I was heading out for 7-8 miles tonight, and running on a fairly flat section of trail, took a step and felt a POP on my right ankle. I hadn't even taken a bad step but something got injured.
I had a similar injury back in 2006 playing soccer (which was my sport for a while during my multi-year hiatus from competitive running). The bit that concerns me, is that I sprained the exact same spot, and that it happened just taking a fairly normal step. Throughout the past year, I've suspected that my right foot and ankle hadn't been as strong as my right because minor aches and pains kept popping up in different spots about 5 times as frequently on the right side as the left. Also, my right ankle also looked more "puffy" than the left. I figured I should have done some basic strengthening exercises, but blew them off. It's tough trying to balance working 50 hours a week & running 50-60 miles. After all that, I want to be able to spend time with my wife & and then see friends when I can. I love running, but it's not the most important thing in my life anymore. Tonight is a good reminder.
Well, I guess I'll stop there. I think I found the perspective I needed :)
Thanks to the nice lady who stopped her car when she saw be sitting on the ground by the trail 100 feet off the road! I'm not sure what this does to my Spring training & racing. I can't imagine I'll be running in the next week. I just hope it's not several weeks. 75 days till the 100th Dipsea. I'll be there & I'll find a way to be ready!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
On The Track
On Friday I ran my first track race since I graduated from college in 2002!
I spent most of last week running easy, trying to shake off my lingering soreness from Sunady's 12K on the road. I went back and forth on whether to race Friday, but my Thursday I said sore or not sore, it will be a fun experience.
The San Francisco State University Distance Carnival started just 3 years ago with 4 events for athletes who did not get into Stanford Invitational later the same day. By last year, this meet had grown to hundreds of athletes and a full day's worth of events. The men's 5000 had 86 runners this year split between 3 heats. It was a really low key event, but one that included very competitive races.
I was in the 2nd of 3 heats, which last year had finishing times from just under 15 minutes through the low 16's. My plan was to shoot for 74 second laps (a 15:25 pace), while avoiding using up too much energy early on. When the gun went off, I dropped toward the back, and found a spot on the rail by the end of the first lap. There wasn't a clock at the start or the finish line, so I had to depend on various coaches yelling splits to runners around me. I know I hit the first lap in 77 but then settled into 73-74 sec laps. My calves were pretty much sore from the get go, as they had never fully recovered from Sunday's race, and I was wearing a pair of track spikes that have been sitting in my attic for years. Other than the calves, I felt fairly comfortable through the first half of the race. Around 2 miles, I started to slip back from the group I was runnign with. I knew I was slowing down, but I just tried to dig in and make the most of it. Those laps 3 laps hurt!! Dana enjoyed the track environment & it was fun having her on the infield cheer for me.
I crossed the line & really had no idea what my time was since I hadn't gotten any good split info the last few laps. But I figured I was in the high 15's, and that was confirmed first off of a friend's watch, then the official results - 15:49.
I'm not as happy about this race as I was with the 12K Sunday, but I took 10 seconds off my post college PR for 5K, and it was my second PR in less than a week. So based on that, I'm certainly not disappointed. I'll have some more opportunities to lower my 5K time in April, so just need to keep it going!
I spent most of last week running easy, trying to shake off my lingering soreness from Sunady's 12K on the road. I went back and forth on whether to race Friday, but my Thursday I said sore or not sore, it will be a fun experience.
The San Francisco State University Distance Carnival started just 3 years ago with 4 events for athletes who did not get into Stanford Invitational later the same day. By last year, this meet had grown to hundreds of athletes and a full day's worth of events. The men's 5000 had 86 runners this year split between 3 heats. It was a really low key event, but one that included very competitive races.
I was in the 2nd of 3 heats, which last year had finishing times from just under 15 minutes through the low 16's. My plan was to shoot for 74 second laps (a 15:25 pace), while avoiding using up too much energy early on. When the gun went off, I dropped toward the back, and found a spot on the rail by the end of the first lap. There wasn't a clock at the start or the finish line, so I had to depend on various coaches yelling splits to runners around me. I know I hit the first lap in 77 but then settled into 73-74 sec laps. My calves were pretty much sore from the get go, as they had never fully recovered from Sunday's race, and I was wearing a pair of track spikes that have been sitting in my attic for years. Other than the calves, I felt fairly comfortable through the first half of the race. Around 2 miles, I started to slip back from the group I was runnign with. I knew I was slowing down, but I just tried to dig in and make the most of it. Those laps 3 laps hurt!! Dana enjoyed the track environment & it was fun having her on the infield cheer for me.
I crossed the line & really had no idea what my time was since I hadn't gotten any good split info the last few laps. But I figured I was in the high 15's, and that was confirmed first off of a friend's watch, then the official results - 15:49.
I'm not as happy about this race as I was with the 12K Sunday, but I took 10 seconds off my post college PR for 5K, and it was my second PR in less than a week. So based on that, I'm certainly not disappointed. I'll have some more opportunities to lower my 5K time in April, so just need to keep it going!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Emerald Nuts and Blue Sky
Emerald Nuts
Yesterday I ran a 12K PR at the Emerald Nuts Across the Bay race from which runs from Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into San Francisco. It felt great to get my racing season back on track after a really rough (i.e. slow and painful) 10 mile race a couple weeks earlier.
After Redding, I was struggling with my running confidence. Some recent runs and workouts felt like a chore to get myself out the door. Tuesday, I tried to fit my workout in between a busy day at work and a work dinner that night. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that when I rushed to log my primary workout of the week that I felt tight and tired. That day I punted on what was to be 2-3 sets of 1000, 600, 300 meter cuts downs after the first 1000 & 600 to give another go the next day. Wednesday I made it home from work, relaxed for an hour, then headed back into the park. As I was driving in, I had a thought - what about a cross country style workout rather than hitting the track again? Last fall I was focusing heavily on XC workouts, and I had some great road race results. Then what would you know, as soon as I get to the park, I see that the track is closed, so I grabbed my flats, jogged down to the Golden Gate Park XC course, and ran 2 loops of the course as a 3 minute on, 2 minute off Fartlek. It felt good to switch gears, running on the different parts of the course. I was able to move fast during the 3 minute intervals without over-stressing my body. I drove home with a smile on my face, all of a sudden enjoying myself again. Although I didn't appreciate that somebody stole my trainers while I was working out in my flat!
Heading into the race, I finally felt confident in the training I've logged so far this year. The course is a weird one as it's net downhill, but fairly challenging. You start the race running downhill, then climb up a long steady hill in the 2nd half of the first mile to the GG Bridge west sidewalk. Then once on the bridge the first half is a gradual climb due to the camber of the bridge, then you go back down. After the bridge as you're approaching the 4M mark you have a downhill section, but with some sharp turns. After that it's a few miles on the flats before one last moderate hill in the last half mile (with a sprinting downhill that leaves you less than 100 meters from the line. My plan was to take it really easy at the beginning and wait until around 3 miles to start racing.
When the gun went off I was behind most of my teammates. The pace felt very easy, but most the field wasn't too terribly far ahead. When we started heading uphill, I told myself to relax. I held my position on the first half, and just focused on a light relaxed stride the whole way up. As we go to the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk, I pulled up to a pack of teammates including Jonah & Chris (who would be first place masters runners). I moved up a few spots with Chris, just gradually reeling in runners up ahead. By halfway across the bridge I caught Alan Jackson of the Rebels, who always runs a smarts race. We worked together reeling in more runners, and eventually pulled close to Todd Rose as we finished the downhill sections of the course. I really didn't have much going through my head early in the race, but dug in and ran fairly aggressively in the 3rd and 4th miles.
Once we got to chrissy field, I threw a small surge as I was eager to catch up to Todd. As I pulled right behind Todd, Alan kept surging and caught up to a group of mostly Aggies team runners just ahead. Having a spent a lot of juice to pass numerous runners, I tucked in right behind, then along side of Todd as Alan pulled away. I was breathing pretty hard, so couldn't say much more than "let's go" & he managed to grunt out "5:20 pace", which since I hadn't seen a mile marker yet, was good news. Shortly after that I see a large road construction sign, which I realize wasn't a road construction sign, but the 5 mile mark. I hit it around 26:30 (5:18 pace) & was pretty stoked to have a great race going both in terms of pace and position wise. At this point Todd had opened a few seconds up, but I just kept my eyes on him and tried to reel him in. While I lost just a second or two on him in the 6th mile (31:57) and 7th (~37:20) focusing on trying to reel him in kept me running a good pace.
Just after the 7th mile mark (with 0.45 miles to go) I hit the hill at Fort Mason. It's steep for the first 50 meters then slowly levels out. 2 runners - JT Service (an Aggie) & Stephen Donohue (who was 9th overall in the Dipsea last year) passed me as I pretty much stumbled up the first part of the hill. I told myself there was less than a half mile to go, and managed to keep Stephen fairly close. I pulled even closer on the downhill then gave it a good hard kick to get around Stephen right after we rounded the last turn with a flat 100 meter finish.
It's funny that I finished 16th place in each of the first 2 PA races. I would have so said no way I'd finish that poorly in Redding, and unlikely I'd run that well at this race! I was definitely happy with both my place, and my time - especially given that it's a hilly course. Last fall, I felt like I could run much faster than my old 12K pr of 41:54. But saying "I just lowered my 12K PR by 2+ minutes" sounds a lot better than saying "I could lower my PR by 2+ minutes!"
Next up will either be the Zippy 5K, unless I jump into a track meet prior to that.
*This was taken as I'm rounding the final turn of the race.
Blue Sky
Between all the running and skiing, my aviation pursuits had taken a back seat recently. But after the race Sunday, I scheduled time with my instructor just to go for a flight. The dual purpose was just a proficiency check since I hadn't flown in a few months, but we also decided to use it as my "bi-annual flight review", which is required every 2 years to keep your license active. It felt great to get up in the air, and was happy that Bob (my instructor) had very little to comment on. We flew through SF International airspace on the way out, and Oakland on the way back. He had me execute a couple of steep turns - meaning a 360 degree turn to the right at a 45 degree bank, followed by the same thing to the left. It's one of the required maneuvers for the private pilot checkride. The key challenge is to maintain a steady airspeed and altitude. I think I pulled off two of my best steep turns ever! I look forward to flying much more often this Spring and Summer.
I'll save my health care / Pelosi rant for another day...
Yesterday I ran a 12K PR at the Emerald Nuts Across the Bay race from which runs from Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into San Francisco. It felt great to get my racing season back on track after a really rough (i.e. slow and painful) 10 mile race a couple weeks earlier.
After Redding, I was struggling with my running confidence. Some recent runs and workouts felt like a chore to get myself out the door. Tuesday, I tried to fit my workout in between a busy day at work and a work dinner that night. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that when I rushed to log my primary workout of the week that I felt tight and tired. That day I punted on what was to be 2-3 sets of 1000, 600, 300 meter cuts downs after the first 1000 & 600 to give another go the next day. Wednesday I made it home from work, relaxed for an hour, then headed back into the park. As I was driving in, I had a thought - what about a cross country style workout rather than hitting the track again? Last fall I was focusing heavily on XC workouts, and I had some great road race results. Then what would you know, as soon as I get to the park, I see that the track is closed, so I grabbed my flats, jogged down to the Golden Gate Park XC course, and ran 2 loops of the course as a 3 minute on, 2 minute off Fartlek. It felt good to switch gears, running on the different parts of the course. I was able to move fast during the 3 minute intervals without over-stressing my body. I drove home with a smile on my face, all of a sudden enjoying myself again. Although I didn't appreciate that somebody stole my trainers while I was working out in my flat!
Heading into the race, I finally felt confident in the training I've logged so far this year. The course is a weird one as it's net downhill, but fairly challenging. You start the race running downhill, then climb up a long steady hill in the 2nd half of the first mile to the GG Bridge west sidewalk. Then once on the bridge the first half is a gradual climb due to the camber of the bridge, then you go back down. After the bridge as you're approaching the 4M mark you have a downhill section, but with some sharp turns. After that it's a few miles on the flats before one last moderate hill in the last half mile (with a sprinting downhill that leaves you less than 100 meters from the line. My plan was to take it really easy at the beginning and wait until around 3 miles to start racing.
When the gun went off I was behind most of my teammates. The pace felt very easy, but most the field wasn't too terribly far ahead. When we started heading uphill, I told myself to relax. I held my position on the first half, and just focused on a light relaxed stride the whole way up. As we go to the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk, I pulled up to a pack of teammates including Jonah & Chris (who would be first place masters runners). I moved up a few spots with Chris, just gradually reeling in runners up ahead. By halfway across the bridge I caught Alan Jackson of the Rebels, who always runs a smarts race. We worked together reeling in more runners, and eventually pulled close to Todd Rose as we finished the downhill sections of the course. I really didn't have much going through my head early in the race, but dug in and ran fairly aggressively in the 3rd and 4th miles.
Once we got to chrissy field, I threw a small surge as I was eager to catch up to Todd. As I pulled right behind Todd, Alan kept surging and caught up to a group of mostly Aggies team runners just ahead. Having a spent a lot of juice to pass numerous runners, I tucked in right behind, then along side of Todd as Alan pulled away. I was breathing pretty hard, so couldn't say much more than "let's go" & he managed to grunt out "5:20 pace", which since I hadn't seen a mile marker yet, was good news. Shortly after that I see a large road construction sign, which I realize wasn't a road construction sign, but the 5 mile mark. I hit it around 26:30 (5:18 pace) & was pretty stoked to have a great race going both in terms of pace and position wise. At this point Todd had opened a few seconds up, but I just kept my eyes on him and tried to reel him in. While I lost just a second or two on him in the 6th mile (31:57) and 7th (~37:20) focusing on trying to reel him in kept me running a good pace.
Just after the 7th mile mark (with 0.45 miles to go) I hit the hill at Fort Mason. It's steep for the first 50 meters then slowly levels out. 2 runners - JT Service (an Aggie) & Stephen Donohue (who was 9th overall in the Dipsea last year) passed me as I pretty much stumbled up the first part of the hill. I told myself there was less than a half mile to go, and managed to keep Stephen fairly close. I pulled even closer on the downhill then gave it a good hard kick to get around Stephen right after we rounded the last turn with a flat 100 meter finish.
It's funny that I finished 16th place in each of the first 2 PA races. I would have so said no way I'd finish that poorly in Redding, and unlikely I'd run that well at this race! I was definitely happy with both my place, and my time - especially given that it's a hilly course. Last fall, I felt like I could run much faster than my old 12K pr of 41:54. But saying "I just lowered my 12K PR by 2+ minutes" sounds a lot better than saying "I could lower my PR by 2+ minutes!"
Next up will either be the Zippy 5K, unless I jump into a track meet prior to that.
Blue Sky
Between all the running and skiing, my aviation pursuits had taken a back seat recently. But after the race Sunday, I scheduled time with my instructor just to go for a flight. The dual purpose was just a proficiency check since I hadn't flown in a few months, but we also decided to use it as my "bi-annual flight review", which is required every 2 years to keep your license active. It felt great to get up in the air, and was happy that Bob (my instructor) had very little to comment on. We flew through SF International airspace on the way out, and Oakland on the way back. He had me execute a couple of steep turns - meaning a 360 degree turn to the right at a 45 degree bank, followed by the same thing to the left. It's one of the required maneuvers for the private pilot checkride. The key challenge is to maintain a steady airspeed and altitude. I think I pulled off two of my best steep turns ever! I look forward to flying much more often this Spring and Summer.
I'll save my health care / Pelosi rant for another day...
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Bouncing Back
Last Saturday I ran my first Pacific Association race of the year (and 2nd overall) at the NorCal 10 miler in Redding. I'll sum up my performance in 1 word - BLEH!
After a very consistent month of training in January, I had a disappointing day at my first race of the year - the Kaiser Half Marathon. Although I was excited to head to Redding in a month, I felt like I lacked a bit of direction in the week after Kaiser. But still - I had a great tempo run 4 days after that race, and was back to consistent training for the next few weeks. The only hitch to race prep was a ski trip to Big Sky, MT (getting back 3 days before). I wasn't worried. I would train hard before leaving the week before, then get some light turnover on the track the day I got back (which I felt good running 8x300 in 48-49).
The morning of the race, we woke up to surprisingly warm temperatures. I wouldn't say it ever got hot, but temps close to 70 degrees by the end of the race sure felt hot when I'd hadn't run in warmer than 60 degree whether since the fall. The race course runs out on a bike path along the Sacramento River in Redding, makes a loop through a neighborhood midway, then backtracks toward the start, and finally crossing a bridge and finishing on the other side of the river. It is pretty flat except for some rolling hills in the 3rd & 4th miles, which you hit on the way back in the 6th & 7th miles.
When the gun went off, Sergio Reyes (who ran 48-something for 10 miles last year) took off with 2 runners chasing him. I was part of the next chase group, including teammates Todd Rose & Julian Marsh, which hit the first mile in 5:19 & the 2nd in 5:30. The pace was no problem, and I was right on pace to run around 54 minutes. In the 3rd mile, Todd started surging through the series of hills. I backed off a bit, but hit 4 miles in 21:40 - still just over 54 min pace. But at this point, it was really starting to hurt, especially for so early in the race. It was hot, and I just couldn't find a good rhythm. As we headed into the neighborhood in the 5th mile, I just tried to focus my sight on Carlos Siqueiros up ahead of me. At that point 2 runners from the Strawberry Canyon club blew past me, and masters phenom Jim Sorenson caught me. I tried to relax & focus on a smooth stride to stay with Jim. I kept Jim in contact for several minutes, but every time I tried to relax & increase the pace, I quickly red-lined.
By mile 6, the wheels started coming off. Through the hills in the 7th and 8th miles, I hit both splits slower than 6 minutes. I slowed down to get a full drink of water at the last water stop and couldn't believe how thirsty I was. At least I dropped my pace back under 6 minutes for the last 3 miles, but I fell from 8th place at the 4 mile mark, to 16th at the finish. I'm glad I didn't realize that 48 year old Linda Summers-Smith was less than 30 seconds back, enroute to a new American age group record, because I probably would have gotten scared & run slower. Congrats to her for setting yet another age group record, as well as the women's course record. She also holds the course record for the next PA race on the schedule, which she set in 1995! My final result was 16th place in 56:54.
Shortly after the race I started getting the chills, despite the heat. I wasn't the only runner who struggled, as quite a few runners ran 1-2 minutes slower than they normally would (I was almost 4 minutes slower than my 10 mile split at the Humboldt Half Marathon). Among my buddies, Todd ran well, finishing 4th in 53:47, and Rebel's runner Mike Styczynski ran a PR for 5th in 53:52. Dana joined me for the trip, and although her longest recent run was 6 miles, she felt good over 10 miles, running 1:28. She's excited to use this as a kickstart for her running this Spring.
On the drive home, I had plenty of time to think about the race. If I came up with anything wrong I had done in training, I'd be completely nit-picking. I've run consistent mileage (most weeks between 55 and 65 miles), and gotten 2 solid workouts in every week without over doing it. Maybe I hadn't done a lot of race sharpening work, but that doesn't mean I was unprepared. Maybe I was a little run-down from having been at 8000 feet for 5 days the prior week, or maybe I had a low grade illness (I was feeling a bit "off" after work the day before). Or perhaps I was just unlucky that my 2 off days in 2010 happened to be my race days.
The only thing I can say I was doing wrong was to let a bit of anxiety sneak into some of my workouts & the races. I need to get back to my "just run" philosophy that treated me so well last Fall, and to enjoy the ability that God has given me.
I'll sign off by sharing something I read in Running Times which came in the mail today. Greg McMillan, who coaches several elite runners, including 2:10 marathoner Brett Gotcher, listed "The Five Habits of Highly Effective Runners" (with my own comments)
#1: Don't Dwell: The idea is to shake off bad workouts or races move forward. Every runner has a few bad ones every season, and the best runners drop them and move forward. Well... I know I just wrote a blog post about my crappy race, but hopefully the point comes across that my training is there, so I just need to keep it going. But I am the very analytical type, so this is hard for me sometimes.
#2: Fine Your Sweet Spot in Training: When I first read this, I thought it meant to train your strengths, but I was wrong. The idea is to train at a consistency where you advance your fitness, but not so hard that you struggle to get from workout to workout. This is one thing I have done very well recently.
#3: Focus on Consistency: I really think this is an extension of #2. Don't be a hero in one workout, then barely be able to run the rest of the week. Rather train in such a way where you're building momentum throughout the season.
#4: Be tenacious: I've summed this idea up several times by saying "just run". Being tenacious is important on many levels. You have to be tenacious throughout the grind of training, and over the miles of a race. I'm realizing that "just run" is really an abbreviation for "just keep running and stop thinking so damn much".
#5: Build Your Confidence Consistently: Trust your preparation!
Great points from someone who coaches some amazing runners!
The next race for me will be the Across the Bay 12K a week from Sunday.
After a very consistent month of training in January, I had a disappointing day at my first race of the year - the Kaiser Half Marathon. Although I was excited to head to Redding in a month, I felt like I lacked a bit of direction in the week after Kaiser. But still - I had a great tempo run 4 days after that race, and was back to consistent training for the next few weeks. The only hitch to race prep was a ski trip to Big Sky, MT (getting back 3 days before). I wasn't worried. I would train hard before leaving the week before, then get some light turnover on the track the day I got back (which I felt good running 8x300 in 48-49).
The morning of the race, we woke up to surprisingly warm temperatures. I wouldn't say it ever got hot, but temps close to 70 degrees by the end of the race sure felt hot when I'd hadn't run in warmer than 60 degree whether since the fall. The race course runs out on a bike path along the Sacramento River in Redding, makes a loop through a neighborhood midway, then backtracks toward the start, and finally crossing a bridge and finishing on the other side of the river. It is pretty flat except for some rolling hills in the 3rd & 4th miles, which you hit on the way back in the 6th & 7th miles.
When the gun went off, Sergio Reyes (who ran 48-something for 10 miles last year) took off with 2 runners chasing him. I was part of the next chase group, including teammates Todd Rose & Julian Marsh, which hit the first mile in 5:19 & the 2nd in 5:30. The pace was no problem, and I was right on pace to run around 54 minutes. In the 3rd mile, Todd started surging through the series of hills. I backed off a bit, but hit 4 miles in 21:40 - still just over 54 min pace. But at this point, it was really starting to hurt, especially for so early in the race. It was hot, and I just couldn't find a good rhythm. As we headed into the neighborhood in the 5th mile, I just tried to focus my sight on Carlos Siqueiros up ahead of me. At that point 2 runners from the Strawberry Canyon club blew past me, and masters phenom Jim Sorenson caught me. I tried to relax & focus on a smooth stride to stay with Jim. I kept Jim in contact for several minutes, but every time I tried to relax & increase the pace, I quickly red-lined.
By mile 6, the wheels started coming off. Through the hills in the 7th and 8th miles, I hit both splits slower than 6 minutes. I slowed down to get a full drink of water at the last water stop and couldn't believe how thirsty I was. At least I dropped my pace back under 6 minutes for the last 3 miles, but I fell from 8th place at the 4 mile mark, to 16th at the finish. I'm glad I didn't realize that 48 year old Linda Summers-Smith was less than 30 seconds back, enroute to a new American age group record, because I probably would have gotten scared & run slower. Congrats to her for setting yet another age group record, as well as the women's course record. She also holds the course record for the next PA race on the schedule, which she set in 1995! My final result was 16th place in 56:54.
Shortly after the race I started getting the chills, despite the heat. I wasn't the only runner who struggled, as quite a few runners ran 1-2 minutes slower than they normally would (I was almost 4 minutes slower than my 10 mile split at the Humboldt Half Marathon). Among my buddies, Todd ran well, finishing 4th in 53:47, and Rebel's runner Mike Styczynski ran a PR for 5th in 53:52. Dana joined me for the trip, and although her longest recent run was 6 miles, she felt good over 10 miles, running 1:28. She's excited to use this as a kickstart for her running this Spring.
On the drive home, I had plenty of time to think about the race. If I came up with anything wrong I had done in training, I'd be completely nit-picking. I've run consistent mileage (most weeks between 55 and 65 miles), and gotten 2 solid workouts in every week without over doing it. Maybe I hadn't done a lot of race sharpening work, but that doesn't mean I was unprepared. Maybe I was a little run-down from having been at 8000 feet for 5 days the prior week, or maybe I had a low grade illness (I was feeling a bit "off" after work the day before). Or perhaps I was just unlucky that my 2 off days in 2010 happened to be my race days.
The only thing I can say I was doing wrong was to let a bit of anxiety sneak into some of my workouts & the races. I need to get back to my "just run" philosophy that treated me so well last Fall, and to enjoy the ability that God has given me.
I'll sign off by sharing something I read in Running Times which came in the mail today. Greg McMillan, who coaches several elite runners, including 2:10 marathoner Brett Gotcher, listed "The Five Habits of Highly Effective Runners" (with my own comments)
#1: Don't Dwell: The idea is to shake off bad workouts or races move forward. Every runner has a few bad ones every season, and the best runners drop them and move forward. Well... I know I just wrote a blog post about my crappy race, but hopefully the point comes across that my training is there, so I just need to keep it going. But I am the very analytical type, so this is hard for me sometimes.
#2: Fine Your Sweet Spot in Training: When I first read this, I thought it meant to train your strengths, but I was wrong. The idea is to train at a consistency where you advance your fitness, but not so hard that you struggle to get from workout to workout. This is one thing I have done very well recently.
#3: Focus on Consistency: I really think this is an extension of #2. Don't be a hero in one workout, then barely be able to run the rest of the week. Rather train in such a way where you're building momentum throughout the season.
#4: Be tenacious: I've summed this idea up several times by saying "just run". Being tenacious is important on many levels. You have to be tenacious throughout the grind of training, and over the miles of a race. I'm realizing that "just run" is really an abbreviation for "just keep running and stop thinking so damn much".
#5: Build Your Confidence Consistently: Trust your preparation!
Great points from someone who coaches some amazing runners!
The next race for me will be the Across the Bay 12K a week from Sunday.
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