It’s so difficult to get motivated about running when the weather doesn’t cooperate. The key word there is “motivated” because once I’m out there I always enjoy the experience. The difficulty lies in pushing my sorry butt out the door! I love running in the snow, but we’ve been experiencing a lot of rain in the last few weeks here in Salt Lake. Definitely not normal for this time of year! Add some wind into the mix and it makes for difficult circumstances and miserable days. Though it’s been tough, I’ve been keeping a consistent base for the last 2 months or so. I’ve had a couple really bad weeks with low numbers, but they were due more to scheduling conflicts than anything else (since I typically run in the evenings). Maybe I should think about running in the mornings to alleviate this problem?
Now the party starts though! I’m thirteen weeks out from the Buffalo Run 50 Miler and I feel like I’m in a good position to have a great run there. I’ve got a time goal in mind, but I’ll save that for my next post. I’ve put in a couple 20+ mile efforts in the last month and I feel well rested. Now I’m hoping to push myself and build up to 70 mile weeks in the next two months to get me ready for the race.
All the nice new gear I got for my birthday and Christmas helps me too. It's nice to have a few items to select from as well, instead of just one smelly outfit to wear nearly every day. I’m most excited about logging some vertical with my new Suunto Core. I’ve wanted one for about a year now and I was finally able to justify the expense. Here’s to training for 2011!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Feeling Good Again
After posting last month about all the issues I've been having with my legs, I finally decided that I needed to rest. So I took a break from running for 10 days. I hit the gym almost every day during that time, but my cardio was limited to spinning or the elliptical. No impact whatsoever! I also did some lifting every other day and heavily iced my legs. The result: my first pain-free run last night in over 2 months. I'm not gonna lie, it felt great! Hopefully I can stay on top of this issue now that I've ruled out a stress fracture. I was sweatin' it during my time off. My mind typically trends toward the worst case scenario, though.
I had a ton of time to really let my mind wander. I got to thinking of a few things...
First of all, my time off reinforced my thoughts about the need to make my body bulletproof. Not literally of course, but to really focus on not having one shred of weakness. Going to the gym last week really brought the idea home, so I've decided to add a little gym time to my training regimen. Of course that means more time dedicated to training, but I think the payoff is definitely worth it!
My run yesterday was at a very relaxed pace. I think I tend to overdo it sometimes and push it too hard, too often. A slower pace really let's me focus on my form and gives my body the time it needs to respond appropriately. Coupled with the right pair of shoes for me, I feel like I'm in good form again... Finally!
The other thing I've had a lot of time to think about is my diet. I eat fairly sensibly, but sometimes feel like I may not get all the nutrition I need for my active lifestyle. Oddly enough, I've spent some time reading about vegan diets lately. While I have no desire to live a vegan lifestyle, I think that incorporating more plants and seeds into my diet is very important. I do ok with fruits and grains, but I'm terrible with the veggies! Definitely need more green stuff in my diet.
While it sucks to have time off from running, the last week and a half have been pretty eye-opening for me. Sometimes just putting in the miles is not enough! It's about evolving and incorporating change where change is needed. I can honestly say that I'm glad I was in pain, but I'm also glad it wasn't something major. Just enough to open my eyes to new, more educated ideas.
I had a ton of time to really let my mind wander. I got to thinking of a few things...
First of all, my time off reinforced my thoughts about the need to make my body bulletproof. Not literally of course, but to really focus on not having one shred of weakness. Going to the gym last week really brought the idea home, so I've decided to add a little gym time to my training regimen. Of course that means more time dedicated to training, but I think the payoff is definitely worth it!
My run yesterday was at a very relaxed pace. I think I tend to overdo it sometimes and push it too hard, too often. A slower pace really let's me focus on my form and gives my body the time it needs to respond appropriately. Coupled with the right pair of shoes for me, I feel like I'm in good form again... Finally!
The other thing I've had a lot of time to think about is my diet. I eat fairly sensibly, but sometimes feel like I may not get all the nutrition I need for my active lifestyle. Oddly enough, I've spent some time reading about vegan diets lately. While I have no desire to live a vegan lifestyle, I think that incorporating more plants and seeds into my diet is very important. I do ok with fruits and grains, but I'm terrible with the veggies! Definitely need more green stuff in my diet.
While it sucks to have time off from running, the last week and a half have been pretty eye-opening for me. Sometimes just putting in the miles is not enough! It's about evolving and incorporating change where change is needed. I can honestly say that I'm glad I was in pain, but I'm also glad it wasn't something major. Just enough to open my eyes to new, more educated ideas.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
A Time To Be Thankful
With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, it's a time to reflect on all the things we've been blessed with. As much as I complain about injuries and life frustrations on here, I truly have much to be thankful for. I have the most amazing woman that I can proudly call my wife! I have an awesome and very supportive family. I've been blessed with the ability and health to travel distances on my own two feet. And I live in a nation where I'm free to share thoughts and opinions with those who care to read or listen. I am truly blessed!
This time of year is also a time to start thinking about my schedule for next year. With lotteries for many ultra events coming up over the course of the next month or so, it's time to start planning for 2011. I've had numerous people ask what's next for me. For those not engulfed in the running world, they ask what's next once you've completed a 100 mile race? The way I see it, you can go three different ways:
I've also been toying with the idea of doing at least 1 more 100 miler next year, and maybe even 2. I've got 3 other 100's on my radar and will make some decisions once the lottery for Wasatch is over. For now though, it's just about time to get my entries in and start crossing my fingers for the lotteries.
This time of year is also a time to start thinking about my schedule for next year. With lotteries for many ultra events coming up over the course of the next month or so, it's time to start planning for 2011. I've had numerous people ask what's next for me. For those not engulfed in the running world, they ask what's next once you've completed a 100 mile race? The way I see it, you can go three different ways:
- You can go further and start doing multi-day events/longer distances.
- You can cut back to shorter distances like marathons, half-marathons, 10K's, etc.
- You can try to set new personal-best times at the distances you're currently running.
I've also been toying with the idea of doing at least 1 more 100 miler next year, and maybe even 2. I've got 3 other 100's on my radar and will make some decisions once the lottery for Wasatch is over. For now though, it's just about time to get my entries in and start crossing my fingers for the lotteries.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Scratching The Itch
Typically, my planned day off from running each week falls on Sunday. Of course, I usually end up taking random days off here and there as needed, but that’s neither here nor there. Sundays are my lazy day; a day to rest from the other six jam-packed days of the week. Really just a great day for me to recharge in general!
Every now and then I’ll get an itch on Sunday, though. A few weeks ago I got the itch to get up in the mountains while the weather was still in my favor. Good thing I did too, since it snowed the next day which forced the closing of that canyon road. Then Sunday I woke up to seven or eight inches of fresh snow outside. I don’t particularly like snow (mostly because I’m forced to drive in it), but Sunday was an exception. I got up and just knew I had to get rid of the itch… So I scratched!
After a quick breakfast and change of clothes, I ran out the door and headed to the Jordan River Parkway trail. The trail is very close to my house and it allows me to get off the roads. In fact, I do the majority of my flatland training here due to easy access and lack of cars (read: no cars). What awaited me was pure running bliss! I hopped onto the trail and only saw one other set of footprints for the first half mile or so. From there to my appointed turnaround (about 3 more miles) was fresh, untouched snow. There were literally hundreds of downed branches and trees that made blazing a new trail that much more fun, along with having to push my legs through the moderately deep snow. My Wildcats helped secure my footing and my base layers kept me warm. If only every winter run was so much fun!
Of course the biggest boneheaded move of the day was not taking my camera! I went back last night to get a few pics of my winter playground but the atmosphere just wasn't the same. In fact, it wasn't even close! Too much traction and melt off left things a sloppy mess. I really hate lugging my camera around too. Here I am making it sound enormous when it’s actually just a normal compact camera. Anyone know of anything small, light, and convenient to take on a run?
All in all my Sunday excursion was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. After my 19 mile endeavor on Saturday, my legs were a bit taxed and my route that normally takes about 48 minutes, turned into 62 minutes with sore legs and fresh snow. The solitude and scenery were absolutely worth it, though! I’ll give up my regular rest day for a run like this any time!
Every now and then I’ll get an itch on Sunday, though. A few weeks ago I got the itch to get up in the mountains while the weather was still in my favor. Good thing I did too, since it snowed the next day which forced the closing of that canyon road. Then Sunday I woke up to seven or eight inches of fresh snow outside. I don’t particularly like snow (mostly because I’m forced to drive in it), but Sunday was an exception. I got up and just knew I had to get rid of the itch… So I scratched!
After a quick breakfast and change of clothes, I ran out the door and headed to the Jordan River Parkway trail. The trail is very close to my house and it allows me to get off the roads. In fact, I do the majority of my flatland training here due to easy access and lack of cars (read: no cars). What awaited me was pure running bliss! I hopped onto the trail and only saw one other set of footprints for the first half mile or so. From there to my appointed turnaround (about 3 more miles) was fresh, untouched snow. There were literally hundreds of downed branches and trees that made blazing a new trail that much more fun, along with having to push my legs through the moderately deep snow. My Wildcats helped secure my footing and my base layers kept me warm. If only every winter run was so much fun!
Of course the biggest boneheaded move of the day was not taking my camera! I went back last night to get a few pics of my winter playground but the atmosphere just wasn't the same. In fact, it wasn't even close! Too much traction and melt off left things a sloppy mess. I really hate lugging my camera around too. Here I am making it sound enormous when it’s actually just a normal compact camera. Anyone know of anything small, light, and convenient to take on a run?
All in all my Sunday excursion was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. After my 19 mile endeavor on Saturday, my legs were a bit taxed and my route that normally takes about 48 minutes, turned into 62 minutes with sore legs and fresh snow. The solitude and scenery were absolutely worth it, though! I’ll give up my regular rest day for a run like this any time!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Running Through The Pain
Why can something as simple as running cause so much pain?
When I sit down and think about that question, it seems like a stupid one. Of course running can lead to pain you idiot! You’re pounding your legs into the ground (with all that weight on top of them) for miles on end. Take an average stride of 150 strides per minute and run for an hour. That means you’re thrusting each of your legs into the ground around 4,500 times an hour. Ouch!
Now that winter’s on our doorstep, I’m trying to transition back to hitting the pavement. I’m having much less success than I’d hoped for! While I’m much stronger than last winter, the long, redundant miles on the road are exposing my weaknesses. On the trails I get to vary my stride and bounce around a bit. On the road I’m going at the same tempo, trying to maintain an efficient stride and pace. The truth is that it’s painful! I’ve been experiencing some posterior shin splints that I’m able to run through, albeit in an extremely uncomfortable fashion.
I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few issues...
The first is my shoes. I rotate between three different pairs of road shoes: A more “minimal” shoe for shorter runs, a transitional shoe for medium length runs, and a more cushioned shoe for long runs. The Brooks (long run shoe) are a perfect balance for me between not enough, and too much shoe. However, I think they might be forcing me to pronate unnaturally. I haven’t experimented much with good road trainers as most of my long runs have been on dirt, so I might have to look into some other options here.
The second issue is my stride. Now that I’m focusing on becoming faster, I think my form has changed. The tread patterns on all my shoes indicate I’m spending much more time on my forefoot than I was before. That’s not a terrible thing, but it’s not the way I stride naturally. I’m obviously forcing the issue when I should be easing into a more natural, faster variation of my current form.
Mostly, I’ve come to realize that you need to be bulletproof to run without injury. You can’t have any weakness in your armor or you’ll be brought to your knees. I have mad respect for all the elite runners out there who train day-in and day-out, all while avoiding injury. I’m still new to the sport, so while it’s frustrating having to deal with injury, it’s fun learning more about what’s causing it. And truthfully - for some reason - I like doing things the hard way! So until my flaws are strengthened, I’ll continue to make friends with the pain!
When I sit down and think about that question, it seems like a stupid one. Of course running can lead to pain you idiot! You’re pounding your legs into the ground (with all that weight on top of them) for miles on end. Take an average stride of 150 strides per minute and run for an hour. That means you’re thrusting each of your legs into the ground around 4,500 times an hour. Ouch!
Now that winter’s on our doorstep, I’m trying to transition back to hitting the pavement. I’m having much less success than I’d hoped for! While I’m much stronger than last winter, the long, redundant miles on the road are exposing my weaknesses. On the trails I get to vary my stride and bounce around a bit. On the road I’m going at the same tempo, trying to maintain an efficient stride and pace. The truth is that it’s painful! I’ve been experiencing some posterior shin splints that I’m able to run through, albeit in an extremely uncomfortable fashion.
I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few issues...
The first is my shoes. I rotate between three different pairs of road shoes: A more “minimal” shoe for shorter runs, a transitional shoe for medium length runs, and a more cushioned shoe for long runs. The Brooks (long run shoe) are a perfect balance for me between not enough, and too much shoe. However, I think they might be forcing me to pronate unnaturally. I haven’t experimented much with good road trainers as most of my long runs have been on dirt, so I might have to look into some other options here.
The second issue is my stride. Now that I’m focusing on becoming faster, I think my form has changed. The tread patterns on all my shoes indicate I’m spending much more time on my forefoot than I was before. That’s not a terrible thing, but it’s not the way I stride naturally. I’m obviously forcing the issue when I should be easing into a more natural, faster variation of my current form.
Mostly, I’ve come to realize that you need to be bulletproof to run without injury. You can’t have any weakness in your armor or you’ll be brought to your knees. I have mad respect for all the elite runners out there who train day-in and day-out, all while avoiding injury. I’m still new to the sport, so while it’s frustrating having to deal with injury, it’s fun learning more about what’s causing it. And truthfully - for some reason - I like doing things the hard way! So until my flaws are strengthened, I’ll continue to make friends with the pain!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Ragnar Relay - Las Vegas 2010
I had much more fun than anticipated at Ragnar Vegas over the weekend. I left for Vegas on Thursday, just after work. Five of us went down together in our crew vehicle that we’d decorated the night before. Here are a few pics of the vehicle..
Debbie crewing Brent during his leg
Tara running hard on her first leg
Scott showing his "kill" count with Kody crewing
"Thing 5" just before the start of his (my) run
Puttin' the hammer down
My final leg started in the dark and finished with the sky starting to light up. It was 4.2 miles, all uphill, all on a dirt jeep road. I knew this would play to my benefit! Problem was, I started the leg 4 ½ minutes after the previous runner came through. I knew I had a lot of ground to make up to catch anyone! After about 12 minutes though, the first person came into sight. I knew I’d have a hard time passing too many people since I only had about 20 minutes of running left. I continued to push though and was up to 8 kills when I hit the final mile mark with no one left to pass in front of me... Or so I thought. I cruised the final mile fairly easy, but noticed one runner quite a ways in front of me. He was moving pretty good and I knew I’d have to push it to catch him. I came around the final bend and saw the exchange 300 yards or so in front of me, with the runner less than 50 yards ahead. I put it into stealth mode so he couldn’t hear me as I closed in on him, then blew his doors off with about 100 yards to go. He let out a big grunt and tried to chase me, but I just sped up and beat him fairly easily to the exchange. Now that was fun!
I finished the race with 43 kills; more than the rest of our van combined. It felt good to get out and really open it up. That’s something I haven’t done for a long time since I try to conserve a bit more energy while I’m out there running longer distances. Overall, the experience was really fun! The atmosphere is great and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves out there. I realize that most the people aren’t very committed runners - which is probably why I had as much success as I did - but it still felt good to at least feel fast!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The Post-Wasatch Blues
Not much has been happening over the course of the last month. After Wasatch I was relegated to a bare bones running schedule. In fact, I didn't do much running at all the first 3 weeks after the race as my knee would not allow it. Depressing! I was going through some anxiety as well and I'm sure I was driving Lydia absolutely crazy. I was finally able to start running more regularly just a few weeks ago and I'm finally on the mend. My knee's still only about 90% or so, and while I'm not able to push the hills - or much of a pace for that matter - I'm able to run and that keeps me sane.
To keep me in line, I put together a new schedule to keep me running through winter. My next real race isn't until next year, but I find that a schedule keeps me on track much better than having nothing to look at. One of those psychological tricks I use to keep me going. Whatever works I guess!
I actually shouldn't say that I don't have any "real" races til next year. I do have a "real" race coming up this weekend. My friend Scott that helped pace me at Wasatch, invited me to join his Ragnar team since he had several people drop after the Wasatch Back Relay. So I'm heading down this weekend to do Ragnar Relay Las Vegas. Should be interesting since Scott is the only person I know on the team. Looks like it could either be a really long, or really fun weekend. I've also never done a relay so I'm not sure what to expect. Looking forward to the unknown!
To keep me in line, I put together a new schedule to keep me running through winter. My next real race isn't until next year, but I find that a schedule keeps me on track much better than having nothing to look at. One of those psychological tricks I use to keep me going. Whatever works I guess!
I actually shouldn't say that I don't have any "real" races til next year. I do have a "real" race coming up this weekend. My friend Scott that helped pace me at Wasatch, invited me to join his Ragnar team since he had several people drop after the Wasatch Back Relay. So I'm heading down this weekend to do Ragnar Relay Las Vegas. Should be interesting since Scott is the only person I know on the team. Looks like it could either be a really long, or really fun weekend. I've also never done a relay so I'm not sure what to expect. Looking forward to the unknown!
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