If you can run in Huntsville, Texas.... you can run anywhere!

I've determined that traveling is a double edged sword. While I enjoy traveling to new places and having new experiences, I hate things that interrupt my normal routine. It always seems to take me 7-10 days to re-adjust once I get home. I'm definately feeling the heat and humidity. I was in Colorado just long enough to get spoiled, now it's back to reality. I finished my 7.5 mile run this morning covered in sweat. I literally looked like I climbed straight out of a swimming pool.... AND THIS WAS AT 7AM! Not once was I covered in sweat at the conclusion of run in Colorado. I also noticed that my average pace was a few seconds per mile slower than the pace I was running in Colorado Springs (+6500 ft). This is the effect that this heat and humidity can have on you, but you never really realize it until you've exprienced something different. I've always said that it takes more discipline and dedication to be a distance runner in SE Texas (particularly in the summer) than anywhere else in the country, and I stand by that statement.

Completed Training Cycle

So today marked the end of my 20 week training cycle. It was a very good 20 weeks and I am extremely impressed with the progress I've made. For example, on January 22 I did a 3 mile tempo run in Huntsville and ran 24:26 (8:08/mile) and on July 26 I did a 4 mile tempo run in Boulder, CO and ran 27:53 (6:58/mile). It's remarkable what can be accomplished in just 6 months. I'm now excited to start training for my next training cycle. This one will be a 6.5 month plan with my primary focuses being on the Aramco Half-Marathon on January 17 in Houston and then the Houston Rodeo Run 10k at the end of February. I don't plan on increasing the volume of my highest mileage weeks much (I'll probably continue to top out at 60-65 miles in my high weeks), but I'm going to increase the frequency of these weeks so that I'm able to string together 3 consecutive weeks of 60-65 miles on two different occasions. I'm also going to keep my focus on improving my lactate threshold and maximal oxygen consumption. I tend to respond well when I'm able to get 2 or 3 good LT or VO2 workouts each week. I'm excited about it!

I'm a "stats guy." I like to look at numbers and try to find patterns or tendencies. If these stats are interpreted properly I think they can give a good indication of what individuals need to do to continue to improve from one season to the next. Here are my running stats from the past 5 months.

Total Miles: 926.5 miles
Avg Miles/Week: 46.325 miles
Total Number of Runs: 154 (in 140 days)
Avg Distance/Run: 6.016 miles
Highest Mileage Week: 60.8 miles (May 25 - May 31)
Lowest Mileage Week: 26.6 miles (Apr 6 - Apr 12)
Number of Weeks Over 60 miles: 3
Number of Weeks Over 50 miles: 9
Number of Weeks Under 40 miles: 6
Number of Weeks Under 30 miles: 2
Total Time Spent Running: 121-hours, 27-minutes and 57-seconds
Avg Running Time/Week: 6-hours, 4-minutes and 24-seconds
Avg Running Pace: 7-minutes and 52-seconds
Avg Run Duration: 47-mintues and 19-seconds

Tempo Time

I've been wanting to run a 4 Mile Tempo for a while now. I define a "tempo" as a run that is at about 90-95% of your maximum effort over that distance. I've always felt like these runs are a great, and accurate, judge of fitness. However, being in Boulder (instead of at sea level), I wasn't really sure what to expect. After about a 1.5 warm up I began with the main goal of not overrunning the first mile and half to make sure I had a decent finish. I hit the first mile in 7:10, followed by a 7:01, a 6:44 for the 3rd mile (20:56), and closed with a 6:57 for a final time of 27:53.8. I was just hoping to run under 30-minutes, which would have been the fastest I've ever run a 4 Mile Tempo. So I was extremely excited with my final time! On top of that, I felt so good after I finished that I decided to get a little more quality work in, so after a mile recovery jog I ran a hard mile in 6:38. I cooled down for about a mile to give myself 8.5 miles on the morning. It was a great workout and it has me feeling really good about my current fitness level.

(P.S. I'm not looking forward to returning to the heat and humidity of SE Texas in a few days)

What Altitude?

Boulder sits at a little over 5400 ft above sea level and at this point it should be relatively easy to feel the effects of the increased altitude (especially coming from sea level). However, I haven't noticed it much. My paces are just a few seconds per mile slower than what I normally run, but that could also be attributed to the fact that I've been putting in quite a bit more miles the past few weeks than I have originally planned. I'm going to do a 4 Mile Tempo Run along Boulder Creek on Saturday morning and that should really tell me how big of a negative effect that altitude has.

Other than that, I've just been putting in the mileage.... 29.5 miles in the past 3 days and 86 miles in the past 10 days. Quite a bit more than the 40 mile weeks I had planned at this point in the year, but I've been bored and at times boredom can be a runners best friend.

Feel Surprisingly Good!

It wasn't but a few short weeks ago when I was struggling to finish a 5 mile run at any pace and couldn't hold a 6:30 mile to save my life. But it's amazing what a little determination and persistence can do. The past week or so has been amazing. I've been breezing through long runs at a good solid pace. On a few occassions I've felt so good I've been able to really hammer the last mile or two. I was going to do a 3200m Time Trial Monday evening, but it was windy and about to storm in Lockhart, so I decided to forgo the time trial in favor of a quality endurance run. I ended up running 6.1 miles at about 7:28 per mile. I was quite pleased with this, especially considering I ran a 10k Race in February in similar conditions and ran about 7:15 per mile the entire way.

Today I traveled to Boulder, Colorado. My flight left out of Austin at 6:35am, and I wasn't sure if I would have time or energy to run once I got to Boulder, so I woke up at 3:30am to get in almost 4 miles. It felt almost effortless and I breezed through it pretty quickly. After traveling most of the morning I arrived in Boulder. I walked around campus for a while just checking out the sights. I strolled down Pearl St, which is the main drag here in Boulder. It's quite a nice place and the weather is awesome. At 3pm it was about 75-degrees with a slight breeze and 65% humidity. I had already been settled in and I couldn't pass up this opportunity to run. So at 3pm I went out and ran an easy 5.5 miles along Boulder Creek Path that runs right through part of campus and next to the dorm I'm staying in. I never would dream of running outside at 3pm in Texas in July. As it was in Eugene, this place feels like another world.

It's Been a While

It's been a while since I've been able to make a post. I've been at my mom's house in Lockhart for a few days and she doesn't have the internet (or a TV), so I've been bored the past couple of days. This has led me to run 10-15 miles more this week past week than I originally planned (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

The first thing I did Friday morning was register for the Houston Aramco Half-Marathon on January 17. It's good thing I didn't procrastinate on that as the race was full by 8:45 that same evening. I have a few friends who waited and missed out on registering. I've never run a half-marathon (my longest run has been about 10 miles). I'm going to bump my mileage up a bit and really focus on long steady running and really improve my lactate threshold. After doing a lot of repetition work the past 6 weeks I'm looking forward to getting back to mileage runs and threshold work. If I take care of my body and stay healthy until then I feel like I should be able to run quit well.

For fun I did a 400m time trial the other evening. I haven't really prepared for it. The fastest I've run in the past several months was a set of 200s at about 35-36 seconds, but I wanted to see what I could run. Unlike a real quarter miler, I negative split with a 35.5 first 200m and 34.6 second 200m for a final time of 70.1-seconds. That is about what I thought I'd run, but it's nothing to write home about. I now of something to shoot for if I ever decide to train for a 400m dash.

Tomorrow morning I leave for Colorado for a week. I'll be in Boulder for the first few days at the USATF Level II Education Program. I got my level 2 certification last year in the endurance events and I'm going to focus on getting my certification in the jumping events now. I'm going to stay a few extra days and see the sights in Colorado Springs and Denver. I've never been to Colorado, so I'm looking forward to this trip. I'm also looking forward to the cooler weather (hopefully the altitude won't disrupt my running much). It should be a nice working vacation.

Long, Interesting Day

For some odd reason, I woke up at 5am this morning. I had set my alarm for 5:30am, hoping I'd be responsible enough to get up without hitting the snooze button (or reseting the alarm altogether). But at 5am I woke up and I was wide awake. I could have probably gone back to bed, but I knew if I did I wasn't going to wake up 30-minutes later. So I go up and goofed around at the house for a while before I decided to go ahead and go to the track.

I had been planning a 1500m Time Trial for a while now, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to doing it. I had been enjoying myself on my mileage runs and they were feeling easy again, but I decided to go ahead and do it this morning. I went through the warm up feeling pretty good and I was excited about what I might be able to run. I figure I was probably in shape to run between 5:15 and 5:20 if I felt good, the weather was decent, and if I was able to find a way to push myself running solo. I hit the first 400m in 86.9, followed by a 84.6. I slowed a bit to 86.8, hitting the 1200m mark in 4:18.3. This is the exact same time I hit during a 1200m Time Trial at the end of June. I ran my last 300m in 63.1 for a total time of 5:21.5. While I was little slower than what I thought I could run, I figured this was satisfactory given the fact I haven't done any repetition running in the last few weeks. It was also a solo effort. I'll take it. For good measure, I went and spent some time on the elliptical immediately after finishing my cool down. I've been spending about 5-6 hours a week on the elliptical. I find it gives me a good workout without leaving me exhausted for my run the follow day.

I went out to the park this afternoon for an easy 5 miles. I haven't run out at the state park much in the past month, and didn't run there much before that. It didn't take me long before I realized why I hadn't been out there much. I HATE RUNNING IN THE STATE PARK! While the trees do provide shade from the scorching sun, they also block whatever breeze may be blowing. I also can't stand running in the sand. I feel like I expend a lot of energy and never make much progress. The next time I run at the state park it'll be too soon. I'm going to stick to the roads for a while.

Back to the Basics

So I've just been running mileage lately. I haven't had a big desire to do much in the way of 'quality' workouts or time trials, so I've been able to enjoy myself on some basic mileage runs. I went fishing with my grandfather on Saturday and by the time we were done I was too tired to go for a run, so I took Saturday off. However, I've totaled 25 miles the last three 'run days' and it's all felt pretty good. I got a good 8.5 mile run in this morning at what turned out to be a pretty good clip towards the end. I realized today that my favorite part of running are the mileage runs. I can just go out and do whatever I want without worrying about times, efforts, or splits. I can run as hard or as easy as I want, for as long or as short as I want. A lot less stressful than those quality track workouts. The past 5-6 days have been a real pick me up and I'm ready for the weather to cool so I can start hammering out the miles again.

I'M BACK!!!!

My runs the past few days have been getting better and better, which is a big relief. Things had been going so bad that after Saturday's race I thought about calling it a season, taking two weeks off, and then start building up a base again for races in Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb. So it's been quite nice feeling like my old self again. I took a 'recovery' week last week after running more than I had planned on while in Oregon. I've also been slowly adjusting back to the heat and humidity while getting back to my normal daily routine. I've noticed I respond well under an organized and structured daily routine. I'll have to remind myself of all this next time I start feeling like crap for apparently no reason.

I got a good fartlek in this morning and surprised myself with how fast I ran and how undercontrol it felt. After a 2 mile warm up I did my 3-mile loop (actually 3.05 miles) following a cycle of (2 min hard / 1 min hard / 30 sec hard) with 1 minute easy running between each segment. I ran my course just under 22:15 (7:17 per mile). This included my easy running segments. I figure I was probably running 6:30 to 6:45 per mile for my hard segments. This was quite encouraging as I had been stuggling to maintain 8 min pace the past few days. I'm going to try to get in a 1500m solo time trial on the track sometime in the next few days. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and give me a chance to run well.

I can't explain how good it feels to be running well again. I was beginning to get fustrated with myself, but having patience, being persistant, believing in your training, and believing in yourself are the keys to getting through those rough patches. Keep the faith and when in doubt.... Run More....

Run Wild 5k

So the race this morning didn't go as well as I was hoping, but my training the past 5 days hasn't been going that well either. I've been feeling very 'flat' and I haven't had much energy. I think the combination of heat, humidity, traveling, and the interruption of my training routine are the main culprits. I also think I've neglected VO2 work in the past several weeks as I have been focusing on the mile. I've been doing a lot more repetitions instead and I could definitely feel a difference today. The pace never felt too fast, the race just felt too long.

The race started at 7:30am in Houston. I check the weather before I left and it said the humidity was going to be about 90% and it definitely felt that way. My only thoughts in the first mile were "hold back," and I felt like I did. The pace felt 'under control' and I hit the first mile in 6:43. Before the race started I had accepted that given the conditions and how I had been feeling the previous days that I was probably not going to PR, but I wanted to give it a good run given the conditions and place well in my age group (at least top 10). However, I was about 13 seconds slower than I wanted to be at this point. I felt I moved well in the second mile, but only managed to split 6:55 (13:38 for 2 miles). I knew I was in trouble at this point as my only thought was, "I hope I can just finish." I ran 7:26 for the 3rd mile (21:05 for 3 miles). I managed a 40-second last 172 yards for a finishing time of 21:45.5. I was spent.

I'm going to experiment with running at different times of the day to figure out which I prefer. I typically sweat more than others and the humidity has been killing me lately. Maybe running late in the evenings will work better for me (sleeping in later sounds nice). I have just over 2 weeks of training left before I take a short training break before getting ready for the Houston Half-Marathon in January (more on that later). Hopefully I can get something figured out to salvage these last two weeks.

IT'S HOT!!!!

Holy Cow! Can it possibly get any hotter?!?

After a good repetition workout yesterday I woke up early this morning to run a little over 8 miles with one of my athletes. 8 miles has become a pretty standard run and I was expecting it to be a just a moderate effort run. We started running at 6:30am as I was hoping to avoid the scorching heat of a Texas summer, however, their is no escaping the humidity. By 4 miles the moderate effort plan went completely out the window. We weren't running all the quick, but I could tell I was sweating a lot. I've made a conscious effort to try to stay hydrated and I feel like I do nothing but drink water and pee all day, but apparently that's still not enough. By the time we reached mile 6 I was completely exhausted. I barely had enough energy to walk back to the finish. That was the second worst I've ever felt on a run. But just as one good run doesn't make the season, one bad run doesn't break the season. I have a 5k race Saturday morning. I'm just going to hydrate and rest until then. Wish me luck!