The rest of the Florida trip, by way of observations

#1 - Getting up at 4:00 am to catch a flight, then going straight from the airport to the basketball stadium, then spending 12+ hours at the stadium watching 4 basketball games and getting back to your hotel after midnight makes for one long, exhausting, but awesome day.

#2 - I don't know whose idea it was to combine barbecued pulled pork and nachos, but that guy (and let's face it, it has to be a guy) is now one of my heroes.

#3 - I'm not sure that any of the female Kentucky cheerleaders would satisfy the minimum height requirements to ride the big roller coasters at amusement parks.

#4 - For what we paid for bottled water at the NCAA tournament, it had better have healing properties!

#5 - Getting so drunk that you can barely walk is epically stupid.  Doing so on 6 dollar beers at a spring training baseball game is also a really poor financial decision.

#6 - On a similar note, the NCAA's refusal to allow alcohol sales at tournament games might anger a lot of fans (and disappoint a lot of vendors) but it's probably among the smartest decisions they've ever made.  I don't even want to imagine what introducing heavy alcohol consumption into that environment could result in.

#7 - TV timeouts suck when you aren't watching the game on TV.  During the UCLA/Michigan State game, there were 18 timeouts (8 TV, the maximum 5 called by each team), and then for good measure there was an officials timeout to make sure they had the clock set right near the end of the game.

#8 - I hope, for the sake of the university, that the college-age Florida fans who sat behind us during Florida's game on Saturday were guys who grew up Florida fans but couldn't actually get into the school.  Somehow, I doubt it.

#9 - I was shocked (shocked I say!) to find out that the Rita's stand at the Phillies' spring training games was not observing the "Free ice on the first day of spring" ritual.

#10 - Going from 2 days of the intense, win or go home, fans "living and dying" on every play atmosphere of the NCAA  basketball tournament, to a spring training baseball game is pretty anti-climatic.

#11 -  Given how chaotic the first weekend of the tournament was, how is it that the higher seed won each of the 6 games we saw?  We couldn't even get a 5 seed over a 4.

#12 - It would have done serious harm to my bracket, but I so completely wish Kentucky v. Princeton had gone the other way!  Great games that go down to the last second just aren't quite as memorable when the "big boy" pulls it out.

#13 - I can't say that I was overly shocked to see a guy drumming on a toilet seat that was suspended around his neck during the Kentucky/Princeton game.  That said individual was a member of the Princeton pep band did come as a bit of surprise, however.

#14 - You'd think a guy as big as the Yankees' CC Sabathia wouldn't have any trouble finding baseball pants that didn't fit like pajama bottoms.

#15 - A gentlemen slipped an usher at the Phillies game a $20 to get a chair for an 87 year old man he was with, perhaps his father.  A nice gesture, but had he been thinking ahead, he probably could have used that money to get the man something better than a standing room ticket in the first place.

#16 - The Kentucky fans were split in their allegiances during the Florida games, and the same was true of the Florida fans during Kentucky games.  Some rooted loudly against their hated rivals, others rooted for them in the name of "conference pride."  Those who chose the former chose wisely, and this is not up for debate.

Florida trip summary and Strawberry Classic 5k report

So, I’m back from my annual “pilgrimage” to the Tampa Bay area with my Dad.  Every year since 2004, Dad and I have headed down for an extended weekend in Clearwater, which is just across the bay from Tampa and the spring training home of the Phillies.  Our typical itinerary of watching two baseball games wound up being significantly altered this year, for a number of reasons.

#1 – Shortly after we got back from last year’s trip, I noticed that Tampa was a host site for the first weekend of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.  Dad and I are both college basketball fans, and this seemed like a really good opportunity, so I put in for tickets and got selected – to the extent that there actually was selection – I doubt they actually sold out at that point, if ever.   Dad’s ticket was the family’s Father’s Day gift for him last year.

#2 – As you might be aware, the Phillies have been pretty good the last few years.  Greater success usually brings greater interest in sports teams, and the Phillies have been no exception.  Ticket demand for regular season games had exploded the last couple years, but Spring Training tickets had been relatively immune to the phenomenon – until this year.  Despite getting in within minutes of tickets going on sale for individual games, I could only get general admission seating (on the grass above the outfield wall) for Sunday’s game with the Yankees, and couldn’t do much better for a Friday game against the Pirates.  I initially got tickets for both games, but after some thought determined that with 6 basketball games on the schedule, 2 baseball games might be overkill, so I re-sold the Pirate game tickets.

#3 – I had been planning on running a 5k in Reading 2 weekends prior to our trip.  However, the weather ended up being really miserable that day, and since I hadn’t pre-registered, I decided it wasn’t worth the trip.  There wasn’t anything in the area to run the weekend prior to the trip, and after the trip would be getting too close to the race I wanted to run in mid-April.  I didn’t want to skip out on a March race entirely, so I decided to see if there were any races in the Tampa area during our trip that would be feasible for me to run.  It turned out that there were several, and I settled on the Strawberry Classic, which was just outside of Tampa, on Saturday morning.

I am sure that I will cover some of the highlights of the rest of the trip later this week, but for now, I want to focus on the race.  I was a bit leery of scheduling a race on a vacation, simply because I wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to manage my rest, nutrition, hydration, etc going in.  Thursday was a crazy day – we flew down to Tampa first thing in the morning and went directly from the airport to the basketball arena, where we were for the duration of the tournament action for the day, which meant we didn’t get back to the hotel under after midnight.  Friday, however, we didn’t have anything planned, so we slept in, went and had a nice big breakfast, and then stopped at a grocery store so I could pick up some bottled water for the rest of the day, and some cereal bars for snacking that evening and pre-race food the next morning.  The rest of the day centered around watching basketball from the comfort of our hotel room, so I was pretty sure rest wasn’t going to be an issue.

I got up just after 6 on Saturday morning, and we were at the race by 7:15.   One concern I had about running in Florida was climate – it’s obviously typically much warmer there than in central PA.  In fact, it got into the mid-80s every day we were there.  However, at race time (8:00 am), it was still only in the high 50s and still – perfect running conditions.  It was also consistent with some of the warmest weather I had trained in prior to the trip.  It was funny watching a number of the natives shiver – I guess it’s all about what you’re used to.

The start of the race was somewhat disorganized, with some confusion about where the start line was.  They set us up at one spot, then moved us forward, then moved us back again.  None of these spots turned out to be the “real” line, as I’ll detail later.  Also, there was a 10k race that started at the same time and split off about a mile and a half in, and between the 2 races I believe there were well over 400 racers in total.  The director was trying to shout some important instructions (like how the courses were marked) over everyone without any amplification.  I was near the front of, so I was fine, but I guarantee there were plenty of people who never heard him.  It wasn’t a big deal, but this was the 30^th year for this race, so it seemed odd that it wasn't a tighter ship.

Once we finally got started, I settled into what felt like the pace I was looking for.  I had adjusted my training after the last race to include much more work at/near expected race pace, and it clearly paid off, because based on a woman who must have had a GPS and was a couple steps in front of me, I ran the first mile in 7:14, which was precisely what I was looking for.  Everything I had seen about the course on the internet led me to believe that it was very flat, at least by PA standards, and that evaluation proved to be correct.  There were some rolling slight ups and downs, but nothing I would have classified as hills.  Between that and the weather conditions, this was a perfect setup for a PR.  I hit the 2 mile marker at 14:40 on my watch – which indicated that I had slowed down on the 2^nd mile – but it turns out that was actually misleading.  (More on that later)  I was definitely starting to feel it, but I was still very strong.  This was a new feeling for me this late in the race, as opposed to my previous 2 races where by this time I was just trying to hang on and drag myself to the finish.

At this point, I was feeling very good about at least coming in under 23 minutes, which would have been a PR by over a minute and was my “middle” goal time.  When I got to a point that I recognized from the map as being about 2.5 miles in, I lifted my pace just slightly and began really looking forward to the turn back towards the finish.  It came just before I hit the 3 mile marker, at which point I looked at my watch and knew I was going to break 23 with ease.   There was one final turn to the finish, and after I made that I started my finishing spring, crossing the line with the clock at 22:31 – a PR by over 90 seconds, and 1 second off my most optimistic goal time.

As it turned out, the course had actually been a bit long, 30-40 yards long.  They had started us well back off of the real line (which I had noticed when we ran past it and wondered about) because the road was much more narrow at that point and they were concerned about squeezing a mass start through the space.  So, I actually probably ran closer to a 22:20.  This also explained why my second mile (based on the mile marker) seemed to drop off from my first, which had been tracked from our actual start by GPS.  It’s actually probably a very good thing there wasn’t a 1 mile marker based on the “real” start, or that I didn't seen it, because I would have thought I was going too slow and probably lifted the pace unnecessarily.

Suffice to say, I was thrilled with the run.  Of the races I have run to date, it was first one that I felt I had run a quality race.  After running the first two miles at about a 7:15/mile pace (accounting for the extra length at the start), I covered the last 1.1+ in 7:51, which comes out at a 7:00-7:05/mile pace.  That’s the first time my last mile has been my fastest, and in fact, I’m sure it was also the first time my last mile wasn’t my slowest by a good bit.  I was not passed by anyone in the 2^nd half of the race, which was also easily a first.

That being said, I still had some very good takeaways in terms of areas for improvement, mainly related to finishing.  As pleased as I was by my last mile, it could have been better.  I was glad to finally have something left for the last mile of a race, but I felt like I probably had too much left when I crossed the line.  In hindsight, I probably could have lifted the pace a bit starting at the 2 mile marker, and I definitely should have started my finishing sprint at the 3 mile marker, rather than waiting for the very last stretch.  I’m not kicking myself over this, because I went into the race wanting to miss on the conservative side of my tactics, if I missed.  I knew all along I was running a very solid race, and I’ve not raced enough yet to really know how to interpret how I’m feeling late in a race, so I was very cautious about making a tactical mistake that would cause me to blow up before the finish.  Going forward, however, I will really be looking to maximize that finish.  The first step was having a race where I got into the last mile in a position to have to make those types of decisions, as opposed to one where I was simply hanging on for dear life.   Not finishing as well as I could have probably did cost me an age group award, however.  I finished only a few seconds behind the guy who finished 3^rd in my age group, and I was really gaining on him coming to the line.  I’m pretty sure I would have had enough to get by him had I started my finishing sprint 100 yards further back.  Oh well!

So, all in all, it was an awesome day and definitely validated my decision to bail on the Reading race.  I'm very excited about getting back into training this week, after a little recovery, and preparing to try to build on this race with some other races later in the spring.  My long term goal is to go under 20 minutes, and to that end, I want to at least be under 22 - ideally cracking the 7:00/mile pace barrier (~21:45) - by mid-May/early June, before I take a break from more intense training/racing during the hottest part of the summer.  That seems significantly more attainable now than it did before this weekend.

Responding to WBC

I’m offended right now, in a way so deep and penetrating that I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt anything quite like it.  I’ve been on the edge of tears several times, tears of both sadness and anger, bubbling up from within, calling cards of a heart that is very troubled.

Let me back up and give some background.  If you live in or around central Pennsylvania, you can’t possibly have missed the biggest local news story of the last couple days: the tragic house fire that claimed the lives of 7 of the 8 children of a Perry County family.  The tragedy has made national news, so I’m sure that many far beyond the area know of the story as well.  This is obviously an unimaginable tragedy that is painful and gut-wrenching on its own.  However, today a new wrinkle has entered the story, with news that the Westboro Baptist Church is planning to picket at the funeral of these children next week.

Events over the last few years, and even the last few weeks, have garnered national attention and made it highly likely that you have heard of this group already.  If you haven't, consider yourself lucky.  I’m not going to take any space here to further introduce you to them, because I refuse to be a vehicle that exposes people to their message.   I will say that their previous notoriety has come from picketing the funerals of soldiers who were killed in combat.  If you don’t know anything about this group, you have my full blessing to stop reading.  If you do know of them, however, I’m quite certain that you have a better understanding of why I am feeling the way that I described in the opening.

First of all, let me say that I am hoping against all hope that this is a bluff on the part of WBC.  While the group has certainly followed through on many of these types of plans in the past, it also wouldn’t be out of character for them to simply announce their intentions in order to make a stir, only to not make the trip.  I pray, for everyone’s sake, that that is the end result in this case.  However, even if they don’t show up, the announcement and the specter of their possible appearance has already created an additional distraction and negative focus that a hurting family and community just should not have to deal with.  I so desperately wish that the media would decide not to pay any attention to the actions of WBC, but that’s just not realistic, and it is already too late for that in this situation.  And so, simply as a human being, I’m deeply offended that anyone would ever use the occasion of a funeral for innocent children who died so tragically to promote any kind of agenda, let alone an agenda like that of WBC.

However, as a Christian, it cuts even deeper, because I am offended that they do so in the name of my God and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am angered to my very core that these individuals choose to smear the name of my God by claiming His endorsement of their message of hate.  I am incredibly troubled by the possibility that people who don’t know Christ have or might come to see these people as His legitimate messengers.  All of it stirs me up so much, on top of the pain I feel for the family and their loss.

And yet, there is still another feeling stirring inside of me; one that is somewhat new to me in a situation such as this, and that is pity.  My heart breaks for the members of WBC, for hearts that are so blinded, so enslaved, so broken and destroyed by sin and the work of the enemy that they have arrived at such a twisted view of God – if they are sincere in their beliefs – or have been led down a path of using God as a cover for another agenda.  There is something very broken deep inside of them that needs restoration, restoration that only a true encounter with the God whose name they trample on can provide, the restoration that we are all lost without.

This is not to somehow mitigate or excuse the offense – these individuals have made their choices and, absent the mercy and grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ, they will answer for them in full one day.  However, Paul makes it very clear that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil.  These people are nothing more than blinded pawns of our enemy, and they are still God’s creations – people that He longs to draw to Himself.  No matter how hopeless it may seem, nobody is beyond the reach of God’s grace – and who better to testify to that than Paul: a man whose life took a complete 180 after his own encounter with Christ forever changed his understanding of who God was , and of what serving Him meant.

And so I urge all of my brothers and sisters in Christ who might feel as I do: Go ahead and be angry.  I believe it is a righteous anger to take offense at the name of our God being dragged through the mud by those claiming to speak for Him, and at those who would look to exploit the pain of the suffering in such a manner.  Further, let those feelings move you to action.  And yet, let us not choose to wage war in the earthly realm by repaying hatred with hatred and evil with evil.  Shout from the rooftops that these people do not speak for you and your Lord and Savior – but also pray for them, that God’s light would finally break through the darkness, and that they would come to see and know God for who He really is.  Stand in the opposite spirit – pray for the hurting family and community, look for tangible ways to show love and support – let the love, grace, and mercy of Christ - and the provision that He has made for dealing with our sin - stand in stark and overwhelming opposition to the message of WBC.

My hope and prayer is that, in all of this, God will take that which the enemy has designed for evil and use it for His glory – to multiply and amplify His work amongst the lives of the hurting and broken and those who surround them – including the hurting and broken who would seek to do harm.

Saginaw 5k Race Report, and future direction

Well, I see I'm already behind on my commitment to have something new up at least once a week!  There's a good reason for that, as the piece I'm currently working on is likely going to wind up being quite long, and is also very, very important to me - so I don't want to rush it just to meet an arbitrary deadline.  The point of my system is make sure I'm working on the writing, and I am.  Hopefully I'll be able to start putting it up (I'm sure it will span multiple entries like the last one) next weekend.

In the meantime, I'll fascinate you with some lighter writing, the story of my race last Saturday.  I ran the Saginaw 5k along with Eli (my good friend and "coach") and my former college and post-college roommate Jeff.  We gathered at my place first thing Saturday morning and headed down to Saginaw, a small town along the Susquehanna River, northeast of York.  We got there in plenty of time, got our race numbers (despite a moment or two where it looked like they hadn't received or properly handled my registration), warmed up (at least to the extent that was possible on a balmy 25 degree morning) and reported to the starting line.

Our previous "scouting" of the course, which was basically limited to looking at the elevation profile for the route on MapMyRun.com and seeing the posted results from the last running of the race, indicated that it was a mostly flat, relatively fast course.  This proved accurate, as there was only one noteworthy hill on the course, which you went up right away after the start, and then quickly back down.  Since it was an out and back course, we would reverse the process right before the finish. 

As I've previously mentioned, my biggest downfall in my prior race was going out way too fast.  Part of this was prompted by the fact that I started right on the line, with all the fastest runners, whom I did NOT belong with, and the temptation to try and hang with them for a time was too great.  I did not want to repeat that this time.  Having scouted prior times, I expected that I would probably be towards the middle of the pack in this race, and so that is where I went.  Having the hill staring me right in the face probably also made it easier to keep my early pace in check.  Whatever caused it, I did not go out too fast this time.

In fact, I was initially convinced I had gone out too slow, which is why I was not pleased with how quickly discomfort had set in.  This mental struggle was exasperated by the fact that I was expecting the course to have mile markers, when it fact, it did not.  When 7:30, 8:00, etc came and went on my watch and I still hadn't seen a mile marker, despite definitely feeling like I was pushing myself, I started to be convinced that this wasn't going to be my day.  I eventually saw a sign coming up as my watch got near to 8:45, and I was thinking that was a mile marker - "Are you kidding me?"  Fortunately, it wasn't a mile marker, and shortly after that, the race leaders came by me going the other way.  Knowing the times I was expecting them to run, I knew that I had to be much further along than a mile, and that I really shouldn't be that far from the turnaround. 

As it so happened, I got to the turnaround in under 12 minutes.  I wasn't on pace with the kind of performance I was hoping to have, but I still had plenty of room to set my PR.  That left me in a much better mood as I came back.  The only real mistake I made on the way back was due to, once again, not being quite sure where I was at due no mile markers - I started to put on a finishing kick with probably 3/4 of a mile to go, and I really didn't have more than a 1/2 mile in me at that pace, especially with the big hill coming right before the finish. As such, I ended up slowing again before charing up the final hill.  As I crested the final hill and saw the finish clock, it was just under 24 minutes, meaning I had plenty of time to get in under my PR.  I thought the clock said 24:02 when I crossed, my official time was 24:05.  Because I had started deep in the pack, I'm pretty sure that I crossed the start line a good 5-10 seconds after the official start of the race, so it's more likely that I actually came in just under 24 minutes.  But by any measure, I bested my PR by at least 22 seconds.

My goals coming in had been as such:  I absolutely wanted to set a PR.  I was convinced I had a legitimate shot at taking at least a minute off my PR, and an outside shot at breaking 23 minutes.  So, I had only broken my base goal, but I had done it fairly handily.  That being said, my old PR came on what, in my opinion was a tougher course.  The course in Harrisburg last May had 2 hills (ramps coming up from along the water front) that were longer and probably steeper than the hill at the start/finish of this race, and we ran into a stiff 15-20 MPH headwind for a mile or so.  So, in terms of performance, I consider the Harrisburg one to be equivalent to the Saginaw effort.  When you factor in that I ran a terrible race back in May, the results suggest that I might not yet be back to the level of fitness I had for that race.

Regardless, it's clear that I can't expect to get better at racing without... racing.  It had been 7 months since I ran any kind of race, and 8 since I ran a race with intent of setting a time.  In the meantime, I hadn't gone more than 2.25 miles at anything faster than long run pace, and you really just can't learn how your body works in a race without the experience.

So, I've made sure to map out a race plan to get me through to the summer.  At this point, I am targeting my next race to be on March 6, most likely the "Shiver by the River" in Reading.  After that, I plan to do the 5k run at the Race, Run, Ride & Ramble in Shippensburg on April 17th.  On May 1, I'm doing the Broad Street 10 mile run in Philly, along with Eli and some other friends from church.  I'm not really planning to "race" that one for a real time, just doing it more for the experience - my only "goal" will be to go under 90 minutes, and by that time, I should be running my long training runs at that pace anyhow.  I will do another 5k in May.  Ideally, I'd like to do the Armed Forces 5k again, so I can see exactly how I've progressed in a year, but I may have a conflict with that date, if they even have it - I can't find any info on it yet.  Regardless, there will be plenty of options for a mid-May 5k.  If the real summer heat holds off for a bit, I'll run another in mid-June before taking July and August as my offseason.

In addition to plotting a race plan to make sure I get plenty of experience, I'm also making some modifications to my training schedule.  My mile times and the times I've been running in my 400 intervals suggest that I already have the speed to go much faster - which means my problem is stamina.  So, I'm replacing the mile time trial workouts (in the middle of longer, easy runs) I was doing every other Monday with longer tempo runs, to go along with the shorter "race rehearsals" I was doing on the other Mondays.  I'm also changing my interval workouts from 400s to mostly 1200s and 800s - at slower speeds, but still under planned race pace.  Putting in these longer workouts at faster speeds should prepare me better, both mentally and physically, for racing.

So, I've got a plan - we'll just see how well I can execute it over the next 4 months or so...

Pacing, pacing, pacing!

As I previously mentioned, my first race was not as successful as I hoped due to rookie mistakes. The biggest of those mistakes was a failure in pacing. I was hoping to run a time that would have required a 7:10-7:15 per mile pace, but between the initial surge of adrenaline and starting up near the front with some of the faster runners, I wound up going out in about 6:40 for the first mile, and my race was pretty much done from there. So, I learned right away how important pacing was in a race. Lately, however, I’ve discovered how important pacing is in pretty much every aspect of training.


The most significant example of this was in my interval training. When I’m doing intervals, I run a quarter mile at a pace notably faster than my planned race pace, then walk an eighth of a mile, and then repeat the process for however many I’m supposed to do. The idea is to keep a relatively consistent pace throughout the workout, with everything below or at a particular goal. Going into the training plan, the most I had ever done was 7 or 8 intervals, and I always felt like death at the end of those. The training plan called for me to start my weekly speed workouts at 7-8 intervals and step up to 15-16 over 5 weeks by adding 2 every week. I was really skeptical that I was going to be able to do this.

My pattern had been that my first couple intervals were always several seconds faster than my intended steady pace, while the freshness wore off my legs, and then I would start to see the times fall off towards the end. So, I decided to try a new tactic and hold back a little bit early on. It felt kind of awkward at first, and the end result was that my early intervals would be right at, or just over, goal pace. I immediately noticed a couple changes in how these workouts went. First of all, I found myself feeling much stronger (though still plenty tired) at the end. And secondly, I was now running my fastest times in the last several intervals, rather than seeing a drop off. And so, each week as I had to add 2 more intervals, I found it to be very doable – to the point where by the end of the build-up, I was doing a set of 16 intervals that were consistently faster than the sets of 7 or 8 I had been doing at the start.

Something else that I noticed was that when I focused on holding a bit back, my times didn’t really fall off, with the exception of the initial intervals that I had been running too quickly. Instead, I was running similar times and feeling stronger at the finish of each interval. What became apparent from this was that previously, I had been starting out at a pace I couldn’t sustain and falling dramatically off at the end of the interval. When I held something back early, I set a pace I could maintain throughout, and so I ran a similar time without the extra initial strain of going way too fast.

It’s somewhat counterintuitive to think you can run the exact same distance in the exact same time and yet come away with different levels of fatigue, but it’s quite possible. I saw this play out over a longer distance in my longest race rehearsal. My previous race rehearsal had been 2 miles long. I ran it in 14:45, with almost identical mile splits, and I ended it feeling pretty good, though tired. The next rehearsal, almost 3 weeks later, was 2.25 miles. I went out way too fast in the first ¼ mile, wound up running the first mile in 7 flat, and was in trouble. I wound hitting the 2 mile mark in 14:45 again, but this time I felt like I was dying – and I was in better shape and several pounds lighter than I had been in the previous run.

So, given all that, probably the only thought that will be prominent in my head at the start of Saturday’s race is “DON’T GO OUT TOO FAST!” I’ve put in the work and gotten myself back in shape, so I’m pretty sure that the only thing that can keep me from a good race (short of some sort of disastrous weather conditions) will be making that same mistake again.

Two are better than one

As I mentioned before, one of the steps I took in overcoming training inertia was to find a friend to hold me accountable to my training. The natural person for this job was my good friend Eli, who ran track/cross-country through college, and who I had been casually talking about running with already anyhow. In Eli, I wound up getting more than just an accountability partner – I got something of a coach as well. Up until November, most of the information I had on running/training had just come from what I had found on the internet or other sources I had read. My first training plan I found online, and the one I’m currently using came from a book. There’s nothing wrong with any of these resources, but there’s no substitute for having someone who’s got lots of experience as a runner available to actually talk to, ask questions of, and get feedback from.

I’ve been sending Eli my training plans and my workout results throughout this training cycle, and he responds with encouragement, suggestions, critiques, etc. The thing about a training plan that comes from a book or the internet is that it’s basically going to be basically “one-size fits all.” In my case, Eli is able to look at how things are progressing and suggest modifications that might help me get more out of a particular workout. For instance, my training plan calls for me to do my long runs very slowly, for the purpose of being able to recover from them more quickly. After the first week, Eli noticed my pace in the long run and suggested that I could probably speed those runs up without too much difficulty, due to how the schedule was laid out. So I tried it the next week, and he was right. I sped up by a full minute per mile, still ended the run feeling very strong, and saw no issues with recovery as I got into the next week.

Beyond the practical benefits to the actual training, it’s been very enjoyable to have someone to share the training experience with. Running can be a lonely business. Ideally, I’d like to have a training partner to go along with me, but the reality is that finding someone at the same fitness level, with similar goals who could work the same schedule as me is probably not going to happen. The next best thing is having someone I can talk to about it, who’s got some level of investment in how I’m doing and who wants to see me succeed.

Training "inertia" is a powerful thing

I've learned a few lessons over the winding road of my running career over the past few months, and so with these next few posts, I will chronicle a few of them, starting with my experience with what I have come to call training "inertia."

The principle of inertia is that objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and that objects at rest tend to stay at rest, unless they are acted upon by an outside force. More simply put – it’s easier to keep an moving object moving than it is to get it moving in the first place! My experience of the late summer and early fall has made it quite clear to me how much a similar principle applies to training.
The biggest mistake I made in all of this was to allow myself to get completely out of any kind of running routine back at the end of the summer. I wanted to pull back some because of the heat, and I don’t think that was a flawed plan in and of itself. However, in hindsight, I really needed to have had a clear plan for continuing to train in some fashion, and then I needed to stick with it. Once I was out of the rhythm of training, it was far too easy for me to come up with excuses not to work out on a particular day. I mean, really, what was I giving up? This was especially powerful because for a good part of this time, I was still trying to run in the morning, which meant getting up at 5 am. The urge to stay in bed for an extra hour was, unsurprisingly, quite strong. The fact that I wasn’t really even “breaking training” to do so made the impulse that much harder to overcome, and there were many mornings when I reset the alarm for 6 and crawled back into bed.

There is at least one key difference between real inertia and training inertia. In most cases, an object doesn’t become more difficult to move based on how long it’s been sitting still. That big rock in the middle of your yard is going to take as much effort to get rolling today as it would 3 weeks from now, unless special circumstances intervene. This is not true of training inertia. The longer you’re stopped, the harder it is to get started again, because your training being at rest, by its very nature, causes a number of outside forces resisting your motion to get stronger over time. You lose fitness, which means you know when you do go out again, it’s going to be more difficult. And because it’s been so long since you have run, it’s easier to build the mental case for how bad it’s going to be. On top of that, I was also letting my eating habits slide, so I was also putting weight back on. This only magnified the effects of the loss of fitness, because it obviously takes more effort to run the heavier you are. And of course, you find other things to do with the time that you had blocked out to train, so you have the extra effort of clearing the schedule back out to get started again.

So, one thing I must absolutely do going forward is to make sure I always have a clear training plan, and that I’m sticking to it. I still plan to treat summers as my offseason for running, but I need to replace whatever running I take out of my schedule with some form of training, to ward off both the physical and mental aspects of training inertia.

A running reboot

So, when last we left my adventures in running, I had admitted to having gone through a rather poor period in my training.  I had planned on cutting back to 2-3 workouts per week over the summer in concession to the heat.  Instead, I ended up going through a stretch where I only ran 4 times in about 5 weeks.  My plan at that time was to get myself back into a running groove over the end of August, and then start really training again, with the intent to run a race in mid-October.  Suffice to say, that didn’t happen.  The plan started off well.  I had couple good weeks to close August, and then got a solid start in the first week of my training program during the first week of September.   Unfortunately things went dramatically downhill from there.

The following week I went to California with my Mom and Dad, to visit extended family.  The large portion of my trip was going to spent fishing with my Dad and uncle above 10,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  I took my running gear along, but being honest with myself, I knew that I was probably wasn’t going to be completely faithful to my training schedule.   I ended up not running at all.  About the same time, I realized that I had a case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot, and it was becoming more acute.  Under different circumstances, I might have just run through it.  Plantar actually works itself out and becomes less painful while running, so it’s not necessarily a major hindrance to training – it can just make walking and standing the rest of the time rather painful.   However, since I wasn’t in a particularly good place with  my training to begin with, I decided to take some time off to let it heal, as opposed to having to deal with it for months while continuing to train.  That led to another 2 ½ week gap in my training.  Once I got started again, I never got myself back into a training groove.  By mid-October, I had only run 5 times in about a four week span.  I had held off on registering for the October race, so I just let it go, and I was in no shape to run it anyhow.

At this point, I realized I was at a defining moment in my running career.  I either needed to get my act together and get serious about training again, or just forget about racing altogether for a while.  If I didn’t get going soon, I was going to have very limited time for racing before getting back into the summer.   For a variety of reasons, some of which I may share at a later time, I came to the conclusion that the latter was not an option.  So, with that decision made, I re-adjusted my plans again.  I got a friend to hold me accountable to a training plan.   I made plans to run a race in December just for the experience (in other words, I wasn’t going to train for a goal time), in order to give me something that I would need to get in shape for.   At that point, my tentative plan was to follow that up with a race in January that I would fully train for, and then continue with several more races through the spring.

So, come the beginning of November, I was finally back at it.  I began running regularly again, using workouts that were based on the first week of Jeff Galloway training program I was planning to use when I started “officially” training.  At the outset, I backed the workouts down a bit in terms of length and intensity.  I was really out of shape relative to where I had been, and I didn’t want to push too hard, too fast and potentially sustain another injury.  I got through November running 3 times every week, except for one week when I only ran twice due to a significant intervention by life.   As I got toward the end of November, I began thinking that the December race I was planning on wasn’t the best idea.  For one thing, the website for it was really sketchy in terms of information on the course, past results, etc.  Secondly, I was looking at a couple of mid-January options for my next race.  In order to fully train for a mid-January race, I was going to have to start before the December race, meaning I’d have to disrupt my schedule to do it.  So, in consultation with my accountability partner, who was also planning to run it, I made the decision to save my money, skip the race, and focus on training for a mid-January race.

Besides, having the plan of the December race had served its purpose anyhow: I was back in a good training rhythm and ready to go further.   The Monday after Thanksgiving I started on my full training plan.  I had been kicking around a couple of different January races, and eventually settled on running the Saginaw 5k in the York area on January 15^th with a couple of friends.  Training for the race went quite well.   I only missed one workout, and I pretty much was able to make that up on the elliptical that night.   My resolve to stick with the plan was quickly tested.  Those who live in this area know December was unseasonably cold, which meant it was “real” winter running weather well ahead of schedule, but I persevered, with the help of plenty of warm running gear.  I’ve found I actually enjoy running in cold weather, and that it’s much better than running when it’s really warm!   Now, when it’s cold and really windy… that’s another story, but I managed to fight through those couple of nights as well.  Luckily, despite the cold, there hasn’t been much snow yet.  I’ve only run while it was snowing once, and there hasn’t yet been enough snow to make road conditions an issue for any length of time.

So, as things stand today, I have finished up the hard part of the training and am now tapering for the race on Saturday.  The end result of all this is that I feel like I’m going into this race at a level of fitness similar to what I had for my race back in May, perhaps slightly better.  My primary goal is simply to best my PR from that race – 24:27.  However, I ran a terrible race that day due to some key rookie mistakes, so I’m very hopeful that I can take a big chunk off of that time.  My more optimistic goal is to challenge the 23 minute barrier.  Regardless of any of that, I’m very happy to be finally getting back into a race and getting more of that experience under my belt.

I'm back!

Well, I’m back! Admit it, you missed me – all 3 of you that read this space whenever I happen to write something in it. It’s hard to believe it’s been since the middle of August since I posted anything, but that’s how it goes I suppose.


The funny thing about this prolonged absence is that it’s not like I haven’t been writing. On the contrary, I’ve probably written as much over the last 4+ months as I have in several years, it just hasn’t gone onto the blog. Much of it has been rather personal, of a nature that I didn’t just want to dump unfiltered out onto the internet – although I will likely wind up sharing a good bit of it in other forms as I resume “publishing” my work.

Ah yes, about that – I have a plan! I have been clearing space in my schedule to re-dedicate myself to writing, with the stated goal of producing at least one formal writing that is designed for “public consumption” every week. These works will be crafted, revised, edited, etc. For the time being, this blog will be the medium in which I will publish that work. However, in the not too distant future, I plan to launch a second site which will be reserved for those works, a more “professional” space, if you will. That will leave this space as more of a personal blog for informal updates and quips, things that I write on the spur of the moment without much crafting or filtering, basically the things you’d expect to find on a blog. I expect these will become more frequent again as I put more time into writing in general.

So, ready or not, here I come again!

Getting back after it

Well, my transition to "off-season" running didn't go as well as I had hoped. What I meant by that is that I didn't keep my running up as much as I would have liked. My intention was to stick to 2-3 times out a week, but I wound up doing more like 1 time a week, due to a combination of factors - climate, softball playoffs (I HATE the way our league schedules them), other scheduling matters, and most recently this past week, illness, as I caught a rare August cold. Other than the week of softball playoffs, the weather was probably the biggest driving factor. It continued to be such a crazily warm summer, and it seemed like no matter how much I tried to plan my schedule to fit in on the decent days, virtually every day I scheduled a run wound up being one of those mornings where when I woke up, it was already 75 and really humid out. Had I been in a rhythm, I think I could probably have fought through a few of those days, but it was just too easy to wait for the next opportunity.

But now, the time has come to begin thinking about training again, as I am but 2 months away from my next planned race, the Falcon Fun Run at Messiah's homecoming on October 16. Back when I started all of this, the plan was for this race to be towards the end of a running season that would run from spring until late fall - now it's to be the beginning of my "second" season, which will run from fall through early summer.

I'm switching my training plan to methods prescribed by Jeff Galloway. Galloway is well-known for his training methods, particularly at the longer distances, and most notably the "walk/run" method, which utilizes walk breaks, even while racing. This also applies to his methods at the 5k/10k level, though the paces I've already run at the 5k level are getting close to the end of where I would be walking during a race. His training plan was attractive to me over my prior plan for a few reasons:

#1 - In general, his approach favors dialing back the intensity slightly and increasing the length of the workout, relative to what I was doing with my old setup. I've already done some of the workouts he details, and I find I enjoy the long runs much more - and the speed work is more managable as well.

#2 - This plan includes workouts designed as "race rehearsals", where I will actually run at shorter, building distances at/near my intended race pace.

#3 - This plan only does 4 day a week running - the other did 5, though one day was very light, and I was just never able to fully make that work. 4 running days also leaves me a desired 3 days a week for strength training, without mixing the 2.

Starting tomorrow, I'll spend the next 2 weeks easing back into a more regular running schedule, and then start "real" training on August 30th. I had hoped to maintain more of my form through the summer, but at this point, I'm guessing that getting ready for this first race will be more about recovering the conditioning I've lost (and shedding the few extra pounds I've put back on) than really advancing my speed significantly. Training for this race will also meet the schedule challenge of a week's vacation in California (including several days camping at altitude) during the 2nd week, and an extended weekend in South Bend, Indiana the weekend before the race - but I shall press on!

Galloway has a 5k training plan for breaking 20 minutes and one for breaking 25 minutes - neither of which fits my immediate needs. He makes the methodlogies for determining the pacing of workouts in the plans pretty clear, so I'll be using the workout schedule for the 20 minute goal, but with workout paces designed more for a 22:30-23:00 time. As I get ready to get back at it, my only firm goal for the October race is to better my PR of 24:27 from the Armed Forced Day 5k back in May - as training begins and progresses, I may set more lofty goals.

Well, that was a kick in the head (for reals)

I've had my share of injuries playing softball through the years. There are ones you expect, that just come with the territory. Examples of these would be a bruise from having a ball hit part of your body, and scraping up your legs from sliding or diving for a ball. Pretty commonplace, nothing to be concerned about. You might even get banged up from colliding with another player.

You do not, however, expect to get kicked in the head playing softball, and you especially do not expect said kick to come from a player on your own team, but alas, that is what happened. Let me allieviate any concern right away - this happened almost 2 hours ago now, and I'm pretty certain that I'm no worse for the wear except for a sore neck, that will likely be be more sore tomorrow.

So, here's how it happened. We were playing our playoff game, I was playing third base, as is my custom. There was a hit to the outfield. I don't remember the specifics, but the bottom line was that a runner was coming to third, and a throw come in from the outfield, rather wildly, to try and throw him out. I had to scamper off the base and make a pretty good stab to keep the ball in front of me. Because the runner saw how bad the throw was, he didn't stop right on the base but kept going around. As he saw I caught the ball, he stopped and went to dive back to the base, and I dove back into the bag to try and tag him. I was too late, and just as my glove hit the ground, I felt a "thud" on the back of my head, and I dropped down to the base.

As it turned out, our shortstop had come running in towards third. I'm not sure if he had been coming that way thinking he would get the ball if I missed it, or if he was trying to get to the bag to give a throw. Regardless, when he saw the runner diving into the base, he evidently tried to jump over him, and succeeded, but he did not succeed in jumping over me. Thus, I received a "nice" kick to the head.

I laid there, head on the base, pretty sure I was okay, but not wanting to get up until I was pretty certain of it. I never lost concisousness, though I gave our shortstop quite a scare, because while I laid there, I apparently had my eyes closed, and since I didn't move, he thought I was out. But I wasn't, I was completely awake, aware of what had just happened, what was going on in the game, etc, and after a few minutes of recovery, I returned to my position and the game continued.

I felt about cloudy for a while - after all, I had just been kicked in the head. However, by game's end (there was only another inning plus), that had all pretty much cleared out. I had my teammate check my eyes, nothing was dialated, and so I was without any of the symptons that I'm aware of for a concussion. Actually, given the nature of the hit, and how I felt immediately afterward, I think my neck took more of the pressure than my, which is why I expect to be sore in the morning.

All in all, a rather different softball experience, and now I can use the phrase "That's a kick in the head" as someone with experience! If only we had won the game...

Charting a new course

So, I've come to a "new" realization in the last few weeks: It gets really, really hot in the summer.

Okay, so, not exactly groundbreaking, I realize. In fact, it's something I already knew very well - it's just taken on a different meaning for me this year. You see, for the past several years, dealing with the summer heat basically meant dealing with a warm commute to work and toughing out the occasional softball game during a scorcher. Not the most fun in the world, but not really a big deal. Something changed for this year, and that, of course, was the fact that I took up running, which, as you know, generally takes place outdoors.

This ramifications of this realization began to take shape two Saturdays past, when I ran a 5k in my hometown of Shippensburg. This was to be an "experience" race anyhow, in that I wasn't going to be gunning at a particular time goal - and that was really for the best, because as the race approached it was clear it was going to be a really hot day, like around 90 for the high hot (though not as bad as this week). 2 things about the race exasperated the problem. First of all, the race was scheduled for 10 am. Now, I've not been racing very long, but it seems to me that waiting until mid-morning for a race start in the summer is just not a good idea. My first race started at 8:00 am, and had this one been the same, we could have had it about 10 degrees cooler than the 80 degrees we got. As a reference, the book I'm reading on a new training approach I'm looking to transition to considers anything above 60 to be adverse conditions, in terms of your ability to run your best time.

Secondly, apparently these race organizers don't know what distance a 5k is actually supposed to cover. 5 kilometers is roughly 3.1 miles. The night before the race, I drove what I roughly understood the course to be, without knowledge of where the exact start and finish would be. What I drove measured out somewhere over 3.3 miles, so I figured the start and finish would fall somewhere that would cut off the extra .2. When I got there Saturday morning, the start/finish line was actually positioned to make the course at least a tenth of a mile longer than what I had driven, so the race was going to be more like 3.5 miles than 5k.

I went out pretty slow, but the heat was just brutal (there was zero cloud cover and minimal shade on the course to offer any relief), and by about 2 miles I was feeling pretty spent. It was just an experience race, like I said, and I decided that what I wanted to experience was having a decent finish, so I walked for about a half a mile and then put on a very strong finish - came across in about 31 minutes, which translates to more like 28 for an actual 5k. Not exactly stellar, but I accomplished my only real goal of not having a completely miserable day that made me never want to run another 5k :-)

Anyhow, as you know if you live in the area, the week after the race we caught a stretch of spring-like weather, and I resumed my training with new vigor. And then, the heat wave hit. I'd already switched my workouts back to the mornings to deal with the rising temperatures, but lately we've consistently had overnight "lows" in excess of 70 degrees, so even if I get out before 5:30 am like usual, it's still already very warm, and you get the added humidity of the morning to go with it. Now, I see people running all the time anyhow, and if I was just doing easy running/long running, I could probably continue without issue, and just slow the pace down, but I find speed work in this mess to be absolutely brutal - and it's not the most fun thing to begin with. It also doesn't help that I play softball, and the last thing I want to do after playing 2 softball games on a 90+ degree night is go to bed and then get right up and run in more warm, humid weather the following morning.

So I've made a decision - full-scale training in mid-summer may work for some, but it is just not for me, and continuing to push at it is only likely to discourage me altogether. I also would like to remain active in softball and other recreational summer activities going forward, which are at odds with training as well - both from a perspective of taking energy away from training, and from posing extra injury risk. I've been through a winter already, and while there were some issues, I much preferred training in the cold to training the in the heat. There's just so much more you can do to combat the cold as opposed to what you can do when dealing with heat - and the activity of running itself is your ally in cold weather. There was actually only 1 day this winter where I skipped a planned run because I thought it was too cold, and I wasn't really even training for anything at that point, so it was easier to make those kinds of concessions because there was less motivation. February was kind of a rough month due to the 3 massive snow storms, but this wasn't a typical winter for our area in that regard.

All of that being said, at this point, I'm officially declaring myself to be in my running "off-sesaon." The race I was planning on running on August 14th in Mechanicsburg has been downgraded from a goal race to an experience race, with the potential for forgoing it entirely if it's a brutally hot day. Instead of full training (4 days a week, with 2 days dedicated to some form of speed work, 1 long run and one easy run, with each week getting progressively more difficult) aimed at improvement, I will simply look to maintain as much of my current level of conditioning as possible with a lighter schedule that will stay consistent rather than building week to week, with more cross-training as well. Come the end of August, I'll plan to begin full-scale training for the Falcon Fun Run at Messiah's homecoming on October 16, and then look to continue training and racing through the late fall and winter, into late spring/early summer, before hitting the "off-season" again next summer.

So, you live and learn, and you make adjustments. I had a plan, the plan is now changing, and may change again in the future.

What have I become?

Okay, so the simple fact of that matter is that if you'd have told me any time up to about a year ago that I'd be doing any kind of running on a regular basis, let alone training for and running 5k races, I'd probably have laughed at you. I've gone through most of my life believing that I hated running, and that short of some sort of health issue that left me with little other choice, it would never be something I would get into.

That being said, on Sunday I had what is probably the biggest "who is this person?" moment that I've run across to date in my running life.

First, some background - as you know if you keep up with this blog (which, let's be honest, isn't a dreadfully time consuming task these days), a few weeks ago I began round 2 of my training schedule, prepping for the "Run for Reading" 5k in Mechanicsburg on August 14th. What you may not realize is that there was a rather noteworthy climate shift between the time I completed my serious training and started to taper for my first 5k and when I went to pick up training again - good old southcentral PA summer weather had crept around, which meant I was encountering 85 degree heat with accompanying high humidity, when previously I had been predominantly dealing with maybe 65-70 degree, relatively dry weather as the worst case scenario.

Anyhow, I was able to get through the main part of training that week - I was running in the evenings at/around sundown, so that blunted some of the heat issues, though I was certainly feeling it. When the weekend came and it was time for my 5 mile run, however, it was a different matter. I tried to run on Saturday morning - got out at maybe 9, thinking that would be good enough to beat the serious heat of the day - and it was. However, it was already 75 degrees, with humdity probably up in the 80% range, and the sun was out and just beating down. A 5 mile run at the pace I was planning to run ordinarily wouldn't have been much of anything to me at this point, but about a mile and a half in, I knew I was in trouble. It didn't help matters that I went out slightly faster than I had planned, but I don't think that was really the issue - I was just not prepared for the conditions. I toughed it out, but ultimately I was bonking with pretty much nothing at my disposal to remedy the situation, so I pack it in after a disappointing 3.5 miles.

Overall, I was really discouraged by the workout, and with the weather forecast not looking much different for the next several days (except for when it would rain), I wound up not going out at all for the next week. By the end of the week, my resolve was back and I prepared to get started up again in the week to come - with one notable change - I would move my workouts to the early morning, which is how I had started out, until the middle of winter when it was just to cold. So, I had come full circle, as I was now finding it too hot to run after work. Running in the morning is also helpful now that softball season is in full swing, because I can't really run in the evening on game nights.

The schedule change worked quite well through the week, which brought me to the weekend and my next attempt at a longer run. I was resolved to do a few thing differently this time, which I expected would help. First was to increase the frequency with which I took in water, to compensate for the extra I was losing due to conditions. Second was to bring some sports drink along, to replace some of the things I was sweating out besides just water. Lastly was to be absolutely sure to keep my early pace under control.

However, there was still the matter of conditions - and Sunday was looking an awfully lot like the Saturday of my ill-fated last attempt. All of which leads me to the "who is this person?" moment - I decided to set my alarm for 5:15 on a Sunday morning so I could get out before the sun was all the way up. When I took off, it was only 68 degrees, but weather.com actually said it was 100% humidity. It was actually rather cloudy, so the sun wouldn't have been a major issue anyhow, but I'm still glad I got out really early. The run went markedly better than my prior attempt, and I completed a full 5 miles at a pace I was pleased with, though I did run the last 2 miles on flatter terrain than I usually would because I was starting to feel it and I wanted to make sure I covered the distance.

Really, I think the "who is this person?" moment came after the run, when I had showered, replenished fluids, and had something to eat - at which point I laid down to take a nap before church. That kind of blew my mind. (Don't worry though, I didn't let that interfere with my more standard post-church nap... )

The gameplan, round 2

Well, the LOST finale has started, but I don't want to watch commercials, so I'm killing time for a few minutes before starting it off the DVR, and so I thought it was probably time to get my training goals for round 2 set down. Lucky you, my special handful of readers :-)

Anyhow, this week was designated as an easy week, and it turned out to be much easier than initially planned. I followed through with running a mile time-trial on Tuesday on the course that has more inclines to it, as I mentioned in a previous post, and came up with a 6:35 that I was very pleased with. My intent was then to run a two-mile trial on Friday night, and then go 4-5 miles today. However, I wound up doing some fasting this weekend, and I figured serious exercise isn't probably the best idea when you're not eating much, so I put those plans on hold.

Anyhow, this coming week will bring the resumption of training. I have previously mentioned the major tweaks to my approach this time out, and there's another one or two I will mention in the details here.

Speed Intervals
Starting objective: 4 intervals, all run in 1:25 or less
Final objective: 7 intervals, all run in 1:25 or less

This is one of my minor tweaks. The training plan itself calls to start at 3 and go to 6 intervals by the end of the schedule. I could do that, with a goal to get much faster this time out. However, I'm already intervaling at or just above the pace I've read I need to look at if I want to get to my long term goal, so it's more important to be able to add intervals rather than speed them up. I don't need more top-end speed, I need more ability to sustain it. I'd like to be able to get to 8 intervals by the end of the 3rd cycle, so I'm planning on going from 4 to 7 with a slight time drop this time, and then just look to go from 5 to 8 with a similar time in the 3rd cycle. You'll note, as opposed to last time, I'm not looking to drop my times over the course of training - I discovered last time that's just not that realistic. I'm adding an interval at least once every two weeks, so that's all I can really ask - trying to go faster at the same time isn't helpful.

Midweek 2/3 mile runs
Starting objective: 2 miles at 8:20/mile pace
Ending objective: 3 miles at 8:10/mile pace

Again, I could do these faster if I wanted, but it would wind up creating problems with my more important workouts, mainly the tempo runs. I proved that point to myself last cycle, when about week 5 I was feeling really good and wound up going 8:05 pace over 3 miles, which was a good 25 seconds better than I was supposed to run - it led to a couple of subpar workouts in a row until I took some extra rest. 8:20 is about what I was able to do very comfortably at the end of the last training cycle, and I'm really not looking to go much faster with these.

Tempo runs
Starting objective: 30 minutes total, 15 minutes fast (7:25/mile pace)
Finishing objective: 40 minutes total, 20 minutes fast (7:15/mile pace)

At first glance, if you saw my first cycle objectives, it looks like I'm taking a step back. I met my goals and was tempoing at/under 7:10/mile by the end of the first cycle. However, there are a couple mitigating factors here - mainly the change of venue. I'm moving from my half-mile loop, which is pretty flat and may be a bit short, to my mile loop, which has more hills to it, and is definitely at least the length I'm counting it as. Also, I think I was previously tempoing too fast. Given my mile time of 6:35 on the same course, 7:25 is an appropriate tempo pace. We'll see how it goes. Regardless, the change of terrain should make these runs much more indicative of what I would be able to do comfortably on a moderate 5k course.

Long runs
Starting objective: 5 miles, 8:45/mile pace
Finishing objective: 7 miles, 8:30/mile pace

Nothing too fancy here - my last long run of cycle 1 was 7 miles at an 8:37 pace. If I can take these runs a bit faster comfortably, I will, but I'm not looking for crazy improvement here, because pushing these runs will, again, negatively impact my speed/stamina workouts.

So, there's the plan. There is a minor catch this time around. My training plan runs 8 weeks, including the taper week before the race, but the next race I'm officially training for is 12 weeks ago. My plan will be to taper mid-plan for the race in Shippensburg on 6/26, give myself another relatively easy week the week after, and then resume by repeating the last week I had done on the schedule. That will eat up 3 of my 4 extra weeks, so I'll still have a week to play with, and how that gets used will depend on how the rest of the cycle goes.

A better way (I think)

So, as you might know, this Sunday is the finale of ABC's LOST, one of the more anticipated events in recent TV history. The show has been quite popular and has kept it's fans guessing for the better part of the last 6 years, and they will all be watching as the answers (well, at least most of them, I'm sure there will be some mystery left) are revealed. And I will join them, though my journey has been a bit different.

You see, prior to the first of this year, I had never seen a single episode of LOST. I really am not one to be drawn to new TV shows by the previews, so I rarely catch a new show from the very beginning, and by the time I'd heard enough good things about LOST to be intrigued by it, it was several episodes in, and I knew it was the kind of show that I'd want to see from the beginning. Catching up on a show was not as easy back in 2004 as it is today, with the prevalence of things like iTunes, video on-demand service, networks posting back episodes on their website, etc, so I figured some day, at least after the first season DVDs came out, I'd give the show a try and catch up if I liked it. Some day turned out to be earlier this year, and it wasn't by some serious compulsion - I got a Blu-ray player for Christmas, had my Netflix account ready to go, and was looking for some adds to the queue. LOST was one of the more intriguing options to come to mind, so I added the first season and was ready to see if I liked it. After the first disc or so in the first season, I was into the show and decided that I would continue.

This immediately presented me with a bit of a deadline. I knew the season that was upcoming was to be the last for the show. As popular and talked about as LOST was, I also knew that, were I not caught up and able to watch the finale when it aired, there was no way I was going to be go any length of time without hearing some major spoilers - so I had to caught up by the finale. I added seasons 2-5 to my queue and got to work. When the beginning of February rolled around, I set my DVR to record all of this season's episodes so they would be ready for me when I needed them. I initially wound up going almost too fast, and in March and April had to "ration" my watching, because I decided I couldn't go from being able to watch a new episode pretty much on demand to getting caught early in the final season and having to wait week to week. It worked out pretty well, and tonight I just watched last week's episode and last night's episode, so I'm all caught up and ready for the finale.

Inadvertantly, I may have stumbled onto a vastly superior way to watch TV - or at least serial dramas. I see a number of very positive aspects of going this way:

1. No fear of "failure" - Like I said, I don't often get in on the ground floor of shows very often, so this isn't something I've run into too often, but very often serial dramas don't grab enough of an audience and get dumped before they can wrap up their storylines - which really sucks for the loyal fans the show did have. My most recent similar experience to this has been with Friday Night Lights, which started out on NBC, was very nearly axed after its first season, and then was moved so that its first run epsiodes would air exclusively on DirecTV, before re-runing on NBC. It's made it through 4 seasons now (the last two have been shortened), but the 4th season was the first one that ended with any certainty about whether the show was coming back (the last renewal was for seasons 4 + 5, with 5 widely expected to be the last), and yet season finales constantly left plenty of unresolved questions. Heroes also just got axed after 4 seasons having left a lot open in its season (now series) finale, but that show has been consistently going in the tank for the last couple seasons and I wasn't likely to come back anyhow. Regardless, going the "wait and catch-up" route eliminates this concern - you can start watching knowing the plots will be brought to conclusion, or you can at least make an educated decision to watch a show that got the early axe, knowing what you'll be getting into.

2. No waiting - Watching a show as it unfolds always necessitates waiting at least a week between episodes, and in the case of serial dramas, you're usually signing up for months between seasons with some sort of cliffhanger to be resolved. The shorter seasons LOST has run from 4-6 have resulted in almost 9 months between season finale and season premiere, and for shows that run through a full traditional season, these days you're almost invariably looking at some form of hiatus at multiple times to keep the episodes lined up with sweeps and the like. The longest I went between LOST episodes was a week (driven by blizzard related mail delays and a disc that was broken on delivery), and it just so happened that occurred between the 2nd season finale and 3rd season premiere, so I was still months ahead of everyone else on that wait. This also feeds into...

3. No commercials - There are no commercials on Blu-rays, and I can skip them on the DVR'd episodes. Nothing more needs to be said.

4. Ease of recall - Most shows aren't as involved as LOST, but in general, serial dramas are building on something, which makes it helpful if you remember what happened in previous episodes and seasons. I could be wrong, but I'm assuming it's much easier to remember what happened in Season 1 if you watched it a few months ago as opposed to several years ago.

5. Muting of a potential final letdown - Let's face it, a number of these kind of shows have had finales that were quite disappointing. I feel like such a letdown would be much less brutal if you've only been watching for a few months before getting to them as opposed to 5+ years.

Now, there are also some potential pitfalls with this method, the primary one being the obvious issue of spoilers. By catching up before the finale, I've eliminated the possibility the "big" spoiler, but as popular as LOST is, it was inevitable that I was going to pick up somethings, some of which I had picked up before I even started watching. It got particularly difficult once season 6 started up, but overall, I didn't have anything major spoiled. And of course, there's the fact that if everyone tried to employ this method, there would never be a serial drama made again, because they wouldn't get ratings. This is also an easier method for me, because I don't watch a ton of non-sports TV to begin with, so I have time to devote to such an effort, in short bursts.

Regardless of all of that, I've really enjoyed watching LOST in this manner, and will likely try do something similar in the future. I'm probably not patient enough to take this approach with every show that piques my curiosity :-)

Some course corrections

So, if you read the comments in my race report, you might have noticed that my initial disappointment in my performance in my first ever 5k had begun to fade as the day continued on, and that trend continued. Not to say that I'm totally pleased today, but I'm content with it for a number of reasons.

1. Prior to Saturday, I had never competed in an actual race of over 1/4 mile (I think), so just finishing was an accomplishment I became more pleased with as I reflected.
2. A significant part of my struggles were caused by poor initial pacing. Proper pacing is probably one of the hardest things to do in a 5k, and so it was probably somewhat unrealistic for me to expect to get it right in my first race.
3. My goal time of 22:30 was based on my perception of what my optimum performance should be over 5k, and upon further reflection, there was no reason I should have expected optimum performance given the course, which had 2 short but quite steep inclines, and featured full a mile of running directly into a stiff headwind. (Yes, said wind was at my back for most of the last mile, but trust me, it doesn't even out...) The winning time in last year's race was 17:51, and although they haven't posted the official results for this year's race yet, I was told by my cheering section that the first runner came across the line in well over 18 this year. These are not blazing fast 5k times, and for a race of this size (I would say approximately 300 people) to be won by them would definitely indicate that this is not a particularly fast course. In retrospect, a time of 2300-23:30 was probably what I would have been looking at with proper pacing.

So, overall, I'm in much better place with my feelings about the run. Further, I was quite encouraged by my fitness level today when I did a mile time trial in what I am going to call my personal best, of 6:35. I say I'm going to call it my best, because technically I ran a faster mile shortly before I started officially training for Saturday's rest, in 6:25. However, I ran that mile as 2 circuits of my half-mile loop, which I am now convinced is slightly shorter than a half mile. I ran today's mile on my mile loop, which is definitely a mile and if anything is slightly longer. The mile loop is also rather undulating with a couple of steady climbs, while the half mile loop is pretty flat, so even if they are the same length, I'm convinced my 6:35 time on the mile loop is a much better running performance. I'll have to get to a track at some point, because I'm convinced I could probably start to attack the 6 minute mile barrier on a flat run.

So, all of that said, upon reflection, I'm looking at the following changes to my training and race plans. Originally, I only intended to do 3 races this year, to allow time for a full training cycle in between each one. I'm now convinced I need to run a few more races to get experience, even if I'm not "fully" trained for the extra ones. So, my current plan is to next run the Travis Henry Memorial 5k in my hometown of Shippensburg on 6/26 as an "experience" race, and then the Run for Reading 5k in Mechanicsburg on 8/14 as my next race I'm formally training for. After that, I will be looking for a 5k in the mid-September time frame, while training for the Falcon Fun Run at Messiah's Homecoming on 10/16. I've also decided I'll want to stay in training through to December before taking the coldest part of the winter a bit easier, so I'll probably be looking for a race or two in the November/December time frame.

Because the 8/14 date for the Run for Reading is out a couple weeks beyond my 8 week training schedule, I may actually take the week before the 6/26 run and taper for it, but we'll see how things go. I, of course, reserve the right to change my schedule due to injury, other setback, or my whim:)

I'll be setting some training goals later this week, but I have decided to make two key changes to my training approach this time around. First of all, to help myself with being able to feel proper pace, I'm going to work to discipline myself not to check my watch at intervals smaller than half a mile on my tempo and long runs. Secondly, I am going to move my tempo runs (my longest speed workouts) from the half-mile loop to the mile loop. There are two reasons for this - the first being the distance issue I mentioned earlier - I think running the half-mile loop this time around gave me a slightly unrealistic picture of my pace, by moving to the mile loop, if anything, I'll think I'm going a bit slower than I really am, and I prefer that going into a race. Secondly, the mile loop, while not containing any severe hills, comes much closer to replicating what I could expect on a typical 5k course in terms of inclines than the flater half-mile loop.

So, at this point, I'm really feeling re-energized and ready to start prepping for the next race. Of course, that's not to say I'm not enjoying having a more relaxed schedule this week :-)

Armed Forces Day 5k - Race Report

Well, after some spotty weather all week, we were blessed with a beautiful day for the race. It was about 60 degrees and sunny, with a nice breeze moving at race time (8 am).

That, unfortunately, was the main highlight of the day, as I made the mistake I absolutely swore I couldn't make and went out too fast. My plan of attack was to be even mile splits, or even negative splits (getting fast over the course of the race), but assuming the rough mile markers I got from the online course maps (there was nothing official out on the course), I blew that possibility out of the water by running the first mile in about 6:50-6:55, which is a good 20 seconds below the 7:10-7:15 pace I was looking to have over the course of the race, and it absolutely cost me in the last half of the race.

Adding to the difficulties was that I had not totally had a good understanding of the course. We started on City Island and did almost a full lap of the island before heading across the Walnut Street walking bridge. At this point, we did a little turn and headed along the river. Looking at the map, I was thinking we were just staying up at the level of the bridge, but we actually dropped down to the lower level via a fairly steep hill. Not a big problem at that point, but it meant that we were going to have to go back up that hill right before the finish, and it also meant there was a similar hill to navigate at the turnaround point about 2 miles into the race. It also put us right down next to the river, into quite a wind tunnel that was blowing into our faces on the way out.

Between the wind in the face and having gone out too fast, my planning of having something in reserve for the last mile just didn't come together, and I was really just trying to hang on. The hill back up onto the bridge pretty much did me in, and the final run back across the bridge was far from triumphant. I did manage a final push to the finish to get in around 24:30, which was a solid 2 minutes below my goal, and I'm pretty that way too fast first mile cost me pretty much all of that time. Granted, 24:30 for a 5k is nothing to be ashamed of in the grand scheme of things, it's still under an 8 minute mile pace, and while the official results are yet to come, I know I finished ahead of significantly more people than I finished behind. That being said, I know I could have done a lot better - by the end of my training cycle I was able to run 3 miles at an 8:10-8:15/mile pace and feel very comfortable throughout, so going well under an 8 minute pace in 5k race shouldn't have been much of a problem - had I done a better job of pacing myself early in the race.

So, that will be a point of emphasis for my next round of training - being able to have a better feel for my pace. The difference between training and a race is that I know my training courses, I have checkpoints all along the way, so if I'm off pace, I know about it within a quarter mile and can make the adjustment. Today, all I had was a rough idea of where each mile was, and so until I got my first reliable time check, I was already in trouble. So, I will probably try to find some less familiar paths to run this time around, and also discipline myself to not look at my watch as much while I'm on my regular paths. I do not think my 22:30 goal was unrealistic for my level of conditioning, despite the fact that I fell 2 minutes short of it - I think the time was more reflective of my lack of experience than anything else.

So, what's up next? I plan to have a slightly easier week this week, perhaps just a couple days where I do some time-trailing at some shorter distances (1 and 2 miles) and then a 4-5 mile run over the weekend, and then I'll reset my training plan with new goals for this time around. At this point, I'm eyeing a couple options for races in late July/early August to be the next one that I'm "officially" training for. There's also a 5k in my hometown on 6/26 that I'm eyeing more seriously after today. It will be squarely in the middle of my training cycle, so I would be looking at it more for getting some more experience at running the distance than for a real barometer of progress - though I would probably be hoping for at least some sort of a PR given my time today.

So, all in all, I was disappointed today, but not disheartened, and very motivated to continue training and learning so that I can improve. I finished, and for the first one, I guess that has to be the primary goal :)

Well, it's official

Today, I officially registered for the Armed Forces Day 5k in Harrisburg on Saturday, May 15th, so I suppose it is on...

Training has gone very well to date, although I am skipping my long run this weekend because I've listened to my body. I did my longest tempo run ever on Friday evening around sundown, had a long day yesterday, and just was not feeling totally right when I got up this morning. I might have taken a go at it, except for the unseasonable warmth and accompanying humidity. The bottom line is that my endurance is well built up at this point, this is the only run I've missed in the first 6 weeks so it doesn't seem likely to really mess me up, and overtraining could lead to a major setback.

Anyhow, with 2 weeks to go, and only one week of full training (the last week is an easy week to taper down and be properly rested for the race), it's time to really start thinking about goals.

Assuming the courses I train on are pretty close to the lengths I believe they are, I've been tempo running at about a 7:15-7:20 minute/mile pace, with my longest period at tempo pace being 20 minutes (I covered about 2.75 miles in that stretch). Maintaining that pace for a 5k would lead to something in the vicinity of a 22:30 for. Now, the idea of tempo running is that it's supposed to be below race pace, so in theory I should expect to run faster than that pace in the race. However, I'm going to temper my expectations for a few reasons.
#1 - I think, since I don't have a race history to know my race pace that I'm probably tempo running closer to my limit than I should be.
#2 - I'm not yet fast enough to cover 5k during my tempo runs, so I'll have some extra distance to cover once I get best the longest I've run at such a pace before.
#3 - If anything, I think the course I use for my tempo runs is a bit shorter than I count it as.
#4 - This is my first race - I'm a bit concerned the adrenaline might mess with my pacing discipline.

Of course, there are a couple things that work in my favor:
#1 - My tempo runs are often the 3rd of 3 straight daily runs, and almost always at least the 2nd of two in a row, and they always occur towards the end of the day, so I'm not necessarily on the freshest of legs. On raceday, I'll be running first thing in the morning with a couple days of rest behind me.
#2 - When I tempo run, I start out with 8 to 10 minutes of running at a long run pace, so I'm actually 28-30 minutes into a run when I finish the faster portion. In the race, I'll be starting with completely fresh legs.

All of that put together, with this being my first race, I'm taking a pretty conservative approach and looking for a time around 22:30, though I think I might be capable of better. My plan, for the time being, is to be relatively conservative over the first two miles or so, with the hope of having plenty in the tank for a very good final mile. If I make a mistake with pacing in this race, I want to do so in favor of having something left at the end, as opposed to bonking and having to struggle to the finish. One very nice aspect of the course for the race for a novice like myself is that it is very flat overall.

Another positive development regarding the race occurred today, as some friends, who were just coming off of a half-marathon yesterday, got the bug and decided to run the race with me. I think it'll make for much more fun day having a group for support at the starting line and to celebrate with afterwards, and potentially some company on the run itself depending on how they pace.

The plan, continued - Training Objectives

Okay, so the "plan" officially starts on Monday. As a reminder, I will be using this training plan. I do, however, have a couple of minor tweaks. First of all, I'm usually busy on Tuesday nights, while Mondays are most often free, so I typically make Monday my interval day and Tuesday my early week rest day, so I'm not rushing around trying to get workout in on Tuesdays. This works well, since Sunday is a very light day anyhow. In addition, as I mentioned in a previous post, I plan to do my intervals with only 200m (roughly) in between, as opposed to 400m.

So, here are my stated training goals for each type of training, based on a combination of what various running sites say I should be able to do based on my current fitness level, and my own prior experiences. Sunday recovery jogs are not included here.

Intervals
Starting objective: All intervals under 1:30
Ending objective: All intervals under 1:25

The difference between starting and ending times on this is merely an acknowledgment that I'm going in a bit out of shape - I'm not really training to make these faster, though if it happens, I won't complain. As you'll notice from the training plan, the goal over the course of the plan is to add intervals, going from 3 in week 1 to 6 in week 7. Before I fell of my training schedule, I pretty easily did 5 in under 1:25, of course, that was with 400m recovery in between. This was also before every other interval was uphill. Anyhow, I went out and did three intervals on Monday - the downhill ones were both under 1:25, the uphill was right at 1:30. This is probably the least ambitious of my training time objectives, and it's by design. I HATE intervals, and they are workout most likely to drive me off my schedule. My pacing is already good for my longer term goals, so rather than kill myself trying to go faster, the focus will simply be on adding intervals. In fact, when I start over after the first race, I will probably start at 6 intervals and look to increase to 8, rather than going back to 3 and looking for a faster time. We'll see.

Midweek 2/3 mile runs
Starting objective: 8:45/mile pace
Ending objective: 8:30/mile pace

Oddly enough, despite being by far the easiest workout (aside from Sunday's easy jog), this one has the most potential to screw up my training, in my opinion. These are not speed workouts, just nice, easy mid-week runs. While I'm very good about starting slow when I'm going 5 miles and beyond, I found during my first run of training that when I'm only going 2 or 3 miles, I want to go. I could absolutely run these workouts faster right now, but I need to discipline myself to maintain pacing, because if I go too fast in these workouts, it will hurt my tempo runs the next day, where I am trying to build speed/stamina.

Tempo Runs
Starting objective: 7:30/mile pace
Ending objective: 7:15/mile pace

Tempo runs are supposed to be "comfortably hard". These workouts will give my best sense of where I'm at in terms of racing goals. By the end of the training plan, my tempo runs should include 20 minutes at the stated pace. A 7:15/mile pace is about 10 seconds/mile over what I would need to run to break 22 minutes. Last time I did a tempo run (2 weeks ago), I was roughly at a 7:30/mile pace for 15 minutes, so I'm feeling good about the starting point - we'll see where it winds up.

Long Runs:
Starting object: 9:00/mile pace
Ending objective: 8:40/mile pace

My best run before my training broke down was 6 miles at about an 8:45/mile pace. I did 4.5 this morning at right at a 9:00 mile pace. This seems pretty realistic to me.