Break time

It’s been a little while since my last proper break from running. Over the past 13 months, I think I’ve taken a total of 9-10 days off including a week stretch in May when I was sick. This is by far the longest I’ve gone without taking a good 2 weeks to completely recover from all the nagging injuries that come with running. Really, there is never a good time to take a break since there is always a race coming that you would like to do, but sometimes, your body makes that choice for you.

I’m coming home from the US 20k Championships, which is now the site of one of my biggest blow-ups to date. My plan was to go out somewhat conservative and work my way into the top 5 towards the later stages of the race. I was actually in good position to execute the plan for the first 5 miles. The lead pack was a manageable distance away and runners were starting to come back. By 5.5 miles, I was completely cashed. The legs weren’t responding at all, and I started going backwards in a hurry. In hindsight, the 20k was probably a little ambitious after running a fairly tough Half Marathon 2 weeks before. Obviously, my legs didn’t recover in time and if I had to do it again, I would have skipped the 20k and focused on the 5k Championships that will take place in 2 weeks. Hindsight …

The Half Marathon I mentioned happened in San Diego 2 weeks ago. I ended up placing third with a time of 1:04:20 on a course that had some serious hills (up and down). I was hoping to run a little faster going into the race and was on track at 10 miles to do so (around 48:00). However, the biggest hills came at the end of the race and put a hurt on everyone. Overall, I was pleased with the result since it was a Trials qualifier in the marathon. Now, the focus will shift to preparing for the Trials in January and hoping my body will be able to handle the training necessary to do well in a marathon. We’ll see.

Also, my wife and I had our daughter August 6. Here she is:

August 22-28

Monday:      90 minutes easy (12)

Tuesday:      20 x 1 on/off @ 90-95 % (13)

Wednesday: 105 min. easy (16)

Thursday:     85 min. easy (12)

Friday:         A.M. 4 x 3k w/ 3:30 rest 9:27, 9:18, 9:19 (12), 9:33 P.M. 30 easy (4)

Saturday:     A.M. 30 min. easy (4) P.M. 60 min. easy (8)

Sunday:       160 min. (24)

Total:           107

With only 6 weeks between now and Chicago I'm feeling pretty good.  The 3k's were tough but I mainly focused on getting in the mileage, whiling attempting to adjust to working again.  The next 4 weeks are slated to be 115, 130, 130, 120.  Time to buckle down. 

Ouch!

So, after months of not being able to run well and feeling run down, I'm so happy to say that I think I am back in the game. Today was my first little workout. In two months (hopefully sooner) I'm sure i'll look back and laugh at my puny workout. Today, however, was no laughing matter. With double side cramps, fighting a cold, and a little asthma for good measure, it was painful! But, I made it through without making any bargains and fighting the whole way through! regardless of where my fitness is, that is all I can ever ask for :-) There is nowhere to go but up from here!

What does running mean to you?

This is what I have been asking myself since last week when Scott asked everyone on the team just that. The funny thing is right now this is such a loaded question. When I got the chance to work with Scott I thought wow this is great nothing but good things could come from this and than I soon realized a lot of things were about to change. So what did running mean to me really? Was it worth all the drama, was it worth having to walk away from things that I love, was it worth losing relationships with people I thought would always be on my side? Than out on my second run today with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I realized what running means to me...........
To me running is inspiring people to do things they never thought they would or could. Like my best friend who started running just to lose weight who can now run 7-8 miles and no matter how slow she thinks it is she is RUNNING 7-8 miles! Not everyone can say that! Its my long time friend who is going to run his first half marathon in October who asks for advice and I get to see post how he just finished a 5 mile run in heat. There are days I don't want to run in heat and he is out there kicking butt! It's my husband waking up every day at 4 am so he can go run 3 miles (if you knew how much he hates running it's a big deal)and show his kids he can race the Race against Cancer. It's the people I see at track group every Wednesday running their hearts out and giving it their all no matter if they are the fastest on the track or the slowest. It's my kids asking me how my race went and honestly giving me crap when I don't win. It's them knowing how hard I work to be able to toe the line with some of the best. It's my training partners who go out and do workouts And runs they would prefer to not do, but they are always there to help me get through it. Most of all it's all those people telling me how amazing I am to be able to run as fast as I am and still be a mom to two very active boys. Yes I know I am not even close to being the fastest mom i mean look at Kara Goucher, Colleen De Roucke, Magdalena Lewy Boulet (seriously rocking a 5k pr that anyone at any age would take) and Nan Kennard just to name a few could all kick my butt with little to no effort at all. All of these people think I am the one inspiring them when the truth is it's the other way around. I get through the hard workouts that make me want to throw up and quit, through the races that I am getting my butt kicked at, through the victories, the PR's and everything in between because of them! My inspiration is knowing they are rooting for me, knowing they believe in me when I don't even believe in myself.
Yes I have definitely given up a few things lately that I really enjoy and wanted to continue to do, lost some important friendships and have taken a risk that I can not guarantee will pay off. But I have those amazing people behind me, family, friends, Scott taking a chance on a nobody, my amazing teammates who inspire me and give me so much advice and a dream! next week when I toe the line in Edmonton I would love to get the PR I am looking for, I will dig as deep as I can, but if I don't I know it does not define me. My kids, family, friends and faith are what defines me. Running is just an added benefit.
So to the answer the question. What does running mean to me? It means EVERYTHING and NOTHING all at the same time

Evergreen Town Race

Evergreen has got to be one of my favorite places in Colorado. It's so beautiful and a fun place to be. This past weekend they hosted the USATF Colorado State Championship for the 10k. Typically I (and most others) race the 5k since the course is quite a bit downhill and fast. This year the Colorado State Championship designation attracted many of us from the BRC team (Jay, Wendy, Robby, Paul, Christy-Marie) and other elite athletes. The 10k was a bit less organized than the 5k, but I don't think they usually get as many runners as they did this year. There was limited parking and the bus was quite late. Luckily we had a great bus driver who understood the importance of getting to the top quickly; she must have made record time.
With 35 minutes to warm up I was a bit nervous if I was loosened up enough. Luckily the 10k is long enough where a short warm up can work as good as a long one.
The first mile was quick with a steep downhill and adrenaline pumping. I stayed relaxed on miles 2 and 3, then picked it up to get out of no-mans-land to catch up to the guys ahead of me to keep focused. Thanks to those wonderful guys for being tough and dragging me to the bottom of the hill. I was dead with 1/2 mile to go, but finished the best I could. I finished first in a time of 34:40!! Close in 2nd was Wendy Thomas, then Candice Chavez, and for fourth, Kristin Johansen. It was a good day!
The awards ceremony was excellent and their were some great sponsors (Thanks runcolo, Honey Milk, USATF, and whoever donated the beautiful painting of Evergreen Lake). I was excited to see my family, many running friends, and other friends from the past that showed up to the race.
Now I'm extremely sore and tired from the pounding of the downhill. Yesterday I was a turtle, hopefully today I will feel better.

Comeback A Success So Far

It's great to be back to full training after 9 months of not being able. As I've said many times here, I was out for 5 months with a foot injury and then while coming back I was dealing with bad tendinitis in the same area and was stuck at relatively low mileage for the first 4 months back. Since then I've been hitting the PT's prescribed drills very hard and all issues are nearly resolved. In fact my foot has hurt just a few times in the last 3 weeks. I've been able to get some really solid mileage averaging just over 100 a week for the past 6 weeks. It feels great to be getting back into shape again but my fitness has come along very slowly. I still don't feel like I'm in great shape but I think a few more weeks and I'll be ready to go.

My next big race is The Great Cow Harbor 10k out in Long Island, New York in mid September. I'm excited to go back after missing last years race. They put on an excellent event and treat all of the 'elite' runners very well. I don't really consider myself elite but I guess I'm fast enough to make the cut to be one of a group that gets help with a portion of the cost to fly out and they even put us up with a great family while out there.

Most importantly though is that the year is about to get started for the Mountaineers down at Western and I'm very excited to get back to coaching after the summer break. We are going to have a great team again this year on both the mens and womens sides with an excellent chance to challenge for the win. As always though, there will be some very stiff competition and I know those boys and girls down south will be doin work.

On a final note I wanted to welcome Sean Brown and Loren Ahonen to the team. Both of them are recent Western State grads who I had the pleasure of being teammates with and coaching for several years. They both boast some pretty good PRs so watch out.

Bix 7 Diaper money

I’m sitting at DIA with some extra time on my hands (partly thanks to United Airlines who feel they should be compensated $75 if I am going to fill a vacant seat trying to get home on an earlier connecting flight), so I figured this would be a good time to update the blog. I’m returning home after competing in my third straight Bix 7 mile this morning in Davenport, Iowa. Bix is probably the toughest road race I have run. (see course at http://www.bix7.com/2011/bix.php) The course is extremely hilly, but it’s the heat and humidity that really put it over the top. I’m not exactly sure what the temp and humidity levels were – all I can really say was that it was hot as hell out there. Despite the conditions, I was pleased with the result today. I went out fairly conservative just off the second pack for the first 2.5 miles. Familiarity with the course definitely helps, and I knew the predominantly downhill first third of the race turns into grinding uphills real quick. It was around the second big uphill (mile 2.5-3) that I surged into 6^th place and tried to make a move to catch a couple Kenyans falling off the lead pack. I was slowly closing the gap through miles 3 and 4, but then started hitting the wall myself. The last 2 miles turned into a death march that I’m sure we’re all familiar with. I was hanging on to the 1^st American position as best I could, but when Abdi passed me around mile 5.5, I couldn’t muster any response. I ended up 7^th overall and 2^nd American. I felt it was a pretty solid effort but not a great race.

I actually wasn’t planning on running Bix this year. My wife is 8.5 months pregnant with our first child, and it took some lawyer-like arguing to convince her that it was a good idea to run. I ended up spending about 18 hours total in Davenport and was calling every hour to make sure Courtney wasn’t going into labor. Looks like I’ll catch the birth of my first child after all.

"Positivity" and Boulder Rocks My Face Off

Ever been asked, "if you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?" Einstein? The President? Elvis? Nastrodamus? God? Paul Michel? All good answers, but I'll tell you who you answer should be: Jason Hartmann. Why? Because he's a swell guy. And as it turned out, I did in fact have dinner with him while hanging out with some friends a couple of weeks ago. We got into some kind of lengthy and highly philosophical conversation about priorities in life, figuring out what you're doing, and more importantly why you're doing it. Sometimes someone tells you precisely what you needed to hear without even knowing that you really needed to hear it. I was interested to hear about his approach to his running given that technically it is his job, and as such it could easily become a chore and merely a means to an end. The bottom line of his subsequent impassioned (and unrehearsed) rant that followed was that life is all about finding a dream to chase, and chasing it for the right reasons. Do something because you love it and because you want to see what you can make of it. Live simply, cut out the distractions, stay away from people and situations that bring you down, the hinderances, and things that take the joy from it and complicate things that should be simple. Don't do it to make a name for yourself or to prove anything. His brilliant analogy was that of chef that starts out with a great recipe and starts trying to make it "better" by adding more and more, till eventually it's not as good anymore. "Positivity!" Was how he summed it up. While not all exactly his words, you get the gist. Positivity!

Long run near Boulder Res.

Moving on. At the risk of jinxing myself, I will say that training and racing is going GREAT! I've finally been able to get my mileage back up to a greater volume than I have in nearly four years, and I feel awesome. Seriously, there have been a few Sundays when I have been sorely tempted to sneak in another run in the evening after a long run. It's like, "What?! Where did all of this energy come from? Where has this been all this time??!!" It's like I'm high on whatever it is that they smoke here except I'm not smoking it! I have even come to enjoy track sessions. Astonishing I know. Boulder is AMAZING!!! Soooo many trails, soooo many good training partners, and Boulder Creek is the best ice tub you could ask for. I could not ask for a better place to train, and a better environment to be part of.

Last Saturday was the Classic 10k in Springs, which went pretty well! It was actually my first 10k race not on a track, and first one at altitude, so it was an altitude PR (by default, but who's keeping track?). While perhaps I could have raced more intelligently (that first 5k has you thinking you'll feel like a champ the whole way) I was still pleased with the result and felt pretty strong. It was good to see the BRC out there repping and HUGE congrats to Tera who is on a comeback of epic proportions! Great job to Adrian, Steph, Sara, Aucencio, Matt, Tommy, Adam and Robby. Lots of green in the field that day. Keep the good races coming! Out.

July Training

Wow

Again WOW is pretty much how my training has been going. Well I'm back to fitness from 2 years ago and it's just the right time to have a good build up for this fall and going into the Olympic Trials in January.

Last couple of weeks...

20 x 400m avg. 66 seconds.

10k tempo/race ran 31.02

next day/sunday 16mile progressive long run- total 1.31- last 3 miles 5.30, 5.38, 5.18

tuesday- 6x mile with Cody Hill and David "Greenhorn" Marino help. avg. 4.43 per mile

friday/today- 6 mile progressive tempo- fast first mile 4.59, 5.08, 5.04, 5.03, 4.58, 4.46

feeling very good today after the workout and ready for more! my next races looks like sept. 5th Park to Park 10miler Denver, CO, sept 17th The Great Cow Harbor 10k Northport, NY, Oct. 3rd USATF 10 Mile Championships in Minneapolis, MN.

I know for a fact that i'm going to be extremely ready them and it will be a lot of fun seeing what I can do in them.

Oh yeah, it's nice to hear Paul Michaels is back in colorado and i know that Banana Hands Hayfer is back running and Aucencio is back racing this past weekend at the classic 10k! Plus, American Distance Project is starting to really form now with Scott Simmons being in town for a couple of weeks. We now have Chris Barnicle, Renee and Austin Baillie that are moved into town for the group. More to come about the group the closer we get to Oct....

Tommy

Foot healed and running underway!

Good news last week, the bone in my foot has healed nicely, and I was given the ok to gradually start running again. The very first run went surprisingly well, not only with the foot but also my fitness and just the awesome feeling of running that I've missed. Since then, I ran two days, took a day off, ran two more days, and am swimming today. The runs themselves have been 20 - 40 min, plus the Incline yesterday. The legs and foot are a bit sore, but that will keep me from doing too much too fast. It's a good kind of sore that should keep getting better. I can't wait to get back to running my favorite trails with friends again.

There were some awesome performances by those who raced the Classic 10k this weekend, especially considering how competitive it was! Nice job Tera, Shannon, Adrian, Adam, Robby, Tommy, and Matt. Sorry if I missed anyone.