18M Long Run

18 miles in cold, rainy and windy conditions. Throughout the run the rain was a steady mist, which wasn't too bad, until the last mile when a downpour dropped on me. Was glad that I only had to deal with it for a few minutes. The long run went well. Got into a good rhythm after the 4th mile and clicked off 6:30ish pace for the remainder of the run. Ran the first 9 miles in 61:08 (6:48 pace) and the last 9 in 59:12 (6:35 pace). This long run capped off a good week of training and mileage. I'm just hoping that the legs doesn't give me anymore issues so that I can move forward with marathon training for Rotterdam (11 weeks away).

12-18 Jan

Mon: 8.7M @ 6:55 pace
Tues: Noon - 12M @ 6:49 pace including 8 x 3' hard with 2' easy; PM - 6M @ 7:24 pace
Wed: 10M @ 7:00 pace
Thur: AM - 5.5M @ 6:34 pace including 2 miles in 11:04; Noon - 8M @ 7:13 pace
Fri: 7M @ 7:22 pace
Sat: 9M @ 7:01 pace
Sun: 18M @ 6:41 pace

Weekly Total: 84.2 miles

Easy days

Took it easy today and yesterday as I'm still experiencing a little soreness in the legs. Yesterday was a very easy 7 miles in 51 minutes. Was very proud of myself because I had a first mile split of 8:08, which doesn't happen too often. The legs felt a lot better and loosened up in this morning's run. Did 9 miles averaging 7:01 pace.

APFT

I practically acheived my "I'll be very happy with" APFT goal. Did 121 pushups, 101 situps, and ran 11:04 for the 2-miler, a 385 APFT score. The run was very cold and slippery from black ice on the roads. Came through the mile in a pedestrian 5:39, finished off with a 5:25, and then continued on for a 25 minute cooldown before rushing to get changed for my morning meeting. The 2-mile run actually felt like a short tempo workout. Four hours later during lunch time, I went for an easy 8-mile run. I should have ran in the evening instead of during lunch because the legs and body just wasn't feeling it. Felt like I was running on empty and the HR was higher than normal for an easy run. 13.5 miles total for the day.

Feeling a little sore

It seems like the recent daily mileage combined with yesterday's hard workout session have introduced some new stress to the leg muscles, specifically the quads. I already knew the quads were going to be a bit sore because I was beginning to feel it late yesterday afternoon sitting at my desk, which is probably not the best thing to do following a run. Unfortunately, my job requires me to spend most of the day on the computer. Last night, I was proactive and got on the foam roller to break down the developing soft tissue adhesions and scar tissue in the legs. I think it helped significantly because the legs didn't feel too bad in today's run, an easy 10 miles at an unexpected 7-minute pace. I'm still feeling a bit tightness and soreness in the legs though, so I'm not planning to run very hard in tomorrow's 2-mile of the Army Physical Fitness Test. As of now, my "I'll be very happy with goal" is 120 pushups, 100 situps, and an 11:00 2-mile. I think the situps will be a tough challenge with the sore quads. One thing for certain is that there is no plan for another 400 APFT score.

Good day of training

It was a good and tough day of running. Ran with my German friend and co-worker, Jurgen, during lunch hour. He's at much higher level of running than me, but it was good to have someone to run with and chase after. Following 20 minutes of easy running we did 8 x 3 minutes hard followed by 2 minutes easy. I tried to stay within 20 meters of him during the hard periods. I succeeded in doing so with the exception of the last repeat when the legs were done. I ended up running the 3-minute hard periods at 5:05-5:15 pace. In the evening I ran a very easy 6 miles. 18 miles total for the day.

Pushups

Ran 8.7 miles at 6:55 pace during lunch. Was only planning to do 8 miles, but then kept going to make it an hour of running. The weather was great, sunny at about 40 degrees. Following the run, I did my usual weekday routine of abs/situps, pushups, core exercises and stretching. Since I have an Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) on Thursday I wanted to see where I currently stand with my muscular endurance on pushups. Initially, I was going to see how many pushups I could in 1 minute, but then decided on the opposite - how long it would take me to do 100 pushups. I knocked out 100 pushups in 62 seconds. I was very happy with this considering I have 58 seconds remaining to try and knock out 25 more; my pushup personal best in the APFT is 124. Twenty-five pushups in 58 seconds doesn't sound like much when I could do 100 in 62 seconds, but believe me it is no easy task when you're already at muscle failure. For those unfamiliar with the APFT events they are pushups (2 minutes), situps (2-minutes), and a 2-mile run.

Coming around

Today I did my first run over 10 miles since the weekend before Christmas. 15 miles in 1:41:32, 6:46 pace. Felt good and was just cruising along steadily. Ran in the afternoon when the temperature was much bearable in the 30s. It was a smart decision.

I'm quite impressed that I managed to put in a good week of running, especially the last 3 days with 10, 10, and 15 miles, after having some issues with the right leg. I'll have to be careful not to come back too fast and aggravate the leg. Here's how the week went down.

05-11 Jan

Mon: 7M @ 7:20 pace
Tues: 7M @ 7:15 pace
Wed: 8M @ 7:17 pace
Thur: 8.25M @ 6:44 pace
Fri: 10.1M @ 7:04 pace
Sat: 10M @ 6:48 pace
Sun: 15M @ 6:46 pace

Weekly Total: ~65.4 miles

Painful, but a good run

I don't think I've ever felt so much pain during a run. Pain from the freezing cold that is, not from an injury. It was 8 degrees (F) with clear and sunny skies. I really thought it wouldn't be too bad because the sun was out. I was wrong! Only a mile into the run I began to feel the stinging and numbness in the toes. It only got worse. The toes were frozen for the duration of the run. It probably didn't help that I was wearing a shoe (Brooks Axiom) that is mostly made out of mesh. Despite being miserable from freezing, it was a good training run. I did 10 miles averaging 6:48 pace, best of all the pace felt very comfortable. Things are going well so far.

Today: 10M @ 6:48 pace
Yesterday: 10.1M @ 7:04 pace

More progress

Thanks to the nightly foam roller massages, core exercises, stretching, and ICE (removed the "R" since I haven't rested), the right ankle is improving significantly. The last couple runs have been pain-free runs. I did 8 miles yesterday in the compact snow and 8.25 miles today on the cycle lanes and sidewalks, which are the only surfaces besides the roads that are free of snow. In today's run I was itching to get in some steady pace running; so I ran the first 6 miles fairly easy at 6:50ish pace and then the remaining 2.25 miles at 6:00-6:10 pace. The last couple miles felt very comfortable, which is a positive sign that I didn't loose much, if any, fitness over the last two weeks.

Freezing runs

My hat is off to those who live and run in the Northeast or whatever place where the temperature stays below freezing throughout winter.

Yesterday almost a foot of snow greeted us for the new running year. As I looked out my office window and watched the snow continue to fall, I couldn't resist going for a run during lunch. I went for a run in the heide and oh, what a beauty it was. It was an easy 51 minutes, right at 7 miles.

Tonight's run, which was around the same distance and running time as yesterday, was a bit too cold for me. It was freezing at 14 degrees. The achilles felt fine during the run, but the slight pain has now transitioned to the bottom back of the foot. Anonymous brought up a good point about heel spur or plantar fascitis. As stated in my comment, I'm icing it and treating as a possible plantar fascitis.

Some progress

On Tuesday I had the achilles checked out by a doctor, who said it wasn't too bad and that I should give it some rest by taking a couple weeks off. She recommended applying RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and taking anti-inflammatory pills, which I've been doing both since I encountered the injury. Is it me or do all doctors say the same thing? I really wanted to tell her that I wouldn't be here if I hadn't tried any self-treatment. Frustation was setting in.

I did take the doctors advice though and gave the legs some rest, one week that is. The achilles has been feeling a lot better. However, it was tough to tell because it was never in pain while walking. So, I decided to see how it'll feel on a short run. I ran a slow and easy 4 miles in 30 minutes. The achilles didn't hurt at all, but there was still some stiffness on it. I did some drills on the grass afterwards and the achilles felt better. I'll give it some more rest over the next couple days and hope that I'll be back to some normal running by the end of the week.

2008 Year in Review

Here's a look back at 2008.

1) Completion of a longgg 15-month deployment. I spent 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 in Iraq. It was a good deployment for me and I was very fortunate to run and stay fit while deployed.

2) PRs. 2008 was no doubt my best running year despite being injured all of April/May and the last week of December. I set new PRs in almost every distance (10K, 15K, half-marathon and marathon). I could have easily ran PRs for the other distances had I entered a race.

3) Amsterdam Marathon - 2:35:37 (PR). This was my breakthrough marathon, finally running sub-6 minute pace (5:56) for the distance and improving my PR by almost 3 minutes.

4) Rotterdam Half Marathon - 1:13:39 (PR) - In addition to Amsterdam Marathon this was one of my best race performance of 2008. It was a 2-minute PR and the race boosted my confidence leading into Amsterdam.

5) The traveling year. I traveled to and ran in six countries (Iraq, Kuwait, US, Japan, Netherlands, Germany), three states (NC, MN, CA) and one island (Guam) . It was an extraordinary experience running in different conditions and temperatures from 110+ to 20 degrees (F), desert to roads and trails, mountains to flatlands and humidity to dry air.

To sum things up 2008 was a busy year. It was an excellent year of running. Interestingly, I didn't even reach 3000 miles (ended up with 2847 miles) and still set many PRs. I look forward to these PRs being broken in 2009.

Happy New Running Year!

Depressed

Injured! Looks like I won't be racing on Wednesday....or maybe I should say I won't be running the rest of the year and some into 2009. On Sunday's run I experienced some pain on the inside of my right achilles tendon. The pain wasn't on the actual achilles tendon, but between the tendon and the bottom of the tibia. It hurt to the point that I had to stop every 4-5 minutes during the latter part of the run. The worst had yet to come.

After the run I did the stair stretch stretching the calves and achilles, first the right leg and then the left. When slowly lowering the left heel I heard a light crackling sound and began feeling a sharp pain on the left achilles tendon. I had just strained my left achilles tendon while stretching. I know it wasn't a rupture because I wouldn't be able to walk. I'll find out more on the injury after tomorrow's appointment with the doctor. For now I won't be doing any running. This is certainly not the way I'd hoped to end the year and start off 2009.

Training.....what training?

Training hasn't gone very well this week. Toward the end of Sunday's long run, which was 17 miles including 7 x 1/4 mile, I started to feel some lingering pain in the legs. On Monday's run I had to stop a few times to stretch my calf and achilles on my right leg and the soleus muscle on my left leg. I was having all sorts of trouble. Tuesday, I went for a run but ended up calling it quits after a half mile. My legs were very tight and I could still feel some twinges in the legs. I took Wednesday completely off from running. Christmas morning I did 7+ miles with 6 strides in the end. Friday was also a DNR (Did Not Run) as it was a long day of flying back to the Netherlands. Today (Sat) I went for an easy run and the legs felt good. I'm hoping the aches in the legs were nothing serious and that the legs just needed a bit of rest. If the legs feel good tomorrow then I'll do a short speed session to get ready for the 10K race on Wednesday night. I'm looking forward to this race as it will be my first 10k race in a long time.

Run in the Sun

I went for a run this morning and boy what a wonderful feeling it was to run in the sun (currently in California). It felt different running in cold sunny conditions. I guess it goes to show that I've gotten used to the Netherland's winter weather ....mostly cloudy, overcast, rain, very cold, snow, flurries, etc. I had planned to run only 10 miles this morning but ended up stretching it to 12 to get in a bit more mileage. The legs felt good and fresh because of a day off from running yesterday, due to traveling. Tomorrow will be a longer run with some faster pace running.

Today's run: 12 miles @ 6:43 pace
Thursday: 11 miles @ 6:50 pace
Wednesday: Noon - 4.1 miles @ 7:25 pace; PM - 7.2 miles @ 7:24 pace

Legs feeling fine

I did a poor job of describing how tough the course was on Sunday's race, so I'll let this picture do the talking. All I remember during this part of the race was the burning sensation in the quads. They were screaming.

I'm quite surprised with how the legs are feeling. The morning after the race I woke up with some tightness and a little soreness in the legs, mainly the quads, but nothing too serious. I expected a lot more soreness than what I was feeling. Yesterday during lunch I ran 5 miles very easy to loosen up the legs. The run definitely got the blood circulation going and the legs started to feel better. Later that night I went for another run, 6 miles very easy.

Tonight, I linked up with the club at the track. We did a workout of 6 x 800 meters with 200 meters recovery. Paul did 1000s, so I latched on to him after his first 200s. I intended to run a few meters behind him at a slightly slower pace since I was still recovering from Sunday's race. I was shocked to see 76 seconds on the first lap and feeling quite controlled. From there on I just ran according to how I felt. The splits for the 6 x 800s were: 2:35, 2:32, 2:32, 2:32, 2:30, & 2:26.

Today's run: 8 miles including 6 x 800
Monday: Noon - 5M @ 7:32 pace; PM - 6M @ 7:32 pace

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Last week's training.

8-14 Dec

Mon: 8M @ 6:59 pace
Tues: Noon - 4.5M @ 7:25 pace; PM - 9M including 9 x 600m (1:52, 1:50, 1:52, 1:49, 1:48, 1:52, 1:50, 1:48, & 1:51)
Wed: 8.5M @ 7:04 pace
Thur: 10M @ 7:00 pace
Fri: 6M @ 7:20 pace
Sat: 5M @ 7:20 pace
Sun: 19M total; Race - Mescherbergloop 15K: 56:41, 6th overall; 2.5M WU, 7.5M CD

Weekly Total: 70 miles

Disappointment

Lesson learned! DO NOT wear road racing shoes for a trail or cross country race. It was a dumb and rookie decision on my part. It certainly cost me at least a minute, a couple overall places and prize money in the open category. Before the race my friend and I did a warmup running about 2.5 miles of the course, which is about 80% dirt (mud in most cases). It was my first taste of what I was about to experience. During the slow warmup I used my Asics training shoes (which I intended to race in) and was already having some difficulty with the footing. When I went to change into my racing clothes I decided to change my shoes as well to the Saucony Fastwitch 2. I honestly thought I could get away with it.

At the starting line, my hopes of a good race started to dwindle when I looked around to see what shoes all the other runners were wearing. It was obvious they ran this race before and knew what the course was like. Almost all runners wore cross country shoes (rubber spikes) or trail shoes. When we were waiting for the gun to go off my friend from the running club (AV Unitas) asked me if I had trail shoes. "Yeah, there at home." I really wanted to laugh.

I felt good in the first 1/4 mile of the race as this was one of the few parts of the course that was on pavement. As soon as we turned into the trails the slipping and sliding began for me. I literally was looking for the little rocks so that I can push off and get some traction and momentum going. About 3k into the race I could not help but watch the leaders slowly increase their lead. All I kept thinking about was why in the hell did I not bring my Nike waffle cross shoes. I ran alone for the next 5 kilometers with a couple runners in sight about 50-75 meters ahead. However, I was making up some ground on them each time we'd come across the hills. The toughest part of the course (that's an understatement because the entire course is tough) is the 9th kilometer, where there are a couple hills followed by a steep wooden stairway (about 180 steps). It was during this part of the course that I caught and passed the two runners I had in sight. On a downhill with mud one of the runners I caught quickly opened a 25 meter lead while I was focused on just trying to stay on my feet. I stayed in that position, which I later found out was 5th overall and 3rd in the open category, until another downhill (around the 13.5 km mark) when the second runner I passed flew by me. There was no way to respond as I continued to slip and slide and tried everything possible again to stay on my feet. I finished 6th overall in 56:41. You can view the results here (click on Uitslagen on the left and then Uitslagen Mescherbergloop).

All in all, it was a disappointing race for me. I probably needed a bad race though, because I learned something from it. Preparation! I need to do a better job of preparing for my races, knowing the course and terrain and choosing the right gear (shoes in today's case).

The Greatest

First I raced Bekele at Seven Hills, now it looks like I'll have to take on Geb (Haile Gebrselassie) at the City-Pier-City Half Marathon in Den Haag (The Hague) on March 14. The Ethiopians just can't get enough of me. Okay, that was a joke! I'm excited that I'll have the opportunity to see "The Greatest" in person.

On Tuesday night's track session during the cooldown my Dutch friends and I were discussing races that we plan to run over the next few months. The City-Pier-City Half Marathon was one of the races we agreed upon. Even before we talked about our race schedule I had already planned for this race to be my tune-up for Rotterdam Marathon in April. I was happy when I read the news that Geb will be running it and trying to take back the half-marathon record. The course is proven to be fast; Beijing Olympic Marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru broke the half-marathon world record (58:33) in this race in 2007. As Geb tries for yet another record I'll be trying to lower my half-marathon personal best, which I'm confident I can get down to sub-1:13.

Ran an easy 10 today and 8.5 yesterday.

Simple math

Had a good speed session tonight with Paul and the club. The track was wet from rain earlier in the day, but luckily it wasn't cold enough to make the track icy or slippery. The workout for the night was 600 meter repeats, 9 total with 200 recovery. Before the workout Paul and I had a rough time trying to figure out the split for the 600s. We knew that we wanted to run 75 seconds for the 400 and then 37 seconds for the remaining 200. Now, how hard could it be to add 75 + 37 seconds? It was obvious math wasn't our favorite subject in school because it took us some time to do simple addition. We finally figured it out, 1:52 for 600m. We decided that 1:50-1:52 would be our goal split for the workout. The splits for the 9 repeats of 600 meters were:
1:52, 1:50, 1:52, 1:49, 1:48, 1:52, 1:50, 1:48, and 1:51.

The 600m repeats felt like a sprint compared to the last two track workouts, which were 1000-2000 repeats. I found the workout to be mentally easier by breaking the 600 meters into a 400 and 200. In most cases, we hit the 400 around 71-73 and the 200 at 37 seconds. Overall, it was a good workout and the body and legs felt strong.

The remainder of the week will be easy running because I'm running a 15k trail race (Mescherbergloop) with some runners from the club on Sunday. It's a tough course which includes a climb of 180 stairs.

Today's Run: Noon - 4.5M @ 7:25 pace; PM - 9M including 9 x 600m w/ 200m recovery
Yesterday: 8M @ 6:59 pace

Finally some sun

Today's run was nice as the clouds finally made way for the sun. I think it has been about a week since we had some sun. Did 15 this morning, one mile more than the last couple Sundays. I'll keep the long run right around 15 miles or 90-105 minutes for the next 2-3 weeks until I begin my train-up for Rotterdam.

1-7 Dec

Mon: 8 miles @ 6:56 pace
Tues: Noon - 6.2M @ 7:02 pace; PM - 8 miles including intervals 2000 (6:30), 1200 (3:48), 1600 (5:08), & 1200 (3:45)
Wed: 8 miles @ 7:18 pace
Thur: 10 miles @ 6:57 pace
Fri: 10.1 miles @ 6:47 pace with last 2 miles at 6:15 pace
Sat: 6 miles @ 7:07 pace; felt like crap and legs were tired
Sun: 15 miles @ 6:42 pace

Weekly Total: 71.3 miles