An Epic Battle!

My battle with the elements came early in this race...


I woke up early and completely changed my mind about what I was going to wear to the Charlie Post Classic 15K.  The temperature was in the 50's (not the 20's as I had been led to believe).  There was just a light mist coming down (not a torrential down pouring of rain).  So I packed a bag of clothes to change into after the race, put on a light long sleeve shirt and shorts and started to walk out the door.  I suddenly had a feeling that I should bring an extra shirt.  I threw in a long sleeve running jacket and headed to the race.


The race was on Sullivan's Island so it was less than five minutes from my house.  In another last minute decision, I stopped by the grocery store and looked for a throw away poncho.  I found two ($.99 each) and purchased both.  When I got to the island I was directed to a parking spot by a volunteer.  I got out and put on my plastic poncho.  The volunteer who helped me find a parking spot commented about what a good idea it was to have the poncho.  I grabbed the other one and gave it to him.  He was totally grateful.  I write about how nice runners are all the time, I think it may be rubbing off on me...


Everyone was waiting inside the fire department for the race to start.  I was absolutely siked when I found the Starbucks coffee!  There were a few people that I knew and we stood there and talked about the weather (why not).  Speaking of the weather, it started to get worse.


The rain was now pouring down, the wind had picked up and it was getting colder.  I am sure it dropped about ten degrees while I was waiting.


I ran a half mile warm up and was soaked (and cold) even with my poncho.  I lined up with all the other crazy people and the race started.


The first mile we passed Fort Moultrie (Edgar Allen Poe was stationed there and some of the streets are named after him and his writings - very cool place to visit).  


At the one and a half mile mark, I noticed a river in front of me.  Now, I have run on this island many times and knew that there was not a river on the island.  However, today there was a river and I had to cross.  Now the race was on!  







We came around the next corner and the 5k runners went to the finish line while the rest of us headed to the other side of the island.  I had to run through three more "rivers" during the race and even ran through some yards (it was either that or swim).  All the while, it was pouring down rain.  There were times that the wind was so hard it felt like it was going to blow me off the road.  It was a battle!  


I had been keeping a steady pace (the best I could with the wind) and running behind a group of runners.  At mile six I felt good and moved to pass.  Now I knew I was at least going to be four places higher :)  At this point, I took off my poncho (no, that description is just not good enough).  I took off that poncho like Superman rips off his shirt right before he jets off into the sky!  I am sure that anyone who saw it was completely impressed.  That's when I saw a few more people ahead and worked my way up.  They were faster, but I stepped it up and made my pass.  


As I made it to the finish line a runner passed me and another one was coming up next to me.  I was not having any of it, I picked up my pace and finished in front of that ninety year old lady (OK. Not sure how old she was but she was not beating me).  It was an epic battle!


I had a blast at this race!  It was so much fun.  I set a PB (1:18:48)!  I ran in the rain and I had an adventure.  What could be better than that on a cold rainy Saturday morning?

www.mooreonrunning.com

Pre Race Track Workout

My track workout this morning was geared at setting my pace for my 15K race in the morning:

1x800 warm up
Agility Drills
2x400 (full recovery)
2x800 (full recovery)
1x1200 (full recovery)
1x800 cool down

I was working on hitting a 8:00 pace on all of my runs.  I felt pretty good, but I was a little fast on the first two 400's.  I finally found my pace and ran pretty close on the 800's and the 1200.

I was watching the weather today before I went to pick up my race packet.  Everyone was talking about how cold and rainy its going to be.  I had not registered for the race, so if I decided not to do it I was not going to be out any money.  Then it hit me, how often do I get to run a race two miles from my house and freeze my ass off?  How many times will I get a chance to run on the island with a bunch of people fighting crazy wind and pouring rain?  How sick is that?  I love it!

I really do hate running in the cold, but I love running in the rain.  Who knows, this could be my best run ever.  I am certain I will set a new Personal Best, well it's my first 15K so I have to set a PB :)

I headed to the packet pickup and got my awesome shirt and race number (not much else).  I did notice that the race is sponsored by Starbucks so there's hope that they will have coffee on hand!

www.mooreonrunning.com

Running After a Crappy Night...

Not running towards a crappy night, running after having a crappy night.

Less than two days after finally regaining basketball supremacy and being ranked number one in the country, my beloved UK Wildcats lost last night.  Not only did they lose their first game of the season, they lost to the University of South Carolina (the other USC).  Now I have to hear about it on every radio station and see it in the paper.  Not only that, but I had to hear about during my group tempo run this morning!!!

Yesterday, I ran a quick four miles at work.  The wind was crazy and I needed to get back to work so I made it quick (9:19, 9:19, 8:30, 8:23).

This morning, I woke up and was so pissed about the game last night (not only did we lose, but I stayed up late to watch it).  I really did not want to do anything but go back to bed.  It was cold out and I had a million other reasons to just stay in bed.  Lucky for me, I have a hungry cat and dog that have become accustomed to me getting up at 5:00am.  They were going nuts as soon as they heard my alarm.

I finally made it to the gym and met up with a good size group of runners.  We broke up into three groups, but ran our first mile together (11:47).  We picked up the pace for the next three miles (7:52, 7:54, 8:01) and then slowed down for a cool down mile (10:01).  I had decided to run a 15K this weekend so I didn't want to push the pace too fast, but I still wanted a good workout.

I was running with a friend of mine, Michael, and as we were nearing the end of the run he caught his toe on the sidewalk and did a flip.  I am serious, he really flipped over!  After checking with him to see if he was okay, I totally lost it and laughed my ass off.  He had not only flipped over, but he did a stuntman roll and jumped back up and continued to run (cool, but very funny).

We finished up at the gym and of course the ribbing started about UK losing the game.  I made my own comments about USC (the other one) and then described Michael's amazing stuntman flip.

As I drove back home, I was thinking about how I felt when I got up this morning.  I will keep this day in my motivation reserve for mornings to come.  If I had not made it out of bed I would have missed a great run, hanging out with friends and most importantly the amazing flip!

Oh! By the way, if you go to the blog www.runzoerun.com you can enter a drawing for two bags (even if you don't enter the drawing its a great blog to read).

www.mooreonrunning.com

Workout Recap 1-25-2010

My abs are wrecked, as in I feel like a truck ran over me!

This morning's Boot Camp workout was brutal.  Apparently, someone told the Marines that they were getting a better workout with a different group.  I doubt anyone will be saying that for a while.  These guys have really stepped it up.

Recap of my workouts for the last few days:

Friday - I missed the morning track workout so I went for a six mile run in the afternoon (9:05, 9:10, 9:15, 9:26, 8:59, 9:05).

Saturday - Group run - I ran four miles on my own (10:20, 10:10, 9:52) and then met up with my running group to do six more miles.  We ran over the Cooper River Bridge and back to the Old Village.  I was leading the pace so I started off slow and then did negative splits on the way back (11:50, 9:24, 9:25, 8:54, 8:48, 8:24).  It was a great run!

Sunday - I did a track workout with my son.  I warmed up with him for a mile.  That's right, my six year old son can now run a one mile warm up with me!  As I did my work out (10 x 200 80% max with 200 rest) he ran (8 x 100 with 100 rest).  I did some drills after that and then did a cool down 800.  My son ended up running a total of 2 miles!

Monday - Boot Camp - we did six abdominal exercises and then ran two laps around the track (x3 ).  After the third set we paired up and did leg throws (one person down and one person up - top person throws the other person's legs down and that person raises them back up - its tough!).  Then we did paired up crunches (2 minutes max, 1 minute max, 45 seconds max).  I felt bad for the girl I was partnered with because I was a sweaty mess!

Legs feel good, abs are a mess...

www.mooreonrunning.com

Workout Recap 1-20-2010

Not sure I can top the Saturday night run in the rain, but I have had some good workouts this week.

Sunday I went for a six mile run over the Ben Sawyer Bridge to Sullivan's Island.  The sun was setting as I crossed the bridge.  On my way back I stopped for a few seconds and just took in the beauty.  The clouds looked like they were exploding.  It was such a cool site.

Monday morning I got up and went to Boot Camp.  Crazy workout!  We ran across the street to the parking garage (because the huge gym and roof would not do for the Marines).  We split up into ability groups and ran up eight floors.  On the top level, our group broke into two groups.  One group ran clockwise and the other ran counter clockwise (one circle inside the other).  When one group stopped to do exercises (mostly abs) the other group ran.  We switched every other minute.  Then we would run down the stairs and back up the stairs.  We did this for the entire workout (my abs are still hurting).

Monday afternoon I went for a six mile run in the Old Village to the Old Pitt Street Pier.  That place is so incredible.  When I got to the turnaround spot I looked to my left and saw the Ben Sawyer Bridge and on the right I saw the Cooper River Bridge.  They seemed so far away, but I had run on both of them the last two days.  My legs were pretty tired from the morning workout so I took it easy on this run.

Tuesday I rested.

Wednesday morning I did a group run.  I signed up for the Palmetto200 (a 200 mile relay in South Carolina from Columbia to Folly Beach).  We have two groups of twelve runners and are going to be doing a lot of group runs.  I am really excited about the training and this crazy race.  Anyway, it seemed like there were over thirty people on this run.  We started as a large group and then broke up into three ability groups (there were eleven people in my group).  The run was five miles.  The first mile was a slow warm up.  The middle three miles were speed play.  One runner would pick an end point ahead and we would sprint to that spot.  We would then run at a recovery pace and the next runner would pick a spot and we would sprint to it and then recover.  This went on for the entire three miles.  We then finished with a one mile cool down.  I loved this run.  It was the first time I had done it and it was very different than a long distance run, a steady run or a tempo run.  Just what I needed to break up the typical training.

Seventeen miles and a Boot Camp, not bad for the first part of the week.

www.mooreonrunning.com

Night + Rain + Running = Fun!

Last night I went for a ten mile run in the rain.

It was about 52 degrees when I started and almost 60 degrees when I finished.  Finally, warmer weather.

I ran down Coleman Blvd toward the Cooper River Bridge.  The rain did not start until I was about four miles into my run.  Right before I hit the bridge it started to sprinkle.  Old instincts made me consider turning back, but instead I notched up the speed and attacked the bridge.

The rain was pouring down, but the wind was behind me.  It was not until I hit the turnaround that I realized just how hard it was coming down.  The wind and rain were hammering me as I made my way back down the bridge.  I felt like a kid running in the rain; it was an awesome feeling!

I got back on the road and all the sidewalks were flooded.  I gave up trying to run around the water and just started running through every puddle.  It was sick!  I felt like I was running on a trail at times (I could not see the road or the sidewalk).  As I ran my last mile I found myself soaked and feeling like I had just finished an adventure...

How cool is it to be a runner?!

http://www.mooreonrunning.com/

 

Why does resting suck so bad?

Not sure when I hurt my left knee, but it hurts like hell!

Thursday I went to Boot Camp and part of the workout was doing duck walks on the track.  I am pretty sure this was the cause of my knee injury.  Not a bad exercise for someone who is twenty one years old, but this old guy is never doing them again.

I got up the next day and felt fine.  I met up with a group of runners for an inside track workout.  Six times around the track equals a mile and we were doing lap repeats with one lap rest.  After a half mile warm up we started the repeats.  I was running with a friend of mine (Michael).  We ran 1:02 - 1:04 each lap (6:12-6:24 mile pace).  We did 10 repeats and then ran a half mile cool down.

I was feeling great after the track workout, but had to drive two hours for a meeting that morning.  When I was driving back, I felt some pain on the outside of my left knee.  It was actually sore to the touch.  I got home and was really hurting.  I took some Advil and started icing my knee.  I did this for several hours.

I was going to get up in the morning and run my long run with the Charleston Running Club, but my knee was hurting all night.  I had to stand most of the day and by Saturday night I was really in pain.  I took more Advil and iced my knee some more.

My knee was feeling a little better on Sunday.  My son wanted to go to the track so we went out and ran one mile.  We played football and soccer while we were there as well (that could be an entire blog post).  Later, I got in the hot tub for a while and tried to stretch out my leg.  It started to feel a lot better.

I was still sore on Monday so I skipped Boot Camp and my afternoon six mile run.  All of this "rest" was making me a very grumpy guy.  I was not feeling good about missing all of these workouts.  I was also completely stressed about my future (who am I if I am not a former fat guy that runs?).

By Monday night my knee was feeling much better.  Funny how rest can do that...

I went to Boot Camp on Tuesday morning, but was not too happy to find out that we were going to be doing our Physical Fitness Test (PFT).  I warmed up and did the push up and crunches.  I went to the track and decided I would take it easy on the one mile run.  I ran it in 7:20 (about one minute slower than my last test).  I was a little bummed about it, but I figure I can crush it at the end of this Boot Camp session.  Better than wrecking my knee for a one mile run.

That afternoon I went for a five mile run.  I tried to keep a steady pace and just have fun while taking it easy on my knee (9:09, 8:59, 9:19, 9:00, 9:18). My knee felt a little tight, but there was no pain.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a six mile run (9:13, 8:52, 8:58, 8:56, 8:35, 9:10).  This was as close to a tempo run as I was going to do this week.  My knee felt fine and I felt awesome after the run.

I am going to listen to my body and take it easy for the rest of the week.  Skinny guys will never understand how hard it is for fat guys (or former fat guys) to take a day off.  Its very hard to differentiate excuses from a real need to rest.  You see how far you have come and you know what it took to get to that point...

http://www.mooreonrunning.com/

Boot Camp Makes Everything Hurt...

Another title for this blog post could be "Cold Sucks!"

I am still pumped from the 5k on Saturday!  For some reason I think my wife maybe getting tired of me telling her about my new personal best.  I think it was the ninth or tenth time I told her the story she just fell asleep -she might have just been sleepy...

Anyway, I usually take Sunday as a rest day, but Friday was a light track workout and Saturday was the 5k (you know, the day of my new personal best) so I went out for an eight mile run (9:14, 9:40, 9:22, 9:30, 9:03, 9:40, 9:16, 9:00).  I went down Coleman from my house and went up the Cooper River Bridge and then back home.  It was cold, but the run felt great.

Monday morning was the first day of the new Boot Camp session.  I was excited to get back into it (How sick is that?  I was excited to go back and have a bunch of Marines yell at me and make me do pushups!).  Anyway, that's exactly what they did.  We started out with a bunch of pushups and stretches (strange combination - not sure which fitness expert suggested this to the Marines, but they all seem to have adopted the practice).  After that we worked out abs and upper body (with the exception of the ninety degree squat and bounce exercise they have started to use).  The group is about 150 strong and the gym was packed.  Should thin out by next week.

Monday afternoon I went for a six mile run out to the Citadel and back (9:28, 9:40, 9:50, 9:40, 9:28, 9:40).  Another cold run.  I am running out of cold weather clothing.  The run felt good, although my knees always hurt after we start Boot Camp (could be all the jumping jacks - I mean "side straddle hops").

This morning I got up and went back to Boot Camp (it was way too cold and the Marines told us to dress warm for an outside workout).  I found some clothes to wear and made my way to the gym.  Apparently the fitness center was either fearful for our safety or fearful that half the class would run out so the outside workout was scratched.  The part that sucked was that I was dressed to go outside.  I was sweating my ass off in the gym before the workout even started!  There are so many of us that we had to break up into four groups (two lines facing each other).  We did four sets of crunches (1 min, 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 15 seconds - max effort).  We then did exercises and took turns sprinting on the inside track.  More abs and upper body - oh, and more of those ninety degree squat and bounce exercises that were developed in workout hell...

This afternoon I waited for the top temperature of thirty eight degrees and went for a five mile run (9:18, 9:27, 9:57, 9:14, 9:10).  It was supposed to be six miles, but I was too cold and every part of my body hurt!  I went out to the Ashley River and back to my office.

My toes hurt, my legs hurt, my abs hurt, my arms hurt, my fingers hurt and for some reason my eyes hurt.  Okay, this could be from staring at this crazy looking guy in Boot Camp this morning.  Not sure if he just woke up with this hairdo or if he really keeps his hair this way, but all I could think of was the 80's band Flock of Seagulls.  It took everything out of me not to start laughing.

Just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt...

www.mooreonrunning.com

2010 Resolution Run 5k - A New Personal Best!

Two days into the year and I have already accomplished one of my goals!!!

I ran the 2010 Resolution Run this morning and finished in 23:31.  I was so siked!  I have been trying to break 23:50 for a year.  I knew one of my problems was that I go out too fast and crash on my last mile, but bad habits are hard to break...

I worked on this with Coach Greg on Friday at the track.  We did 3x400 (5k pace) and then 2x1200 (5k pace).  I finally got a feel for the pace.  We also talked about keeping the pace for the whole race and how to increase my effort on the last mile.  Having a certified running coach to talk with about race strategy (not just to win, but how to run a race) is invaluable.  I have been following his workouts for the past few months and feel really good about my progress.  Now I want to go faster!

The Resolution Run is one of my favorite races.  The route starts at the Joe Riley Stadium and goes around Hampton Park and the Citadel Parade Grounds.  There are usually more people at the race, but it was cold (way too cold for Charleston).  It was about thirty five degrees when the race started.  I lined up near the front and tried to stay warm.  I looked around for people I was going to pass at the end of the race (always good to dream).  I was really concentrating on not going out too fast when the race started. 

I was able to keep my pace right at 7:35 for most of the race and even went faster for my last mile.  This is a major breakthrough for me, I always slow down at the end of every race (no matter the distance). 

I was so excited when the finish line came into view.  When I saw my time, I was all smiles. 

I know I can run far, but dropping time is always a thrill - and I did pass some of those people I saw at the starting line...

http://www.mooreonrunning.com/

A new year...

I think now is a good time to look back at last year and set some goals for the new year.

2009
- Maintained my weight loss for another year (that makes two).  
- Ran a total of 1,454 miles (not too shabby).
- Set several personal records (5k - 23:50, 8k - 39:40, marathon - 4:18:34) .  

- Finished three Boot Camp sessions - I have the t-shirts to prove it (well, all of them but that damn red shirt!!!) 

- Ran the Citadel Bulldog Challenge - my team came in third place (first co-ed civilian team).  
- Ran two marathons - Myrtle Beach Marathon (February) and Marine Corps Marathon (October) -now that's crazy
- Raised over $2,500 for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund

I look back on the training I completed for both marathons and I am amazed at how many things I thought were completely impossible.  I was so nervous and apprehensive about going out for such long distances.  I questioned myself prior to those long runs and celebrated after each one (who goes out for a twenty mile run on a Saturday morning at 4:00am???). 

Now to a brand new year.  I went out on the track this morning for my first workout of the year.  It was not too hard - I'm running a 5k in the morning.  It felt good to be out there (even if I did over sleep a little), to know that I was starting the year with the desire to keep moving. 

Here are a few of my goals for this year:

2010

- Maintain my weight (maybe even lose five more pounds)

- Run a 5k under 23:50 (could happen in the morning)
- Run the Cooper River Bridge 10k under 52:00
- Run the Palmetto200 Relay
- Run the Qu'est-ce que c'est? 12 Hour Run (run more than 31 miles)
- Finish the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis on my 40th birthday
- Finish a marathon under four hours

So there it is...  A list of goals...  In writing...  

Now all I have to do is run, run and run some more...