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You’re gonna be a great pacer man!

Thanks Brother! I’m really looking forward to it…and a bit nervous 🙂

Our group run today was a preview of the first 8.5-miles of the Country Music Marathon (CMM) course. The plan was to meet at Dan’s house and run 1.5-miles to Centennial Park where the official start line is located. My schedule called for 12 to 14 miles today, so Nathan and I met a bit early to run some easy warmup miles on Belmont before joining the group at 6:30.

Our warmup plus the 1.5-miles to Centennial Park ended up being around 4-miles at a very easy 9:00ish pace. Once we reached the park, Dan asked me if I would run with him from that point forward at his planned race pace (8:00). Most of the rest of the group wanted to run a bit easier, so I was happy to join him. The two of us along with Nathan ran the rest of the way together and averaged around 7:45 splits while we were on the CMM course.

This was a highly enjoyable run, with great conversation, in absolutely perfect weather conditions. When Nathan and I were warming up it was cool and raining pretty steady. By the time we reached the park the rain had stopped and the temps were fantastic. I wish that we could save today’s weather for next weekend. The 7:45 pace was comfortable throughout, and I was quite pleased at how good my legs felt. It was another one of those mornings where I felt like I could have run for a long time. Once we got back to Dan’s house I was right at 12.5-miles, so the three of us did a 1.5-mile cool down on Belmont before heading out to Fido for a delightful breakfast with the group.

I was glad to get one last preview of the course before leading the 4-hour pace group next week. Even though I’ve run most of the first half many times before, there is now a section on Granny White Pike that is new to me. This part is gonna be tough for those that are pushing their pace. It has 4 or 5 pretty good hills before getting back to Wedgewood and Music Row. Overall, the changes they made to the route last year have increased the difficulty of an already challenging course. I hope that I’m able to help some runners with a sub 4-hour (or 2-hour) goal to make it through these tough spots and stay on pace to the end.

Beast Mode…ON!

Very interesting video that highlights the running of Scott Jurek and includes segments with the late Caballo Blanco (Micah True) and Christoper McDougall (Born to Run). Fascinating presentation of how his interaction with the Tarahumara changed his view of running and what it means to him. 

Today’s schedule was for an easy 4-miles with 6 x 100m stride outs at the end. I met Nathan at Bellevue Church of Christ after he had already completed 3 miles. As usual for Friday I ran in my Saucony Hattoris. This was by far my easiest-paced run of the week with miles one and two in the 9:40s and miles 3 and 4 in the 9:10s. I think the reason for the slow pace was two-fold:

1. It had only been a little over 12 hours since my 8.4-mile track workout last night, so I was still a bit fatigued.
2. I kinda got lost in conversation with Nathan and never really thought about pace or how I was feeling…I just went out for a run. Nathan was probably thinking “why are we going to slow?” but he never said anything.

At the finish of the 4-mile loop through Bellevue, we did our stride outs in the church  parking lot, and ran them pretty hard (5:40ish pace). Running fast in my Hattoris actually feels really, really good. I love getting up on my toes and just letting it fly.

Beast Mode….ON!

Saucony Kinvara 3 Review “Three is a magic number” (@Bintherun believeintherun.com)

It was a warm day in Music City and a warm evening at track tonight with the JSRC. Our group was a bit smaller than usual since we had 11 people participating in either the Southern Indiana Classic or Boston Marathons last weekend. However, we were joined for the first time by my friends Mark and Josh from our church, and it was good to have them with us.

After a 3-mile warmup, including 6 x 100m stride outs, our workout consisted of 3 sets of 1000m (300m Recovery), 400m (400m Recovery). For the first set my legs felt very rubbery, especially during the 400m interval. I told Paxton this must have been due to the hard tempo effort on Tuesday morning. However, I felt much better during the second set, and fantastic during the final set. After the workout John said that this was good, but maybe in the future I should think about pushing the pace a little bit more or running an extra set since I felt so fresh at the end.

We finished up with a nice, easy cool down jog around Vanderbilt, which marked 8.4-miles completed for the evening. After track most of us headed out to the Dog of Nashville for a fun dinner. Great evening!

Beast Mode….ON!

Great video from @missionlazarus and my friend @sethdaggett on the making of their San Lazaro Estate Coffee. This really is fantastic coffee, and it helps support the amazing work being doing in Southern Honduras by Mission Lazarus.

missionlazarus:

Do you drink coffee? Are you drinking coffee right now? Check out this new video on the coffee process–from start to finish.

***

Music by the fine folks of Seryn – Make sure you check them out at serynsound.com

Learn more or try some of our coffee for yourself – sanlazaroestatecoffee.com

Game Changers: Desiree Davila (ESPN) – Awesome video and article by Bonnie Ford of ESPN on American Olympic Marathon Qualifier Desiree Davila. Definitely worth a watch and a read. While I have serious doubts about the ability of our men’s team to compete for a medal in London, our Women’s team is gonna be tough. I’m especially pulling for Desi. Go U.S.A.!

After a hard effort yesterday, it was nice to get in some easy recovery miles in my Hattoris through Bellevue on a pleasant and sunny morning. The schedule was 4-miles easy followed by 6 x 100m stride outs. 

I finished the first mile in around 9 min, before I settled into an 8:15ish pace for the remaining 3. At first my legs were really sore from P90X on Monday and the tempo run yesterday, but this quickly faded. My legs are definitely tired, but they still felt pretty good throughout the run, even during the 6 x 100m stride outs at the end which were at 6:18 pace.

I’ve got tomorrow morning off in prep for the track workout with the JSRC tomorrow night. It will be nice to sleep in a bit 🙂

Beast Mode….ON!

The Salomon S-Lab Sense is a new light-weight trail racing shoe that is set to launch in May. It was developed specifically for ultra running superstar Killian Jornet, and was worn during his major wins in 2011 including the Western States 100. Even though I’m a Saucony guy (and much more of a road guy than a trail guy), this shoe is extremely intriguing to me for a few reasons:

• It is a 6.5-ounce trail shoe, but it looks much, much more substantial than any other sub 7-ounce trail shoe I’ve ever seen before. For example, it weights less than the Merrell Trail Glove which basically looks like a slipper compared to the Sense.
• The reviews are almost universally glowing (Example1, Example2), and make it seem like this is some type of alien technology super-shoe.
• The MSRP is $200!!!! I don’t care how good it is, are people other than elite racers actually going to drop $200 for a trail shoe?

Anybody else out there intrigued by the Salomon S-Lab Sense?

http://nhl.cdn.neulion.net/u/videocenter/embed.swf

PREDS WIN! In honor of the Nashville Predators 3-1 win over the Wings, and their first ever 3-1 playoff series lead, here is a video clip of the game winning goal. I love how Marty Erat takes three Red Wings’ players with him, along with Howard the goalie, and then makes the perfect pass to Klein who buries it in the open net. Go Preds!

Now let’s finish off the Wings on Friday Night!

The mini is my favorite race!

I LOVE the Mini….This will be my fourth year in a row to run it. It is by far the most well organized big race I’ve ever participated in, and the only race that I’ve run each of the past four years.

I just love your pace!

Thanks so much! Working really hard to try and get to Boston 🙂

Also….Mega kudos on a sub 4-hour time in your first marathon!! That was exactly what my goal was for my first in Chicago back in 2009. This is an accomplishment you should be really proud of…Congratulations!

I can’t wait until I have children and I can read HP with them.

Having kids is full of awesome experiences!

With a 6-mile run yesterday afternoon and P90X: Legs and Back last night, my legs were fairly tired before we ever got started this morning. The schedule called for 8-miles including a 2-mile warmup, 5-miles at goal half marathon pace, and a 1-mile cool down. For this run I met Paxton and Nathan at the Edwin Warner Park Nature Center, and we ran along the Harpeth River Greenway.

After a leisurely 2-mile warmup we started the tempo portion together. Since they were targeting a different pace from me, I decided to break up the tempo section into 2 x 2.5-mile out and backs on the Greenway. This way we would stay close to each other and be able to run the cool-down together. My goal pace for the upcoming 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis is 6:42, so this was the target I had in mind for the tempo section. Since my legs were fairly tired I tried to think of this like running the last 5-miles of a race.

At the start, my left shoe came untied about halfway through the first mile which forced me to stop and then restart. This disrupted my rhythm slightly and led to a 6:51 first mile. My second mile felt very good and I completed it in 6:37. Paxton ran mile three with me, and we were way too fast at 6:31. I ended up paying for this during mile four which was 6:43, but is still close to my goal pace. I had regained my wind for the last mile which I finished in 6:37. Once we were all back together we ran a cool down mile back to the cars.

Overall the tempo section felt pretty smooth. I could definitely feel the fatigue in my legs, but my heart and breathing were not a real issue, except for the mile that I ran too fast. Even with that mistake, I’m still very pleased with the run. Tomorrow will be a recovery day with 4-miles scheduled followed by 6 x 100m stride outs.

Beast Mode…ON!

Save the Date: The Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon

What a Nasty, Nasty, Nasty day for those running Boston. I had several friends that toed this line this morning, and I’m so proud of those that finished in such brutal conditions. Even though I’m eager to run Boston for the first time, I’m hoping that my first experience will be accompanied by cooler temperatures.

Back here in Nashville, my schedule called for an easy 6-miles followed by 4 x 100m stride outs. I wan’t able to get it in this morning, so it ended up being an afternoon run when the temps and humidity were up a bit after morning showers. As instructed by John, I just tried to run by feel which led to a 7:51 overall average before the stride outs. This was faster than I expected, but still felt pretty relaxed overall. My first mile was around 8:20, but the remaining 5 were all under 8:00 with the final 3 under 7:45. My legs felt great, and other that sweating like a fountain, the temps and humidity did not seem to have a big effect.

Tonight Olivia and I are supposed to do P90X Legs and Back, and then tomorrow’s schedule calls for 8-miles with 5-miles at goal half marathon pace (6:42). I’m thinking this will be a tough effort, but will be good prep leading up to the 500 Festival Mini Marathon which is 3-weeks from Saturday. This is the largest half marathon in the country, and my goal is to finish in the top 500. The first 500 across the finish line receive a special medal, and Paxton and I just barely missed out on this last year.

Beast Mode…ON!

What a highly enjoyable run through the streets of Nashville. My schedule called for 12 to 14 miles at an easy pace. Our plan was to run part of the second half of the Country Music Marathon course so that I could get a good preview before I attempt to lead the 4-hour pace group in two weeks. Even though I’ve run this race before, the organizers made some significant changes to the second half last year and I wanted to be able see these first-hand before race day.

We started out by LP Field (Titan’s Stadium), and I was joined by Marc, Dawn, Jenny, and Paxton from our running group. In our weekly email, Dan had said that the pace would be “Big Dog relaxed,” and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what that means 🙂 …however we kept things very easy throughout. Paxton and I ended up with 14+ miles, and 8 of those were over 9:00 minutes. My body doesn’t quite feel comfortable running at that pace, but it was good to get in some practice since I’ll have to maintain 9:09 splits for the marathon.

At the start we basically ran the half marathon course backwards until we intersected with the point where the full breaks off at Bicentennial Mall near the Capitol building. From there we were able to cover almost the entire second half of the course through Metro Center, Downtown, and East Nashville, with the exception of the loop in Shelby Park which I’m very familiar with. Marc, Dawn and Jenny broke off from Paxton and I around 10 miles at 5th Avenue South and headed back to the stadium. Paxton and I continued down 5th to Davidson, turned around at Shelby Park, and then headed back to 5th and Woodland where the marathon finishes. We picked up the pace slightly for the last 3 miles which felt great. The new finish adds quite a few hills which will be daunting for those who are struggling at the end.

This was one of those days where I felt like I could run forever, and honestly had my schedule from John not said “12 to 14,” I would have been very tempted to keep going for at least a few more miles. My legs felt great and the run was very enjoyable with good friends. After the run we all went to Sky Blue Cafe in Edgefield (East Nashville) for breakfast, and it was fantastic! We were joined by Janna and Emma who had run a different route, and Dan who leaves tomorrow morning for the Boston Marathon (Go Dan!).

Great morning….Beast…..Mode…..On!

Good question….when I first started running a little over 5 years ago, it was always with music. However, as I was training for my first long-distance race in 2008 the USTAFA banned headphones for all certified races (they have since repealed this ruling). Once I learned of this ban, I immediately stopped using music so I could learn to run without. From that point forward I’ve never gone back, and have no plans to run with headphones again.

There are several reasons for this:

1. I found that it was easier to get lost in the rhythm of running without music. While music can keep you entertained, my running rhythm tended to vary depending on what was playing at the time.
2. I do a large percentage of my running on public roads (with traffic) and feel MUCH safer without headphones.
3. Related to number 2, I like to be as aware of my surroundings as possible, especially when racing. In some of the bigger races I’ve participated in, it is common for other runners to bump in me or in some cases practically run me over. Almost always when this happens I look up to see that they have headphones in.
4. Finally, I do as much running as possible with friends, and I would much rather talk to them than listen to music.

Well…there it is. All that being said, I don’t have anything against people running with music, and as a matter of fact my wife usually runs with headphones. Just not my preference these days. Probably much more than you wanted 🙂

This morning’s schedule called for an easy 4-mile run with 4 x 100m stride outs at the end. My plan was to do this in my Saucony Hattoris since I’m trying to increase my total “barefoot” mileage. I woke up very late to meet Nathan, so I sent him a text to start without me and I would intersect him at some point on the route.

Trying to catch up with Nathan made my splits a little uneven, but all were very easy recovery miles. This felt really good after the hard track workout last night. I’m a little sore after track, but nothing that interfered with the run this morning. By the time we came to the 4 x 100m stride outs, my legs felt really, really good and I thoroughly enjoyed the short bursts of going fast.

It turned out to be a perfect morning with sunny skies and temps around 40 degrees. Tomorrow the temps are supposed to start going back up with lows only into the 50s overnight after 3 straight days in the 30s. Our group is meeting tomorrow at LP Field for a 12-14 mile run using the route for the second half of the Country Music Marathon that will be two weeks from Saturday. I’m glad to be getting this preview run since I’ll be leading the 4-hour pace group for the marathon. I’ve run the first half of the course many times, but have never run the second half after they changed it for last year’s race.

Beast Mode….ON!