Welcome to Fall Running in Central Virginia

I am always happy to see the weather change from the heat of summer to the crisp cool temperatures of fall.   I find running conditions are best during the fall in central Virginia.  When running in the mornings you get great temperatures to go with the colorful autumn leaves.     I enjoy my weekend runs with morning daylight so that I can take in the views of the countryside.    The week day runs are dark and cool but still very enjoyable.

I hope to get the opportunity to enjoy a number of great running locations this fall including:

• Green Springs National Park Historic Landmark which provides long crushed gravel roads throughout the grounds of a plantation from late 18th century.
• Trail at Monticello provides a nice set of crushed gravel and boardwalk trails that provide a good challenging climb with great scenery. 
• White Hall Vineyards provides an easy starting place for a run up to the Sugar Hollow Reservoir. 

The Charlottesville Track Club provides a number of other good long run destinations if you are looking for some new places to run in the Charlottesville area.  

Training Setback and Recovery

After a week of travel, active training, hectic home life schedule and new germs from kids back at school I experienced the first training plan setback which prevented the completion of the first 20+ Mile run.   Due to scheduling conflicts,  I planned to switch my long run to Sun and do a mid distance run on Sat.   I figured this would work out, but Sat afternoon I started to feel weak and developed a sore throat.   Even with a good evenings rest,  I woke up on Sun morning for the run just not feeling right and decided to take a rest day.   I quickly found myself in the middle of self doubt,  shattered confidence in the training plan and stressed about reworking my plan.  After grappling with the mental trauma of missing my long run for about 15mins,  I enjoyed a couple more hours of sleep and hoped for a quick recovery. I luckily found that the extra rest helped and by Monday I noticed a marked improvement from Sunday morning.   I reworked my running plan to move my 20+ Mile runs by a week and moved a recovery week.   I am hopeful that a 2 Week Taper will be enough to set me up for the race.

I am still positive about my running and excited about the race.   I am entering the phase of training when the body starts to respond to the training and your tired but energized.  I look forward to tackling my 20 mile run this weekend.  

Today's Run - 3.2.2014 - Saunders-Jefferson Trail Run

I can't remember the last time I ran the Monticello Saunders-Jefferson Trail and since the 2014 Montalto Challenge registration opened this week I decided to hit the trail for a nice run on Sunday to get reaquanted.    The ~2mile crushed gravel and boardwalk path is well maintained by Monticello and even with a number of people walking, running and riding the path there is plenty of room to run.

I enjoy running this trail and the Montalto Challenge because you get some amazing views of the Charlottesville area.  For this run, I started at the bottom of the trail and ran to the Monticello Visitors Center and back to the bottom of the trail, and for kicks I ran to the top again to complete a 10K.  I met my family at the top of the trail for the relaxing walk back down the trail.

I find this course is very difficult at the bottom as you start the ascent. The grade of the trail smooths slightly in the middle, but by no means do you forget that you are running uphill.  Once reaching the top of the trail you stand at the bottom of the Montalto Mountain which is the last mile of the Montalto Challenge course.   I find myself admiring the significant climb to the top and remembering the dedication it takes to conquer the switchbacks.

The return to the trail reminded me that I have significant training to do in preparation for the Montalto Challenge in the coming weeks.

Training Delays

The best of intentions and training plans are easily derailed by life, illness and weather.   I logged limited miles in the last few weeks due to winter storms and illness.   As February starts I have a full book of business travel ahead of me as well.   I will get back on track with a few short treadmill runs and hopefully a run outside when on location in California and India.

I shook off the jetlag this morning with an easy interval run on the treadmill.   My legs felt rested and my head cold symptoms are almost gone.   Not my best run, but a good way to start the day.

I find that the forced physical break is helping me mentally recover from last years training.  The lack of training runs will impact my hopes for a strong C'Ville 10 Miler race.   In the long run it may help me gain a fresh start to building my base for my goals later in the year.

Mid March Review

The C'Ville 10Miler is in a couple weeks and I am excited to race again.   I am hopeful that I will meet my target pace of 8:20/Mile but have my doubts.  Taper week starts on Sunday after one last long run.  My training continues to progress and I remain healthy.  I am finding my business travels are having an impact on my speed workouts.   My typical speed workout is usually the morning after a long travel day, which has left me tired and the workouts more daunting than normal.  Much of the workout difficulty is mental, and I find once I get into the workout I am able to do what is required.   Due to travel, most of the speed work outs have been on Treadmills.  I find running on treadmills to be a constant grind, which forces you to keep up with no real time to recover.  The tempo and long runs have been difficult but enjoyable. 

I have enjoyed the best of weather in Virginia and Connecticut for running outside so far this spring. It is nice to shed the layers of winter gear for spring / summer gear.  I am hoping that it does not get to hot to soon.  The longer spring days are nice, but it is still dark when I head out in the morning.
My current training plan has me targeting 4 days during the week with a long run on Sat. With travel that has not been possible because I travel early one day during the week and miss a recovery run.  Even with that, I have been making the 20-25 Miles a week consistently since starting the plan.  That distance and frequency is proving to be  comfortable and challenging level. I have reached more than 25% of total mileage for the year, which is right on pace.  My run cadance has improved and staying on target for 90 Steps /Min. Looking back at Q1 2012 I am happy with my running efforts and results so far.

Mid Jan Report

The first two weeks of January have been good.  The weather in Virginia and Connecticut has been great for running and I have been able to get out for a number of runs.   

Last weekend I headed out on a long run from ACAC downtown and headed to the Monticello Trail.   The 2Mile run to the bottom of the trail was non-eventful even when crossing under I-64 with many cars exiting and entering the freeway.   Once at the trail, I started to remember the 2011 Montalto Challenge.  The crushed gravel and board walk trail is a lot of fun to run.  It is a steady incline as you climb to Monticello Visitor Center ~2Miles from the trail head.   All in all a solid 8mile run.

My business travel resumed this week and I expect to be on the road a significant amount for the next few months.   Even with the travel I was able to get a number of runs in this week.   I got a nice 6Mile run in on Wednesday and a good treadmill run in on Thursday.  

I did not get a significantly long run this weekend due to a busy Saturday schedule with the kids.   I tried to make the most out of the 3Mile run by doing some speed work.   I was able to brave the bitter cold and get a decent run in, but I must admit I wish I had more time to get a longer run in.

So far so good; I have been able to stay healthy and committed to my training.   I am starting to look at races for the spring - first one up will be the C-Ville 10 Miler at the end of March.  I will start training in earnest in the next week or so.  I will craft out a training plan and set a goal.

2011 Retrospect

I have taken a small hiatus from posting to this blog, but I have continued to run. My work required a significant amount of travel and with the holiday season activities, my time for posting was at a minimum. My runs as of late have been more maintenance and recreation than for training. I expect that I will get into a training cycle in mid to late January to run in a few racing in the spring.  I would like to take this opportunity to do a year in review and set goals for 2012.


2011 In Review 
A very productive running year in 2011 were I ran a number of races of multiple distances from 5K to Full Marathon and did performed at levels to achieve achieve Personal Records.  Some overall high metrics to show depth of commitment and running follows with comments.


Goal Metrics
# Runs: 175 - That is basically running every other day! This was in line with my goal.
Total Distance: 993.89 mi  - Fell short of my goal of 1K miles by just a few miles.
Avg Speed: 6.5 mph - I ran a bit slower towards the end of the year, due loss of training plan focus
Avg Run Cadence: 87 spm - I worked on pushing this to 90 spm, and made good progress as the start of the year this was ~85 spm.

Other metrics
Avg Time: 52:41 h:m:s
Avg Distance: 5.68 mi
Max Distance: 26.43 mi
Avg HR: 160 bpm

I was lucky to stay healthy this year with limited injuries.  I suffered from a small case of Plantar Fasciitis, which probably had an prolonged impact due to my continued running.

2012 Goals
My goals for 2012 will be very similar to my 2011 goals:

Races: I plan to run a few races this year, highlights include C'Ville 10Miler, Some 1/2 Marathon in the spring and a Full Marathon in the Fall.  I will also pick up a few 5ks or 10Ks based upon schedule and opportunity.
#Runs: I plan to continue to run 3-4 times a week.
Total Distance:  I plan to target 1000 Miles this year.
Avg Speed: Increase speed to Average over 6.5 mph
Avg Run Cadence: Increase cadence to 90 spm and continue to improve on mid-foot running form.
Blog: Post more meaningful blog entries.
Special Activities: Run with my daughter

Running has become a big part of my life in the past year.  I will continue to run and train to meet these goals as the experience and benefits this has brought to me are huge.

Happy new year and easy running in 2012.

Sidelined by a cold

I have been running and training for a mid-november half marathon, but last week I caught a cold which has sidelined me for a little over a week. All the traveling and long work days paired with a good training scheduled just zapped me. I got a head and chest cold last week and I thought it best not to run until I kicked it. I started feeling better later in the week and did a short run. I missed a long run last week due to this cold and will need to miss it again this weekend due to some personal travel. That basically will mean ~3 Weeks since my last long run, I may need to look for a late November or early December race.

Still running....

I may not have been blogging about it, but I have been running consistently for the past month and half. I have been very busy at work with travel and projects. Despite all of that, I have maintained my running regiment by getting out four days a week. The weather is turning and I have enjoyed the crisp fall mornings. The temps are great but the running in the dark is overrated!

Although I have not registered for a race, I am in the thick of a half marathon training campaign. I expect to register for the Richmond Half Marathon in November. My long runs are in double digits again and my foot appears to be healed. I am enjoying the variety of the speed work and tempo runs. I am hopeful that this will help me recapture my faster pace prior to the injury.

I switched shoes again, this time from the Brooks Adrenaline to Brooks Switch. I like Brooks shoes, they are stable and cushioned. The Switch is a bit tight, but I like the feel overall. I continue to improved my form and become a consistent mid-foot striker.

I hope to get back to blogging about running in the near future.

Today's Run - 7/22 - 8/14

The last few weeks have been packed with work, vacation and work. Even though I was busy, I was able to get a some great runs in while in the Georgia Mountains and at the North Carolina Outer Banks. The GA mountains were impressively steep and combined with hot humid weather conditions. I was able to get a couple runs in this week of decent mileage and significant work effort. I worked back into a more normal schedule while in the OBX. We had a house on the beach that had great to the beach road path and beaches. I noticed it was easier to maintain my 90 strides / min on the flat terrain of the beach. The weather at the beach was hot humid even in the early morning.

After a couple weeks on the road, it was nice to return to my home tracks again. I got out a few times during the work week which eased the pressure of returning to work after a 2 week absence. The weather is starting to cool and sunrise is pushing back. It is still dark at 6am. I look forward to fall running, although that means that winter is right around the corner.

My left foot continues to heal, and I expect that the reduced miles has helped. I am pretty sure that I have a mild case of Plantar Fasciitis. Although my pain in not in the heal or arch as described in the overview, I exhibit the same symptoms as described in every writeup. I can tell it is on the mend and in the last few days has felt better than it has in recent weeks.

I hope that foot issue clears soon so that I can think about training for a fall race. I expect that I will run the Richmond Half Marathon due to training time constraints. I will look to run another Marathon in the spring 2012.

I will continue to work to find time to post about my runs and adventures.

Today's Run - 7/2 - 7/20

I have been wrapped up a bit and not able to post recently. I have been running regularly, but also traveling. I spent the last 2 weeks on the road which has given me some nice running opportunities in new and familiar areas. I ran while in Minnesota, finding a nice set of bike path trails around the corporate park / hotel. While in Connecticut I hit my familiar loops and routes. I was happy to return home to my standard routes and even found a new place to run. I discovered, the farm trails at the Jefferson Trails near Monticello. These trails are hilly and tree covered, I ran only about 2miles of the trails but I think you could easily find 10-12 miles of trails.

My foot continues to heal and is feeling better. As my foot continues to heal I start to think about what race I am going to run in the fall. The summer heat and humidity is in full affect. Even my early morning runs have been more difficult due to the weather.

I will work to start posting again with more regularity.

Today's Run - 6/29 & 6/30

I had a couple of nice morning runs on Weds and Thurs this week. The weather has been cool but the humidity and dew points have made running fast a bit difficult.

My foot continues to heal but has been sore after these runs. I am hopeful that it completely heals up soon so that I can start training for my next challenge. Speaking of which, I need to figure out what that will be. I expect that I will go after a 1/2 Marathon this fall. I like the later fall races, so something in early or mid November. If worse comes to worse I will run the Richmond 1/2 Marathon race again.

Speaking of races! I noticed an increase in the number of runners in the hood over the past few weeks. There appears to be a group of Lady Runners taking to the streets in the early morning. I expect many are training for the Charlottesville Women's Four Miler. Emily was able to register for this race and I look forward to cheering her and the other women on as they run for a great cause.

Today's Run - 6/27

I forgot to charge my Garmin on Sunday night so this morning I suited up for my run and found it was out of battery. I headed out the door and did the Darby Loop, Out to 250 and The Scottish Homes route for a good 5Miles. I worked on my perceived effort and pace. My foot continues to heal and I think it is almost ready for some speed work and increased mileage. Just in time to start my Fall training efforts.

Today's Run - 6/25

A great Saturday morning run, the humidity / dew point was perfect and the temp was nice a cool. I enjoyed my run through the Preserve and Q2. The challenging hill climb was a great work out but it took an impact on my overall pace. I decided to head through to cottages to tack on a little bit extra to make up for not taking my usual route on Piper.

Today's Run - 6/23

Another humid morning which really affected my splits. I picked out an oldie but goodie route.

Today's Run - 6/22

I got to run one of my newest favorite routes, Piper loop into the Preserve Section and then into Q2. This is a great set of hills and views. It was a perfect morning with some cloud coverage which made the morning sky a crisp orange. Although the views were very nice the humidy / due point made this run very difficult. Welcome to summer running!

Today's Run - 6/20

A little sore from the race yesterday but overall this was a nice recovery run.

2011 Charlottesville Four Miler Results

2011 Charlottesville Four Miler Results are posted. I am happy to say that I PR and met my target of sub 32mins (8Min Pace).

PLACE NAME              DIV   DIV/TOT TIME  PACE 
166   Douglas Morrison  M3539 19/51   31:29 7:53

The turn out for the C-Ville Mens 4 Miler was impressive considering it was the first early summer running of the race. There were ~500 runners, and I enjoyed the new course and size of the field. I arrived early, which was good because I had some unexpected pre-race registration issues to work out. Apparently I registered for the training course not the race by mistake. I was able to get registered without issue, but it did cause a bit of stress. Once I resolved the registration issues I headed out for a quick warm up run. It was raining and muggy, which made the run a bit uncomfortable.

The start of the race was a little packed with runners but as we got through the first mile it thinned out. The first mile went pretty quick and I was probably out a little to fast. The course started with a slow incline for the first 1/2 mile and rolling hills for the last 1/2Mile as we headed out from Scott Stadium into campus. I covered this first mile at a 7:36 Pace and carried that momentum into the hilly section. The second mile contained the largest hill climb which started to separate the runners. This was a difficult hill but I concentrated on a fast stride rate to climb the hills. My heart rate was much higher than usual, it averaged 169BPM and maxed out at 181BPM which is ~10BPM faster on average. I working harder and it was humid. I was happy to pass mile marker 2 because I knew it was pretty much all down hill from there. I tried to relax into the downhill, but I found it hard to keep my foot speed and pace up. My third mile was the slowest probably due to my need to recover from the hill climbs. Once I got to the 3rd mile I was able to kick it back in but I was still struggling a bit. When we rounded the turn into the stadium I gave one last push and passed a few people in the last tenth of a mile. I was running so hard I forgot to look at myself on the Jumbo-tron! I was happy with the strong finish and meeting the sub 8min pace improving time by ~1Min for this distance.

Overall I felt good after the race. My legs were a bit sore but I probably would not have noticed that if I did not have to climb the stadium stairs to get off the field. My foot fared the pounding pretty well and I believe it is almost recovered.

The Charlottesville Track Club put on a great race. The new course is fantastic and the turn out showed that there is a strong running community in Charlottesville. I look forward to running this again next year and remembering to look at myself on the Jumbo-tron.

Today's Run - 6/16

A good finally training run before the Charlottesville Men's Four Miler on Sunday. My foot continues to feel better, and I expect to meet my sub 32Min total time target.

Today's Run - 6/13, 6/15

A good running week so far. The weather has been cool, clear and relatively pleasant for running. I have been getting out pretty early but still after sun rise. I have enjoyed some the picturesque views around the golf course and mountain backgrounds. In the recent weeks I started focusing much more on my form and foot strike cadence. In these recent runs I worked on keep a solid parallel torso with a strong core and relaxed shoulders. I found after these runs that my core muscles are sore. The constant checking of my form during runs has lead me improve my overall posture while sitting or standing because I have become more aware of my overall body position. On the cadence front, in the last year I have steadily worked to improve my cadence from the mid 80's spm to 90 spm. I have noticed that I am able to rev up my foot strikes when climbing hills, maintain a constant strike pace on flat, but my strike pace can fall off when I am running down hill. I think that down hill foot strike pace slows down because I am resting on the downhills which tends to lead to heal strikes and slower foot speed. I need to work on recouping on downhills while letting gravity do its work.

My left foot is feeling better, I would say it is at 90%. It is still a bit tender, at it worse in the morning when I just get out of bed. I don't think it is plantar faciatis because I don't have any heal or mid arch sole pain. The tenderness is still at the base of the 2nd and 3rd proximal phalanges and the metatarsal bones. I seem to be on the mend, as the overall tenderness is decreasing week by week and the overall discomfort has not kept me from running.

I am signed up for the C-Ville's Men's 4 Miler on Sunday. I have not really been training for it but I think my mileage base has me in a good spot for this. I am excited to run this new course and as always it is cool to see the family cheer me on.