Pete's Blog

Training 6/22/08 - 6/28/08

6/22 - 23 miles

AM: 23 miles, first 16 hilly but real easy, little quicker last 7

6/23 - 18 miles

AM: 13 easy, w/ 8x50 hill sprints

PM: 5 easy sore right foot

6/24 - 18 miles

AM: 7 easy, feel awful, lots of smoke in the air from fires

PM: 11 easy, right arch really sore

6/25 - 19 miles

AM: 11 easy, foot sucks

PM: 8 easy, 6x 150

6/26 - 11 miles

AM: 11 easy, really smoky air, foot still bad

PM: no run, ART massage on posterior tib tendon in the right foot/lower leg. Much better afterward.

6/27 - 23 miles

AM: 16 easy, foot better

PM: 7 easy, tired, but foot feeling ok

6/28 - 23 miles

AM: 13 easy

PM: 10 easy, sufferfest, but foot felt ok

Total miles - 135

My right foot really bugged me this week. The problem seems to be the posterior tib tendon (not sure if that's the scientific name) that runs inside the tibia and then attaches in the arch area. Ice helps, and so do exercises done with an elastic band, but the ART massage on Thursday really drilled down on the problem. Fast running makes the symptoms worse so I only ran easy this week. On the bright side, running big miles only has a small impact on the symptoms so I loaded up this week for the first time since March. I'd like to max out at 170 - 180 miles per week later in the summer, which would be bigger than the 160 weeks I've done in the past. Every time I've increased the mileage, good results have followed. Lets hope that trend continues.

Mr. Beardsley

The highlight of my weekend at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth was meeting the incomparable Dick Beardsley. Dick was an unstoppable force in American marathon running between 1980 and 1982. He raced often, with as few as 6 weeks between marathons, and fast, with a PR of 2:08:53. He's most famous for battling Alberto Salazar to the line in the "Duel in the Sun" at the 1982 Boston Marathon, but in Duluth they love him for the Grandma's Marathon course record of 2:09:37, set in 1981. Dick told me his watch broke in the middle of that race and he had no idea how fast he was running until the race was nearly over.

After his running career ended, Dick survived several life threatening accidents and a serious addiction to pain medication. He emerged from those hardships with a new lease on life and a desire to pass along his message of hope to people everywhere. Dick started a charity ( www.dickbeardsleyfoundation.org ) to help addicts get clean. He speaks to groups around the country and can often be found at major road races, sharing his story and lining up at the starting line. He still runs very fast and looks fitter than guys half his age. If you ever get the chance to meet the man, or hear him speak, do not pass up the opportunity.

Training 6/15/08 - 6/21/08

6/15 - 12 miles

   AM: 7 easy

   PM: 5 easy w/6x150

6/16 - 16 miles

   AM: 3 x 2mile threshold (9:54, 9:51, 9:38) that's the way I wanna rock n roll

   PM: 3 easy, 5x300 (R300 jog) :46 - :44

6/17 - 10 easy - 6x50 hill sprint - right foot sore from fast stuff yesterday

6/18 - 9 easy

6/19 - Early AM - 5 minute wake up jog, fly to Duluth.

   PM: 4 easy, 5x1000 threshold, 5x200, 1 easy

6/20 - 8 easy with Hansons guys, 6 x hill sprint

6/21 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - 65:51, 4th place

Total Mileage - 84

The race was a little slow for everyone. The head wind seemed to make things unfold at a glacial pace. I promised myself before the race that I'd run conservatively through the 3 mile mark no matter what anyone else did. Starting slowly seemed to be the only way I could get through a successful workout lately, so it sounded smart to apply that to the race. As it turned out, right around mile 2 Fernando Cabadass and Matthew Chesang trotted off into the lead together while I was drifting off into no man's land behind them, but ahead of the chase pack. That no man's land was where I stayed until mile 11 when Mike Reneau passed by and left me for fourth place. It sure would have been easier to run 5 seconds faster on that second mile and be running with Cabada and Chesang rather than fighting the wind by myself for so long. Chesang was the class of the field that day and nobody was going to beat him, but I would have had a better shot at battling Cabada and Reneau if I wasn't so headstrong. 

Training 6/8/08 - 6/14/08

6/8 - 14 miles

   AM:7 easy - tired

   PM: 7 easy w/ 6x150

6/9 - 16 miles

   AM: 10 easy - little better

   PM: 6 easy w/ 8 x hill sprint

6/10 - 11 miles

   AM: 3x2 mile threshold average 9:57, really sucked, slow and painful

   PM: no run - right arch sore

6/11 - 20 miles

   AM: 2 easy, 8 mile moderate progression, 2 easy - 43:50, not fun at all

   PM: 8 easy w/ 6x150

6/12 - 15 miles

   AM: 4 x 1000 @ 2:53, 3x400 @ :65, interspersed (1000 - 400 - 1000, etc) @ Golden Gate Park polo field

   PM: 5 easy - right arch sore

6/13 - 17 miles

   AM: 12 easy

   PM: 5 easy

6/14 - 17 miles

   AM: 3 x 2 mile threshold (9:46, 9:49, 9:56) painful positive split, not the way to do it.

   PM: 5 easy

Total Mileage: 110

Training 6/1/08 - 6/7/08

6/1 - 10 miles

   AM: 5 easy - tired

   PM: 5 easy - left knee hurts where the IT band attaches

6/2 - 10 miles

   AM: 10 very easy - left knee still tight, also have picked up a sore throat

6/3 - 6 miles

   AM: 6 easy - knee sucks, sore throat now full blown cold

6/4 - 13 miles

   AM: 6 easy - knee better, still sick

   PM: 7 easy w/ 6x150 fast

6/5 - 15 miles

   AM: 2 easy, 7 moderate progression run (37:53), 1 easy

   PM: 5 easy

6/6 - 14 miles

   AM: 9 easy

   PM: 5 easy - still sick, really windy this week.

6/7 - 16 miles

   AM: 4 easy, 4xmile at 5:00 (R 1min), 2 easy - really awful, sick, hot day, tired, not good at all.

   PM: 6 easy w/ 6x hill circuit

Total Mileage - 84

This week was a lesson in patience, and suffering. I got sick and managed to screw up my knee for a few days. The knee was, I think, a result of adding some new exercises to help relieve my chronic hip pain. Too many new exercises can make anyone sore, and these seemed to dial in on my left IT band. It didn't seem too serious and went away with some light mileage, ice, and ibuprofen. The cold was nothing serious and is almost totally gone as I'm writing this. Looking back, they were two inconsequential ailments that joined forces to totally screw up one week of precious training.

Two weeks until I race the Bjorklund Half in Duluth.  On Tuesday I plan on bringing the heat with a big threshold workout, probably 3x3mile, 1x2mile. Anaerobic threshold, often known as lactate threshold, (and not to be confused with aerobic threshold) is pretty close to half marathon race pace if you're running close to an hour for the race. Jack Daniels' training schedules are filled with T pace workouts that are usually broken up into 2 - 4 mile segments (sometimes 5 for the real scrappers). The idea is to take about a minute rest for each mile of threshold running. 3x3 miles at threshold pace would be 3 miles fast, 3 minutes rest, 3 miles fast, 3 minutes rest... you get the idea.

Over the course of a training cycle the total distance run in each threshold workout would increase. But, before increasing the total distance I like to increase the length of each repeat. For 8 miles of total work, start with 4x 2miles, then 2x3miles + 1x 2mile, then 2x 4miles. After that go up to 10 miles total, and so on. Since the half marathon is 13 miles, I had hoped to get in at least one session of threshold work totaling 12 or 13 miles, but the injury/cold last week has me a bit behind so I'll enter the race a bit underfunded, but that's life.

Heading North

June 21st will be my first race of the summer, the Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth, MN. My friend, Chad Johnson, who runs for the Brooks Hansons Team won the race last year and will be back to make my life difficult. The organizers increased the prize money this year so the field should be solid.

It is very cool to see that they named the race after Garry Bjorklund. Bjorklund was an American badass back in the late 70s and early 80s. He ran fast on the track (27:46 for 10k) and the marathon (2:10:20), and also made the 76 Olympic team in the 10k. Sporting the de rigueur 80s moustache, and owning one he sport's classic nicknames, BJ won Grandma's Marathon twice.

Also of note, Bjorklund played himself in the often overlooked 1985 flim "On the Edge". The movie stars Bruce Dern as a blacklisted distance runner at the end of "amatuer" era. He makes his comeback to the sport at the Dipsea Race (called Cielo Sea in the movie) in Marin County, north of San Francisco. BJ comes to the race as the favorite and ends up duking it out with Bruce Dern's character on the slopes of Mt. Tam. Its always cringe worthy to see actors trying to play athletes during any on-screen sports scenes, but even more so when there's a real world class athlete in the scene with them. Think about how pedestrian Robert Redford's Rob Hobbs swing would look if A-Rod was in the scene with him. That's sort of how BJ's smooth stride makes Bruce Dern look on the trails of Marin. Nonetheless, "On the Edge" is well worth the price of a Netflix night.

Training 5/25/08 - 5/31/08

5/25 - 10 miles

   AM: 10 easy

5/26 - 21 miles

   AM: 4 easy, 2x3 mile (R 3min), 2x2 mile (R 2min), threshold pace, 14:39, 14:38, 9:44, 9:41, 2 easy

   PM: 3 easy, 6x150, 1 easy

5/27 - 17 miles

   AM: 12 easy w/ 6x hill circuit - very tired

   PM: 5 easy, exhausted

5/28 - 18 miles

   AM: 4 easy, 10 mile moderate progression (54:30), 4 easy. Slow with very heavy legs.

5/29 - 12 miles

   AM: 6 easy

   PM: 6 easy w/ 8x50 meter hill sprint

5/30 - 17 miles

   AM: 5 easy, left quad sore

   PM: 12 easy

5/31 - 18 miles

   AM: 18 easy, 1:56

Total mileage - 113

The threshold workout on Monday was fantastic. The pace was farily even, and the effort was tough but under control throughout. I did pay the price the next two days. Tuesday and Wednesday I was unexpectedly exhausted from the threshold workout.

When I return to serious training after a marathon I always make the mistake of thinking I can easily run 130 miles a week with several workouts. That type of training is normal when I'm fit and getting prepped for a big marathon, but is difficult without a proper buildup. By not understanding my fitness level, I constantly overreach this time of year and pay the price with days like Tuesday and Wednesday. On the bright side, every week should bring better stamina and get me closer to top form.