Adams State Visit

Hello Readers,

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.


Here's the Log:

Sunday - 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.

Monday - 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.

Running Monday in Las Animas County, CO (I'm that little orange speck in the distance)

Tuesday - 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).

Almost home. 9 miler in Missouri.

Wednesday - 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.

Thursday - 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.

Friday - 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.

Saturday - 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.

Total: 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.

Here are some more pictures of campus and the scenery around Alamosa:

View from the recently added student dorms over the track (Not where I stayed)

Grizzly on campus

View of the track from the library

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Have a good week, everyone!

-John

I Need Sleep

I'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...


Here's what I was up to:

Sunday - 8 miles, 54:48 (6:51/mi). Left sartorius muscle was bothering me some.
Full injury prevention work (shin drills, side planks, supermans, most of pedistal routine)

Monday - 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.

Tuesday - 9 miles, 61:30 (6:50/mi)
Injury Prevention/Core Work

Wednesday - 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

Thursday - 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.
Core Workout (Pullups, pushups, walkout one-legged pushups, leg raises)

Friday - 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.
1:30pm: 4 miles easy on treadmill, 27:25 (6:51/mi).
Off to Alamosa!!!

Saturday - 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.
Lots of stretching/rolling out. All of injury prevention drills.

Total: 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.

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.

-John

Picking Up Where I Left Off

As 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.

Here’s the log:

Sunday – 6pm: 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.

Monday – 5pm: 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. 8:30pm: 35min of Aqua-jogging/300m of swimming. (Tot. 90min of aerobic activity)

Tuesday – 4:30pm: 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.

Wednesday – 4:30pm: 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.

Thursday – 4:30pm: 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. 8:15pm: 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.

Friday – 4:30pm: 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).

Saturday - 4:00pm: 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. 

Weekly Total: 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.

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.

I'm most likely going to do a mid-week post later on this week. So stay tuned!

-John

Playing It Safe

Hello Readers,

Luckily, the pain I've been experiencing in my leg isn't my femur bone. It was good to know that it isn't THAT serious. But, it's still been causing me problems, and that's extremely irritating. This week felt like a wasted week, training-wise. I tried to play it cautious early on and that didn't even really seem to help much. I increased the amount of time that I was running early on in the week, trying to get back to my normal training load, but then it got worse, and had to take another day off. I tried to do most of my running on the grass, thinking that would help, but I actually think it made things worse with the bumpy, varying terrain aggravating my quad more as the run progressed. The week definitely unfolded differently than I had hoped it would.

Here's this week's (pathetic) training log:

Sunday – 2.2 miles (15:55) very slow to test the leg out on grass at Spring Lake. 1 hour of aqua-jogging afterwards, with some intense portions, and about 600 meters of swimming in between

Monday – 45:00 easy (6.38mi—7:03/mi) at Spring Lake on grass. Quad felt better, but I could definitely feel it. 35 min easy on stationary bike (10mi) Lots of stretching, rolling out on foam roller, and an ice bath.

Tuesday – 1 hour easy (8.24 miles—7:17/mi) on grass at Spring Lake. Got progressively slower, and quad felt worse as I went along. Foam roller, and an ice bath. 2x3min on inversion table for lower back (something I've done for awhile).

Wednesday – 45min easy (6.25mi—7:12/mi) on grass loop at Spring Lake. Did less today, to try and let the leg recover a bit more, but my form still feels off, and I'm compensating for the pain, and now my left quad is starting to hurt some too. 35 minutes of Aqua-Jogging afterwards, with hard portions and 400 meters of swimming. Lots of stretching, rolling out, 3x3min on inversion table, and an ice bath before bed. Light core work in the evening as well.

Thursday – 1 hour easy (8.45 miles—7:06/mi), half on golf course, half on roads. Had some splits sub 7, but my quads got progressively worse, and got tired a lot quicker than normal. It feels like I'm working harder than normal to run a pretty relaxed pace, so I think my form is off from this. Lots of stretching, rolling out, an ice bath, and 3x3min on inversion table. Injury prevention work, and some strength stuff (I can't remember exactly what though)

Friday – Frustrated with leg, so took the day off from running, and tried to do a ton of recovery stuff for it. 80 minutes of Aqua-Jogging with some intense portions, with 400 meters of swimming in between. 2 Ice baths (1 before workout with warm bath after, 1 after workout before bed), lots of rolling out, 3x3min on inversion table.

Saturday – 40 minutes of easy running on treadmill (5.68mi—7:02/mi). Luckily, I really didn’t experience much pain at all, and I made sure to stop early before I felt any.

Weekly Total: 37.2 miles of running, 2:55:00 of Aqua-Jogging/Swimming, 35:00 of cycling

After regularly getting nagging injuries in the winter the last couple of years and generally staying injury free during the summer months, I’ve learned that I’m a lot more injury prone for several different reasons in the winter:

1. The cold weather makes my muscles tighter. 
2. As the temperature goes down, the roads actually get harder. 
3. There are less available soft surfaces with the snow and ice. 
4. Slipping on the snow and ice aggravates little muscles 
5. I’m cramped up in school for 7-8 hours a day, and generally not very active outside of running. In the summer I’m walking around most of the day barefoot, swimming, and engaging more of my stabilizing muscles on a daily basis. 
6. I’m doing supplemental barefoot running on the grass in the summer, which I feel makes me much more durable 

Basically, I need to focus a lot more on the general strength/Injury Prevention stuff in the winter in addition to my running. So that's going to be one of my focuses next week.

I'm hoping today's lack of pain is a good sign of what is to come next week. I'm not going to set any specific goals for this week mileage-wise, as I just want to get back to consistent, pain-free running. I know that ideally I'd like to be doing at least 70 miles a week with a couple of good threshold efforts by this time of year, but I haven't lost much time from this little setback, and it's still very early in my training cycle. I've still got a very high level of base fitness, and luckily the injury isn't anything too serious. Ideally, once my leg gets back to 100%, I'd like to not miss another day for a couple more months, as I generally have my biggest fitness gains from long, uninterrupted periods of training. Hopefully next week I'll check in with some better news!

Have a good week, everyone!

-John

Here We Go...

Hello readers,

I guess I’ll start out by introducing myself. I’m John Slater and I’m a Senior at Bushnell-Prairie City High School in Bushnell,IL. I’ve been running competitively since Junior High School, and throughout the years my training has continually advanced and my improvement has been quite consistent. When starting out, I was quite average, but with consistent work over the years, I’d like to think that I’ve gotten myself out of that mediocrity. My progression hasn’t been completely linear though, as I’ve had my fair share of setbacks the last couple of years. My current personal records are 4:38 for 1600 meters, 9:51 for 3200 meters, and 15:36 for 3 mile XC.

I’ve definitely been influenced by various other running blogs that I regularly read (Nate Jenkins training blog, Craig Macpherson’s, and Steve Magness’ to name a few). I don’t know exactly what direction I’m going to go with this blog. It’s definitely going to be part training log/diary, part training philosophy rambling, and I’d also like to use this as a place to discuss my opinions on other topics, whether they are related to running or not. There aren’t many high school running blogs, and I think that is something that will make this blog unique and different from others. Most other running blogs by high schoolers are  by the very elite or through dyestat, and they don’t really reveal much at all. I’m just a semi-elite high school runner, trying to see how fast he can be, and I hope that can be something that sets this blog apart from the rest.  

Right now, I don’t really have a set plan for how often I’m going to update this blog. I don’t know if I’m going to update it on a weekly basis, or just whenever I feel like it. I’ve always been kind of hesitant to let my training out into the open, for fear of my competitors or rivals knowing what I’m doing and copying or trying to outdo my training. At this point, I’m not too concerned. If they know what I’m doing, fine. They still have to get out the door and do the work. Also, one of the main reasons that I’m doing this blog is to spread knowledge and to help others, because I can’t say how much reading other blogs have helped me. 

I want to publicly announce my goals, analyze my training, and discuss my races. I want to show the ups and downs of my training, and let people know what’s going through my mind in a typical racing season, or training cycle. Currently, I’m coming off of what I would consider a successful cross country season for the most part, and the most consistent training cycle of my life (only 2 days off of running from June 17th-November 27th). I took a week of down time after XC, and am now in the 4th week of this training cycle. I'm training for the 2011 track season, which will be my last season of competitive High School running. I’ve got some big goals, and I’m really excited for what the next few months will bring! 

Here’s the log for this week:


Sunday 12/26 - 9.76mi easy, 1:08:12 (6:59/mi). In Nebraska for Christmas at my grandparents. It was cold and windy, and I wasn't really feeling that great. My shin muscles were hurting for pretty much the whole run, probably due to me taking Christmas off. I'm generally pretty achy whenever I take a day off, that's why I try not to that often. Was going for 10 today, but got to the house and hands were frozen, I'll add on more on my next run.


Monday 12/27 - 10.32mi unplanned long-tempo, 1:03:50 (6:11/mi). I was feeling really good today after the first mile, so I decided to put in a moderate effort. Felt really good and relaxed though. Splits: 1-6:28,2-6:12,3-6:13,4-6:14,5-6:18,6-5:57,7-6:08,8-6:03,9-6:03,10-6:12, last bit at 6:10 pace. Overall it felt really comfortable. Injury prevention and core afterwards.


Tuesday 12/28 - Hilly 10mi easy, 1:08:43 (6:52/mi). Felt good, nice weather, especially for it being winter in Nebraska. 6x80m strides afterwards. 


Wednesday 12/29 - AM: 5 mi easy, 34:47 (6:58/mi), travel back to Illinois
                                    PM: 5 mi easy, 34:59 (6:59/mi). Dark and icy.
Femur bone has been hurting the last few days when walking around and going up and down stairs, getting out of the vehicle and when doing other things. This isn't good. I'm going to play it cautious.


Thursday 12/30 - Femur bone still causing pain, but the weird thing is that it hasn't hurt while running (I've noticed it definitely, but no significant pain). I'm still worried, and don't even want to think about a stress fracture. So no running today. I'm going to be taking 3 days completely off of running, I don't want to, but I've got to be smart.
Cross Training - 1:07:22 of aqua-jogging at YMCA, with about 300meters of swimming mixed in, 25 minutes on stationary bike afterwards (Tot. 92 minutes of aerobic activity)


Friday 12/31 - 1:00:00 of aqua-jogging, with some intense portions, and 400 meters of swimming mixed in. 37:00 of biking outside, only 9.1 miles. Really warm out, but very windy (Tot. 97 minutes of aerobic activity)


Saturday 1/1 - 56:00 of aqua-jogging, with 450 meters of swimming mixed in. Would have went longer but the Y was about to close on me. (Tot. 56 minutes of aerobic activity)


Weekly Total: 40.5 miles of running (planned for 70), Over 3 hours of aqua-jogging, and an 1:02:00 of cycling.

Definitely not what I was hoping for this week. I'm going to try running again tomorrow. I've been looking on the internet, and have talked to some people about stress fractures. I don't know what I would do if I had a femoral stress fracture. Right now though, I'm pretty optimistic, as I can hop on one foot and not experience any pain (a really good sign). I'm not too worried about missing 3 days, I can maintain aerobic fitness in the short-term with cross-training, and already being in really good shape. If everything goes as planned, I'll try to do what I set out to do this week, maybe minus a few miles. The number one goal is to run pain free though.


                                   

Feel free to comment on the blog with any questions, advice, or other remarks that you may have. 

See you soon!

-John