The Winds of Change?

Lo and behold, the body has responded favorably to 1 1/2 months of leg-related rest. I've passed the time by reverting to my college workout routine (i.e. "i lift things up and i put them down!") and eating waayyy too much. The last two weeks have also been met with an increased swim-effort and reduced knee pain whilst water-slapping. This confidence naturally led me toward the incorporation of knee-related exercises such as squats + lunges. And ahhh, how I've missed the agony that are sore quads. Progress in the form of pain is met with the same amount of welcoming as cutting yourself while shaving - hey, at least I can grow hair on my face/legs, right? Anyway, if you were to quantify my confidence-level and add that to my current weight, you'd be met with a very high number that I can only translate into "IS-READY-TO-GET-BACK-TO-WORK."

Dare I say I even started window-shopping for CompuTrainers on ebay? Yikes. That ended quickly. Never-the-less, I look forward to badgering my local library to purchase more spinnerval DVDs and swearing that I'm not getting my wife to reserve them just so we can have them in our household for double the amount of time a person is normally allowed.

Having my birthday fall less than a week prior to Thanksgiving sets me up for a solid week of gluttony. I also like to pretend that any "off-season" slacking magically occurred within this time-frame, as opposed to it slowly materializing over the course of the previous 1-2 months. Whatever the case may be, my seemingly strongest form of reaction is to weight-gain / weight-loss-desire. PR-ing a race is wonderful, as are training goals, but I can't hit the highway if I never get out of first gear. And parlaying around the houses of my relatives as a fat-ass (or being known to them as being perpetually hungry and awkwardly thanking them for stocking their houses with the same Mountain Dew I am always trying to stop drinking) seems to put me in the self-loathing state-of-mind that leads to obsessive athletic planning. 

[insert outrageous workout aspirations]

::think about what you just said::

::scale back workout aspirations to something more sustainable::

I want to get back into morning workouts. I've proven to myself and my wife that I am not one to sit on a bike-trainer clad in spandex gracing our apartment with the smell of burnt rubber. And, according to her, lighting a spruce-scented candle to mask the smell only makes it smell like somebody has lit a tire on fire in the forest. But, I had a great run last winter with morning trainer-rides. Sure, it's a bit harder to get the HR up to snuff in the AM, but I'll be in ultimate base-building mode for a couple of months and I really only need to hit a benchmark and hold it there. So... I think this is very doable. A long weekend ride is also a great excuse to watch football unbadgered.

Swimming will have to remain an evening activity because I'll be damned if the worst feeling in the world isn't jumping into a cold pool in the middle of winter. That shit sucks. Although, completing a morning swim-workout in the middle of the winter feels pretty damn good. Either way, swimming 2-3x week will be great. I'm sustaining that already and working on bringing back my endurance. However, since I'm no longer in a 50m pool, but now in a 25 yd. pool, I should probably re-learn how to do a flip-turn.

Running might happen later on in December, hopefully a week prior to Christmas so that I can start to do it more once I'm home for the holidays. No rush here, but I'd like to consider signing up for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in DC, and working backwards on the training schedule would have me get-going right around this time (at the latest). We'll see.

Strength training will commence b/c, well, it's good for me and forces me to also address my abs and stay true to the same knee-strengthening exercises that served me so well last year (save for when I abandoned them during marathon training... doh!). I'm proud of the fact that I have not been stupid with this to-date by maxing out with weight, but instead working on high-reps with lesser weight.

::pats self on back::

Oh, and GO BLUE!!!! [Michigan 40 - Akron State Golden Bobcats 34]

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Being Injured is Haaaaaaaaaard

Dark are the days spent injured, and negative the thoughts.

Have you ever seen those joke-cards that say "How do you keep an idiot busy? (turn over)," and then on the other side it reads the same thing? In this scenario I'm holding the card and my execution of marathon training plays the part of the idiot. I didn't do it right the first time so I flipped the card over and proceeded to do it all wrong the second time.

I ran across what I consider to be an apt description of my situation. Derek Sivers writes, "To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions." 

My idea far outweighed any currency I had to bargain with. Thus, when it came time to pay the piper I turned out empty pockets. Instead, what he took from me was what little motivation I had left, along with the courage I would need to pull the plug. What followed was a sloshing symphony that featured a booming crescendo of injuries + excuses.

Ultimately, I was no longer motivated and vastly under-prepared. Yet, I still gambled, despite taking necessary precautions such as not bringing any race-gear (to Berlin), not even my running shoes! A pre-registered race t-shirt, a pair of pajama shorts and my nike frees (which I had never run in) would ultimately pave the way for instant pleasure followed by 1 1/2 months (and counting) of disaster.

I ran the first 13.1 miles of the marathon (with my friends). I jumped out (knee already hurting) and planned to rejoin after they had looped back around. At mile 23 I hopped back in and finished the the last 3.2 miles of the race with them. The knee hurt, considerably, but I was so happy that I could run at least some of it. That day (and the rest of the trip) was FANTASTIC.

Oh, the rest of the trip? Yes, I recall it now... walking around 8 miles a day on a bum knee + ankle. The ankle got weirdly swollen and made this funny noise when I walked that I can only compared to the sound your body makes as it slides around on one of those inflatable sit-up balls. It was a kind of intermittent resistance, as if you were rubbing rubber on rubber, but some parts were dry and other parts were wet... so it skipped, like a record. That eventually went away, but the knee stuck with me. Hell, I even got "the hobble" down really damn well by the end of the trip.

Once we got home? Not good. We're talking Sean having to stop and take a break every 1/2 block on the way to get in his car 3 blocks away to drive to work b/c that damn knee hurt so much. Doctors were visited, R.I.C.E. was used... blah blah blah. When the fuck will I learn? Heh. 

* * * * * * * *

Anyway, the knee has shown signs of improvement as of late in the tiniest ways and that has me very excited for the winter. I can now swim without using the pull-buoy (to keep my legs from kicking) and I even performed a few sets of pain-free lunges. There are no plans in the schedule to go for a test-run anytime soon. 

If I can take away anything from the last knee injury, it's that cycling in the winter does my body VERY good. It will help me build muscle back around my knee and get those tendons happy again. Between that and swimming, I'll be in good shape a couple of months down the line enough so that I can begin to build the running base back up.

That's the plan. 

What else is in the plan? More triathlons, capped running distances (13.1) and a quest to locate the source of my will-power.

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Marathon Training Sucks

I suppose this late-night confession is witness to my mental burnout. Training throughout the first 9 weeks was rocky at best, with these latter 9 weeks being a mental and physical . The shin splint in my left leg definitely proved to be the nail in the coffin that took me from running an 8:00-8:30/pace to hoping I can jog/hobble/walk my way through the race w/o causing serious injury. It hasn't been pretty - no sir.

Is it too soon to formally (and perhaps frustratingly) announce that I am not developed enough mentally or physically as an athlete to handle the marathon never plan to run a marathon ever again? I EASILY handled training for a 5k, 10k, 15k and half marathon with nooooo troubles what-so-ever. However, the second I crested 14 miles in marathon training the shit hit the fan. Coincidentally (or not), the only other marathon I (over)trained for was identically self-sabotaged thanks to an inopportune injury from a 14-miler.

I didn't want to run. I couldn't find a groove. I stopped enjoying the training. The physical payoff was far less satisfying. My body composition shifted from that of being taught(ish) and a bit over-muscled (for someone who swims/bikes/runs regularly), to a little soft (muscle dissipating), weaker and just less POSITIVE feeling in general. Longer runs replaced shorter runs/bikes  and abs/weights, which meant less variety and a quicker path to my burn-out. I also haven't played tennis in almost two months, which is UNHEARD of for me.

Bottom line? This sucks.

The "off-season" can't come soon enough. Winter, dare I say it, can't come soon enough.

Why? Because then I can retreat back into base-training, mentally and physically. We can start small and gradually build the confidence back, gradually build the strength back and slowly start to set our sights on the following season's goals (unlike currently where my goals seem to be doing something akin to this, where I'm the camera).

I like pushing the pace on the treadmill. I like the sting of cold air in my lungs. I like running HARD, or pushing myself to suffer more and MORE on the bike. I like pulling up to the wall in the pool, checking my watch and gasping for air. I sure as hell ain't fast, but damnit I know how to suffer and that's half the fun for me - diving deep into a pit of suffering and persevering each time, climbing back out.

That's probably enough - you/I get the point. I'm done with marathons.

I miss triathlons. I miss negative splits. I miss running when my quads feel like lead or biking when my calves feel like rubber-band balls. Hell, I even miss jumping into an f'ing pool in the middle of winter - and that says A LOT! While out on long runs, I find myself longing for... geez... standing up on the bike-trainer in a high-gear and counting to 100 pedal strokes to simulate hill-work.

Looking forward, I start thinking about all of the triathlons I'd love to sign up for next year and damnit it makes me excited again. I'd love to come back to DC and do the Nation's Triathlon (my very first triathlon). There are also a ton of great Sprints in the area, not to mention the NYC Tri, which is supposed to be a great course (i.e. fast) or the Lake George Tri right in my area here. These are all things that I have been deprived of due to my marathon training.

Like a baby that has cried itself out, I suddenly find myself overwhelmingly tired and without further thoughts. Goodnight.

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Abbreviated Post, Abbreviated

Raced Boilermaker 15k a few weeks back (3/4 of race uphill) with around an 8:20 min/mile pace. Hadn't run much leading up to it, but still had a very strong showing until hill-bonk at mile 7ish to kill my sub-8 pace.

Very sore the days after the race = calf strains (both), but more-so in the left. Was able to get two runs in before shutting it down for 1 1/2 weeks. Biked a lot in between.

Started running again, but way behind in distance runs. Ran a 10-miler last weekend (15-miler on the schedule) where I had to stop twice and shit in the woods. Awful.

Solid week of running after that so far - a 4-miler and an 8.5 miler (back to back). Taking today off and then running a 4 miler tomorrow and then a 12-miler on Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Marathon speed may very well be out the window, but it's not too late to recover endurance and still post a very decent time.

Here's hoping I don't over-work myself and lead to further injury. So far so good...

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Hudson Crossing Triathlon - One Photo

Not a sailboat, but close.

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RACE REPORT: Hudson Crossing Triathlon (Sprint )

I've been missing triathlon pretty bad lately. This year's focus has been 98% running so naturally a little variety would be a welcome change. That's why I decided, way back a few months ago, to sign up for the Hudson Crossing Triathlon (Sprint).

Marathon training has put me in a bit of a mental funk lately. The heat/humidity have been killer and I just haven't been able to dig down and find the mental strength to persevere through all of my workouts without stopping for a 15-30 seconds walk every now and again. Boy, was I glad as race-morning approached. But first, lets look at the training breakdown between disciplines:

Swim - (5) swims, totaling 3.15 miles (HAH!)
Bike - (10) rides since April, (1) in the last month (night before the race!)
Run - (a billion), or at least (3) times a week since this year began.

There you have it, the most lopsided block of training ever recorded leading up to a triathlon. That's not to say I didn't have goals, albeit quiet ones. Since I turned in a not-reflective-of-my-form 3:0X at the Nation's Tri, my main goal was to just divide by two and beat that time. Of course, the swim + bike distances were both a bit shorter, but that was close enough. Part of me also thought an 18.0 mph average on the bike and a sub 8:00 min/mile on the run would be satisfying results. My swim goals?.. don't freak out like at Nation's and don't drown.

* * * * * * *

The race took place in Schuylerville, NY which I didn't where it existed until the night before the race. It turns out it was only about an hour's drive North, in the neighborhood of Saratoga Springs (think: horses). I got a lot of sleep two nights before the race so I wouldn't have to stress about trying to fall asleep early the actual night before (which never works). Lights-out was finally at about 12:15pm with a wake-up call of 5:00am. Everything was already neatly laid out and packed so the morning routine was a breeze. The 1-hr car-ride also made for ample time to digest the morning's breakfast and avoid any port-a-potty stress.

The race is nice and small, being capped at 250 entrants, which was perfect. We were in a sleepy little town on a nice Sunday morning. All of the athletes were pretty relaxed and chatting each other up. I got in and set my transition area up while the wifey slept in the car for a while longer. There were a ton of mosquitoes out that morning and I didn't realize it until they had already got me twice. No matter - I just kept some rain gear on to cover up the skin until race-time.

We gathered 'round for a quick and informal meeting and then it was finally time to get going. I had ample time to get stretched out and was really very relaxed the whole morning leading up to the start. I felt so loose that I didn't even bother with any more of a warm-up.

THE SWIM - 500 YARDS
Wave 2 was where I was placed and before I knew it the canon had sounded and we were off. I purposely started in the back of my wave b/c I knew my swimming form was nothing to brag about. As it turns out, my shoulders survived the entire swim with not a hint of fatigue and I ended up passing quite a few people. And goddamn, I can't tell you how great it felt to not totally freak out during an open-water swim. AWESOME! Before I knew it, the oh-so-nice-and-short swim was coming to a close. I remembered the calf-cramp that I got when exiting the swim at Nation's and was sure to tread lightly on my way up the ramp.

Swim time - 9:39

TRANSITION 1
I jogged slowly from the water over to my spot in transition and began to change into more suitable bike attire. Sean doesn't own one of those fancy speed-suits so I simply zipped up my favorite Duvel cycling jersey, gathered a few items and was on my way.

T1 - 2:49 

THE BIKE - 12 MILES
Next to the "would Sean drown on the swim?" concern, the bike-legs were the biggest concern. I knew I could hammer out 12 miles and post a decent time, but I also knew that the energy spent biking could harm me two-fold on the run. Given that the run was the only thing I was actually trained for, I didn't want to jeopardize that portion of the race too much. Never-the-less, I tried to ride as steady as possible, passing my fair share of folk, but also getting passed by some speedsters. Thanks to sophomore-PRO Lindsey Jerdonek for teaching me to tape my Gu to my top-tube so that I could easily rip it off with one hand while riding. I LOVE that little bike-hack. I didn't even both clipping the aero-bars on for this race so I spent a lot of time in the drops. My legs were still in decent climbing shape and I was happy to catch a bunch of folk whenever we had a short climb. It was humbling to get passed by the chubby girls who you know are packing lots of power in those beefy thighs and that battleship they call an ass. I'd see them again on the run though.

Bike - 41:32, 17.3 mph

TRANSITION 2
Nothing to see here. Got my stuff together and fumbled a bit with putting the Garmin on but jogged in and jogged out and was on my way.

T2 - 1:21

THE RUN - 3.17 MILES
Curiosity was high coming off of the bike because I wanted to see how my legs would respond to running after cycling. I've had a hard enough time running 3-5 uninterrupted miles in the f-ing heat from last week that I really wasn't sure how I'd end up doing today. The course was touted as pancake-flat, but rest-assured we started the first 1/4 mile running uphill and then there was plenty of small ups-and-downs throughout. I started off that first uphill portion a bit over the 8:00 min/mile mark but then settled in at a nice 7:50ish pace. As minutes rolled by, I slowly caught and passed a lot of people, including the husky/stocky girls that had passed me on the bike. In the end, I was only passed by one person during the entire run! 70% of the run was actually on packed trails which would weave in and out of the forest; also great for variety! 

Run - 24:56, 7:51 min/mile

And here are the overall results...

6th AG, 80th / 235 total
TOTAL - 1:20:16 (PR!.. duh, b/c it was my first Sprint)

This triathlon was really a ton of fun and I would gladly sign up for it again next year. It really proved to me how much I love putting all three disciplines together. At this point, I'd like to strongly consider focusing 2012 much more on triathlons and shorter-distanced running races. The marathon will be fun and all, but I like racing too much to sacrifice the meat of my summer to long weekend runs instead of races like this. Hopefully this experience was enough to recharge my batteries and get me back into marathon-training with a full head of steam!

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Scheduling Whoops and Other Randoms

The Pool
Holy crap - Sean went swimming this week! Ahhh!! How did it go? Well, lets just say I leafed back through some old DC swimming workouts and all I can do is shake my head in shame. The workout, if you want to call it that, was simply 1000 yds, broken up into painfully awkward 100 yard sets. I saved myself the embarrassment by not even bringing a watch, let-alone timing myself. Of course, I might actually have to learn how to do a serviceable flip-turn since this pool is only 25 yds versus that wondrous 50 meter beauty DC had.

My Big Mouth
Seems content to ingest every piece of deep-fried, sugar-coated, caffeine-riddle object that passes before it. I started tracking my (lack of) healthy eating habits about 1 1/2 months ago and things have just gone spiraling out of control. Heh, not good! The perk, if you will, is that I am not gaining any weight just yet, but I'm surely digging myself a hole. Given I'm between serious races, the only excuse I can come up with is that I'm enjoying the downtime a little too much (have you seen my healthy-eating calendar??... yikes).

A Sliiiiiiiiight Miscalculation
Knowing I've been eating like crap lately, I figured I would have all of next week to transition back into a much more serious mindset before marathon training starts the following week. Trouble is, marathon training actually starts THIS week! :o) Hooray!! So, it looks like I'll have to get my crap together a lot sooner than expected. Perhaps this is the kick in the pants I needed.

Marathon Training Thoughts
Maybe I'll write more once I officially kick off the training, but for now, here are some quick thoughts. It'd be great to get through with an 8:00 min/mile average. Of course, at this point that is quite a lofty goal. That aside, this will be a big test for my knee and I hope that I can do the right thing to keep shit healthy. With work-ambition overtaking my life for the past couple of months, I'm also a little nervous about rebalancing things properly, which may very well mean morning runs. Then again, that's not such a bad thing given the higher summer temps.

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2011 Tour of the Donkeys

I'm hoping this becomes a tradition, which I very much think it might. Last Fall, myself and two friends went on a touring-style bike ride from Albany, NY to Boston, MA. Total mileage was only about 170-180, but split up across 1 full day and two partial days. The goal isn't to throttle ourselves, but more-so the chance for a bunch of guys to go for a ride through the back-roads of the country, all the while enjoying some good food + beer along the way.

The latest addition of our ride took us from Albany, NY to NYC via a route along the Hudson River. The legs were in running shape, but definitely not cycling shape. Never-the-less, I knew that my running fitness would far exceed the cycling fitness of the other two guys so I wasn't that worried at all. All in all this trip was great timing b/c it fell between my major races (half-marathon and full marathon!). We just hit the Spring greening across upstate NY too, but by only about a week or so. Everything was blooming!

Here's a slathering of photos to help paint the picture of our trip. Enjoy!

My bike.

Our typical roadways out in the country.

Awesome bookstore / bar.

Southern Tier beer, out of NY of course!

Trespassing for an amazing view.

Damn good regional beer.

Our overnight accommodations.

Frank Gehry building at Bard College.

Loving the stone walls that flanked the roads for much of the ride.

View of the Hudson River from a nunnery, of all places!

The unsettlingly large bones of some deceased animal.

Student views from Marist College.

The Poughkeepsie pedestrian bridge over the Hudson River.

A pack of donkeys.

Chicken hot-dog with a thai peanut-sauce, green onions and lime iced-tea.

Taking a break along the Hudson River.

Refueling. Duh.

Unintentional shot I found on my camera.

My future home (castle) on the hill.

Trying to out-run the weather at Bear Mountain bridge.

Thinking we found the beginning of the trail into NYC...

Hmm, not as glamorous as I thought, but still looks good...

Err, not bad.. but still good.

Wait a minute...

Wood chips?? WTF!! (No punctures, either!)

Ahhh... finally!!

Cool little pergola structure along the trail.

A VERY pedestrian friendly cross-walk.

Awesome stop-lights.

Yep... he took a header trying to dodge a rollerblader and is now having his wounds dressed on the river-front.

We're soliciting options for our next ride. The three of us currently live in Boston, MA and Albany, NY. The most feasible option right now is a tour of the Finger Lakes region of Syracuse, NY. Basically, we would ride our bikes around massive lakes stopping to taste wine every so often. Sounds like a great way to stay hydrated!

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RACE REPORT - Albany YMCA 5k

Here is my race report in email form, as sent to a friend:

I raced this morning at a local 5K put on by the YMCA which took place at Washington Park, located a mere two blocks from my doorstep. I did a recon run of the course on Thursday and found that it was considerably more hilly than I had originally anticipated. In fact, I only made it through 2 miles of the recon run and called it a day out of frustration (and perhaps tired legs from the previous day's bike workout). Never-the-less, I raced this morning.

To back up a bit, about a month ago, my wife's co-worker, an Ohio State alum and overly cocky goatee-ridden man, also signed up to run the race. He asked me how fast I thought I could run it in and I threw out 7:30 min/mile averages (although my current PR stood at a 7:42 min/mile). He said that's about where he was at too and the race was officially "on" from there. I had nailed a few 7:24 min/mile averages in training leading up to the race so I felt good, but not confident that I had anything close to a win wrapped up by ANY means.

Fast forward to race-morning and I meet up with him at the park and exchange pleasantries. He's dressed in his scarlet and gray and me in my U of M tech shirt. I notice he isn't wearing a watch so I offer to pace for us both since I had on my Garmin Forerunner 305. He agrees, but says he'd love to shoot for finishing the 5K in 22:00, or less!!.. I didn't want to show my hand so I just said "sounds good" and went from there. 

The course map. My house is just less than 2 blocks away!

Other than the fact that the race course was FULL of rolling hills, it was relatively uneventful until about 0.5 miles remaining, all the while maintaining an unbelievable 7:00 min/mile pace. Around that point, mr. OSU started to drop off the back ever so slightly. The elastic stretched to about 20 feet, but didn't break... and then I heard him start to heave and gallop back towards me. At that point, I knew what I had to do. I waited until he was almost back up near my shoulder and then just as he got close.. I BOLTED! The elastic snapped!! I heard the sound of gargled frustration as he faded behind me. It was 0.25 miles to the finish line and I sprinted home uncontested.

Official time: 20:56  (11th out of 125 or so)

Here is the data from my Garmin Forerunner 305

 My wife said the guy was super bashful at work the following Monday morning, but still said he wants a rematch (because he didn't realize I had already run a half-marathon this year and perhaps that gave me a secret advantage..?). To his credit, I don't see myself getting anywhere near that time without having him to race against. I guess this means I'll have to find a flatter course and then invite him for a rematch. Unfortunately, I don't see a convenient 5K in my future until after the marathon. Never-the-less, I do want to say that it was really nice to actually race someone as opposed to just competing against myself for the best time. Hurray for my overwhelming sense of competitiveness!

* * * * * *

There ya go! Another PR in the books for 2011! Stay tuned for my post on a recent bike-touring trip, fondly referred to as the 2011 Tour of the Donkeys!

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Cycling Trip - Albany, NY to NYC

Today's plans - Albany to NYC via bike.

Ready... GO!!

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FLASH: Sean's 5k PR Smashed This Morning in Albany NY

Unofficial time of 20:55, besting his previous PB by nearly 2 1/2 minutes on a decidedly hilly course. The best part of the race, as a University of Michigan alum, was out-kicking a die-hard Ohio State fan down the strech.

GO BLUE!!

DEVELOPING...

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Did I Eat Healthy Today?

I'd love to have the talent to execute a super-simple idea I have for a blogger side-bar widget. At the same time, I'd also love to have the talent to scour the internet to find this same thing that has probably already been invented somewhere else. Sadly, I have neither!

My idea is simple. It is all based off of asking a single question:

"Did I eat healthy today?"
"Was I an asshole today?"
"Did I practice the piano today?"

And etc...

Your question would be displayed as a title over-top of a small monthly calendar. You would "answer" your question by changing the color of the bounding box around the current date. For instance, if my calendar was tracking whether or not I ate healthy on a daily basis I would turn the box a green color (meaning "yes") for today. However, last Saturday and Sunday my boxes would both be red b/c I damn sure didn't eat healthy then. Over time, I would build up a history of these daily, color-coated answers and, just by glancing, be able to see what my eating patterns have been like over the last week, month, two months, etc.

There would be no fancy graphs or areas to log your consumed foods. It would be dead simple.

Green box = "Yes!" to whatever question you posed to yourself in the title.
Yellow box = "ehhh... kinda"
Red box = "Hell no!"

I feel like this is something I could get great value from and help me see just how healthy I think I am eating vs. how healthy I actually am eating. And, since it wouldn't require me to go visit some other site like FB, DailyMile, etc, it would be super convenient to use which means I would probably stick with it longer.

Any programmers or internet-search wizards out there care to help me out?

In the meantime....  YES  I ate healthy today.

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A Little Bit of the Good Stuff

I'm easing my way back into running after giving my legs/head a little time-off. Given the fact that I have been out of town every weekend for the last month, the timing of my mind-set seemed to work out quite well. Of course, I have been running about 3 times a week (still, same as when in training), but the distances have vastly decreased. For instance, this week was only 5k + 5.5 miles + 5k = ~12 miles.

HOWEVER, I'm happy to find that each of those 5Ks were run well under my current PR, which was set shortly after returning to running last Fall. How far below? Well, 0:37 seconds below, to be precise. Not to mention, I'm not running these 5Ks as if they were races, just simply spirited, shorter-distanced training runs!

What does that mean? Well... hopefully, that I have more left in the tank that I can soon empty on race-day, April 30th. In the meantime, I will be looking to start slowly raising my weekly mileage so that I can start marathon training May 30th with a slight edge.

* * * * * * *

In an effort to curb (very) poor eating habits, I've decided to start literally scheduling my meals. I'm not so concerned with specific times that I eat (lunch @ 11:30am vs. 12:30pm), but more-so what/how-much I eat. Something simple like this will keep my mind from drifting toward the dangerous "hmm, I could just run out and grab something quick" mentality that has thwarted my efforts too frequently as of late. It will also minimize the number of times I catch myself snacking.

* * * * * * *

I'm still searching for a half-marathon race that takes place sometime in early-to-mid August so that I can have something to break up my long marathon training.

* * * * * * *

In an unparalleled and unheard of marriage-karma-earning move, my name-change has officially and finally gone through. How many men have you ever heard of taking their wife's last name?

None?

Me neither!

Never-the-less, I've swapped my awkwardly pronounced, 2nd-generation Ukrainian name for my wife's single-syllable, Belgian-German name. Not only am I happy to make the switch, but I'm also glad to welcome all the great characteristics that come attached to this family. (Awww, so sappy, eh?) On a different note, Sean West Architects will make a MUCH better name when I finally open up my own Architecture Firm.

And, I know you all will eventually want to hire me to design + build your tiny training-camp houses up in the mountains or out in the country!

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Looking Ahead

I started this post slumped over on the couch after a 13-hour day of work after missing my short recovery-run. At the time, I thought it might be a good idea to take a quick look back and grade myself on all aspects of my performance leading up to the National Half Marathon.

Running - A
The actual running end of my training went very well.  I don't recall missing a single run the entire time and my paces proved to get stronger and more comfortable the further into training I got. I started in the neighborhood of 8:05/mile and ended up anywhere from 7:50-7:59/mile. I focused on form, easing into a run and negative-splitting ALL training runs. What really sealed the grade was that I did the majority of my runs indoors on a treadmill... in the winter... after work... in the dark.

Mental Health - A
My success on the treadmill fueled a pretty strong attitude. Sure, I was not excited to run on the treadmill, but I always felt great afterward b/c I continually nailed goals. Toward the end of training I was getting a bit antsy and ready to race (ready for endless training to be over), but I'm not counting that against myself. Another attribute that contributed to my positive attitude was definitely the location of the race - DC - which I love! So, not only was I looking forward to running a good time, but I was looking forward to visiting DC and doing it there!

Cross-Training - B
My cross-training started with a bang back in January with me cycling 2-3 days a week for at least an hour. However, once the volume of my running started to increase, I noticed my knees starting to swell up on me after runs. Not wanting to end my season a few weeks into 2011, I chose to majorly dial back the cycling and let the running take over.

Strength training, particularly in the legs, was a major part of my cross-training. This was to address my primary concern of injury prevention. I feel like this routine was integral to keeping me injury free and allowing me to push myself harder on runs and lower my pace. However, the last 3 weeks or so leading up the race saw me even dial this back a bit. All in all, I would have liked to keep cycling throughout all of training.

I majorly neglected abdominal work the last two months which could lower this grade even more. Part of my plan moving forward leading up to marathon training is to get that situation back under control. Regular gym routines now MUST include abs + legs, THEN the fun stuff - arms, chest, lats, etc.

Nutrition - C-
Honestly, this grade could even be worse. I was smart the first 1 1/2 months, cutting my weight down about 8-10 pounds since the holiday season, but then I simply let my training take over as being solely responsible for keeping the weight off. Sure, it worked, but I could have been much leaner and perhaps even faster had I adhered to a smarter diet. No excuses here - just my lack of will-power to blame. This has to change.

Sleep - B-
I found that I usually got 6-7 hours of sleep a night, which is OK but definitely not preferable. I need to consistently be in the 7-8 range, especially during the work-week. I have grand plans to start transitioning back to morning workouts now that there is no more snow on the ground, and to do so requires getting enough sleep that I can roll my ass out of bed early in the morning.

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Overall - B

While the training itself was great, a lot of the stuff surrounding the training seems to have started well but then fallen by the wayside. I've got a good block of two months here to try and establish a better routine for myself before training starts to get "serious" again. I'm motivated by the fact that I was able to have a very successful race while not completely following through on all facets of training, but motivated more-so at the prospect of how much more I can potentially achieve if I'm a bit stricter with myself.

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As it stands, my next race is a 5k at the end of April that starts and ends at the park located less than two blocks away from me. Nice, huh? I'm setting my sites on a new PR, but nothing drastic or overly ambitious (in my opinion). In the meantime, I'll be steadily building my runs back up from 3-milers to 5-milers with some speed work mixed in. The key here is try and have some fun while keeping up a base fitness level (w/o over-doing it) so that I can be healthy/fit when I start marathon training in June.

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Race Report: Nation's Half Marathon

The Nation's Half Marathon was slated to be my first 'A' race of the year, and ultimately the second most-important race of my season (behind the Berlin Marathon in late September). E and I were using this race to test our fitness and see if we could successfully make it through a training-block injury free while still achieving some level of success.

Training went VERY well, especially considering that the entirety of our training was done during the months of December through March. Sometime in early February my training-runs eclipsed the 8:00 min/mile mark and I didn't look back from there.

My training partner, aka my beard. Don't I look manly against a back-drop of flower paintings???

The night before the race, our group hit Buca di Beppo for some carbo-loading. The whole time I was quiet and a little nervous. Not really tense, but more-so just a bit introverted and getting into things mentally. I had the course and elevation maps up in front of me so that I could memorize roughly where the tougher and easier spots would be. We ended up getting to bed by 10pm, which was slightly later than what I would've hoped, but still allowed for plenty of sleep leading up to our 4:50am alarm.

Race morning was pretty relaxed. I was the first one up and had a chance to go to the bathroom and eat my breakfast in silence. There was no rushing or scrambling as the few things needed for a running race were already set out from the night before. Instead of shivering our butts off by riding the Metro, we opted instead to pile into a nice, warm car and drive over. Parking wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We circled around the stadium and came in from the back, which gave saved us from having to wait in line with all of the other cars.

I loved that they let me customize my race bib!

I didn't have enough time to go inside and warm-up, so instead I just headed over the porta-potties, did my thing and got into my corral and started stretching. It was chilly that morning, but I was dressed appropriately and just did some jumping and stretching to stay loose. And before I knew it, the race had begun.

Our route through the city and my former home!

It was a crowded race, to say the least. You were never really clear of other runners enough that you could coast in a straight line for a long time, especially at beginning. Due to the crowds, I had to start out going slower than I would have hoped, but after mile 2 I was already back and track averaging an 8:00 min/mile. I knew going in that miles 0-5 would be rather enjoyable. My HR wouldn't be up yet, the terrain was relatively flat and the sun was not yet that far up. Already at this point I had banked about 30 seconds or so on my 8:00 min/mile goal.

That's me in the blue behind the guy in front of the Washington Monument. I have ZERO memory of running by any of the monuments - a good sign of my focus? :)

Great, right?.. but I knew miles 5-7 were going to have some hills in them so I'd most likely lose some of that time back. That's OK though, b/c instead of burning out early in the race and maintaining my pace, I had planned to drop a little time here hoping it would let me save something for later in the race. I also figured now would be a good time to grab some water, so I hit the water-station and attempted to pull off the run/pinch/drink maneuver where you squeeze the top of your cup together until it leaves a small hole that you can essentially slurp the water out of. Of course, I failed miserably and started choking on water. Net result - elevated heart-rate and zero water consumption. :(

Right around mile 5, heading uphill toward Adams Morgan.

Much to my surprise, I have actually run the route from miles 5-7 fairly often a few summers ago. This was a huge mental boost b/c I knew exactly what I was into and where things would start leveling out again. As it turns out, I did end up dropping some time, but only 15 seconds or so, which meant I still had some banked time.

I don't remember much about miles 8 and 9, to be honest. It was kind of a gap in my race-plan where I just figured I would recover a little from the undulations of the previous few miles. Of course, there were still some ups and downs that started weighing on me. I finished of a Gu and found a water-station where I wisely chose to walk for 15 or so seconds and actually take-in some water.

Apparently I was following this cleverly disguised alien.

Mile 10 had me feeling a bit rejuvenated, thanks to the Gu. However, after glancing at my watch, I had lost a little bit of time and was now only 6 seconds ahead of my 8:00min/mile goal-pace. Uh oh... getting a bit tight!

Mile 11 was planned to be a "maintenance mile," if there is such a thing. The goal was to simply run a straight 8:00 min/mile pace (whereas the earlier miles were aimed at banking 5-10 sec/mile on the flats) and prepare myself mentally for the last 2.1 miles, aka The Grind. Unfortunately, my wits suddenly started to leave me around this part of the race. What was hopefully going to be a mentally relaxing mile ended up being a mentally taxing mile. Combine that with some uphill running and all of a sudden I'm BEHIND on time and starting to come apart at the seems. Ahh!!

That's the look of confusion - wtf am I doing out here?!?!

Mile 12 and 13 were tough, to say the least. My form was deteriorating, but my mental-state was deteriorating even quicker. It's been a while since I was this far gone, mentally. All sorts of wild thoughts went streaming through my head about walking, quitting, how much this sucked, why was I doing this, can I really run a marathon in September?, arghGHHGhghGhGh!!

My data. Check out some of those sharp elevation spikes! The passes under the traffic circles started whooping me in the later miles there.

Ultimately, after about 12.5 miles I was able to break out of the funk and start to put my head down and charge for the line. The finish-line was uphill and around a corner so I couldn't see it from too far out, but I trusted it was close after I looked down at my Garmin and noticed I had just surpassed 13.1 miles.  The line came at 13.3 miles by my calculations, but I'm sure that's completely due to my own zig-zaggy route. I wobbled through the snack line and set up camp on the grass and just relaxed... finally.

Victory!!!!

My official race time was 1:45:58, which places me 268/778 (age-group), 1132nd man and 1575/9299 (overall).

Really, what a nice medal, huh?! Very impressive!

My two Garmin times were 1:44:34 (13.1 miles) and 1:45:02 (13.3 miles). I'm conflicted on which of the three times to recognize, but the more I think about it the more I think I can really use all of them. My goal was to run the race averaging under an 8:00 min/mile. I did that, clocking in according to mr. garmin at a 7:58 min/mile (close, huh?). That average includes the moment I crossed the starting line to the moment I crossed the finish line for both 13.1 and 13.3 miles. So, in that sense, I very much accomplished my pacing goal.

However, my pacing didn't align with my overall race-time. You're told to never rely on your watch for pacing alone, but to also use the mile-markers. Unfortunately, I don't recall seeing any mile-markers out on the course until around mile 9 or 10 so that wasn't really an option for me. Also, the discrepancy between what my garmin said compared to where the miler-markers were gave me even less confidence that they were even accurate. No problem though, b/c my race was geared more toward my own pacing and less on a specific finishing time, which meant I was fine with just glancing down at my watch from time to time.

Overall, this was a great experience and a positive sign that I can indeed train hard, smart and during the depths of the winter. It's now time to get in a nice/long recovery before getting back out on the roads to try and capture some shorter-distanced speed!

Enjoying the cherry blossoms.

Pretty soon there will be no more cherry blossoms, but all of the other trees will be full of green!

My training partner, post-race.

Having a little fun with the beard-removal. I present to you my 1920s-era baseball player impersonation!

Don't worry, the mustache was removed immediately after this photo was taken!

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Unverified Voracity - The Indignity of Facial Modifiers

I've regressed into the mental abyss that falls upon us all as a serious race approaches. Much like how I imagine I would face the end of days, here I stand, bearded and somber.

For the last month-and-a-half or so, ALL of my training runs have come in under an 8:00 min/mile average, which, as of this past Fall, was unheard of for me (10K PR of 8:05 min/mile, or so). Not only am I under an 8:00 min/mile, but I'm consistently breaking my 10K PR in training! I

I've kept up on strength workouts, icing, resting and have remained largely injury free for these last three months of training (save for minor over-use signs which led to cutting back on cycling cross-training).

All of these things lend themselves very much toward positive race-day vibes.

Race day for the 2011 Nation's Half Marathon is this Saturday. Tomorrow I have a baby-cakes run, which will be my last before the BIG DAY. I've already started gorging myself with carbs in various quantities and varieties.

Goals?

A) 8:00 min/mile average
B) 8:15 min/mile average
C) sub 8:00 min/mile average

After the race, I plan to consume a celebratory beer made by my friends at Brewery Ommegang.

I. CAN'T. WAIT.

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