C'Ville 10 Miler Regisration Confirmed

I registered for the C'Ville 10 Miler today.   I enjoy this race and look forward to running the streets of Charlottesville.    I have some training to do to be race ready.  Wish me luck!

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.  

2014 Marine Corps Marathon Race Report

I successfully completed my 5th marathon with the 2014 Marine Corps Marathon and I continue to be amazed by the challenge this distance provides.  The Marines hosted and executed a flawless marathon weekend.   The following race report provides insight into my race weekend and a short retrospective on how I can improve for my next race.

Pre Race Activities - Friday and Saturday

We traveled to the DC area Friday night and enjoyed a relaxing Saturday morning shopping and spending time with family.   In the afternoon, I meet up with some running friends at the GE Health and Fitness Expo to pickup our race packets and hang out a bit.   Although I heard reports of long lines to get into the expo, when we arrived we were able to get right into the DC Armory.    Overall the expo experience was much improved over last year because the bib pickup and merchandise displays were co-located.   The expo displays were pretty standard gear and swag.  After a spending some time at the expo,  I headed back to the hotel on the Metro.  We stayed at the Marriott Metro center which was central to just about everything we did for the race and seeing the city.    

Race Day - Sunday
I was up early and ready for the race sunday morning.   I quickly got through my morning routine and was out the door to the metro by 6:15.   After a little bit of struggle with my Metro card, see race fails for details, I waited with other runners headed to the Pentagon on the metro platform headed. After a short metro ride,  I met up with my running friends around 7am at the Pentagon Metro stop before making the long walk to the runners village.   We timed our arrival to the runners village at the perfect time to drop our post race gear at the UPS trucks and head to the starting line.

On the way to the starting line I heard a voice I recognized from the RunRunLive podcast.  I was happy to make an in person introduction Chris the host.  I recommend the podcast to runners of all capabilities as Chris shares great information about many aspects of endurance running.

The race day weather was perfect for runners and spectators with clear skies providing temperatures in the high 30's and highs in the mid 60's.   The Marines put on a great pre-race show with multiple sky-divers displaying large American flags, Osprey flyover and the howitzer firing to start the race.   The nice weather brought out significant crowds to support runners.

Race Execution
I started the race slow and in line with my plan to run the first 13 miles at a 9:30-9:45/mile pace.  The first 10 miles are a bit hilly as the course heads away from Rosslyn towards Arlington and then back into Georgetown.   I found this part of the race the most enjoyable with the larger crowds in the city and rural scenery.   After leaving Georgetown the course runs along the Potomac River which is nice and flat, but is more exposed to the elements.    This section of the race is quiet and lonely with limited spectators.  After hitting the 13.1 Mile mark, I was ready to get back into the city and the spectators around the Tidal Basin and National Mall.   I stopped a bit to talk with my family when I saw them in the crowd around mile 17.  I was hopeful that they had a Banana or something I could snack on, but no such luck.  It is always nice to see family and friends during the race.  It provides a lot of motivation to get to an agreed upon meeting place.   I started to hit the wall around mile 18 despite eating GUs and drinking at regular intervals during the race.   I found that the windy conditions quickly dried my sweat which left me warm and thirsty.   I was happy to have my fuel belt and refilled each bottle at the water stops in the later miles.   I found myself  battling the wall as I completed the section of the National Mall and started the 14th Street Bridge.   The isolation from spectators, winds and sunny conditions provided a significant challenge for the 14th Street Bridge crossing.  I was happy to complete the bridge and head into Crystal City and rejoin the crowds.   I worked my way through Crystal City and back to the Pentagon.   Once around the Pentagon, I started to get my legs and wits back as I knew the finish was close.   I put in a strong effort in the last mile and half which enabled me to pass a number of runners and finish at faster pace.

Post Race Retrospective
I finished the race in 4:48:16.   I did not meet my race goals, but I am happy that my training enabled me to improve on my time from last year.  Looking back at my training and race, I don't see a single issue that prevented me from achieving my goal.  I did have a number of pre-race and on-course failures that I will need to address in future races.  For example:

• I walked too much on Saturday with family and expo activities.  Total mileage on Saturday was over 6miles.
• I had many Metro card issues.  I forgot to pack my metro cards at home and needed to purchase new ones.  When headed out race day morning, my paper metro card got jammed in shorts zipper and when I was able to remove it, the metro gate ate it. :(
• I forgot to apply nipple guards pre-race.   The bandaids acquired from Red Cross tent did not adhere to sweaty chest. :( 
• I forget how exposed the race course is for the second half of the race.  Running into the wind made the last part of the race hard.  I need to find a larger group of people to run with.
• My iPhone battery died at finish line and I did not bring my battery charger pack.   This left me with no way to communicate with family when trying to reunite.

From this race experience I will improve and expand my next training campaign to include:

• Do more speed work to ensure that I can run at a faster race pace.
• Find a runner partner to tackle the course and pace together.   Look to utilize the pace groups.
• Have a better pre-race routine to ensure that I have all the things I need after the race.
• Pre-race and during fueling needs to be better. 

This was not my best performance at the marathon distance, but I feel that my training increased my strength during the race and enabled a quick recovery.   I enjoyed this race and plan to do another training campaign to continue to improve.

Officially Grinding my way through

The intensity of marathon training comes to a peak with increased fatigue and limited patience for life pressures.   The training novelty wears off and you find yourself in the hardest part of the training cycle, I call this period The Grind.   This is a period when you are committed and so deep into the training process that you have no option but grind out workouts and deal with life.

The Grind sneaks up on you even though you can forecast it like clock work in your training plan 6 weeks from race day.   Your friends are tired of hearing about the long runs, fueling preferences and new running gear.  Your family is struggling with the need for training runs to consume family time.  Although you are excited about the upcoming event, you have less patience for small things, frustrated when things just don't line up right, and for some reason always hungry.

I am no expert at effectively managing The Grind, but I do have a strategy that I am working on:

• Accept it - You know that this is the part of the training plan that this tests your commitment, dedication and support system.  The long runs and speed work are pushing your physically which then makes everything else harder.    Ideally your family, friends and co-workers understand the situation and provide you a little bit of grace and space.  You also need to be aware and accept that things may take more effort or seem a bit more rough than usual.  Try to be flexible and aware of your mood.
• Get sleep - The best thing to help recovery is sleep.  This helps the body and the mind prepare for the next workout and next day at the office.   Get as much sleep while in the Grind as possible to help the recovery and coping process.
• This too will end -  The Grind wont last forever and is the precursor to the Taper. The Taper enables your body to recover for the final event with reduced training volume.   Use the Taper as a prize at the end of the Grind and look forward to the rest and free time.

I am in the second week of The Grind for this training cycle.  I am relieved to say that things seem to be headed in the right direction.   I have one more long run remaining before I start the Taper.   I feel strong and confident in my training and looking forward to race day.

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.  

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.

Charlottesville 10 Miler - Prerace

I did not travel this week in hope that to have a good tape week with a few easy runs.   Things don't always go as planned around here.  Monday into Tuesday night one of the kids was up sick multiple times through the night which prevented my run on Tuesday.  I decided to take Weds as a recovery day.   My taper week has been busy with work and I have been able to get some good rest and recovery.  The interesting thing about tapering is the impact on your mental view of running.   I often find that in the middle of the taper week I start to question if I will even remember how to run.  With the instant drop in running frequency I feel out of balance with my day to day activities.

Race bib numbers were issued today, and I will be bib number 1683. 

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.

2012 Charlottesville 10 Miler

It is official!  I am registered for the C-Ville 10 Miler.   Training has been going pretty well despite my heavy travel schedule.   The next 3 weeks are a long haul with long runs, speed work and tempo runs.    I am excited to run this race again and hope to run the course a few times as I prep for race day.

Mid Feb Report

I am enjoying my training plan for the C'Ville 10 Miler because it has enabled me to run with purpose, provided a bit more variety in my workouts and given me the opportunity to get in some longer runs.   Although I am just a couple weeks into the training plan I am feeling good, starting to see the results of the workouts and running healthy.  I am excited for the race at the end of March.  Still need to register for the race to make it official.

I continue to travel for work which has made some of my training more difficult due travel fatigue.  However, I am taking advantage of running at the local high school track for speed work when traveling - something I don't have access to at home.    Eating healthy is always a challenge while on the road and it is something I need to focus on more to cut down on the calories from large meals and alcohol.   Overall I have been making good choices and trying to eat meals with high protein such as sushi or chicken.

My shoes are starting to show the wear of the increased mileage and frequency.  What I am finding with the Brooks Switch is that my foot strike is pushed the outside edges even when I am landing on my forefoot.  I am thinking that I these are too much of a stability shoe and may need to find a shoe that is a bit more neutral.  I also noticed that the Switch sole is a firmer than I would care for on some of the longer runs on hard surfaces.  I am ok with the feel and fit of Brooks Switch but I think I will either go back to the Brooks Adrenaline or some type ASICS shoe.

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.

Spring Running Schedule

Now that I completed my spring marathon I am looking for my next challenge.  I have signed up for the Montalto Challenge 5K and the Charlottesville Men's 4 Miler.    I think I will also look at the Park to Park 1/2 Marathon and Wounded Warrior 5k.

I think this is a good mix of distances to keep my running sharp.  I am also looking forward to doing some multi-sport workouts with spinning, swimming and resistance training. 

Validation of my change in attitude

I get a number of quote of the day / week emails. I find it interesting how many seem directly applicable to things going on in my life. Just as with horoscopes these email quotes are pretty generic and can be applied broadly to a number of situations yet seem to resonate on a personal level to the reader. With that in mind, this quote from Hal Higdon seemed to hit me right on.

What you do in any one workout doesn't matter. The most important point of any training program is the totality of that program, and the results it brings. A flash speed workout with quick splits may look good in your training diary, but it could bring you to the edge of overtraining. The same with running the long runs too hard. Your time in the final 20-miler won't count three weeks later. Your success will be measured by, 1) finishing the marathon, if you're a beginner, or 2) finishing it in a time that reflects your current capabilities, if you're an experienced runner. What you did while getting there doesn't count.

- Hal Higdon

Change In Approach

I am starting to get into the thick of my marathon training and I am evaluating my goals and approach. There is no doubt that my key goal is to break 4hrs in the Marathon. I believe that my training is setup to enable me to do this. I have confidence that I am building my base to be strong enough to accomplish this. I do however think that I have been so focused on the result of my goal and not focused on how to get there. Looking back at the past two marathons I can honestly say that I went out to fast and tried to power through to make 4hrs by banking time. In both cases I struggled and fell apart at the 20-24Mile mark. I have read about the wall, I knew I was playing with fire when going out so fast, but you have to live through it to understand it. I can continue this approach and I may possibly PR each time because I am stronger runner each I attempt to run the race. There has to be a better way to approach accomplishing this goal. By focusing on running a strong consistent race and having the confidence that my time of sub 4Hrs goal will be met by executing a race day plan to get me smoothly through miles 20-24.

To that end, I have decided to re-vamp the statement of my primary goal for this marathon to be "Run smarter and stronger to be faster than before."

Training Plan Defined

I have been stressing about not having a training plan for the National Marathon in March.   Even though I  have been running with a decent base,  I feel that I am a few weeks behind on long runs and training.  With the race 12 weeks away I have been looking for a plan that will work with my work schedule, provide some variety in workouts and help me target a sub 4Hr race.    I looked around at some different plans but finally settled on a Runner's World Smart Coach plan that I can tweak a bit as I go.   The plan has me running 4 times a week with optional cross training or rest days.   There are a couple of back to back 20 Mile weekly long runs, some good speed and tempo workouts.    The paces are slower than I expected in the default plan.  I will struggle maintaining these slow paces on the  mid distance runs.  I guess I will target negative splits so that I won't get to bored.   So here it is, a new year with a new training plan.  I am committed and excited to start training again. 

Training Plan Please

I need to work to build my training plan for the National Marathon in March 2011. I have about 16Weeks until race day. I feel like I am building a base with a good frequency of runs but I am concerned that I am not getting in the required mileage.

I have started to look for training plans and there are a few out there that are pushing the norm of 20+ mile runs. There is a good article in running times about the approach of the Hanson-Brooks Distance Project in Running Times. The idea behind this training program is to build stamina through tough and fast workouts on limited distance. This may work with my schedule and help focus me on speed work.

I will continue to look and build a schedule that will have me in serious training by early Jan.