training | Run Luau Run

Posts Tagged ‘training’

Conflicted

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged ING New York City Marathon, marathon, pacing, training on October 18, 2010| 15 Comments »

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New York is still just under 3 weeks away. Before running Smuttynose, I had told myself that if I had the good fortune of qualifying for Boston, my approach to New York would be that of a fun run, a celebration, a victory lap. I was going to soak in every mile of the New York City Marathon experience, not caring what my time was.

That was my intent.

However, after watching the fantastic finish at the Chicago Marathon and tracking my friends at Chicago, Portland and Bay State, several of whom had BQ’s of their own, there’s been this voice; this voice that’s whispering in my ear.

It’s whispering, “3:15…3:15…3:15”.

I don’t even know if I can run a 3:15!

And furthermore, there’s no real reason for me to be attempting 3:15. By the time November 7th arrives, I will have already registered for Boston 2011 (registration opens this morning at 9:00AM), so it’s not like I’d improve my corral placement. On top of that, with only 5 weeks between Smuttynose and New York, no one is really expecting to see any kind of improvement, are they? Of course, the last time I ran 2 marathons so closely together, I did manage a 2 minute PR.

So I’ve been asking myself, could I take 4 minutes off in New York? Should I even try?

To make matters worse, my friend David (@DP_Turtle), who BQ’d at Chicago and finished Boston last year 11 seconds ahead of me, has thrown down a challenge. He will be running New York and is thinking maybe we should have a little side bet. Before you try stop me, it’s too late! We have agreed that the loser at New York is buying the winner a beer at Boston 2011. True, that’s not a whole lot on the line – it’s just a beer…and bragging rights!

Now, I did say early on, that I was planning on stopping to see everyone I know along the way and snapping a picture. Can I still do that and run harder than I did at Smuttynose? I don’t know. It’s doubtful.

So you see? I’m conflicted. I want to enjoy my victory lap. I want to hug every friend along the way (though after a few miles they may not want to hug me). But the competitive nature in me is whispering, “3:15…3:15…3:15”.

What’s a runner to do? What do you think?

Why do you run?

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No Longer Waiting for Greatness

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, training, tagged 3:20, BQ, Foxnews, Hampton Rockfest, marathon, Oprah, Random House, running, Smuttynose Marathon, training on September 27, 2010| 16 Comments »

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Since 1992 I have been waiting.

Waiting for what you say?

I can’t specifically say. To be discovered? To be handed fame and fortune? To win the lottery? I have been waiting. As a youngster, I always felt I was destined for something big, but I never did anything about it. In 1992 I said to some friends I wanted to go to New York, become a soap opera regular and become a star. My friends were all for it. I did eventually go to New York, but not until 1996, and only for a job as a paralegal at a midtown law firm. I did finally make it on to a soap opera, but only as an extra and only because a dear friend of my sister-in-law happened to be the head writer and was kind enough to get me on (Thank you Lil’ Jess and Tom!).

Yup, that's me in the background...

Still, I waited. Waited for greatness, for fame, for fortune.

***

It’s not coming, is it? There is no Justin Bieber fairytale waiting for me, is there? (part of that may be because I don’t sing…details.) Random House is not going to stumble upon my blog and decide they MUST have a book written by Luau. Foxnews is not going to decide that they MUST talk to me about the minimalist movement and make me a media darling. Oprah is not about to come calling, asking me to talk about how we can get America healthy again…is she?

No.

The lottery, both figuratively and literally, is not about to call out my numbers. My blog may be just under a year old, but at nearly 41, I’m no longer that fresh face with potential.

And yet I have waited.

***

For the last 11+ weeks I have been following a training program aimed at helping me run a 3:20 or better at the Smuttynose Marathon on October 3rd. I have not followed the program to a tee, but I have worked very hard and made re-adjustments along the way to keep me on track, both in mileage and types of workouts. Injuries and travel have required me to make some changes, but my numbers are lining up correctly and I am feeling very confident. If I don’t manage to qualify for Boston, it’s going to be very, very close.

If I do run a 3:20 or better I will have to face an ugly, brutal truth: – to achie—

-<<record stratch>> – Wait…what? Luau, um, did you just said that if you ACHIEVE your goal, you’re going to have to face an ugly truth?

Yup. That’s what I said. The ugly truth is this: to achieve your goals, most of us must work for it. If I run a BQ (Boston Qualifier), it will have been achieved through sweat and pain, hard work and determination and even a little bit of blood. There has been no “waiting” this time around for a BQ.

As much as I like to pull the “back when I was your age” card on my children and younger friends, the truth is, my generation really was the beginning of the immediate gratification/MTV society (I can’t say generation anymore because we have had children that also carry this need for immediate gratification…Video on Demand? DVR’s? 24 Hour News?).

My father didn’t raise me this way, but somewhere along the way, I lost the thread. I left the path and I got lost. Things came too easily too early for me and I got comfortable. Well, these 11 weeks have brought me a new perspective. Barring a twisted ankle on the course, I will run close to, if not achieve a BQ. Regardless, I know I will run a personal best (Providence is my current PR at 3:30:11), and it will all be because of hard work. I feel like I’ve cut away the fat, more mentally than physically. I am ready.

So Random House, Foxnews and Oprah, watch out. After I hit this BQ, I’m coming.

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Anticipation & Trepidation

Posted in health, rest, training, tagged anticipation, Healing, Injury, running, training, trepidation on August 9, 2010| 7 Comments »

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I’ve taken some time off to rest my knee. In fact, when I resume my marathon training schedule on Wednesday with a medium long run (12 miles at a nice and easy pace), it will be my first run in exactly 2 weeks. My original plan was to take 10 days off, but that meant starting yesterday with a 17 miler. Felt a little much, so I decided to give myself one more day before resuming my schedule. Fortunately (or unfortunately as the case may be) the schedule said that today and tomorrow were off days. With 8 weeks to go I have the luck of coming back on a recovery week. Nothing like a well-timed injury.

That said, I’m still a little nervous. The knee feels pretty good, but I know that can change with one misstep, one tweak. Maybe I need to face the fact that I’m not 20 anymore and that I can’t push myself as hard as, well, as hard as I wish I had pushed myself when I was younger.

Isn’t it a shame that youth is wasted on the young?

Had I had the determination I have at 40 at the age of 20, who knows what kind of runner I might have become? World-class? Definitely not. But could I have run a marathon with a 2:–:– handle? Maybe…just maybe.

I am in better shape now than I have ever been in my life, save maybe when I was 16 or 17, when I was practicing kung-fu 2-4 hours a day, 6 days a week. But being in the best shape of my life doesn’t change the fact that I’m 40 years old and I don’t bounce back as quickly as my mind and will would like.

Looking ahead at my schedule (I’m following the Pfitz 12/55 program from Advanced Marathoning), there are some interesting weeks coming up. Some lactate threshold runs, some marathon pace runs and some VO2 Max runs – all sessions that produce a little extra pounding on the knee. Running in VFF’s help reduce that pounding, but the fact that I’m still a heel-striker doesn’t help. I’m actually toying with the idea of buying some shoes that may play to my heel-striking tendency – not to convert back to regular shoes, but just to mix it up. My buddy Pete is pretty convinced that he has remained injury free in part because he mixes up what he puts on his feet from run to run. There’s actually some science to that – maybe a topic for another post.

Where am I going with this? I don’t know. The heart and mind are determined, but the body is not as enthusiastic or resilient. Is that enough? Can it be enough? I’ve only been running for 20 months. Do more experienced runners go through this? Or are they simply physically more gifted? How do they adjust?

The next couple of weeks will be telling. I want to be able to complete the plan, knowing that if I do, and am healthy, I’ve got a pretty good shot at 3:20:59 at Smuttynose. I have two friends, Brendan and the aforementioned Pete, who will be running it as well. Brendan is shooting for 3:20 like me. Pete, if all systems are go, may be shooting for a 3:15. Running with those guys will be a big help to all three of us. Like any daunting task, it’s much easier to tackle 26.2 miles with a group as opposed to alone. The thing is, I can’t push myself to complete the plan and go into the Smuttynose hobbling – defeats the whole purpose of training, doesn’t it? I do think I have to finally face the fact that I’m older now, so maybe it’s a little more important to stretch, do the warm up runs, do the cool down jogs and stretch afterward.

So I take my first steps back on Wednesday with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. I’ll have to resist the urge to go all out, but also have to be careful not to run too conservatively.

When did I get old?

What’s your approach to training when coming back from an injury? And for the older runners like me, has your approach changed with time?

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Not Smart

Posted in health, training, tagged not smart, running, smart, training on July 13, 2010| 4 Comments »

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So yesterday I tackled the first workout of my 12 week plan leading up to the Smuttynose Marathon. On tap: an 8 mile aerobic run (somewhere between a 8:45 – 9:15 per mile pace) followed by 10 x 100 meter strides. Sounded easy enough. Shoot, I’ve been doing 10 and 11 milers regularly lately between 8:00 and 8:27 per mile pace.

I was eager to get started. I truly believe if I can follow Peter Pfitzinger’s plan, I’ll have a good shot at 3:20. So after I fed the kiddies, packed Brooke her lunch for camp, sent the wife and Katie off to a water park, cleaned the kitchen and did the laundry, I was ready to get running. It was 11:50 when my feet hit the pavement. My plan was to finish my 8 by 1:05, get my strides in and be back home by 1:30.

***
24 hours earlier

Katie was finally getting over a fast working virus that knocked her out of commission on Saturday and Sunday. Now my head was starting to pound. It spread from my temples to my eyes. I was having trouble focusing. Soon the nausea hit. Katie had thrown up twice and I feared it would shortly be my turn. Although I managed to avoid praying to the porcelain god, I did end up spending the next 18 hours in bed. I drank little and ate even less.

***
As I ran past the first half mile mark, I realized I was going too fast for what this run called for. I tried slowing it down a bit. The first three miles were an interesting struggle of the mind calling for a slower pace and the legs pushing for a faster one.

But at the end of those three miles however, the struggle had flipped. Suddenly my breathing became labored and the legs dragged. This was supposed to be an easy run, but it was quickly turning into a battle. The temperature continued to rise, 84°, 86°, 87°. The humidity wasn’t helping.

I considered calling it a day, but I thought of the post I had just written about Heart and the fact that this was the first workout of the program, and so I trudged on. I thought about the marathon pace long run scheduled this Sunday and I wondered how could I possibly do that. I was ready to quit.

But this was day 1. I couldn’t quit on day 1. I struggled on. From mile 6 on, I had to stop and walk for 30 seconds to a minute after every half mile. After arriving at the track at 7.5 miles, I stumbled through one lap and had to stop. My easy 8 miler had turned into a brutal, oppressive 7.75 miler.

I drank the last of my nuun water and stared at the other end of the football field 100 yards away. I needed to do 10 of these?

I felt woozy. I glanced over at 3 kids, recent graduates from the local high school, running a hurdles drill.

“Do you know where a drinking fountain is,” I asked.

One of the boys answered that there wasn’t one but they could give me some water. They filled my bottle half way up as I thanked them. It was all I could do not to sit on the ground, but I was afraid if I sat down, I wasn’t getting back up.

Another wave of nausea and the ground started to spin. I straightened myself out, but the ground continued to tilt. Suddenly with every blink came black spots. I gulped down the water, hoping it would help hold the world still.

The ground stopped moving, but it didn’t feel steady. The spots didn’t go away for several minutes. I focused on the conversation I was having, trying to breathe normally. Another spin, another wave.

I suddenly had a vision of these three kids making the front page of the local paper because they had rescued some poor old, passed out, aspiring marathoner from his own stupidity.

I again straightened up, thanked the boys, and proceeded to stumble home, skipping the strides. When I weighed myself at home, I was nearly 5lbs lighter than when I had left for my run. This despite having drunk a bottle and a half of water and a bottle of mix1 recovery drink. I had obviously been sweating – a lot!

It took me the rest of the day and part of the evening to get back to feeling normal.

So why am I writing about this awful experience? What’s the point?

I should have waited until today to run. Aside from the marathon itself, schedules are not set in stone. If you’ve been sick, and not consuming liquids or calories, maybe it’s best to take the next day off. Don’t be stupid like I was yesterday just because you can’t wait to get started. If it hadn’t been for those boys at the track, I may well could have ended up passed out cold in the middle of the football field.

Hopefully the 9 miler tomorrow won’t be such a struggle.

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A Forty Minute Mile

Posted in training, tagged Elliptical, logging, pool running, running, running log, training on May 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

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Last week I ran a forty minute mile.

No, that is not a typo.

Yes, I know I was not supposed to be running last week; part of a self-imposed rehab stint to get my knee better.

But I have a race coming up on the 30th and I had to do something. The elliptical has been surprisingly satisfying, but it’s still not running. I wanted to get the motion and bio-mechanical feel of running back into the muscles. So on Wednesday I went to the local gym, put on my swimsuit and ran the pool. I focused on form and effort, keeping count of my laps as I ran through 4 1/2 feet of water.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

A lot of the swimmers looked at me as if I were crazy, but it did the trick. There was essentially no impact and I got to feel like I was running. After 38:40, I had done 52 laps, 1 mile. I laughed at the absurdity of inputting the data into my running log, but you know what? I ran that mile dammit and I was taking credit for it.

All of this, the elliptical, the heavy bag, the swimming and the water running left me with a bit of a quandary. How do I incorporate all of this into my running log? Up until two weeks ago I had been guilty of NOT cross-training once in 2010, so I never considered what I would write in the log if I had to get my cardio by means other than running.

The workouts have been good. 8 3-minute rounds on a heavy bag is a hard workout. 8.5 miles on the elliptical left me more sweaty than an hour-long run. My 40-minute mile in the pool was not only a test of physical but mental endurance as well. I feel like they have all helped maintain my cardio fitness level.

But I still am not sure how to incorporate them into my weekly, monthly or yearly mile totals. Numbers, particularly miles, can be very important to runners. We take pride in crossing certain mileage milestones (50 miles in a week, 1000 miles for the year, etc.), so I want to be able to use these numbers. In the last 2 weeks I put in nearly 70 miles on the elliptical, but only 5 (okay, 6 if you count the pool running) miles running. I was tempted to add the elliptical miles to my totals but decided against it.

When I posed this question on dailymile, I received more questions than answers, most wanting to know what others did. One person said that when they are forced to do something other than running, they go with logging the time and perceived effort. That was the best, and quite frankly the only answer I received.

So, what do you do? What is a mile on the elliptical worth? or in the pool? Is there an exchange rate?

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“Act As If…”

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, tagged Act as if, boston marathon, running, Running Times, training on April 13, 2010| 9 Comments »

Last week I picked up the latest issue of Running Times. There was a short article entitled Being in the Moment by Tamara Rice Lave that really struck a chord with me. The main gist of it was that as runners we should “shut down your brain and just believe”.

The part that really grabbed my attention however was the mention of the Harvard Women’s basketball team and their coach, Kathy Delaney-Smith. Several years ago she coached her team to one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history with the “Act as if…” philosophy (they are the only 16th seeded team in NCAA history ever to beat a #1 seed in the Big Dance).

The idea is to “act as if you already are what you want to become”. Once you sell yourself on the concept, you are that much closer to achieving it.

Now, one of the first things I thought of was, taken to extremes, this could be one of the most idiotic philosophies ever. We’ve seen those people who act as if they are the funniest person in the room when in fact, they’re about as funny as a bowl of white rice; or the guy who acts as if he’s the smartest person in the office, when in fact he speaks plenty but says little at meetings.

I don’t think the “Act as if…” philosophy works for them.

But I DO believe that if you are aware of who and what you are, and have a grasp on what your talent level really is, you can make this philosophy work to your advantage.

It is the little things that Coach Delaney-Smith insists on her players believing in/acting as if that I think have a huge impact on these athletes when they are in the thick of a hotly contested game.

Act as if you’re not tired.

Act as if you’re confident.

Act as if you’re not hurt.

By acting as if these things are true, you can begin to make them happen. And once you learn to instinctively apply it to the little things, you can then apply it to the big race/the long run/interval training. Obviously you (unless your name is Ryan or Mebs, in which case I’m honored you’re reading this) can’t tell yourself or act as if you are going to win the Boston Marathon, but knowing what you know you can do and then acting as if you can go a little faster, harder and longer is well within the realm of possibility.

And you can apply this philosophy to other parts of your life as well. When and where you apply it is totally up to you.

All I know is that in 6 days, I am going to shut down my brain and just believe. I plan on acting as if I’m going to run a 3:20 marathon or better…and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!

The rest of the article is excellent by the way. I highly recommend clicking over and reading it.