Running Times, Online

Monday AM Rattlesnake rd. 9, 1:03:58, tot. 9

late AM mika for treatment

rest of day off to let treatment settle in

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubber band stuff for low leg

Tuesday AM rattlesnake road 10, 1:08:51 tot. 10

PM Rattlesnake road 9, 1:07:19 tot. 9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband, Butts routine

Wednesday AM 3 warm up, few strides, 5k tempo on rolling holt hill loop- 15:05.7.  Basically ran as fast as I could without going hard, 3 cool down 21:30 tot. 9++

PM road 8 shakeout with melissa, 1:02:51 tot. 8

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubber band stuff, butts routine

Thursday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:01:51 tot. 9

Noon mika for treatment

PM road 9 plus shakeout, 1:13:04, first 6 miles with Melissa, tot. 9

XT concentric calf raises, rubberband

Friday AM road 10 in Lowell with Rex Radloff, 1:08:00 tot. 10

PM on road in Hanover, NH, 33:33 shakeout, then 6×15 second Short hill sprints, with jog down rest, then 23:16 cool down, tot. 8++

XT concentric calf raises, stretching

Saturday AM 10.7 miles, 1:17:26, in Hanover, NH and across the river in VT.  this run involved climbing from 300 feet to 1300 feet in less then 2 miles. tot. 10++

PM road 4+ miles shakeout, no time screwed up watch, tot. 4+

XT concentric calf raises, stretching, butts routine

Sunday PM 3+ warm up, 23:48, bunch of jogging and strides including one of almost 200m.  Race 3000m at Dartmouth Relays- 1st place, 8:19.83.  Really bad start was boxed in last place for first 100m and down in the pack up to 200m in 34 and change, then moved up to 3rd by 400m in 66 and change.  Ruben was well out in front at this point.  I caught up to him at the mile in 4:24, he surged a bit and I didn’t pass him until 2k.  I felt pretty good but not great but I had a good finish in my legs and I ran 32.2 for the 2nd to last lap and 29.9 for the last 200m which is extremely good for me from the front.  Usually I really don’t shift gears well at all in the front.  So not a great time, I was 8:08.98 here last year, but a good race considering what I have done for the last 4 weeks.  So I have a starting point and I’m ok with it. 10 mile cool down with Ruben, Tim Guerin and Mark Miller, 1:08:00- probably a bit short, tot. 15

XT stretching, concentric calf raises

Summary 111 miles for week, 1 workout, 1 set short hills, 1 race, 1 solid step in the right direction.  I don’t have much to say, I’m happy with the race.  The dartmouth relays college/open meet isn’t what it once was but I have never won there before so I’m happy to have done that.  It isn’t a real fast time but I ran well by feel and felt pretty controlled for most of it.  The leg felt good after it and no worse for the wear so hopefully I’m past that and will be able to get in some consistent work from here on out.  Though I shouldn’t complain too much because I think I have run over 100 miles for the last 14 or 15 weeks in a row.

Quote of the week “I got hair on my chest.  I look good without a shirt on.” Tom Waits from ‘going out west’ which is the song of the week

Monday AM rattlesnake rd. 9 solo, 1:04:58, peroneal much improved, tot. 9

PM rattlesnake rd. 9, 1:08:20 tot. 9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff for peroneal

Tuesday AM rattlesnake rd. 9, 1:03:29, tot.9

PM rd. 4 with Melissa, 33:29, tot. 4+

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff

Wednesday AM rattlesnake rd. 9, 1:00:56, leg improved again, tot. 9

PM rattlesnake rd., 1:05:34, tot. 9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff

Thursday AM rattlesnake rd. 9, 1:03:13, tot.9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband

Friday AM 2.5 warm-up, light strides, including 1 min at 6min pace, light jogging, pace Melissa in Hangover Classic 10k at about 6min pace-37:18- tot. 9

PM rattlesnake rd. 9, solo, no time forgot watch tot. 9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband

Saturday AM rattlesnake rd. 10, 1:11:25, tot. 10

PM rattlesnake rd. 9, 1:11:34 tot. 9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband, butts routine- prayer hammies, straight leg quads, abductor, aductor, mika butts, calf raises, pedistal core work, 3×20 each leg of everything

Sunday AM - nothing but some shoveling, it was snowy and slipping in the snow really bothers the peroneal so I waited for the roads to clear up,

PM rattlesnake road 10, 1;10:02, tot. 10

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband, butts routine(see saturday)

Summary 105 miles for week. Peroneal improved a lot.  I’m getting worked on by mika tomorrow then I plan on a tempo on tuesday or wednesday and some short hills on thursday or friday then I plan to race the 3000m at the Dartmouth relays.  Don’t really know what to expect up there but I guess I would be happy with anything in the 8:15 to 8:25 range.

The last three weeks have been bad.  Between being banged up and not being able to do any quality and having all sorts of holiday stuff going on I have been lax.  It is tough for all of us to get out the door particularly when you don’t have a sense of purpose.  Well knowing the only purpose of the last few weeks was to stop the bleeding and avoid losing fitness didn’t help.  But the leg is like 95% or better so I’m hopefully going to get back to regular work over the next two weeks.  Which will be nice for me but also should make the blog more interesting than reading that I’m running the same 9 mile loop at 7 to 8 min mile pace either once or twice each day.

Last thing.  I’m way behind on comment replies.  I know!!  I’m going to try and respond to all of them on this week’s blog comments section, but I’m sure I’ll miss some.  So if you don’t mind please repost them on this week’s comments section if I don’t reply to it by tomorrow afternoon and I’ll get to it.  I swear.

Monday AM Rattlesnake road 9, no time forgot watch, tot.9

PM Rattlesnake road 9, 1:11:22, tot. 9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff for peroneals, butts routine

Tuesday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:06:29, tot.9

PM rattlesnake road 9, 1:11:46 tot.9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff for peroneals, butts routine

Wednesday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:08:03, tot.9

PM rattlesnake road 9, 1:12:04 tot.9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff, butts routine

Thursday AM rattlesnake road 9 with Melissa, who was doing a light tempo, 1;04:39, tot.9

PM rattlesnake road 9, 1;08:39, tot.9

XT concentric calf raises, stretching, rubberband stuff

Friday AM road 9 in haverhill with Chris Donais, no time I screwed up my watch, tot.9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff

Saturday AM Rattlesnake road 9, solo, leg bit better, 1;04;09 tot. 9

PM holt road 6 with Melissa, 49:56 tot. 6

XT concentric calf raises, rubberband stuff

Sunday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:06:39 tot.9

XT stretching, concentric calf raises, rubber band stuff

Summary 105 miles for week.  Leg coming along but slowly this week was better than last week but just barely.  I’m hoping to be able to do some tempo at least by the end of next week but we’ll see how things come along.   Kind of a tough way to end a tough year.  This being my 52nd week of the training year.  So I’ll start week one of 2010 tomorrow, a few days early but I like to work on weeks so that is how I do it.

This year I ran 5543 miles for a weekly average of 106.6 miles- almost exactly the same as last year.  I did only 22 short hill sessions which needs to be better next year.  I did 91 workouts which is a pretty good number but I’d like to see an average of about 2 a week but still pretty good.  I raced 18 times which I’m happy with.  It seems like a fairly high number but a bunch were short track races that were more time trials for work.  I set PR’s in the mile 4:13.29 (previous 4:14 in dec. 08), 3k-8:08.98 (previous 8:11 in dec. 08), 5k- 14:04.68(previous 14:20 june 2007).  I qualified for my first USATF National Indoor Championships which given my lack of basic speed I really consider one of my biggest running accomplishments.  I also represented the USA in international competition for the first time at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Berlin.  Those were both lifetime goals that were very very high up on that list so even though in general I was not happy with the year as I for the third straight year failed at accomplishing my #1 goal I am extremely happy with those two things.

That pesky #1 goal was of course to fix my hamstring issue.  I once again failed to fix it.  For the second straight year I got the distinct pleasure of limping 3/4 of a marathon because I failed to fix it.  But I have made very big strides in the last few months and am currently in the best place I have been with the hammy since the ‘07 olympic trials.  This progress is most directly due to the advice of a blog reader who has suffered with the same problem.  I am not at this point sure if I am on the road to fixing it completely or not but  I do know that I have greatly improved and have been able  to do a number of long tempos over 20k.  Which may not sound like much but when you consider that since the ‘07 trials I had only once gone more then 14K without the hammy going that is really saying something.  I also have a much greater understanding of what is going on in my leg and how training and stride mechanics affect it.  So I feel better about it than I have for a long time.

I first developed this problem in January of 2007 and it has been bad enough since december of 07 that I haven’t been able to effectively compete in the half marathon and marathon.  My best times in those events since the trials being 1:07 and 2:26 respectively despite having lowered my PR’s in all the major shorter distances- mile 4:17 to 4:13, 3k 8:20 to 8:08, 5k- 14:20 to 14:04, 10k 30:27-29:44.

So for 2010 I have two goals and they are tied directly together.  #1 Fix the hammy. #2 PR in the half marathon and/or marathon.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that you enjoy a terrific new year.

Quote of the week “Anything that just costs money is cheap.” -John Steinbeck

Monday AM Rattlesnake road 9, 1;04:21, tib tendon, peroneal and calf real sore/painful, skipped strides couldn’t really get up on toes tot. 9

PM Rattlesnake road 9, 1:11:52, same as am tot. 9

XT stretching, mika warm up, butts routine,

Tuesday AM Rattlesnake road 9, 1:06:57, lower leg worse, tot. 9

PM Rattlesnake road 9, 1:10:44

XT stretching, concentric calf raises and rubber band stuff for low leg

Wednesday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:06:17 tot. 9

11AM mika for treatment

PM off in hopes of helping mika’s work do its job and get me back on the good road

XT stretching, tons of concentric calf raises and rubber band stuff

Thursday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:07:15, tot. 9

PM rattlesnake road 9, 1:11:35, leg better then am by a little bit tot.9

XT stretching, tons of concentric calf raises and rubber band stuff

Friday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:03:58, lower leg about the same most of the way but able to run basically pain free the last couple miles, tot. 9

PM rattlesnake road 9, 1:04:16, leg better then am by a little bit tot.9

XT stretching, tons of concentric calf raises and rubber band stuff, butts routine

Saturday AM rattlesnake road 9, 1:04:56, about same as yesterday am, tot. 9

PM rattlesnake road 9, 1:07;19, about the same as am tot. 9

XT stretching, tons of concentric calf raises and rubber band stuff, butts routine

Sunday AM 4 miles on the road in snow, slipping around made low leg hurt much worse, 40mins, and done, not a fun run tot. 4

XT stretching, tons of concentric calf raises and rubber band stuff, butts routine

Summary 103 miles for the week, no quality, just a lot of shuffling around and feeling sorry for myself.  I’ve hurt this before, if I stop running it really tightens up and takes forever to heal, but if I try to do quality and get up on my toes it goes south real fast and I won’t be able to walk without a whole lot of pain.  So that is a shitty week.  Hopefully it will come around quick and this will be a hiccup week.  If it doesn’t come around by the end of this week then I’ll have to re-think my cycle and race focus for the winter.

Monday AM Rattlesnake Road 9, 55:11, then 10×100m strides with jog back rest, tot. 10+

PM Rattlesnake Road 9, 56:53 tot. 9

XT stretching, 100m lunge walk focus on glutes, Butts routine (3×20 each leg of prayer hammies, straight leg quad lift, abductor with oppisite leg knee drive, mika butts, adductor with oppisite knee up, calf raises, also a set of pedistal), mika warm up- walk with foot landing midfoot next to toes of planted foot and then driving up on calf, then same but in skipping form, then walking focusing on strong pawback and glute flex on contact then same in skipping form (basically a sharp b skip)

Tuesday AM Rattlesnake Road 8, 59:14, shakeout, tot.8+

PM at reggie lewis center, 3+ warm up-22mins, strides, 400m in 74, strides, 10×300m at goal 3k with 100m jog rest 46.6(33.8), 47.5(32.8), 47.6(33.8), 46.9(33.1), 47.4(31.4), 47.2(32.4), 48.1(32.0), 47.3(28.7), 47.4(31.1), 47.4- 12:41 for 3900m- 5:14 mile pace, 3:15 kilometer pace.  3k of efforts in 7:53.4- bit quick but in range enough to stay specific.  Did same workout at end of indoor last year and the jog breaks were faster so I averaged 5:07 mile pace but I was much sharper then.  so this is a good session, after the 10×300m I took 4mins to put on spikes and did 3×150m speed makers (50m quick, 50m faster, 50m all out) with 1min rest between in 23.8, 23.1, 23.2, then 3++ cool down in 24:23 tot. 10

XT stretching, 100m lunge walk focus on glute, mika warm up- see monday

Wednesday AM Rattlesnake Road 9 in snow storm slowed things a good bit, 1:04:45 tot. 9

PM road 8+ with melissa, shakeout-1:07:33, in cold rain, I was supposed to do butt kicks after but i was already shivering when we finished and I”m still fighting a cold so I decided to play it safe and just head in. tot. 8+

XT stretching, shoveling, butts routine- see monday

Thursday AM 1 mile warm up- 8:02, 18k basic aerobic quality, 1:04:40, not a good go at all, basically had trouble about the same point as last week but wasn’t in mood to fight through.  found that slowing down doesn’t help any more which is good if that means going faster won’t bother it, which I’m hoping it does.  also I think this shows I haven’t been doing butts enough and that I don’t have real grasp on the form I need to be using. 1 mile cool down-7:15,  tot. 13+

PM 49:42 shakeout, then 12×15second short hill sprints with jog down rest on chesnut st.-10:52- then jogged about a mile back to house-8:13 tot. 8++

XT stretching, 100m lunge walk focus on glutes, mika warm up-see monday, butts routine- see monday

Friday AM Rattlesnake road 9 solo- very tired, 1:01:39, stiff. tot. 9

PM 9+ shakeout, first 40mins with Melissa, rest solo, 1:12:47 tot.9+

XT stretching, 100m lunge walk, mika warm up-see monday, butts routine- see monday

Saturday AM 4 miles solo shakeout, 30:25, tot. 4

PM 3 warm up with dedo, strides including one of about 30s. race mile at Harvard meet, 2nd place- 4:17.73- outkicked by HS kid I had at camp, nearly gunned down by another one who ended up 3rd.  Tough on the pride but really the race was a step in the right direction.  This is the time I ran here last year and this was a very similar race, my splits were inconsistent again but this time instead of thinking in retrospect that I felt locked in and wasn’t going hard enough this time I noticed it in the race and actually thought I was going to unleash a pretty good last lap, but mechanically I went to total shit when I tried to shift gears on the last lap.  which I did when I was going hard in the workout on tuesday too so I know I got something to work on.  splits- 31.76, 32.65, 33.63, 31.32, 32.52, 32.54, 32.15, 31.59- 3 mile cool down with dedo, then about 20mins sitting around, then 2 mile warm up solo, strides, race 800m- 2nd in 2nd heat, 2:02.50, this is actually an open 800m pr for me.  splits -29.50(short 220y track so you make up difference between 880y and 800m on first lap), I was actually gapped back in last place by 3 to 5yards at this point, 30.56, 30.44, 31.91)  3 cool down with dedo. tot. 13++

XT stretching

Sunday AM great pond road 20 easy and solo, 2:16:18, tot. 20

PM holt road 5 solo in cold rain, 39:17, 3×30 seconds of toe tap jumps( I call them tigger hops) after with 30 seconds rest between tot. 5

XT stretching, mika warm up- see monday, tigger hops 3×30 seconds, butts routine-see monday

Summary 135 miles for week, bit better this week, the race was a step in the right direction and makes me feel good that my worst fears aren’t true and that there isn’t anything odd going on and that my fitness is coming around.  Basically that I am about where I thought I was and not up a creek again.  In terms of the hammy thing.  I’ve become very good at keeping the toe forward but I’m still overstriding a lot, particularly when I’m tired or lose focus, also I’m not pulling through with my hammy at all.  I’m going to try to track down some new exercises for that this week to add to the routine.  Other than that I’ll mostly stick to what I’ve been doing.  I may not be able to get on reggie lewis track over the semester break, I’m not sure about this week, but next week and the week after I’m pretty sure are no go’s, and we have snow now so I’ll have to figure something out not on the track. I’ll either wheel out flat road stretches, or do fartlek for time or replace the workouts with steep hill reps or find another track to get on.

Hope you all had a good week.

Quote of the week “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told ‘I’m with you kid. Let’s go.’” Maya Angelou - I’m sure I have used that one a few times but it is a great quote.  As a side note I got to hear her speak in person a few years ago.  The sound set up was all screwed up, but it was still a really neat experience.