Making The Most Out Of Nothing

It’s been about 2.5 weeks now since the 800m at Drake, I’ve kind of enjoyed not having another race on the schedule.  In past years I’ve almost tried to raced myself into shape if that was possible, but in the end I think it wore me out.  With a couple extra years under my belt and on my legs I don’t think I could ever handle 2-3 races a month for a 9 month season that I did when I was 41 and 42.  Last year I took things very casual and probably only raced 5 times or so, but this year I seemed to have been invigorated a little bit by my new training routine at Elite Athletic Performance.  I had said that I was going to take this year off and get ramped up for my big “45″ birthday, that is not really turning out to be the case….

That being said, having a solid month between events has allowed me to get in some good work – both quality and quantity.  I have made it over to the track once or twice a week, and if work has kept me on the road I’ve been able to get in a couple hard tempo runs in lieu of intervals.  Last Sunday I ran 1×1000, 2×600, then a couple 400′s, 300′s, and even a 200 with the spikes on trying to get 60 second quarter pace to feel comfortable after having the edge taken off.  I wouldn’t say I was just casually cruising that pace, but was happy with the lack of hamstring drama while hanging out at or under the target pace.

I had this week off work so I got in three good lifting sessions, three runs in the pool, a workout on the dry-land treadmill, and 9 easy miles this afternoon on the rolling roads of Enola.  Two straight weeks of 40+ miles, with about half of it coming underwater and half of it on the roads.  I also instituted ‘Operation Biggest Loser’ this week, getting up a little early and hitting the basement elliptical for 30 minutes before starting the day after my Drake celebrating seemed to last a little longer than the dietitian would have recommended.  It’s amazing how fast you can pack it on if you follow the lead of your taste buds – the tide seems to have turned a little bit as I have attempted to resist the cookie jar though and the scale has started to head in the opposite (right) direction once again.  Yo-Yo dieting for runners….

Home this weekend, then over to Allentown Monday afternoon to start a 5-day trip.  Due to its proximity to Harrisburg, I will be able to drive over there to start the trip.  Having my truck for the week means not only will I be able to get on the canal trail to get my miles, but I can also venture over to Lehigh University and get on the track once or twice.  Allentown certainly isn’t as sexy-sounding as Miami or Venice Beach, but as far as keeping the momentum going it will definitely serve the purpose.

Plan now is to run at either the West Chester Distance Festival or the Ridgewood Mile on Memorial Day weekend.  The West Chester meet is Friday evening, and would allow me to get another shot at 800m prior to the USATF Invitational 800 in June.  I ran there last year and arguably ran my best race of the year (4:24 mile), so I am definitely going to give that one a serious look.  The Ridgewood Mile on Memorial Day is logistically difficult (requires a hotel the night before and gobbles up a chunk of the holiday weekend), but I really enjoy road miles and this one offers some prize money that makes it very enticing.  I haven’t decided what to do, maybe I’ll just enter both and make it a racing holiday – sure the family would love that.  We’ll see – until then hopefully I can stay healthy, keep up the good training, and make the rest of this ‘unexpected’ outdoor season worth the effort.

Des Moines Is French For “The Moines”

I saw that on a tee-shirt on the campus of Drake University – I don’t know what it has to do with my Drake Relays adventure but I think my Uncle Yogi would appreciate that little nugget of wisdom.  Anyway – the dust is just settling on another crazy Drake Relays weekend.  This race is truly unlike any other I run on the masters circuit, and even though it definitely has its unique quirks, I wouldn’t keep going back if I didn’t enjoy my time in Des Moines.  This year may have taken the cake though…

For some reason in 2010 (my first visit to Drake) I decided to travel out to Des Moines the morning of the race, and I’ve been doing it that way ever since.  The start time for the Masters 800m is 12:45 Central Standard Time, so by catching the first flight out of Harrisburg to Chicago at 7:50am (5:30 wakeup) I have about 6 hours to fly from Harrisburg to Chicago to Des Moines, rent a car, drive to the track, pick up my packet, warm up, and make it to the paddock 20 minutes prior to gun time.  This year I decided to break the cycle of insanity and travel the night prior like every other sane person was doing, but I failed to account for my daughter’s U14 softball game Thursday evening that I just couldn’t miss.  This meant for better or for worse I was back to Plan A, and for the fourth year in a row the gods of air travel were looking after me.  United Airlines defied all the sequestration odds and delivered me to Des Moines on time at 11am, and after quickly changing clothes in my Ford Focus hatchbagon (only one hamstring cramp) I was picking up my packet with an hour to spare.  Plenty of time for a quick jog, a couple of drills and a strider or two.  All in a morning’s work….

Once they gathered us out on the track about 10 minutes prior I could see that it was the same awesome motley crew that makes this race special every year.  There are no qualifying standards or limits on the amount of entries.  It is truly the ‘Cannonball Run’ of masters events – every shape and size, race and creed – some fast, some not so fast, some in it to try to win, some in it hoping to run well, some in it just for fun.  32 entrants this year, 25 were toeing the line.  “Gentlemen, start your engines”.  The start looks like a train wreck in the making, but every year it is clean and fair (made more so by the one guy who always forgets to break for the inside and runs the whole first turn in lane 8).  This year was no different from any other, always good to see a bunch of the same guys out there year after year…

We don’t need no stinkin’ prelims – line them all up and may the best man win…

Another thing you can always count on in Des Moines in April is for the jet stream to make a guest appearance down the home stretch.  Mother nature didn’t disappoint again this year, as the realtime forecast called it a “brisk 22mph” breeze out of the northeast.  Great news if you were long jumping on the “away” side of the stadium, bad news if you were running the 100m or were a distance runner struggling to seal the deal.  This always adds an element of strategy to an 800m, because some sucker has to be in front into the NASA wind tunnel – in 2010 I followed Dave Nash into a driving rain, and benefitted greatly as I was able to out kick him to the line.  In 2011 I led the entire race, doing my time in the front and then some.  Last year a couple of people took turns in the front, and I had the lead going into the windy final stretch before being out kicked by Lance Elliott and losing by .07 secs.  As we took the starting line this year I had no idea how the race would play out, I just figured we would play it by ear.

Cue The Edgar Winter Group tune “Free Ride”…

At the gun I got out cleanly, and after being teased by a potential race leader it quickly became obvious that nobody was planning on stepping up to the plate.  I decided at that point I had two options:  1) go slow and force someone else to lead, but then losing any hope of running a decent time, or 2) bite the bullet and take it out myself.  Of course I ended up choosing option #2, so I took the pack through the 200m in 30 seconds, with a peek at the jumbotron showing Lance Elliott in the exact position that I wanted to be in – snuggled up tight to a big ole’ windbreak.  Having drawn the short straw, I wasn’t ready to just throw in the towel and offer him a free ride.  Running the 800m isn’t exactly like Spy vs Spy or a James Bond flick – you can’t just squirt oil on the track behind you, drop a box full of tacks, or deploy spiked hubcaps to thwart a drafting opponent.  My first attempt to try to ruin his free ride was drift out into lane 2 down the brutal home stretch of the track, hoping Lance would fall asleep in lane 1 and wonder why it got so windy all of a sudden.  He told me afterwards with a smirk that “I just went out there with you of course”.  Fail.  We went through the quarter in 60 flat – I had hoped going in to the race that I would hit 60 secs at the quarter and have it feel somewhat effortless, that definitely wasn’t the case.  I got around to the back stretch waiting for the blast of tailwind to act as a huge “pick me up”, for some reason the wind never seems as strong when it is at your back as it does when it is in your face.  At the 250m to go point I reached back into my bag of tricks, slowing down just enough to hopefully have him think I was struggling (which in actuality wasn’t far from the truth) and come up on me.  I don’t know what his mindset or strategy was at this point, but whatever the case he did what I hoped he would do.  He came up on my shoulder as we hit the final 200m.  An added bonus was he was on my outside shoulder, where I could not only could I see him but he was running the longer line.  As we hit the final stretch I felt like I still had a little gas in the tank, and I pulled slightly ahead of him.  At 50 meters I had lost sight of him, but after his late surge last year I took nothing for granted and assumed he was moments away from reappearing.  He never did, and I was able to break the tape in 2:02.70 to his 2:02.87.  Seeing how breaking the tape has gotten harder and harder as I drift farther and farther from that magical 40th birthday, I was pretty darn happy….

Another close battle to the finish with Lance Elliott

Post-race, victory flag bearing….

I was handed the traditional ‘Drake Relays Champion’ flag by one of the finish line officials then guided down to the press area to explain to them what a runner from Enola was doing in central Iowa.  Everyone was extremely cordial and congratulatory as usual.  After “breaking it down” with the members of the press corps who obviously had way too much time on their hands, I gathered my gear, sent a couple of text updates, and then got in a cool down jog with Lance and the seventh place finisher Brad Dittmar.  Unlike previous years when I rushed back to the airport after racing to get a flight home, this year I had some time to kill after the dust settled.  I ended up going to dinner with Lance and his folks and twin sons, then casually made my way back to the airport to return my rental car and walk over to the FedEx facility to catch a night flight to Memphis.  Got to Memphis around midnight, at 2:42am I was punching the clock like every other FedEx vampire, working a flight back to Harrisburg – no rest for the weary.  Apparently being a Drake Relays champion doesn’t carry much weight outside of the small circle of masters runners – at FedEx I’m still just another cog on the wheel of a gigantic company.  Got home at 7:30am, 26 hours after my alarm kicked off a pretty productive day.  My reward was a one-hour nap, them off to a girls U8 soccer game – wouldn’t have it any other way….

4:09.11*

I’ve had a pretty productive week+ since last post, including two road races.  The Drake Relays is less than two weeks away now, and I have finally been able to string together a decent stretch of preparation – lifting, racing, running, and every now and then a little sleeping.  With a pretty decent work schedule for the next couple weeks hopefully I can map out and execute a plan that will keep me moving in the right direction.  And moving in the right direction I am…

I said I had raced twice since last writing – last weekend I jumped in a 5k in Harrisburg hoping to run a more inspired race than my road debut back in March.  The weather was better, but a stiff wind on the outbound mile+ turned the race into a “tactical” (slow) one, with everybody trying to figure out how to lock in their share of the prize money.  Being no better than my fellow racers, I too sat on the poor guy who decided to forge into the headwind, through the mile in 5:35 (tempo run pace) and two-mile in a hair under 11:00.  Ended up finishing in a lackluster 16:59, second place.  Nothing to write home about other than the $100 prize, which despite my “ehh” time I did not refuse.

Lifted and ran Sunday and Monday despite planning on racing on Wednesday evening, because if I took it easy before every race I would never get any training in.  Wednesday’s race was The Main Street Mile in Westminster MD.  I had run it two years ago, but I entered too late last year and didn’t get in (seems like I have written that once or nine times before).  The race is your typical fun small town mile, with the added attraction of being “slightly” downhill.  By slightly I mean if you drop something round, especially anywhere in the first quarter-mile, you better get after it quick or you might have a long chase ahead of you.  I ran 4:15 here in 2011, and really thought I left something on the course since I was unfamiliar with the layout – kind of like putting on unfamiliar greens and not knowing how to “play the break”.  This time I paid more attention to where the 1/4 mile markers were in conjunction with the downhill portions, the flat section, the little uphill stretch, then the slightly downhill finish, and felt like I had a plan this time around.  I also was committed to finally being aggressive and attacking the course regardless of my positioning in the race place-wise – something that I had failed to do in my two previous road outings.

Only thing I had working against me was that I had to work Tuesday night, so after flying all night I got home Wednesday morning and tried to get as much makeup sleep as possible.  I don’t think that shifting your body clock all over the place is very conducive to being ready to run your best, but until the prize money starts getting into four or five figures (not counting the digits to the right of the decimal point) I still have to go to work.  I did my best to catch some day zzzz’s, then split for Maryland with my wife to see what I could do.  Took a pretty casual approach to my warmup, partly because I got there pretty late, partly because I was still tired/hung over from the all-nighter, and partly because I was implementing “Operation Casual”.  Sometimes when you don’t care about a race good things happen – I was hoping that this would be one of those times.  I knew I had gotten in some pretty decent training recently, so I figured why get myself mentally all worked up over what I was going to do – just go run fast.  Warmup consisted of about 2 minutes of jogging and some solid drills, then I was ready to go….

I really hoped to challenge my 2011 time – I had put in a ton of work that year (not to mention being two years younger), but I felt like I had a better plan this year so maybe that would be able to offset some of the difference in conditioning.  I felt the first half mile had the greatest loss of altitude, so I would try to go through in 2:06-2:07, then try to hang on.  ”Hanging on” in this race means surviving until the last 300m, where the course slopes down to the finish.  The slope probably helps you as much mentally as physically, because you can see the finish from farther away, and even if you are in total rigor mortis all you have to do is lean forward and your body will keep moving.  The starting line was stacked with twenty-something aged guys with DC area club singlets, so I knew there would be some fast movers leading the way.  I just hoped to run my race and not chicken out when the going got tough.  The weather was great – slight headwind, but the warm temperatures were a welcome relief after the miserable spring.  The sun was still out for the 7pm start, a great night for some downhill milin’…

I got out clean, almost had to hold myself back down the first quarter-mile.  Through in 61.59 MIT (Manual Ironman Timing), didn’t freak out like I did in ’11.  As the course flattened out I continued to be aggressive.  I was feeling pretty good and the course was flying by, it’s always a good thing when you get surprised by the next marker instead of wondering where the hell it is – second quarter in 63.88, could see the total time on my watch was 2:05.  I know you aren’t supposed to take your splits and analyze them during the race, but you also aren’t supposed to be running downhill, so that makes this race an exception to every rule.  2:05 was pretty fast, but I still felt ok so I didn’t panic.  The third quarter included a couple more flat blocks, and culminated in the uphill portion of the course.  I kept my focus on the top of the rise, because I knew that if I could get there relief was on the other side.  I kept my pace up, hit the third quarter in 64.17 – 3:09 and change through 1200.  Now I just had to hang on…

The last quarter was almost pleasurable.  My legs still felt fresh (enough), the grade made you want to go fast, and I knew downhill or not I was in uncharted waters time-wise.  I gave it everything I had, and after several watch checks to see how much longer I had to go I picked up the clock and saw it flip to 4:00 (spoiler alert – this story does not end with me vanquishing Roger Bannister).  Still, I approached the finish line mat as the big clock hit 4:10 – no friggin’ way.  Was very happy – my hamstrings and legs were pretty cooked, but that was a small price to pay.  Got even happier when I found out the chip had me at 4:09.1 – reviewing my splits had the last quarter in 59.47 (when was an en-route self-taken split ever not accurate to the hundredth of a second, right?).  Either way, I’ll take it…

Previously unseen video of the race...

So, what will I take away from this race?  First of all, it is an apples to apples comparison that I was 6 seconds faster over the same course this year than I was two years ago, which has to count for something.  I am also happy that when the course flattened out and the going got tough I was able to keep my foot on the gas and power through it, something that I had failed to do during both 5k’s.  I also liked feeling fast over the last quarter-mile, downhill slope or not.  Could that be the weights and stretching kicking in?  Hopefully so.  I am also pretty excited about results – I was 4th overall, with the average age of the top 10 being a ripe old 25.  Just when I want to put myself out to pasture this stinkin’ sport keeps drawing me back in….

The thing I am most pleased with is just saying 4:09.  Am I laying claim to being a sub-4:10 miler.  No, I’m not an idiot and that would be an insult to all those that can get on a track and run those incredible times.  Did my old, fat butt cover a land mile in under 4:10?  You bet.  So, all that being said, if you saddle up to me thirty years from now at some grungy old VFW bar and the topic of discussion turns to “what was your best mile time?”, don’t be surprised if I happen to leave out a couple small details as I describe “that time I ran 4:09…” – I’ll just blame my memory lapse on the Old Milwaukee.  Downhill shmownhill….

Good Visit From The Arch Frenemy

Well, a couple of days without writing has turned into ten before I knew it, sometimes I honestly don’t know where the time goes anymore.  After racing in Landover the weekend before Easter, I have finally started to return to the groove I thought I was in back in January before my legs and then my immune system took a vacation on me.  I am enjoying the sense of ‘normalcy’ for the time being, hoping to gradually work up to one of ‘line-toeing confidence’ as spring turns to summer.  That being said, I would be more than willing to join the movement to punish Punxsutawney Phil right now for his teasingly inaccurate prediction of an early spring.  The days are finally reaching March-like temperatures here on the east coast, which would be a good thing if it wasn’t the first week of April.  I can’t even remember what it’s like to run in shorts….

The indoor national mile in Landover was a little disappointing.  I knew I hadn’t put in the work I would have hoped to do going into this meet, but at the same time I thought I had a couple of things going for me.  I was rested, had my weight down for the first time in a while, had a solid six-weeks of lifting under my belt, and most importantly I had my good-luck driver delivering me to the event.  I hoped that these things would be enough to offset the small fact that I really didn’t have the quality workouts or base mileage necessary to be in top form.  Probably not the type planning that most people would recommend going into a big event….

The field for the mile included Kevin Castille, a 40-year old distance guy in a class by himself (14:00 5k – are you kidding me?!?) who had won the 3000m the night before, and Lance Elliott, a regular on the circuit with times almost identical to mine, and a host of others.  For a flat track the Prince George County Sports Complex isn’t bad, but you get spoiled running at facilities like Penn State or the Armory.  The “flat track” effect wouldn’t be as pronounced in the mile as it would have been had I run the 800, but it definitely makes it harder to really nail a good time.  Still, as erratic as I have been in the past couple years you never know…

At the gun Kevin Castille took the pace out pretty fast as expected, and Lance followed him loosely.  Like at the Hartshorne Mile, I had planned to run a pretty even race, going through the 800 and 1200 meter marks at splits that would allow me to get down into the mid-4:20′s if I was feeling great, but at the same time wouldn’t set me up for the big flop if I didn’t have it.  Kevin apparently decided not to embarrass us too badly through the first few laps, and Lance was able to stick to him.  I was comfortable alone in third about 10-15 meters behind, until Lance decided that Kevin’s pace was a little to rich for his liking and slowly slid back to me.  I was right where I wanted to be pace-wise, around 2:13 through 800+ (with the “mile” extra) and 3:21 at 1200.  By then I was right on Lance’s shoulder and feeling pretty good.  I had no idea how he felt, but I was finding myself having to often slide out half of a lane to avoid running up on him, having to focus on holding myself back.  I was liking my chances for a “big finish”, even if it only was for second place.  On the last lap I tried to be patient, but couldn’t wait any longer going into the final turn.  With 75 meters to go I moved outside him, and he answered equally.  I think I actually passed him around the 40m mark, and we raced side-by-side to the finish.  I somehow went from anxious to unleash my big kick to wondering how they had managed to apply 2′ of quicksand to lane 3 in the short amount of time since I had been around the track the previous lap.  The feeling of being unable to pick up your legs is so terrible I sometimes wonder why I continue to do this – he must have been feeling roughly the same because even though I felt like I was walking we were shoulder to shoulder to the line.  After mustering a probably pathetic-looking lean at the tape (or at least where the tape would have been had Kevin Castille been kind enough to replace it after his cooldown lap), I had to check the scoreboard to see how the FAT camera saw the finish.  I couldn’t tell who beat who, probably partly due to the fact that I was experiencing exhaustion induced tunnel-vision and couldn’t see anything in my periphery.  FAT said Lance “won”, I needed oxygen so bad I didn’t even care…..

4:28.06 to 4:28.13, third overall.  Time was better than the Hartshorne Mile where I felt like I was in better shape going in, but I was also compensating for a pesky hamstring for the second half of the race in that one.  Probably not too far off what could have been expected, 4:28.05 would have been a lot easier to swallow though…

Lance Elliott getting his HydroWorx indoctrination

So, following the old adage, “Keep your friends close, and your competitors closer”, I invited Lance up to stay with us in Enola for three days after the meet.  His family was coming out to spend their spring break in Washington D.C., but weren’t arriving until Wednesday so he had a couple of days to kill.  It was good having a partner in crime during my days off, especially when it came time to lace up the running shoes.  We got in a nice long and easy trail run out at Stoney Creek one day, and some more miles along the Susquehanna River in downtown Harrisburg another.  I couldn’t have him up without showing him the HydroWorx treadmill, so we spent one day running intervals underwater.  I always have a distinct “advantage” when I bring a guest to the pool due to my familiarity with running in the water, but I didn’t completely fill him in on this so he would think “man, he is in way better shape than I am”.  Just kidding – once he got ‘adapted’ he was nailing the 60 second reps right alongside me, and we got in a good workout in the warm water while Phil the groundhog continued to grossly overestimate the dawn of warm spring weather.

After Lance and his family hit the road I managed to get out to the high school track for some intervals (9×400) on Saturday, with the last set of 3 being “split” 400′s with a little dose of speed at the end (speed being a relative term at this age).  I felt pretty good with the light shoes on, hopefully these sessions will become more regular instead of the “once every blue moon” plan I’ve been on for the past 18 months.  Some decent mileage on Sunday, an interval session on the EAP HydroWorx treadmill on Monday (2x10mins, 4x1min), and an hour on the elliptical and an 8-miler during a 2-day Houston layover this week.  47 “Berra” miles last week, hopefully something north of 30 this week.  I might run a 5k again this weekend, hopefully with a little more effort (and higher temperatures) than the race a couple of weeks ago.  Drake Relays 800m in 3 weeks is the next “main event”, one of 3 races I hope to run on the track this outdoor season.  Hopefully I can even the score against Mr Elliott in Des Moines – just because I let him behind “the curtain” doesn’t mean I have shown him all my tricks…

Pay no attention to the fat balding guy in the pool….

Heading down to Landover, Maryland for the 2013 USATF Indoor Nationals.  It’s nice that the meet is relatively “local” – traveling to Albuquerque and Bloomington the past couple years have been fun getaway weekends and good opportunities to catch up with the masters crowd, but there is still something to be said for knocking it all out in one day.  I am only running the mile this year, so my father and I am turning back the clock to our old barnstorming days and driving down the day of the meet.  Hopefully that will bring me some good mojo…

Had to bail on the 800m tomorrow because my oldest daughter Lindsay qualified for the YMCA state swim championships tomorrow so I will be watching that instead of attempting the weekend double.  I don’t know which race would be my strongest now based on my fitness level – I don’t really have the volume I’d like to have for the mile, but I also haven’t been tearing it up on the track doing speed work either.  I’m pretty sure I’ll actually get a chance to run a 4×800 leg after my individual race, so hopefully a little bit of each kind of training will suffice…

I did get in a good fartlek workout a couple weeks ago on the Stoney Creek trail (20 x 30 seconds over 9 miles) as well as visit my old stomping grounds at the Naval Academy for a track workout (3×800, 3×200) while laying over in Baltimore.  That plus a couple of tempo runs have augmented a whole bunch of water miles, both on the usual big unit as well as the X80 model over at EAP.  I’ve also kept up with the lifting and stretching program, so we’ll see if I’ve put in enough work there to start paying dividends.  I feel good, which is nice, so I’m just going to go out there and see what happens.

Graduation and Post-Grad Work

Graduation ceremony at Elite Athletic Performance with Rich Harris.  Think I got taller during PT…

Well, I officially graduated from therapy several weeks ago, and am working on the fresh start.  As I had planned on doing, I stuck with Rich Harris and am now an official (workout) card-carrying member of Elite Athletic Performance.  I liked the program we started towards the end of my physical therapy so I decided to give it a shot at least through the spring and summer.  It is also nice to have the HydroWorx treadmills right in the facility, which makes it very convenient to get in both my strength/flexibility training and then a workout or just some mileage all in the same session.  I think today was my 6th session in the past 2 weeks, and I have to say I am feeling pretty good…

I’d be feeling even better if I hadn’t spent about 5 days last week on death’s front doorstep.  It was the same old thing I think I have contracted about 4 times in the past couple years – first the sore throat, then the exploding sinuses, followed by the lungs full of nasty green stuff.  No sleep, no energy, no fun.  Was totally benched for 4 days, then it took another 4-5 to feel ‘right’ again.  I eventually got to the doc and am almost through the course of antibiotics.  My training schedule was compressed to start with, so losing about a week didn’t help matters at all.  My expectations have been tempered just a bit – still sticking with the same schedule, but I’ll take what I can get results-wise.  Not expecting any PR’s or eye-popping times, just hope to compete and have these next couple races be stepping-stones to hopefully a good spring and summer.

Workout wise, I’ve been spending a bunch of time in the water the past week.  Got in a tough set of intervals on a land treadmill last night, the first ‘fast’ session in quite a while.  8×2:00 w/2:00 rest, one hour total.  Had planned on hitting the track for these intervals, and even had a willing partner lined up, but a 2:00am vomit attack (first of many) by my youngest daughter gave me Dad Daycare duties all afternoon.  What are you going to do – felt bad for her watching her hover around the bathroom all day so missing out on a sunny day didn’t seem like that big of a sacrifice.  HydroWorx on Sunday, Monday, and this morning, probably some uptempo road work Thursday and/or Friday.  My mileage hasn’t been as high as it had been during the winter, but hopefully adding a little more quality to the weights will reenergize my dormant ‘speed’.  With revitalized hamstrings and quads I’m counting on having a little more hop in my step and a lot less tightness and inefficiency – maybe that will help me avoid the dreaded final 100 meter shuffle of doom I’ve experienced too many times in the past several years – Drake Relays, 5th Ave Mile, Sacramento Worlds, etc..

So for the time being it’s me, the heavy iron (yeah right),  and a grey cotton sweat suit. Throw in a little dose of land speed and a healthy dose of underwater running and hopefully I’ll be back on track.  If you don’t recognize me next time we meet it’s probably because I’ll be so “Pumped Up!”

Getting pumped up like Hans and Frans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Zk2vUmjpk

Limbering Up

Rich giving me a hand with some light stretching. If I didn’t mention before, I’ve gained a few pounds…

Eleven visits to the therapist later and I am happy to report that all is well.  I won’t be auditioning for Cirque du Soleil or trying out for the Chinese gymnastics team, but in the last 3.5 weeks I have definitely been contorted into positions that I haven’t experienced since I was probably about 9 years old.  After Rich Harris (the PT) labeled me the “worst he has ever seen” my flexibility has apparently progressed to the “satisfactory” level.   Two more visits this week and I am officially going to be discharged.  Blue Cross and Blue Shield will be happy to hear that (thank FedEx!) I’m sure…

Apparently my issue was not as simple as weak or tight hamstrings like I had assumed, which was part of the problem.  In the past I would just keep my fitness level up in the pool while the hamstring healed, then I would go right back out and do the same thing all over again.  It turns out that my hamstrings were more of a symptom than the actual problem – the problem was much bigger and involved tight quads, hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, etc..  It seems that every muscle south of my navel was conspiring to wreck my hamstrings, and they were doing a good job of it.  PT has involved lots of stretches reminiscent of the dreaded medieval “rack”, ultrasound, and then I was slowly introduced to some strength exercises to build up the muscles on the weak side of the imbalance I was suffering from.  According to my sensei Rich, this increased strength and flexibility is going to result in a longer stride which will require less effort as the muscles in my legs and hips will no longer be fighting each other to see which can cause the most inefficiency in each stride I take.  Work less to go farther/faster?  Sign me up….

I didn’t do much more than an occasional elliptical or HydroWorx session for two weeks after the Hartshorne Mile as I got started with Rich at Elite Athletic Performance.  With his blessing I started adding some land miles and upped the intensity of the non-road running I was doing.  Ended up getting 22 miles on the roads last week, and another 3 hours in the pool.  All of it has been very easy, but I’m about to get clearance to actually start doing some “quality” work in the next couple days.  I feel good, but it always stinks to “start over” in your training, so we’ll see where I pick up once I get out there.  After I am officially done getting “therapied” by Rich I am planning on rolling over into one of his performance programs, so as I said last time I am “all in” with this to see how it goes. He seems to understand were I was, am now, and want to be moving forward, and has a plan to get me there (and then some).  If nothing else it’s something different, and sometimes that can be a good thing.  If I am healthier, stronger, and more flexible that’s a good place to start in any program.  Landover is in 5.5 weeks, plan is to toe the line down there ready to compete.  If nothing else I will be able to impress the crowd with my newfound ability to tie my shoes without grimacing….