8/1/2012

^^My Favorite Billboard in Eugene

I will try to start using this blog more as we head into the 2013 season. Ideally, I'd like to post a lot of my training, motivation, and updates on whatever else is going on with the Indiana Invaders here. I feel if we could use our personal pages as an outlet to attract fans, runners, etc. it could be great!

The summer has been very busy and went by fast. The first thing you need to know about me is that I work nights. I work 6pm-6am. I do so on a two week rotation. The first week, I work 60 hours (M,T,F,S,Su) and the second week only 24 (W,Th). It has definitely been an adjustment but so far it has gone quite well. 

For one, the high school team that I help out with as an assistant coach holds summer practice at 7:30 am. I have been making it to about 50% of the practices I would say. Some days, I stay up after work at go straight there, other times when I'm off, I try to head to bed at 3 or so in order to get a few hours sleep before running with them. I then take a nap during the day.

I also had the opportunity to go out to Eugene for 10 days to watch the Olympic Trials as a fan with my wife, Sarah. The experience left me more motivated than ever. I want so badly to be someone that you can count on making a run at the finals at every US Championship, indoor at out. 

This past indoor season ended dissapointingly. My training and adjustment to my new sleep schedule really screwed with my training for about a month. I was able to run a personal best, but also ran very poor many times. This bothered me very much. I hate being someone who races inconsistently. I would much rather be someone you can count on every week than someone you wonder how they will compete. I also got sick at a very inopportune time smack dab in the middle of the AMC High Performance Series. Stupidly, I tried to race through the sickness and didnt recover as quick as I would have otherwise. 

My mileage was very low this outdoor season. I never got over 40 miles and was only able to get a long run in every 2-3 weeks. My workouts were very good but because of my lack of base, I spent most of my other days recovering. I am sure that with a better base and knowledge of our training blocks, I will handle the training stress much better going into my second year on the team. 

Last summer, I was unable to really get any base what-so-ever. At this time last year, I still had not thought seriously about joining the Invaders. Instead, I trained myself and raced during August/September and competed in the World Police and Fire Games in New York at Icahn Stadium. The experience was awesome and I am very happy I did it. My wife and I learned that the big city was not for us however. I did win two golds, a silver, and a bronze in the 800, 5k, 3000 Steeple, at 1500. I'd be lying a bit if I said I didn't fall in love with the Steeple a little bit. Maybe again in a few years ;).

Immediately upon returning from WPFG, I joined the Invaders which was right at the time when they started team workouts. My first week back, I joined the team in workouts. From that point on, the rest is history. Still, I did not get over 50 miles at all last summer/fall/winter. I generally like to get at least 8-12 solid weeks between 50-70 miles. I could feel that I was not as strong as I wanted to be as the indoor and outdoor seasons concluded. I was very worn down. 

So back to this summer, my goal was to get as much base as my body could handle. I think this will allow me to race competively into July next year and also do very well at 1500 when I need to. Ultimately, 1500 is a good event for me, though my endurance is not where it needs to be. I have been at 70 miles only once before, and I learned it was very hard for me to handle. That was two years ago though, and I think I am more mature than then and will keep a close eye on how I feel. 

After my last race this June, I took one day off and went straight into summer base. I felt I could do this because of my low spring mileage. I really never had any aches or pains and my body was not terribly stressed. 

Since then my mileage has been as follows:

42
45
41 (6 days)
50
55
60

This week, I am taking another down week on 6 days work. I do so every fourth week to make sure I am not putting too much stress on my body. My goal is to be at 70 miles in the next 2 weeks and hold that as long as I can, hopefully through November. Ultimately though, the workouts that we do are very strenuous and rest is important. I know that I need to listen to my body and I know what I'm capable of. On the plus side, I have already lost 3 lbs., which I could probably stand to lose.

I have gotten much better about doing core work and I can already feel the benefits. I am doing about 15 minutes ever other day. I started out doing very good at stretching (I'm horribly flexible), but when I had poison oak the past two weeks, I wasn't able to really sit on the ground at all. Id like to continue to get better at these aspects and also add in some plyo's, pure speed work, the next few weeks. 

When I say "pure speed work", I have a very specific routine I do. It was suggested to me by an old coach (Gafner). I do a 2 mile warmup, workout drills, then 8-10 x 10-12 second hill at a very steep incline @ 100% effort. I take full rest in between. The goal is to be as explosive and anaerobic as possible. It helps put a pop in your step and I feel really helps me maintain my speed in the off season. The full rest allows me to get my heart rate down so I am not depending on my aerobic system at all. Purely fast twitch. I try not to even do a long cool down afterwards because I don't want to confuse my muscles. I did this workout tonight for the first time. Afterwards, I did 3/4 mile barefoot running at 7:00-8:00 pace on the grass at the middle school. That is something that I am also hoping to implement this season. Running as hard as a middle distance runner needs to on an indoor track really puts a lot of stress on your feet/lower extremeties. By doing some barefoot running, I hope to strengthen the smaller bones/muscles in my feet so that I can absorb the impact better come indoor. I'd like to do this twice a week working up to about 15 minutes. 

This workout is best done in a seperate session during the day. I like to do it as my first workout and just get the metabolism going. I will rest for the rest of the day and do an evening run for my mileage. 

That's all for now. I will try to update my training on at least a weekly basis. On a side note, I did jump in a 5k last weekend with my high school guys here in town. I was pleasantly suprised when I PR'd in 15:08! The team looked great as well, putting 6 guys between 16:29 and 16:52!

Thanks to anybody reading!

(I'm not really a HUGE Pre fan, just another classic picture we shot while in Eugene)