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In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing…

But…

I suspected it strongly on Tuesday after my morning run in St Louis, and just received the official diagnosis from my Orthopedist of another femoral shaft stress injury. This one is in the opposite leg, but is nevertheless my second in 7 months. Best case scenario is that this is a “stress reaction,” which would mean 4 to 6 weeks of no running. Worst case scenario is a full-blown stress fracture, which would be the typical 6 to 8 weeks like before. Since it does not yet show up on an x-ray, we’ll just have to wait for my four-week follow-up to know which one it is.

While this is obviously frustrating, it is also forcing me to re-evaluate everything with regard to running. As part of this re-evaluation, I have made the decision that I am no longer going to allow the B.A.A. and their outrageous and inequitable qualifying standards to rob me of my ability to run and enjoy other great races.

Don’t get me wrong, I still want to run Boston, and I’m still going to strive to excel in running, but at this point pushing myself past my physical limitations for the sake of a 3:10 marathon just doesn’t make any sense. I love to run and I love to race, and right now I’m not able to do either. There are WAY too many other great races out there for me to sacrifice all of them in the hopes of running a BQ.

With this injury I’m going to take a step back and re-assess everything. This includes my goals, my training plan, my mileage, my schedule, my shoes….everything. I simply want to be able to (1) Run/train with my friends, (2) Stay in phenomenal shape, and (3) Participate in great races across the country.

As for next steps, I’m going to hit the pool again for some glorious aqua jogging (and other allowed cross training activities), focus on getting healthy, forget about all races until this fall, and do what I can to ensure a successful race in New York in November.

Beast Mode…On Hold!

The last time I posted about running, it was actually about not being able to run due to a sinus infection and bronchitis. I ended up taking 11 days off because of the illness, but started feeling better on Wednesday.

Thursday – Track Workout

My return was last Thursday night at track with the JSRC. I was feeling decent (though with some definite fatigue), but then right when the workout started, the rain began to pour! Not exactly the best conditions when trying to come back from an upper respiratory illness. The workout was pretty simple, with:

• 3-mile easy warmup
• 6 x 100m stride outs
• 2 x 800m fresh (300m / 400m recovery)
• 2 x 400m good (200m / 400m recovery)
• 2 x 800m fresh (400m / 400m recovery)
• .4-mile cool down

My times were a little off from normal pace, but I think that was to be expected with the illness, the rain, and still being on Augmentin and Prednisone. I was happy with the consistency of my 800m splits, which were 3:07, 3:07, 3:07, & 3:07!

Friday – Shakeout Run

This was a super-easy 4ish mile shakeout run, in my Saucony Hattori shoes, through the streets of Bellevue. My legs felt surprisingly good after track the night before. Nice to get the kinks worked out on an easy run.

Saturday – Long Run

On Saturday Paxton and I drove across town to meet up with Dan, Dawn, Sally, Bob, Kelly, and Judy from our group for the Nashville Strider’s 20-miler on the Stones River Greenway.

I didn’t especially need a 20-mile run, but I knew it would be a comfortable pace, with good friends, and I do want to keep my mileage up since I’m pacing the Country Music Marathon again this year. This is also one of my favorite routes in Nashville, though it is very challenging with over 2,700 ft of cumulative elevation gain…

The temperatures at the start were in the mid 60s, which is a little higher than normal, with fairly high humidity. Thankfully the humidity burned off after an hour or so.

I felt pretty crummy during the first 5-miles, but then things started to settle down and I got into a nice, comfortable rhythm with the group. The hills in the last 3 miles were a bear, but I kept feeling pretty good until Paxton and I finished mile 19 after breaking off from the rest of the group a mile or so earlier.

By far the best thing about Saturday morning was seeing Paxton look really strong, especially at the end. It’s great to see him running so well again after taking a lot of time off last year.

This Week

This week we are in St Louis with the kids for Spring Break, so I’m hoping to get in a few good runs at Forest Park before heading home on Wednesday.

Beast Mode…ON!

I haven’t had many training posts lately, because there hasn’t been much training. Today marks one week since my last run.

Last Saturday I had a great 18-mile run in the sleet and flurries with Nathan, Paxton, and Brian. We started from the Percy Warner main gates and then meandered for a few miles through Belle Meade before heading out to Radnor Lake and back.

On Sunday I woke up with a sore throat, which quickly became one of the worst upper-respiratory illnesses that I can remember. Even though I’ve done little but rest since then, it still turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis later in the week.

Today I was supposed to run the Tom King Half Marathon, but decided to hold off on all running until things in my lungs settle down.

Beast Mode…On Hold!

Well other than a 2 mile shakeout run on Saturday my training is complete for the 2013 Rock ‘n Roll New Orleans Marathon. My running over the past week has been pretty meh, including two 3-mile goal marathon pace runs which were not terribly comfortable.

Not sure what race day holds but I’m pretty confident that I’m not in BQ shape for this one. My plan is to run the first half fairly conservative and then see how I feel for the second half. Since this is the first marathon after the stress fracture, the primary goal is to simply get this one under my belt. As for time, I honestly think I would be happy with anything under 3:30.

Anyway, about to board the plane for New Orleans with my bride. Looking forward to a great weekend together.

Beast mode…On!

My lead-up to the Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon next weekend has been a little bizarre, and definitely not according to any recognized training plan. Mostly this is because of my Honduras mission trip and subsequent upper respiratory infection.

The week before the trip I got in just over 32-miles of total running, which is significantly less than my normal 50 to 55. Last week in Honduras, I was only able to run 3-times for 15 total miles. Those 5-mile loops were crazy hard with almost 1,600’ of cumulative elevation gain, which was mostly in the last mile…

Near the end of our trip I came down with some type of upper respiratory virus that quickly turned into an infection. My plan had been to run a 20-miler last Sunday after we returned, but I ended up being too sick. I was finally able to get 20 in on Tuesday of this week, though this was less than 2-weeks from NOLA.

I ended up feeling very good during the 20, though I was still sick and taking antibiotics. I was able to maintain a comfortable 8:10 pace throughout, and felt the best in the last 5-miles.

After an easy 5-miler on Tuesday, I had a fantastic track workout last night. Here’s a rundown:

• 2.4-Mile warmup
• 6 x 100m stride outs
• 1600m fresh (6:15) / 400m recovery
• 800m fresh (2:58) / 300m recovery
• 800m fresh (2:57) / 400m recovery
• 1600m fresh (6:05)
• 1.75-Mile cool down

I was expecting to be TOAST after my illness (and still being on antibiotics) and the 20-miler on Tuesday, but ended up feeling great. That last mile repeat was the best I’ve felt at track in a long time.

This morning Nathan, Paxton and I did an easy 4-mile shakeout run, and we plan to join the group tomorrow for a 15-miler. With that, it should be a 52-mile week this week. Next week I plan to run 15-miles total before the race on Saturday, which means that my 4-weeks leading up to NOLA will look like this:

• 32-Miles
• 15-Miles
• 52-Miles
• 15-Miles

Not exactly tapering by the book, but I guess we’ll see what happens next week.

Beast Mode….ON!

It seems improbable, but January 2013 is now my biggest mileage month ever at 222-miles, and I’ve still got a track workout tonight!

I didn’t even notice this until a couple of days ago, since I haven’t had a single week greater than 52-miles in January. Seems like I was routinely cranking out 55 to 59-mile weeks back in mid-2012. Oh well, guess there’s a chance I could reach 230 by the end of tonight!

Beast Mode….ON!

After early morning storms and tornadoes moved through Middle Tennessee, Nathan and I set off for very, very wet and rainy shakeout run through the flooded and debris strewn streets of Bellevue.

It actually wasn’t that bad to run in the rain, because the temperatures were still around 60º throughout. It would have been miserable had the temperatures been cooler.

In total we finished just over 5 1/2-miles, which includes 4 x 100m stride outs at the end in the Bellevue Church of Christ parking lot.

Beast Mode….ON!

I was not able to run this morning due to the “Father’s Breakfast” at Kate’s school (Wouldn’t miss it!), which meant an afternoon run for me today. I had been dreading this all day since my scheduled called for 12-miles and I would have to do the whole thing by myself.

However, early this afternoon I decided to text my friend Josh and see if he had any interest in running. Thankfully he ended up joining me for 8 of the 12-miles, and I thoroughly enjoyed the run.

First of all, I felt really good today. My legs have bounced back pretty well since last Saturday’s tough marathon workout. Second, I’ve been having a hard time running on my forefoot/mid-foot recently due to shin splints. Today they were feeling MUCH better, and I ran the entire way on my mid-foot. Third, it was great catching up with Josh (fun and interesting conversation). Fourth, the temps were very mild in the mid-60s (crazy for January).

We kept the pace pretty chill throughout with all of the miles but one between 8:30 and 9:00. In total I finished just over 12-miles with an average pace of 8:47 per mile.

Beast Mode….ON!

“Is that Your Final Answer?” …. Yes

While Nathan and I still wore hats, it was warm enough this morning to FINALLY get a run in without tights, which was AWESOME!

Today’s effort was was a super-chill 70-minute shakeout run on the Harpeth River Greenway with 4 x 100m stride outs at the end. I felt pretty crummy during the first half of run, but much better during the final 3 miles. My legs are fairly trashed after last week’s tough series of workouts, but it is always nice to feel better at the end of a run than at the beginning.

The strides at the end were hard, but I guess the goal of running fast on tired legs was accomplished. In total we got in just over 7.5-miles.

Beast Mode…ON!

This has been a hard, but good week of training for the Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon next month. After Nathan, Paxton, and I did our tough tempo workout on Tuesday, I ended up getting two more speed/tempo workouts this week (in addition to easy shakeout runs on Wednesday and Friday):

Thursday Track Workout

The temperatures on Thursday night were slightly above 30º, but it felt much colder than that with a strong and persistent wind throughout. However, I ended up having my most consistent track workout since returning from the injury. Here’s a rundown of the workout with my splits:

• 2-mile warmup
• 6 x 100m stride outs
• 800m fresh (3:02) / 300m recovery
• 1200m fresh (4:39) / 400m recovery
• 800m fresh (3:02) / 300m recovery
• 1200m fresh (4:38) / 400m recovery
• 800m fresh (3:02)
• .75-mile cool down

The times weren’t blazing fast, but I’m very happy with the workout. This is especially true considering the wind and the fact that I ran the entire thing by myself since no one else was running my pace.

Saturday Marathon Workout

Today our group did a marathon workout over in Percy Warner Park, and it was one of the toughest ones we’ve ever done. Nathan, Brian, and I got in a couple of extra miles early, and then did most of the repeats together along with John. Here’s a rundown (not including the recoveries between intervals):

• 5-mile warmup
• 2 x 1-mile half marathon pace (6:47 Avg Pace)
• 12-minutes marathon pace (7:05 Avg Pace)
• 8 x 30-seconds hill repeats
• 15-minute marathon pace (7:08 Avg Pace)
• 1-mile half marathon pace (6:39 Avg Pace)
• 5-minute cool down

This looks hard enough on paper, but add to this the fact that the route had over 2,000’ of cumulative elevation gain, and you have one nasty workout….

Again however, I felt really good even though it was difficult. We hit or exceeded all of our goal paces throughout the workout. It made it a lot easier having several friends running with me the whole way. With recoveries I got in just over 16.5-miles for the day.

This week has been a big confidence boost towards NOLA. In total I finished just over 51-miles, which brings the monthly total to 196.

Beast Mode….ON!

Last Wednesday morning, Nathan, Paxton, and I did an easy 4-mile shakeout run after a hard tempo workout on Tuesday. Shakeout runs are usually awesome, because they usually leave my legs feeling better at the end than they did at the beginning. However, during this particular shakeout run, my legs felt like they had been in a car crash.

Today we did another easy shakeout run one day after a hard tempo workout. Unlike last week, my legs felt really good this morning, getting better throughout the run. We kept the pace pretty chill, but did get down into the mid 8:00s by the end…

Beast Mode…ON!

On a side note related to gear / apparel – This morning was slightly warmer than yesterday (25º compared to 20º) with similar wind conditions. However, I felt MUCH COLDER during today’s run than I did yesterday. Why is that?

On a typical cold morning (below 30º), I generally wear exactly the same things up top…A single base layer with an outer shell jacket. My preferred base layer is one of 3 long sleeved Lululemon shirts that I own, which are made out of their “Luon” material. This material is like “magic” in that it is moisture wicking (and fairly thin), but has a warm fleecy feel. It is also awesome because I have yet to find a temperature where I needed more than two layers if I have the Luon base layer.

This morning, all 3 of those shirts were dirty, so I went with a standard poly compression shirt under my outer shell. What a MAJOR difference this makes. I know the Lululemon shirts are crazy expensive, but they are awesome on cold mornings!

Even though it wasn’t my coldest run of the winter (that was in Michigan over Christmas), it did turn out to be a pretty chilly morning with a starting temperature of 20º and a “feel’s like” of 12º …

As a follow-up to last Tuesday’s 40-minute tempo run, today we planned to have 50 total minutes of tempo work, broken up into 3 individual segments. Nathan and I met in Percy Warner Park and did our warmup over to the Nature Center in Edwin Warner Park where we met up with Paxton. From there we did all of our tempo repeats out and back on the Harpeth River Greenway.

Since Paxton is still working his way back from a long layoff, Nathan and I did all 3 segments together and then joined back up with Paxton at the end of each so we could start together.

The following is a rundown of the workout along with our average pace for each segment.

• 20-Minute Warmup (9:00 avg pace)
• 20-Minute Marathon Pace (7:08 avg pace)
• 10-Minute Half Marathon Pace (6:39 avg pace)
• 20-Minute Marathon Pace (7:08 avg pace)
• 20-Minute Cool Down (9:27 avg pace)

Even though this was a very challenging workout, overall I felt fantastic! For “Marathon Pace” we were shooting for 7:05 to 7:10 pace, so this was spot on, and very consistent. For “Half Marathon Pace” we were shooting for 6:45 to 6:50 pace, so this part was a little fast. However, the goal of this segment was to tire out our legs, and then try to maintain a consistent pace for the last marathon pace repeat.

My biggest problem was with my toes going numb. We had a standing 2min recovery in-between each segment, and I used that time to go into the Nature Center bathroom (which is heated) to try and get feeling back into my toes.

Once we finished the tempo segments, Paxton joined us for part of our cool down run back to Percy Warner before heading back to his car at the Nature Center. In total Nathan and I finished with 11.75-miles in just over 90-minutes of work.

Beast Mode…ON!

Today Paxton and I did a nice and easy, 7-mile shakeout run that started at the Bellevue United Methodist Church parking lot and wound through the streets of Bellevue and the Harpeth River Greenway. It was a little cool this morning with temps around 30º, but it didn’t feel bad at all since the wind wasn’t blowing. We kept the pace very chill throughout, which was good since my legs are still pretty tired from the 20-miler on Saturday…

Once we got back to the cars, Paxton had to head out, but I stayed and did 4 x 100m stride outs in the parking lot. Even though I felt pretty good during the run, my legs felt very heavy during the strides.

Tonight I cranked out a 1/2 set of P90X Legs and Back, along with some extra exercises for my shins and hip adductors. I’m hoping this doesn’t tire me out too much for our planned tempo run in the morning.

Beast Mode….ON!

This has been a very solid week of training, and has helped to greatly improve my confidence that was starting to wane. Things have been going well since coming back from the stress fracture, and my endurance has been terrific, however I just didn’t feel like my speed was coming along.

Well there have been several things this week that have made me feel a LOT better about my speed, including:

• A solid tempo effort on Tuesday with Nathan and Paxton. I was able to hold a 7:08 pace for 40 minutes in the middle of a 10-mile run.

• A solid track workout on Thursday with over 6k of intervals. Here’s the rundown of the repeats:

  -6 x 100m Stride Outs – 6:05 pace
  -1600m fresh (400m Recovery) – 6:17 pace
  -3 x 200m fresh (400m Recovery) – 5:50 pace
  -1000m fresh (300m Recovery) – 6:09 pace
  -800m Straights and Curves* (300m Recovery) – 7:20 pace
  -800m fresh – 5:54 pace

  *Run the straights, jog the curves 

• A solid 20-miler today on tired legs and a challenging route (over 1,400 ft. of elevation gain – see below). My average pace for the total run was 8:28, and I ended up with 4-miles under 8:00, including a 7:07 split for mile 11. My legs felt strong all the way to the end.
  

When combined with easy runs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, my total mileage for this week was just over 52-miles. This also puts me at just over 145-miles for the month of January.

Beast Mode…ON!

The Bellevue Trio Reunion Tour continued today with a tempo run through the streets of Bellevue on a cold and overcast morning. Nathan, Paxton and I started at the Bellevue Church of Christ parking lot with a 20-minute warmup loop back to the cars, and then we did a 40-minute tempo run at just under goal marathon pace.

Since Paxton has just started back running again, we split up a bit for this section to allow for different paces. My goal marathon pace is 7:14, so Nathan and I tried to hold our pace for the tempo segment between 7:05 and 7:10. While I could definitely feel some fatigue in my legs, especially after doing P90X Legs and Back last night, overall I felt really good. We ended up doing 4 different out-and-back segments during the 40-minutes, mostly in River Plantation, and ended up with an average pace of 7:08. I still doubt I’ll be ready to hold this pace for 26.2 at NOLA, but it was relatively comfortable for 40-minutes this morning.

We arrived back at the cars at almost exactly the same time as Paxton, and then ran another 20-minute loop as a cool down. In total, I finished right at 10-miles in approximately 80-minutes of work.

Beast Mode…ON!

It’s been snowing here in Michigan since noon yesterday, so I decided to wear trail shoes for my run this morning. I parked at Potter Park and did 3-miles out-and-back on the Lansing River Walk, which took me right to the edge of the MSU campus.

The snow on the greenway was ankle-deep in places, but my traction was really good with the Saucony Peregrine trail shoes. It was a really beautiful route by the river, and my legs felt good considering the 14-mile run yesterday. 

The running was slow in places with the snow, but I still managed to get in just over 6-miles at around 9-min pace.

Beast Mode…ON!!

Today’s run was a little bit slippery with all of the snow and ice here in Michigan. I almost fell 3 times, but thankfully only actually fell 1 time. Luckily I escaped any significant consequences, coming away with only a couple of bruises.

Otherwise it was a really good run. I started out at our hotel with a 2.5-mile loop through a residential area, and then ran 5.5-miles down Saginaw Highway to the Grand River in downtown Lansing.

Olivia drove out and met me at one of the trailheads for the Lansing River Walk. From there we ran just under an hour out and back on the River Walk, which was a much better route than the 5.5-miles down Saginaw.

In total I finished just over 14-miles for the day, and felt really good throughout.

Beast Mode…ON!!

It didn’t seem possible back in September, when I was on the shelf with a femoral stress fracture, but today I crossed the 2000-mile threshold for 2012. 

Not sure what this means in the grand scheme of things, but it still feels pretty cool. I haven’t had many run related posts recently, but things have continued to go well in my training for the 2013 Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon in February.

The weather in Middle Tennessee has been a bit unpredictable, from days where it is in the mid 60s by 6am to days where you need two pair of gloves. Last Thursday I finished a track workout at Vanderbilt with the JSRC in 30+ mph wind. It was brutal and felt like I was running in place in the turns. It was such a crazy night that we took a picture at the end to commemorate those who survived 🙂

Today was one of those days where you know you’re a real runner with wind, sleet, and snow pounding you in the face throughout. Even so, Nathan and I still cranked out a good 7-miles through Belle Meade.

By far the highlight of the past couple of weeks was participating in the 26.4.26 run last Saturday in honor of the victims of the Newtown tragedy. The course was a 6.5-mile loop, and runners could choose to run it once or up to four times for a total of 26 miles for the 26 victims at Sandy Hook Elementary.

My longest run since coming back from the stress fracture had been 17-miles on Dec 8th, so I was definitely not trained to run 26-miles. However, on the Thursday before the event I decided I was gonna give it a shot.

Each runner was asked to carry an “angel” with the name of one of the victims, and mine was for Grace McDonnell, age 7:

It wasn’t easy, but little Grace and I made it all the way through 4 loops. 26.38 miles completed in 3 hours and 43 minutes. I faded a bit in the last of the 4 loops but I was determined I wasn’t going to walk a step. I thought a lot that day about Grace and the 25 other precious souls that lost their lives. I’m proud of the city of Nashville and our awesome running community for supporting this effort in such an overwhelming way. It was awesome to be a part of it.

I found out later that the entire thing was born of out a text message that was sent from one friend to another suggesting a group run the following Saturday of 26-miles to honor the victims. After that it was posted on Facebook, and they ended up with 1,012 runners, and many, many volunteers.

Hope everyone else out there is doing well with their running, and enjoying the Christmas Season!

Beast Mode…ON!

I don’t think I’ve posted a running update for the past two weeks, but I’ve continued to slowly build my mileage back up as I train for the Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon. I’m feeling really good, and my speed and endurance are coming back waaaaay quicker than I anticipated.

Here are a few of the highlights from the past two weeks.

Tempo Workouts

Starting a week ago Tuesday (and continuing this Tuesday), I put tempo workouts back into my training schedule for the first time since coming back from the injury. Last week Nathan and I did a 20-minute warmup, 20-minutes at 7:10 pace (just below goal marathon pace), and a 20-minute cool-down. The tempo segment was tougher than I expected, but I guess I should not have been surprised since I was only two days removed from my longest run in 14-weeks.

This week we did a 20-minute warmup, then 6 x 4-min tempo (with 1-min active recovery), and a 20-minute cool-down. The goal for the tempo section was to run at a pace between 6:50 and 7:00. For 4 of the 6 we ended up running at faster than goal pace (6:30s and 6:40s), 1 was right on target, and 1 was a touch slow. Overall though it was a good, tough workout.

Track Workouts

I didn’t get to run track this week, but last week’s workout felt fantastic. Here’s the rundown:

• ~3-Mile Warmup
• 6 x 100m Stride Outs
• 800m Group “Indian Run” (200m Recovery)
• 800m f (300m Recovery)
• 600m f (300m Recovery)
• 800m Straights and Curves
• 600m f (300m Recovery)
• 800m f
• 3/4-Mile Cool Down

In peak condition I would run my 800m “fresh” intervals around 2:50 to 2:55, and during this workout my two splits were 3:00 and 2:57. Just a touch slower than at my peak, but still much further along than I thought I would be at this point.

Long Runs

Two weeks ago today I completed a 15-mile run, which was my longest run since returning to running. My plan during marathon training is to only increase my long run mileage every other week. With that in mind, last week I had a very enjoyable 14.4-mile run with our group on Old Natchez and Moran roads in Franklin. This was a beautiful morning for a run, and the pace was a bit more chill than my 15-miler the previous Saturday.

Today I completed a 17-mile run on a gloomy, yet warm and humid, day in Brentwood. The planned group run was for 3 different loops totaling 14 to 15 miles. Since I wanted at least 17, Nathan and I started a bit early and got in 3 before the group arrived. I felt, really, really good for the first 14 or so miles, but my legs started feeling pretty fatigued as I passed my previous long of 15-miles. Part of this had to do with the middle loop of the group run, which was quite hilly, and Nathan and I also picked up the pace a bit.

Also, with this run in the books, my total mileage for 2012 is exactly 1,900 miles completed. I’ve still got a shot at reaching my goal of 2,000, but it’s gonna be close!

Beast Mode…ON!

Today I felt like my “Return to Running” program un-officially ended. While I haven’t been on the specific plan in a couple of weeks, I’ve still been very conservative with my mileage and pace, taking frequent walk breaks, and not running more than 3 or 4 consecutive days without a break. This has led to my “training” feeling slightly abnormal.

Well, this morning was the first run since the injury that felt like a normal long run with our group. The plan was for a 10 to 12-mile run in Belle Meade, but Nathan and I met a little early and got in 3.5-miles before the rest of the group arrived. During this warmup, we did a 10/1 run/walk ratio, but after this I completed the remainder of the run in 30 to 40-minute segments, only stopping briefly for fluid breaks.

Nathan and I ended up running most of the route with Tyler, Andy, and Robert, and our pace generally got quicker throughout, with 5 of the last 6 miles under 8:00 pace, and a final mile of 6:53:

The thing that felt so great about this run was that I had the energy to maintain the faster pace in the later miles. The last few days I’ve been thinking a lot about getting into a long run schedule for the Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon, and worried about having the endurance  and energy to get where I want to be by race day at the end of February. Today, those fears subsided significantly since a solid 15-miler puts me right where I need to be for the more intense training in December and January.

A big thanks to Nathan, Andy, Tyler, and Robert for pushing and pacing me to my best, post-injury training run! It feels good to be back.

Beast Mode….ON!