Breaking Down the Breakdown...

It’s easy to just say I had a crappy run, but trying to figure out why I had a crappy run is a little harder.

Saturday I met my running group (I say “my” running group only because I was there, as opposed to a group of runners that I was not running with - that would be “their” running group). 

Anyway…

I guess I need to first state the fact that I had a crappy run Saturday. 

It was one of those runs that you can look back on and say, “Wow! That was really crappy”.  I actually felt bad from the beginning to the end.  I felt weak and even though I was running at a good pace, I never felt good.

So after beating myself up about it for two days I thought it might be a good idea to figure out what the deal was.  It had to be more than: I’m old, I suck, I can’t run, I suck, I need to find another sport, I suck…

So here is the breakdown:

·         It was 5:30am and I have not been running in the morning for a while.  Most of my runs (with the exception of about two) have been either in the afternoon or at night for the past few weeks.

·         I did not get a good night’s sleep (see above).

·         I ate a crappy breakfast bar instead of my usual breakfast (peanut butter and honey on whole wheat bread).

·         I usually have a sports drink in the morning before I start long runs.  I didn't have time to stop at a gas station on the way to the run and there were none in the refrigerator (excuses, excuses).

·         I need new shoes.  I have run my shoes into the dirt.  In fact, I was wearing a pair of shoes I had not worn in over a year.  The pair I wanted to wear were soaking wet from an afternoon run the day before.

·         I slightly twisted my ankle as I was heading up the Bridge.  I’m not sure, but this may have made me change the way I usually run (changed my gait - for the runner lingo savvy readers) and ended up making my right hip flexor hurt (left butt cheek - for the non runner lingo savvy readers).

·         I ate a lot of salad the day before (lunch and dinner), but not much carbs.

Okay, the sleep thing was working against me from the start.  I was tired.  I never felt like I could get my energy level up. Maybe the change in my breakfast and sports drink was enough to make me feel like a piece of crap (probably).  I did refuel with two gels as I ran and I think they helped, but like I said I was out of it from the beginning. 

The shoes… Yep, those shoes sucked and felt like bricks as I ran.  They also have no support left (not their fault, they were great back in their day – last year).  Twisting my ankle at mile two did not help either.  The crappy shoes and hurt ankle just made the crappy run that much crappier (I was using another word in my earlier draft, but thought I should clean it up a little).

What to do…

New shoes are on the agenda for today.  I think this is one area you just can’t play around with.  Plus, I love new shoes!

I’m running Wednesday morning to get back in the habit of waking up early (and going to bed earlier).  I am also going to ensure I have all my breakfast stuff I need for the mornings.

Fueling the day/night before a long run.  It’s pretty messed up that I am at a point where twelve miles just seemed kind of like a short run.  I know!  Messed up!  I was not really thinking about how much I needed to fuel before this run - because I was not really thinking it was that long…

Most of this stuff is pretty easy to fix.  The big thing is to chill out, work on it, kick the negative crap to the side and get back in the game next week.

Too Much Speed (Work)

I have read all about taking days off to recover and setting up workouts so you don't do intense workouts back to back.  I have followed those rules for the most part because of what I read and had been told.

Last week I learned why...

I don't endorse the easy/hard schedule, but I do think putting an easy or moderate workout between intense speed training or long runs is a good idea (and that is what I usually do).  But this past week my schedule was crazy and two of my workouts were out of my control (Boot Camp).

The week's training really started with the end of last week.  I ran an intense race, The Bulldog Challenge, Saturday and took a rest day Sunday.  My legs were still wiped out from lugging sandbags around for two hours and climbing miles of stadium steps and garage ramps.  So I started the week with rubber legs.

Monday - Boot Camp
I decided to go to Boot Camp Monday night and found myself in the garage.  We ran sprints up the garage,  ran stairs and then ran some more garage sprints.  I was feeling a little competitive after the race so I was not holding back much.

Tuesday - Track
1x800 warm up
drills
4x400 (200 rec)
4x1000 (200 rec)
4x400 (200 rec)
1x800 cool down
All of this was done at sub 5k pace.  I ended up changing the end a little because I was losing my pace (rubber legs).

Wednesday - Tempo Run
What was I thinking?  I got an email Tuesday night from one of my running partners and agreed to run a five mile tempo run the next morning!  We started with a (not very slow) warm up mile and went straight into sub 8:00 pace miles.  I stayed with my running group for two more miles, but on the forth mile I slowed to 8:15,  I caught up with them for the cool down mile and was feeling every bit of the week coming down on me.  My legs were toast!

Thursday - Boot Camp
I figured Boot Camp would be like cross training at this point and would have very little speed work (especially after Monday's workout).  Oh, was I wrong!  We did the "Run - Abs - Run" workout.  Run 15 minutes on the track, 15 minutes of abs, and then 15 minutes on the track (the rest of the hour was back in the gym doing abs).  The running was not an easy jog, it was running the curves and sprinting the straights!  When I finished this workout I knew I was done for the week.

Luckily, Friday was a rest day.  I took the day completely off and did nothing.  Good thing, because my long run on Saturday was an eleven mile run at sub 8:30 pace with the Cooper River Bridge in the middle (ugh)...

I did not plan on doing this many intense workouts in a row, but sometimes you need to feel this stuff for yourself to really believe it.

I believe it!

I did get to try out my new "speed" shoes on Saturday.  My new Brooks ST5 Racers came in last week and I decided to break them in.  I wore them for the last five and half miles of my long run and they felt awesome!  They are completely different than any other shoe I own (especially the color).  They are super light, really roomy and really flat.  Plus, they have to be fast if they are that bright!

I still need more time before I give them a full review, but for now they are my new speed shoes.

Yes, that means I will not be wearing them every day...

Best 5k of My Life!

I did not set a personal best; win the race; or even place in my age group, but this was the best 5k of my life!

Tonight I ran with my six year old son as he completed a monumental goal.  A goal that he set and never thought about not completing.  A goal that most adults would never contemplate.  After three months, he finished his own Marathon!

It started on December 14th when we ran the Charleston Reindeer Run 5k.  After that race, my son decided he wanted to run a marathon.  I like to think of myself as a pretty good parent and a responsible adult, so I was not planning on letting my six year old son run 26.2 miles in one shot.  I also knew that you only get one chance at some of this stuff, so I did not want to discourage him from doing something so great.  I told him we would figure out a way for him to accomplish this goal.

I researched kid's running books and articles on web sites.  I noticed that several marathons have started to add a "Kids Marathon" to the finish.  Kids run with their families until they reach a certain point and then they finish at the marathon finish line.  The marathon I am doing this year is not until November and it is in Indianapolis.  So I decided to just print out a running chart for my son and worry about the finish later.

The chart was set up in squares that could be colored in at half mile increments.  My son was thrilled and did at least one mile per week until tonight's race.  About a week ago I realized he was going to finish soon.  I looked at the race calendar and saw the first annual Catch the Leprechaun 5k in our hometown.  It was a night race in the middle of the week on St. Patrick's Day, what could be better?

When I told Peyton about the race he was pumped!  I could see that his mind was working and I asked him what he was thinking.  So he completely floors me by telling me he wants to raise money for the injured Marines (this is what I did last year when I ran the Marine Corps Marathon).  After some research I found that I could create a donation web site for his race.  We worked on the wording together and he came up with "If my dad can do it, so can I!!!".  I sent it out to family members and my friends thinking we might raise $40 to $50 max.  As of tonight, the total was over $700!  How amazing is that?

I picked Peyton up at school and we went home to get ready for the race.  Peyton was really excited - ok, he was out of control :)

I had made a shirt for him with his own logo and a list of people who had made donations to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund in his name.  We put on his race number, he stretched out and was ready to go.  We got to the Mount Pleasant Waterfront Park and met my wife Jennifer.  Peyton ran up to her and gave her a big hug and the excitement started all over again.

It was cold and raining, but there seemed to be a good turnout for the race.  Peyton wanted to go to the front of the starting line.  We made our way to the start, but I made sure we were on the far side so we would not be in the way of the fast runners.  The start of the race was preceded by a Leprechaun running in front of us (so cool).

I could tell that Peyton was going out too fast and was almost at a full sprint at the start of the race.  He didn't  last long.  He slowed down and people started passing us, I could see that he was starting to get discouraged.  I worked with him to keep a steady, slow, pace and things started to look much better.  We were close to the one mile mark when the worst possible thing could happen, Peyton's shoe started to fall apart!  I could not believe it...

A few days ago I bought Peyton new shoes, but they were just not worn in enough and he wanted to wear his old shoes for the race.  Well, after three months of him beating those shoes up they had enough and started to come apart.  I did my best to keep them together, but he was having trouble running and was really upset.  I could have cried myself.  He had worked so hard to get to this point.  I picked him up and held him for a while.  I was about to turn around and take him back to the start (a really nice Mount Pleasant police officer even offered to give us a ride).  I had only taken a few steps back when my son said he wanted to finish the race.  What do you do?

I knew we were not going to go very fast, but that the shoes could last until the end.  I said ok and decided at that moment that I needed to make this race a lot more fun.  It had rained pretty hard and there were water puddles everywhere, so I made a game of us running through every puddle we could find.  From that point on we had a blast!

Peyton was back to himself and was having fun.  We were laughing and running and people around us were laughing. As we got close to the end, I could hear Peyton saying "I can do this! I can do this!".  He was still having trouble running in his shoes, but he was trying his hardest to run that last mile.

We came around the corner and saw the finish line.  We could see my wife, her parents and our friends.  My running coach (Greg) even came back to run with us.  As we arrived at the finish line the "Leprechaun" came out and let Peyton chase him to the end!  My wife ran up to Peyton and gave him a huge hug and then put a finisher's medal around his neck (we had it made for him).

I will never be able to express how proud I am of my son.  I know the emotions and challenges one goes through when running a marathon for the first time and I can tell you that he made it through his own challenges to finish that race.

We drove home, had dinner and then I put Peyton to bed.  Before I read to him, he colored in the last three squares of his running chart.  He did it very carefully and gave a lot of thought to each color he chose.  When he finished he held up his chart with a big smile and said "I did it!!!".

Yep, that was the best 5k of my life...

http://www.mooreonrunning.com/

If you would like to donate to the Semper Fi Fund please visit Peyton's web site at:

http://www.active.com/donate/SemperFiFund10/peytonsmarathon

Check out this podcast from Endurance Palnet about Peyton's Race!
http://www.enduranceplanet.com/three-beautiful-words-i-did-it

Mid Week Run - 10-1-09

My six mile mid week run was all about working on hitting marathon pace (8:52).

I ran down Coleman Blvd in Mount Pleasant at about 5:45am. The temperature was in the low sixties and felt great. The run felt pretty comfortable, but there is a downhill slope going out and an incline coming back that always works against me.

I started with a warm up mile (9:55) and then picked it up for the rest of the run (8:40, 8:40, 8:50, 8:52, 8:58). Not much of a cool down, but I did do fifty push ups when I got back (missing Boot Camp has started to show on my arms).

I have been nursing a sore knee since Saturday's race. It seems like my knees always feel sore right after I do any running on hills. I am hoping to get over it with some rest tomorrow and be ready for the long run on Saturday. I also bought some new shoes and started breaking them in today. I think that will help as well.

Just a little gripe, I wear Asics Keyano's and they all have tears where my big toe comes up. I know that my big toes stick up when I am concentrating (not sure why and not sure why I just told everyone this fact), but you would think that these shoes would be made with material that would not tear so easily. I don't want to change shoes right before a race so I bought another pair, but I think this will be my last. Not sure what I will go with next.

Only 23 more days until the Marine Corps Marathon! Click here to donate to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.