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Next year this time, you’ll be in Boston!

Thanks Nikky! I’m definitely gonna give it everything I’ve got. Thanks for the encouragement. I really appreciate it.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE WHITE HORSE By: CHRISTOPHER MCDOUGALL (Outside Magazine)

What a beautiful spring day in Middle Tennessee with sunny skies and high’s in the mid-60s. This awesome day made for a perfect evening for a track workout with the JSRC. Tonight’s workout consisted of 2-sets of…

• 800m (200m)
• 600m (200m)
• 400m (200m)
• 3 x 200m (100m) [800m] 

This made for a fairly long workout with 5-miles of intervals and recoveries. I ended up running slightly harder than in recent workouts, but I think a lot of that had to do with the great weather and having all easy-paced runs so far this week. My legs and lungs felt pretty good throughout the workout, though my pace lagged by a few seconds in the second 600m and in two of the final three 200m intervals. Always room for improvement.

With warmup the final total was 8.3-miles completed on the night. Tomorrow the schedule calls for 4 easy-paced miles with 4 x 100m stride outs, and it is supposed to be below 40 degrees again. I guess that means at least one more day wearing tights. I’m hoping that it will be warm enough Saturday morning to not have to wear tights for the scheduled 14-miler.

Beast Mode…ON!

I feel I’ll never run Boston, and sometimes I don’t know how to feel about it. One side of me, well hates the BAA, but then the other side of me, just wants to run it once just to share in the history of it. Until then – SIGH!

I totally understand the conflict, and was actually thinking about it earlier today. I too despise the policies and the qualification system devised by the BAA, but at the same time I know that my running journey will feel incomplete if I never run Boston.

Another day, another easy-paced run with Nathan in Bellevue. Today’s schedule called for 6-miles at easy pace followed by 4 x 100m stride outs. As has become somewhat routine for Wednesdays, I ran in my Hattoris which inevitably made the pace a little slower than the easy-paced runs on Monday and Tuesday.

I’ve done so much running in Bellevue recently that I suggested to Nathan that we mix it up a bit with a lap around the old, and empty, Bellevue Center Mall (it’s a bit depressing). Our first mile was just under 10-minute pace before we dropped it down to a consistent 8:40ish pace for the remaining miles. My legs still continue to improve after the race on Saturday, with no more lingering soreness.

We ended up doing the 4 x 100m stride outs in the parking lot of Bellevue Church of Christ. This is the first time I’ve ever done stride outs in my Hattoris, but it felt pretty good. I actually feel like I have the capacity for a much faster turnover when I’m up on my forefoot.

No scheduled run tomorrow morning, but tomorrow night is track practice with the JSRC.

Beast Mode…ON!

It was a perfect morning for a run with pleasantly cooler temperatures at 6am. Nathan and I started from the Edwin Warner Nature Center and ran in the park, along the Harpeth River Greenway, and through the streets of Bellevue. The schedule called for 10-miles at an easy pace, and it started off a little bit slower than my easy 8-miler yesterday.

However, everything felt good and we slowly worked our way down to a very comfortable 8:00 min pace per mile (Overall average was 8:14). I felt less lingering soreness during the run than I did yesterday and overall it was a very relaxed effort. It was nice to get a chance to discuss the race on Saturday and hear Nathan talk about his experience. 

Tomorrow morning the temps are supposed to be down in the mid-30s for our run. I really, really don’t want to wear tights again after having warm weather for the past several weeks, but I’ll do what I need to do.

Beast Mode…ON!

My thoughts on the 3rd annual Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN

Oak Barrel Half Marathon 
April 7, 2012
www.oakbarrelhalf.com

My Run:  Overall, the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg was my 11th half marathon. This race was capped at 1050 entries, and this was my second consecutive year to participate in the event.

Even though I had a specific goal going in, I really didn’t treat this like a goal race. I did drop my total mileage by about 10-miles for the week of the race, but otherwise just trained right through the event. My goal was to “officially” break 1:30 for the first time. At the Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon last October the course ended up being long by 4/10 of a mile due to a mis-routing in the early miles. My “unofficial” re-calculated time for that event was 1:29:49, but it never felt like I had truly broken 1:30, since this result was from a recalculation.

Anyway, the Oak Barrel course is much tougher than the Middle Half, but I also felt like I was in better shape than I was last October. This is especially true considering that the Middle Half was six days after the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and my recent PR performance at the Rock n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon (3:12:28) a few weeks ago.

The Oak Barrel course is famous for a very difficult climb during part of mile four and all of mile five called “Whiskey Hill.” This hill is significant enough that you almost have to base your entire race strategy around it. To break 1:30, I would need to finish with an average pace of 6:52 per mile. With that in mind, my plan was to run the first three miles around goal pace, and then hope to complete Whiskey Hill with an overall average around 7:00 min pace. After Whiskey Hill, there are three miles of rolling hills, followed by four miles of mostly downhill (or flat) and a rolling finish. Provided that I didn’t spend all of my energy on the climb, I was confident that I could make up eight seconds in the final eight miles.

Can you guess which one is “Whiskey Hill?”

The schedule today called for 8-miles at an easy pace followed by 4 x 100m stride outs. John didn’t give me a target pace, but told me to judge it by feel. I overslept this morning, so this unintentionally turned into an afternoon run. One of the benefits of this was that it was beautiful outside. The temperatures were around 70 with pretty low humidity and a slight breeze.

I started from my house and ran through the streets of Bellevue. There was definitely some lingering soreness from the hard effort at the race on Saturday, but nothing that impeded the run. I just tried to stay smooth and relaxed and my splits hovered just under 8:00 pace for all but the first three miles. Overall I felt much better than I expected.

The stride outs at the end of the run are something that is new to me. I’m used to doing these before every track workout and before most races, but not after an easy training run. It was a little bizarre to run with a quick turnover after such an easy run, but my legs still felt great.

Beast Mode….ON!

Oak Barrel Half Marathon – “Whiskey Hill”

One of the hallmarks of the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN is a 1.5-mile climb known as “Whiskey Hill” that will make you hate your life. Can anyone figure out from my Garmin elevation chart above where that hill might be? 🙂

When I finished the 4th mile, just after the start of Whiskey Hill, my average pace was right at 6:50 per mile. It took me 8:01 to finish the fifth mile and my average pace dropped to 7:04. It took me three more miles before I got control of my breathing and began to make up the time that I lost.

I love this race, but Whiskey Hill is quite a challenge!

After so many consecutive days in the 80s over the past two weeks, I was fairly worried about the weather conditions for tomorrow’s Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN. However, this forecast looks just about perfect for an 8am start!

Beast Mode….ON!

After a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG day-trip to NYC yesterday, I slept in a bit this morning, and then went out for a 2-mile shakeout run just to work out the kinks before tomorrow’s Oak Barrel Half Marathon. I took the first mile very easy, but felt a bit of stiffness in my calves and right ankle. Most of that had dissipated by the end of the first mile, so I picked up the pace for the second mile and my legs felt pretty good.

Not sure how fast I’m going to be able to go tomorrow since I haven’t really taken time to rest before the race. If I feel good I’m going to take a shot at breaking 1:30, but will probably start out a bit slower than this pace to test the waters.

Beast Mode…ON!

Third run in a row with high humidity, but at least it was slightly cooler. This morning Paxton, Nathan, and I did a very chilled pace 7.5-mile run through Bellevue. I ran in my Saucony Hattoris and felt pretty good throughout. I did feel a little soreness from doing P90X Legs and Back on Monday night and P90X Ab Ripper X last night, but overall it was not a big deal.

This may sound strange, but one thing I like about the Hattoris (that I haven’t mentioned before) is that they make it easier to run a very slow pace. When I run in my Kinvaras, or even my old Nike Vomeros, on a recovery run day, I almost always end up running a bit too fast. This is never an issue with the Hattoris because I have so much more feel for the road and my lower legs are more involved in the run.

Tomorrow will be a “marathon” day-trip to NYC (6am flight up there, 4 meetings back-to-back, 9:30pm flight back), so no running or cross training. I hope to get in an easy 2-mile shakeout run on Friday before the Oak Barrel Half Marathon on Saturday.

Beast Mode…ON!

I spent a good bit of time in Honduras doing mission work… such a neat country! And I think Rosetta Stone is great if you don’t know much of the language to begin with. If you already know a good bit, it might feel remedial for a while. Good luck!

Love working in Honduras, and especially getting to teach and study with the people there. Do you know Spanish? If so, how did you learn? I know very, very little so remedial level will be perfect! Thanks!

Even though it is only April 3, this morning was another very high humidity run. If it is this humid on Saturday morning then the Oak Barrel Half Marathon may turn into just another training run.

Humidity aside, this morning Nathan and I did a 10-mile, moderate tempo run through Belle Meade. We started with a 2-mile warmup, followed by 6-miles at a moderate 7:30ish pace, and then a 2-mile cool down.

Overall the run felt great except for the humidity and some persistent stomach problems I have been dealing with ever since the Honduras mission trip. I didn’t have any noticeable leg stiffness today like I did at the beginning of yesterday’s run. Also, the “tempo” portion felt pretty comfortable and not overly fast.

Tomorrow my plan is to do a very relaxed 7-mile “barefoot” Hattori run before taking a day-trip to NYC on Thursday.

Beast Mode…ON!

The Saucony Kinvara 3 Site is Finally Up

Even though this is a race week (Oak Barrel Half Marathon on Saturday) I’m not treating this like a goal race though I do plan to back off slightly on the total mileage. On Saturday John told me to shoot for 25 miles total Monday to Wednesday, with a goal of hitting the mid 40s for the week. Thursday will be a day-trip to NYC for work, so no running. On Friday I hope to get in a two to three mile shakeout run before raceday on Saturday.

I decided to breakup my 25 miles into an 8-mile recovery run today, a 10-mile moderate run tomorrow, and a 7-mile “barefoot” Hattori run on Wednesday. This morning’s run was a solo effort through Edwin Warner Park and the Harpeth River Greenway. My goal was to average around 8:30 pace and just keep everything nice and relaxed.

My muscles felt pretty stiff for the first couple of miles, but things started to loosen up nicely after that. The big problem this morning was the humidity. The temps were near 70 degrees at 6:30am, but the humidity made it feel much worse. Overall though I felt descent after a hard week last week, especially the final 6-miles. I finished with an average of 8:30 on the button, so I’ll take it.

For tomorrow’s 10-miler, I’m hoping to get in an easy 2-mile warmup followed by 6-miles at 7:45 pace (John told me to try to get in 6-miles at moderate pace) and a 2-mile cool down.

Beast Mode….ON!

BREAKING: Micah True found dead in Gila National Forest (Silver City Sun News)

Since today marks the end of the first quarter of 2012, so I thought it would be good to review my goals for 2012 and see how things are going:

• Goal #1: Complete 2,000 training miles. My total for 2011 was 1,763, so this will be a pretty big increase. Will take over 166 miles per month to reach this goal. I know it is attainable, but only if I stay healthy and disciplined.

  For the first quarter I completed 588-miles which puts me on pace for 2,352 for 2012. This is obviously well ahead of 2,000. Now that I have hired a coach to train for Milwaukee this fall, I’m thinking that 2,500 might be in my future for this year if I stay healthy.

• Goal #2: Complete my “Quest for 3:15” in a full marathon. This has been a very public goal for quite a while, and I hope to break through in 2012. I would also like to take this a step further in 2012 and break 3:10 which is my Boston qualifying time. I know this is pushing it, but I’m dreaming big. Really want to run my first Boston Marathon in 2013. To do this I will not only have to be disciplined to my running schedule, but will also have to be committed to quality runs, cross-training, diet, and sleep.

  The “Quest for 3:15” was officially completed at the NOLA Marathon on March 4 with a finish time of 3:12:28. I am now only 2:28 from a BQ and have hired a coach to train for Milwaukee this fall. My training target for Milwaukee will be 3:05. 

• Goal #3: Finish at least 5 full marathons. I ran my first 2 full marathons in the fall of 2009, and then completed 4 full marathons in both 2010 and 2011. As of now I’m only registered for the Rock N’ Roll New Orleans Marathon in March, but I have also submitted my request to be the 3:45 pacer in the St Jude Country Music Marathon in May and have my eye on a handful of other races. Whether it is as a pacer or participant, I want to do at least one marathon at a slower, conservative pace where I can enjoy it.

  I have completed one full marathon in 2012, and am registered for two more. This includes the St Jude Country Music Marathon in April and the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in October. I am in the lottery for New York in November, and my fall-back plan is to the the Chicamauga Battlefield Marathon in Georgia. Whether or not I do a fifth marathon will depend completely on how I feel. Even though I really want to run five, I’m not willing to sacrifice 2013 to hit this number. As for running one at a slower, conservative pace…I was selected as the official 4-hour pacer for the St Jude Country Music Marathon.
   

• Goal #4: Officially break 1:30 in a half marathon. I had an unofficial 1:29 finish in the Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon in 2011 (due to course misrouting), but want to have it in writing in 2012. My best opportunities will most likely come at the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in May or again at the Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon in October.

  My first opportunity to break 1:30 in 2012 will come a week from today at the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN. Even though I’m not treating this like a goal race, I’m still hoping to shoot for something in the 1:29 range and then take it even lower at the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in May. The big variable at the Oak Barrel is “Whiskey Hill” which is a mile-long, very steep hill at mile 5. Whether or not I’m able to break 1:30 will depend a lot on how well I handle that hill, and how quickly I’m able to recover at the top. 

Well, so far, so good with regard to 2012 goals….Beast Mode…ON!!

Search Intensifies for Runner Micah True in NM (ABC News)

Today’s group run was on the east side of Nashville, and consisted of two 8-mile loops with an optional 4-mile cooldown for those that needed to get in 20. The first loop started in Shelby Park and went out Davidson toward LP Field (Titan’s Stadium), and then came back toward Shelby on Woodland. We maintained a very easy 8:50 pace for this loop.

The second loop was an out and back lolly-pop loop on the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. Most of the group picked up the pace significantly for this section. I ran with John the whole way and all of our splits were between 7:18 and 7:35 per mile. This was a very comfortable, conversational pace, and my legs felt good the entire way. I’m really glad this pace felt good, because I’m hoping to at least run in the 6:50s for the Oak Barrel Half Marathon next weekend if my legs cooperate. Another good thing about this loop was that John and I got to talk a lot about his thoughts on my training for Milwaukee this fall, and some of the important principles that I need to keep in mind throughout the schedule he is putting together for me.

When we finished the second loop, John advised me to call it a day with 16 total miles and 55 completed for the week.  One interesting thing about the run today is that I never really felt overly warm during the loops, but was drenched in sweat at the finish. The temperatures were in the low 60s at the start and in the mid 70s at the finish, with full sun and elevated humidity. Hope this means that I’m getting better at dealing with warmer temperatures, because I have a feeling it is going to be a nasty summer in Tennessee.

Anyway, I have felt pretty good ever since we finished, and am really excited about my upcoming races and training over the summer. Next week we will be shooting for around 45 total miles, which will include the half marathon on Saturday. 

Beast Mode…ON!