Week Ending June 4, 2011

Well I continued to have knee pain this week and decided to just run through it. It did not seem to hurt any worse if I ran, so I ran in pain. Sunday I ran a moderate 8 miles. On Monday I decided to run a workout because I had not run fast since last Monday. I ran 8 x 1200 on trails around school and then got in 2 x 800. I was surprised I did so much volume and felt really good about the workout. Tuesday was another workout (I like doing back-to-back workouts sometimes). This time I went uphill on Barr Trail. I ran 11 x 3min uphill and then turned around and jogged down to the car. Wednesday was another long run on Barr Trail. Thursday was an easy double of 6 miles in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. I ran another workout on Friday – a 10mile tempo run. Saturday was another long run in the morning (15) and then 4.5 in the afternoon. Glad to get my miles back up this week after a few low weeks. Mount Washington is two weeks away and I’m feeling good. 101 miles for the week.

Week Ending May 28, 2011

"Ouch, my knee hurts!" That right there was the theme for the week. I still don't know what I did to my knee, but it hurt all week. There must have been a 'pre-injury' on Saturday or Sunday. On Monday I ran up Barr Trail and my knee sort of ached as I went up. It felt like someone was clutching/pinching my knee with a tight grip. Not a big deal and nothing to be worried about... I thought. On the way down, I stepped on a boulder at a bad angle and it sent shock waves right up my leg from foot to knee to hip. After that, I was in real pain and had a long way to run downhill. I wanted to do a double that day, and decided to go for an easy run in the afternoon. The clutching/pinching feeling was there for the entire run. Tuesday I couldn't run. I couldn't even walk normally as I had a limp. My knee felt like a water balloon was surrounding the bone and under the skin. It was not swollen, but it sure felt like it. I mean I couldn't walk up or down stairs normally and had to take them one stair at a time. No pressure on the left leg. I iced it a few times and hoped for the best on Wednesday. No running Wednesday although the leg felt better. I actually tried to run that evening and for the first 5-10 seconds, I thought 'Oh yeah, this feels fine. I can go 10 miles' and I only made it about 200 yards before the pain kicked in. I couldn't believe it because I still didn't know what I did. Hitting that rock on Monday could not have caused this much pain. Peter Maksimow called me to go running on Wednesday and I told him the story. I also remember telling him I thought I would run Thursday and if I wasn't 100% by then, I would be 100% by Friday. More ice. No running on Thursday and more ice. On Friday I forced myself into a four mile run to see how it would hold up. Same pain. Not being the smartest guy in the world and not following common advice (hey, I already took three days off, right?), I decided to run again on Saturday. I ran 8 miles and had the same pain. More ice. Oh man, I hope this gets better quick because I have Mount Washington and the US Mountain Running Championships coming up. 34 miles for the week.

Week Ending May 21, 2011

This was a good week of running although it did not start out so great. I ran in the Colfax Half-marathon in Denver on Sunday and ran like crap. I just could not get the legs to turn over and kept running 5:55-6:00 miles. I finished in 1:19 and I think that is my slowest half marathon ever. I spent the next few days both pissed off and wondering what the hell is going on? I had now run two very bad races in a row. I did not think my training was going bad, so I did not know what was going on. Was there a reason? Was I hurt? not eating properly? fatigued? just getting old? Nothing seemed out of line and I have to wait to see how I run in my next race. Monday was a moderate 10 miles. On Tuesday I ran a very easy double of 4 and 4. On Wednesday I ran on Pike's Peak and got caught in a very cold rain. As I drove up, it started to rain a little/drizzle. I never know what the weather is going to be like over there so I always take gloves and a long sleeve with me. I decided to put on the long sleeve and carry to gloves. I actually enjoy running in the rain and I took off up the trail. After a bout 25 minutes, the rain came down harder and the temperature was dropping. I planned to run a workout of 10-12 x 3:00 uphill and wondered if I would make it. I didn't know how cold it was farther up hill and wondered if the rain was going to turn in to sleet or snow. So I decided it would be smart to turn around once I reached Barr Camp. I only ran about 6 more minutes before turning around because it started pouring and was getting colder every minute. I really wished I had turned around 10 minutes beforehand and was lucky to have the long sleeve and gloves. I was soaking wet and freezing as I ran downhill. I got to the trail-head in record time and stripped off everything except my shorts before getting into the car. I had the heat on and was still shivering the entire ride home. And of course, my side of town had pretty blue skies and not a cloud overhead. I'm very happy I turned around when I did and am also thankful that I'm not dumb enough to force myself up a trail in a cold rain just because I have some workout in mind. Thursday was my long day and I ran 20+ miles. Friday was another double: 10+ in the morning and an easy recovery in the afternoon. On Saturday I ran a moderate 10. Even though I had a crappy start to the week and a crappy midweek workout, I have to say it was an okay week. 86 miles for the week.

Week Ending May 14, 2011

I purposely took it a bit easier this week to taper for my race on Sunday (Colfax Half Marathon). This is not an important race, so I did not completely taper, but I kept my miles under 90 this week. Sunday was a moderate run of 10 miles. Monday was an easy 6. Tuesday was a workout in the morning (6x1200) and an easy recovery in the afternoon. Wednesday was another double: easy in the morning, long run in the afternoon of 16 miles. It had been a pretty easy week so far and I planned to run around 80-ish miles, so I still had quite a few miles to run over the next three days before the race. Like I said, this was not a true taper week. Thursday was a moderate run and Friday was another double of 5 and 10. Saturday I decided to do an easy workout. I wanted to get my legs spinning hard, but not too hard. I believe back-to-back workouts help in the long run, so if I wanted to run well at the mountain races in June, I decided to do an easy workout the day before my race. I ran 3 800s and 2 600s. Not bad. 87 miles for the week.

Week Ending May 7, 2011

This was a good week as I got in a lot of miles again and went to one of my favorite trails, Waldo Canyon, for the first time this year. Sunday started with an easy 4. Monday was a double: 8 in the morning followed by a workout in the afternoon. I ran a 10-mile tempo. Tuesday was a long run and Wednesday was another double. I went about 5 in the morning and about 9 in the afternoon. Thursday was another moderate run in Cheyenne Canon. Friday was a solid workout. I ran 4x1.5 mile repeats, then ran an easy mile, then did one hard 800. Friday afternoon was an easy shakeout. On Saturday, I ran for 2 hours in Waldo Canyon. I finally found the connector to Williams Canyon and ran over there for a while before heading back to the car. I'm running the Colfax Half Marathon in Denver in two weeks and have to run better than I ran at Platte River a few weeks ago. 104 miles for the week

Week Ending April 30, 2011

This week was a good week in my training plan to go big. It was right after a race and I didn't have another race planned for a few weeks. Mount Washington was still two months away too. On Sunday I ran a double and was sore from the mountain race the previous day. My calves were especially sore. Monday was another double including a 16 mile run in the afternoon. Tuesday was another double and I had approximately 58 miles in three days. On Wednesday I went a moderate 10. Thursday was a workout consisting of warm-up, 5x2000, 1 easy mile, another 2000, and a long cool-down. Friday was another double: long run in the morning and a moderate 10 in the afternoon. My calves were still sore and there's really no wonder why. I mean I ran a race on Saturday and then pounded the miles all week with no rest days or easy days. After running 10 more miles on Saturday, I had over 120 miles logged for the week. My calves were sore, I was tired, and I accomplished my goal of going big this week. 120 miles for the week.

Week Ending April 23, 2011

Sunday was a long run of 16 miles. Monday I went to Cheyenne Canon after school and put in 10 on those trails. Tuesday was another medium distance day and I ran a workout on Wednesday. The workout was a 5 x 1mile repeats after a 3 mile warm-up. I ran a little over 8 miles for an extra long cool down. Thursday was another long day of 16+ and Friday was easy in preparation for Saturday's race. On Saturday I ran the inaugural Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race 25k. There was a lot of climbing and descending in the race and I finished step-for-step with teammate Peter Maksimow. I hit my weekly mileage goal and only ran one double all week. 100 miles for the week.

Week Ending April 16, 2011

The week started with the Platte River Half Marathon, which was a disaster. My time of 1:16:36 was my slowest half since at least 2004 (and maybe longer - I'm too lazy to look at results, but I know I haven't run a half slower than 1:15 since then). Monday was a medium recovery day and I ran 4 in the morning and 10 in the afternoon. I ran a workout on Tuesday. It consisted of a 3 mile warm-up, 7 x 1200, and 3 mile cool down. Wednesday was a long run of almost 17 miles and Thursday was another medium day (double). Friday was an easy morning run before a Saturday uphill workout. I went to Cheyenne Canon and ran uphill repeats on Cap'n Jacks. A 3 mile warm-up was followed by 5 x 6:00 uphill repeats, and an 8 mile cool down. My training is still focused on the New Hampshire races in June (Mount Washington and Cranmore). So, while I'm still upset about the Platte River Half, part of me really does not care. I'll bounce back and I'm focused on races two months from now. 100 miles for the week.

Week Ending April 9, 2011

After several high mile days to end last week at 100 miles, I wanted to hit 100 again this week. Monday was a long run up Barr Trail. Monday was a typical double (6,6) and Tuesday was a workout. I was back on Barr Trail and did 5 x 6:00 hard and then 3:00 hard to finish. This was not a great workout because I found I could not maintain a really hard effort for six minutes. Afterwards, I thought I should have done three or four minute repeats instead. Wednesday was another long day: 4 in the morning, 16 in the afternoon. Thursday and Friday were medium days. Saturday was going to be a long day, but I decided went a little shorter in preparation for the Platte River Half Marathon on Sunday. 100 miles for the week.

Racing Schedule

Tommy Manning Colorado Springs
This is my tentative racing schedule for 2011:

Jan 22 - Colorado State Snowshoe Championship 5k - 1st
Mar 26 - Running for Rachel 5k - 1st
Apr 10 - Platte River Half Marathon - 6th

Apr 23 - Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race 25k, Colorado Springs, CO
May 30 - Boulder Boulder 10k, Boulder, CO
Jun 5 - Teva 10k Spring Runoff, Vail, CO
Jun 12 - Garden of the Gods 10-miler, Colorado Springs, CO
Jun 18 - Mount Washington Road Race, Gorham, NH
Jun 26 - US Mountain Running Championships, North Conway, NH
Jul 17 - NACAC Mountain Running Championships, Ajijic, Mexico
Aug 20 - Pike's Peak Ascent, Manitou Springs, CO
Aug 28 - Berry Picker (Vail Ascent), Vail, CO
Sep 18 - Pony Express Trail Run, Woodland Park, CO
Oct 9 - Coal Creek XC Challenge, Louisville, CO
Oct 23 - Mount Lemmon Marathon, Tucson, AZ

Week Ending April 2, 2011

I wanted to run 100 miles again this week and with only 22 miles after two days, I knew it was going to be a challenge. I ran 6 easy on Sunday and 16 on Barr Trail on Monday. That run was my second uphill workout this year as I ran 7x4:30 uphill. It was a hard, hard workout and I was surprised by how well I did and how far up the trail I got for my first time to 'push' up Barr Trail this season. The weather was awesome too, as I ran through a snowstorm up there (and was freezing). Tuesday was a long run and I had a lot of trouble. About two minutes into the run my stomach was turning and did not feel good. About 10 minutes into the run I thought about changing my long run into a 40 minute run and wish I had. Instead, when I was about 5 miles from my house, I had to take a nature stop in the woods. I debated turning and going home then and stupidly chose to push on instead. About and hour later, after I had turned around and was heading home, I had to make another pit stop. This time my body gave me very little advanced warning (mere seconds) and I jumped behind a tree only a few feet off trail and in plain view of anyone around (it was either that or go in my shorts and luckily nobody was around). My stomach had hurt the entire run and I felt completely fine after the second stop. My only explanation is it must have been something bad I had for lunch, but I don't know. Wednesday and Thursday were moderate singles as I did not have time to run doubles during the week. I only had about 58 miles by Thursday and did not think I would be able to run 100 miles this week. Friday was my long day and I ran 15+ in the morning and managed to get out for 13 more in Cheyenne Canon in the afternoon. Saturday morning I ran about 9.5 in Cheyenne Canon again and squeezed in 5 more in the afternoon to attain my goal. 100 miles for the week.

Week Ending March 26, 2011

This was my first week back in the full swing of things after two relatively low mile weeks and paddling a kayak in the Florida Everglades. Sunday was a tough one as I ran my first uphill workout of the season. After a 3 mile warm-up, I did 10 x 3:00 uphill in Cheyenne Canon. Tough workout and a pretty long day overall. I followed that with a run up Barr Trail on Monday, which was my first time on Pike's Peak this season. Yes, it's time to get ready for summer mountain running season and the Mount Washington Road Race. Tuesday and Wednesday were doubles and accumulated miles. Thursday was a long run in Cheyenne Canon again. It was sunny and the sky was blue on my side of town when I drove over there. Dark clouds above the mountain made me wonder what the weather was going to be like over there, and sure enough, it snowed on my as I was running. I ran in a local 5k on Saturday. I do not run 5k's often and have run this one before (Running for Rachel) and so I gave money to a good cause and ran it again. I won in an unimpressive 16:42, but the course is slow because it has a hill for about 1.5 miles which is pretty steep for about a half mile. I did not really care about the time, especially because I ran a lot of miles this week and just wanted to get a long run in on Saturday. 100 miles for the week.

Week ending March 19, 2011

This was another pretty low mileage week as I was still paddling in the Florida Everglades for half of the week. On Sunday I ran about 5 miles on the beach and saw a crocodile swimming in the shallow water a few feet away from me. We only paddled about 5 miles on Sunday as we had two days to cover the last 15 miles. So on Monday morning I ran on the same beach towards the previous camp area and saw the same (I assume) crocodile. I learned the difference between and alligator and a crocodile while I was in the Everglades and also learned there are only approximately 1000 crocodiles left in the Everglades. It was pretty cool to see one up close although I was a bit nervous because it wasn't far away from me. No running on Tuesday and I only got in a short run before our flight from Ft. Myers on Wednesday. Friday was a long run and my first true uphill run of the season. Two hours of running in Cheyenne Canon (with a little over one hour of uphill) was a pretty good first day of hill training. 49 miles for the week.

Week ending March 12, 2011

So I knew this was going to be a low mileage week as I was paddling a sea kayak in the Florida Everglades during my Spring Break. I was able to put in some good miles on Sunday and Monday (17 and 10) before leaving. On Tuesday I squeezed in a short run before dark and did not run again until Friday morning. Friday morning's easy run was in as beautiful a place as I have ever run. I ran on a beach on Florida's southern most tip at 7am and it was already 80 degrees. No running on Saturday as I paddled a lot of miles this week. 38 miles for the week.

Week ending March 5, 2011

Well, I finally did it. This was my fourth week of trying to hit 100 miles and I finally did it. For one reason or another (sickness, injury, ER visit), I was not able to put in the miles I wanted to for the previous three weeks. This was a good week. I started the week with some easy runs and doubles. I averaged about 14.5 miles on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday was a workout. I ran 7x1200 and felt good. I ran ran an easy mile for extra recovery and cranked out two more 1200s. I felt good and it was nice to run fast through a high volume workout. Wednesday was a long run of 16+ miles. Thursday and Friday were doubles a lot like Sunday and Monday. On Saturday I tried two times 3-mile tempos again. I tweaked it a little and this time I only ran 2 miles easy in between and the second tempo was 3.5 miles. Again, I wanted to run sub 5:20 pace and ended up running over 5:40 pace. I don't know what's happening and it's very odd that I can't hold a fast pace for 3 miles any more. I leave for Spring Break next week and am going kayaking in the Florida Everglades. When I return I think I need to start running shorter, faster intervals to regain some speed. Otherwise I'm worried I've lost the speed and won't be able to run fast again. 100 miles for the week.

Week ending February 26, 2011

My goal was to run 100 miles this week and I got off to a bad start. I did not run on Sunday so I was way behind my goal after only one day. On Monday I ran a ladder workout and I hardly ever run ladders. I went: 800, 1000, 1000, 1200, 1200, 1200, 1000, 800, which was a pretty tough workout for me. Tuesday was a long day as I put in 16+ in the morning and 5+ more in the afternoon. I put in two more doubles on Wednesday and Thursday. Unfortunately I wasn't able to run on Friday because I had to take a student to the emergency room and was in the hospital with him for several hours. He later had an appendectomy. I had been on pace to run over 90 miles for the week, even without running on Sunday, but that total vanished with the ER trip. On Saturday I did a workout which has me worried. I stole the idea of two 3-mile tempos runs from a friend and ran: a 3-mile warm up, 3-mile tempo, 40 minutes in between, another 3-mile tempo, and a cool down. I was hoping to sub 16 on the tempos and ran over 18 min instead. I just didn't have legs under me and couldn't run fast. I don't know what's wrong; I ran a 13-mile tempo a few weeks ago and the same thing happened. Bummer. 83 miles for the week.

Week ending February 19, 2011

This was my second week back to training after a break and I wanted to log 100 miles. I started with a speed workout of 10x800 on Sunday morning followed by 5+ miles in the afternoon. Monday was a long run of about 15 miles and I ran easy Tuesday morning. Then I hurt my toe. I was playing floor hockey with some teenagers Tuesday afternoon and ran into a corner behind one of the kids. He stopped in front of me and my foot (no shoes) struck his heel at full speed. My pinky toe nailed him no differently than if I kicked a brick wall. I went down and was in a lot of pain. The kids thought I was faking, or at least didn't believe how much pain I was in. I played goalie the rest of the game and limped the rest of the day. On my way home I was still planning on running. It was just toe pain and I can run through pain. Then I changed clothes and took off my socks. Oh my. My pinky toe was the size of my big toe and was purple and blue. I couldn't believe the size of the swelling nor the discoloration. No wonder I was in so much pain. Regardless, I decided to lace up my shoes and go for a run. I lasted about 3 steps. It looked nasty, we took pictures. Our school trainer was surprised at how bad it looked and couldn't tell if it was broken. I ran again on Friday and was still in pain. I tried running on both Wednesday and Thursday and just couldn't do it. I ran a double on Saturday to try to make up some lost miles. The toe still hurt. 62 miles for the week.

Week ending February 12, 2011

This was my first week back to it after a small break. My goal for the next month is really just to stay in shape, keep up the base miles, and not lose speed. I ran some doubles (three) for the first time in a long time this week. I started the week with a 15 mile run on Sunday. I followed up with a double on Monday and didn't run on Tuesday. On Wednesday I ran 8x1200 as a workout and felt pretty good. Thursday was another long run. I had a goal of running 100 miles, but taking Tuesday off threw that goal out the window. 85 miles for the week.

Week ending February 5, 2011

I only ran one day this week. I ran a hard tempo run on Sunday and didn't run again all week. This was a planned break, but I didn't mean to put in zero miles over six days. Usually when I take a planned break I will still run 5 or so miles every other day or something similar. We had really bad weather though, with the high around 5 degrees from Monday through Wednesday, so I was happy to stay inside. The Sunday tempo run really sucked. I had taken it easy the few days before Sunday because I really wanted to hammer this workout knowing I was taken a break after it. I started out fine, but by mile 3 or 4, I felt slow and sluggish. I just couldn't get into a groove and started hitting some slow miles (6:00+). One mile was 6:34 and I got pissed. I hammered after that one; the day was lost though. Not a good workout. Looked forward to a break. 17 miles for the week.

Week ending January 29, 2011

This week was planned rest week. My plan was to run easy this week and run a really hard workout on Sunday. I wanted to try something new and really rest before a workout. I usually rest before races, but I hardly ever go into a workout fully rested. Plus, I usually don’t follow common advice and take any easy weeks during my season. Again, this is something new. Sunday I ran 8 miles. On Tuesday I did a very light workout: 6 x 800m. Wednesday I ran 9. We had a gorgeous week and I felt like running for 2 hours on Saturday as it was 60 degrees, but I stuck to my plan and took it easy. 37 miles for the week