvEPi/s320/IMG_0632.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the recently added student dorms over the track (Not where I stayed)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvr3tpk2-HdyjhkYYEgE7ECHB7vk7Br2egFd2VuxOzG1tuwR86eaRPRizEAz1PwcLjD2dU2Rhyphenhyphenq2YQ1X8r7uUxmxPYvEuDx9DDsKg3m6584N1a_apnkQuVwGnMh4wQyBs1jSYKX9kpR-Fj/s1600/IMG_0636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvr3tpk2-HdyjhkYYEgE7ECHB7vk7Br2egFd2VuxOzG1tuwR86eaRPRizEAz1PwcLjD2dU2Rhyphenhyphenq2YQ1X8r7uUxmxPYvEuDx9DDsKg3m6584N1a_apnkQuVwGnMh4wQyBs1jSYKX9kpR-Fj/s320/IMG_0636.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grizzly on campus</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupwFkG19OJdrn0GwEIHxXzI_aEBBRcV1YVg7iD44v086NPntfETdtI3d2inUfoaf6EG2XbnLzEC0YQFFWwFwX-ZLsEqdvk2pg_z1jnwOpl96tntLaBZ3bbo-qeSTyk7MFzACYB6Upk0Pn/s1600/IMG_0637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupwFkG19OJdrn0GwEIHxXzI_aEBBRcV1YVg7iD44v086NPntfETdtI3d2inUfoaf6EG2XbnLzEC0YQFFWwFwX-ZLsEqdvk2pg_z1jnwOpl96tntLaBZ3bbo-qeSTyk7MFzACYB6Upk0Pn/s320/IMG_0637.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the track from the library</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Y_Xs90-aWoNxdW7dJ15cY2LEpGbl1owtges4pADdXCBErxkq2wvb9jAdkgNYB0j2Zls00onwFeDN_TpSkI8r07sVIZT0EQrq-ydBCrLMgt6CYiLFnqK3cIV7vQThuVGV8FCt5vi9utRD/s1600/IMG_0570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Y_Xs90-aWoNxdW7dJ15cY2LEpGbl1owtges4pADdXCBErxkq2wvb9jAdkgNYB0j2Zls00onwFeDN_TpSkI8r07sVIZT0EQrq-ydBCrLMgt6CYiLFnqK3cIV7vQThuVGV8FCt5vi9utRD/s320/IMG_0570.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifqamq6I8wx9rJFdRi2io1cWWYweD3uipEJDQ2oU_try_KtRn0edYuBVRCc9BpuofCTCU-YlJC0Hxj9AvzXQgATVpQ89y_jMUOT2GAcHE5sWcTAcdID9YmoScCg5uBjTppdTg_0OjHp5GK/s1600/IMG_0609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifqamq6I8wx9rJFdRi2io1cWWYweD3uipEJDQ2oU_try_KtRn0edYuBVRCc9BpuofCTCU-YlJC0Hxj9AvzXQgATVpQ89y_jMUOT2GAcHE5sWcTAcdID9YmoScCg5uBjTppdTg_0OjHp5GK/s320/IMG_0609.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great Sand Dunes National Park</td></tr>
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</div>Have a good week, everyone!<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-59581586486587946052011-01-22T20:33:00.000-08:002011-01-27T20:39:27.468-08:00I Need SleepI'm going to give you guys a brief update, but will have to post my weekly log at a later time. I'm extremely tired and all I can think about is going to bed. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Alamosa, CO typing this. We arrived here at around 11:00 this morning after 21 hours in the car. I hardly got any sleep and am now paying the price. Typing my training log for this week just doesn't sound as good as laying in that comfy bed I'm looking at. I'm here for an official visit to Adams State College which will start tomorrow and go through Monday. I'm hoping to get a feel for campus and get to know the team. Also, I know that I said I would type a midweek entry this week, and it didn't happen. I've been pretty busy this week with trying to plan this visit among other things. The post was going to be about my college decision, and what's going through my head right now as I weight the options. I think it'll be better for me to write that after I visit ASC (maybe Tuesday?), so that I have a good idea of what all of the schools have to offer. It's beautiful out here, and I really like the place so far. I've been pretty unstructured with my posting schedule, so I'll try to get better with that. Look for an update sometime tomorrow with my log for the week...<br />
<br />
<br />
Here's what I was up to:<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - 8 miles, 54:48 (6:51/mi). Left sartorius muscle was bothering me some.<br />
Full injury prevention work (shin drills, side planks, supermans, most of pedistal routine)<br />
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<b>Monday</b> - 10 miles around town, 1:05:23 (6:32/mi). Felt pretty good, upped the effort midway through so that I was hitting 6:20s after the first few miles were into the wind.<br />
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<b>Tuesday</b> - 9 miles, 61:30 (6:50/mi)<br />
Injury Prevention/Core Work<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - 3 mile warmup outside in 20:53 (6:58/mi), 4x80m strides in front of house, 5 miles up-tempo (slower than real tempo pace, faster than regular run, typically the pace I do my long steady states at) on treadmill in 30:09 (6:13/mi), 1 mi cool down in 7:00. Tot of 9mi..Left Sartorius muscle was hurting again<br />
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<b>Thursday</b> - No running. Still trying to let this thing heal, although it has been doing a lot better. It's just frustrating having to take these days off here and there. 53 minutes of Aqua-jogging/swimming at the Y. Would have went way longer but I had to get out of the pool for their swim lessons.<br />
Core Workout (Pullups, pushups, walkout one-legged pushups, leg raises)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday</b> - 6:45 AM: 6 Miles easy, 41:35 (6:55/mi) before school. It was dark, -5 degrees with a -18 degree windchill. I stayed inside. I've braved that weather before, but until my legs are 100% I'm not risking anything, as much as I hate the treadmill.<br />
1:30pm: 4 miles easy on treadmill, 27:25 (6:51/mi).<br />
Off to Alamosa!!!<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - 2:30pm: 8mi, 55:07 (6:54/mi) at 7500 feet. First run at altitude. I definitely noticed a difference, luckily though with my easy effort I wasn't affected too much. Beautiful weather. It was sunny and about 45 degrees, but with a very strong cross wind. Much better than the single digit highs the day before in Illinois. Kept the mileage lower today because of the long run tomorrow with the team. Nothing really hurt, but my form did feel a bit "off". Maybe that was from a being in a car for 21 hours though.<br />
Lots of stretching/rolling out. All of injury prevention drills.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdTNo5kISfXZHuxrMvyWCrqqxg11UMzfzjEU7zXGMMCLeVsdbJDk-xNFuzXrnG5ihrWjISiIabZxzGkwUYQWQbEd8o6QPQPxe1ieWjIWxMQ2OG8_Ir35GcJ3dOiGGeP5OEK3qEAbju_Aq4/s1600/Run+in+Alamosa.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdTNo5kISfXZHuxrMvyWCrqqxg11UMzfzjEU7zXGMMCLeVsdbJDk-xNFuzXrnG5ihrWjISiIabZxzGkwUYQWQbEd8o6QPQPxe1ieWjIWxMQ2OG8_Ir35GcJ3dOiGGeP5OEK3qEAbju_Aq4/s320/Run+in+Alamosa.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<b><u>Total</u></b>: 54 miles, plus 53min of aqua-jogging. Not great mileage, but I wasn't looking for great numbers this week. Base fitness is good, but I hope I can be 100% soon, because I really need to be getting in more strides and better quality work. Was able to get in a little bit of higher-end aerobic running in this week though.<br />
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Look for next week's post to detail more stuff about the college visit out to Alamosa, and the training I did while I was there. Also, look for a post on my college thoughts soon.<br />
<br />
-JohnJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8623057392303958049.post-59324668676559223462011-01-15T23:30:00.000-08:002011-01-16T09:12:40.974-08:00Picking Up Where I Left OffAs of today, I can say that I’m back to my full training load after that two week hiccup in my training. I don’t feel that I really lost any fitness from the little set back, I just wasn’t able to gain any. Really, I just would have started my actual long runs (12+ mi), started getting in some threshold running, kept progressing my strides and added in some hill sprints. Going two weeks without adding those in though isn’t that big of a deal. The key is to try and not have another little setback like that. Luckily, it wasn’t anything too serious, and I can pick up where I left off.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Here’s the log:<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Sunday</b> – <i>6pm:</i> 6 miles, 46:28 (7:04/mi). Kept it slow today, and stayed on the treadmill so that I wouldn't have the varying terrain to aggravate the leg. Stretching/Rolling out, ice bath.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Monday</b> – <i>5pm:</i> 8mi, 55:28 (6:56/mi) On the treadmill again today, legs felt tired by the end today, but didn't feel bad overall. Stretching/rolling out, ice bath. <i>8:30pm:</i> 35min of Aqua-jogging/300m of swimming. (Tot. 90min of aerobic activity)<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Tuesday</b> – <i>4:30pm:</i> 8mi, 54:59 (6:52/mi) on the treadmill. Leg is handling it fine, I do notice it some though. Stretching/Rolling out, 3x2min on inversion table.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Wednesday</b> – <i>4:30pm:</i> 10 mi, 1:08:39 (6:51/mi). Bumped up the mileage a little bit more again today, and the pace some. 10 miles on the treadmill is definitely not fun, but I'd rather not make it worse by slipping on the snow and ice outside.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Thursday </b>– <i>4:30pm:</i> 8 mi, 55:46 (6:58/mi) on the treadmill. Backed off a bit to not stress the leg too much. Stretching/rolling out, ice bath, 3x2min on inversion table for back. <i>8:15pm:</i> 38:55 of Aqua-jogging, the time passed quick fairly quick as I was able to visit with a local doctor who was also Aqua-jogging. I'm going to test the leg outside tomorrow. The ice and snow have cleared some, and the boredom of the treadmill is KILLING me. (Tot. 94min of aerobic activity) Injury prevention/General strength stuff as well: Shin drills, pushups, side planks, supermans, leg lifts, burpees, and a glute exercise I don't know the name of.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Friday</b> – <i>4:30pm: </i>10 miles, 1:08:56 (6:54/mi). Around town, trying to avoid the roads that were covered in ice/snow. The temperature is about as warm as it's going to be for awhile, it was 26, so that felt nice. Stretching/Rolling out, Injury Prevention and General strength work (same as yesterday).<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Saturday</b> - <i>4:00pm:</i> 10 miles, 1:06:46 (6:41/mi). Same loop as yesterday around town. It was about 20 degrees with an alright wind. I ran at about the same effort but was surprised at the pace increase. My quad does feel like it's getting tight again, and my left one too. But I don't think it's anything too serious. Plenty of Stretching/Rolling Out, and an ice bath. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Weekly Total:</u></b> 60 miles. 70 minutes of additional Aqua-jogging. I'm getting back up there in mileage, and can't be be too upset with the week. I did say last week that I was going to focus more on the injury prevention and general strength work, but didn't do nearly as much as I would have liked. So I really need to get on that this week, and detail those workouts better in the log.<br />
<br />
Next week I would like to continue raising the mileage back up, and put some quality aerobic work back into the schedule. I'd like to have two high-end aerobic workouts, and get one down to around tempo run pace for a bit. If the leg can cooperate, I'd like to put some strides back in as well. I'm hoping for some good things in the next couple of weeks.<br />
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I'm most likely going to do a mid-week post later on this week. So stay tuned!<br />
<br />
-John</div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00921806222449936995noreply@blogger.com0