Spring Is Here

This was a great week to be outdoors…especially running. I am so happy that I was able to stay in good enough shape over the winter to be able to put in some long mileage and not kill myself now that the weather has finally gotten better. This was my third week in a row of trying to get in some high mileage on my new 6 day a week schedule. My week looked like this:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 12 miles (Very Hilly)
Wednesday: 11 miles (Flat and Fast)
Thursday: 10 miles (Flat and Fast)
Friday: 8 miles (Hilly Arboretum Loops)
Saturday: 10 miles (Rolling Hills)
Sunday: 20 miles (Coopers Rock Trails)
Total: 70 Miles

The weather was great for all of the runs. I was able to run with Josh on Thursday morning, which made it go by a lot faster than my usual Thursday morning runs. Hopefully we can get together for more in the future. It works out well for me to run with Josh on his easy days because it forces me to pick of the pace on some of my runs (his easy days are my hard days!).

After my hard effort on both Wednesday and Thursday, my SI joint was killing me. I decided to go see a chiropractor (Dr. Gambino in Clarksburg). He had stopped in for shoes last fall and I had been meaning to stop in and see him. Now I had no choice and boy am I sure glad I did. He was nice enough to fit me in that day and get me adjusted after the initial check up. I felt a little weird the rest of the day but the next day I felt great. No more pain at all. It was like he pushed a reset button for my entire body. I felt great on all of my runs the rest of the week and even felt great on my 20 miler. I would defiantly recommend Dr. Gambino to anyone.

Sunday was an awesome run on the trails at Coopers Rock with Erin. I was able to go shirtless which felt great (although I got a little burnt by the end). I also felt like I could still keep going for another couple of hours. My strength is really coming along and I feel I am at a new level I have never been before. I am getting so anxious about my upcoming trial races. I can’t wait to see how I will do!

Back Again!

Well, here I am again. This will make try number three at keeping a weekly blog going. I guess that I have more to talk about now that I am back into a solid training phase for my ultra runs. I figure this can at least serve as weekly log of my mileage since this is something I have tried to keep track of ever since I started running but have always failed at doing.

I am still registered for the Capon Valley 50K on May 8th and the Highlands Sky 40mi. race on June 19th. The plan for now is to use the 50K as a good solid training run for Highlands Sky. I would still like to do well at Capon but Highlands’s Sky is defiantly my goal race.

I am still alternating between my NB 100 and Brooks Cascadia trail shoes although I am currently in the search for an in-between. The 100’s are great and I love the feel of them on the trail, but I they are just a bit to minimalist for my taste to go 40 miles in. The last thing I want to slow me down is my feet. The Cascadia’s are great too but they are just a bit heavy for my liking, especially when they get wet. Both of the races have several creek crossings so this could be an issue. Right now I am looking at the Inov-8 X-Talon (≈7.5 oz) and the La Sportiva Crosslite (≈10 oz). I am having some trouble choosing between the two because as you can see they have similar issues to the 100 and Cascadia when it comes to weight.

I have dropped running to and from work. It worked great during the winter to keep my mileage up especially with all of the snow. Only our Subaru goes well in the snow so Erin and I were stuck with one car most of the winter. I was able to run to work while she could use the car to get the essentials done with Ellie safely.

Now, I am just trying to slowly increase my weekly mileage. I have moved to a 6 day running week instead of a 5 day. I would like to go 7 days a week but it is nice to have at least one day to recover especially if something comes up with work, the shop, weather, and Erin or Ellie. I am currently focusing more on quantity rather than quality for the first time in my career. I am just trying to get my body use to a lot of running and running even more when I am tired. I have also been trying to squeeze in as many hills into every run as possible; although this is nothing new for me. Here is my run down of last week. The previous week ended with an extremely hilly 18 mile run through the streets of Morgantown on Sunday.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 12 miles (rolling)
Wednesday: 8 miles (Arboretum Loops, Up and Down several times!)
Thursday: 10 miles (rolling)
Friday: 7 miles (with Erin on Deckers Creek trail)
Saturday: 10 miles (Big Hills)
Sunday: 2 Hrs. (Trails at Brakcamp, not sure of the mileage)

Erin and I were hoping for another long run on Sunday but the trail conditions were just horrendous. Trees were down everywhere with jaggers intertwined. You would get started running, go about 100 meters, stop to climb over a tree or go around a massive pile of jaggers and then repeat. This was the case the entire run. See Erin’s post at mommyrunning101.blogspot.com for more details.

I am going to increase my mileage even more this week. It is defiantly getting easier with the nice weather. I promise I will try to keep up with my blog this time!

Happy Holidays

It has been a while since my last blog but things have been going well. My running is going well and I have been able to get my running to work schedule put together. It has really helped me to get in more miles as well as commute faster in some cases. I have found that on my run home in the evening I can actually get back home faster than I can drive. It is also nice to fly by people sitting in their cars stuck in traffic. I think every night run turns into a tempo run for this reason.

My running pack from my previous post is awesome. The Gregory Wasatch has just the right amount of space for a change of clothes (with a little practice at packing), is really light weight and does not move around while running at all. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good running pack. I was able to get mine from Adventures Edge here in Morgantown.

The NB 100’s ended up being a little to minimalist for my taste in a shoe. They will be great for trail races but for putting in the long mileage they will not work for me. On the other hand, if you are one of the people out there looking for a good minimalist shoe to run in, this is the shoe for you. It is very light, has nice traction on the trails, comes equipped with a light weight rock plate and is very flexible. It would even do very well as minimalist road shoe. We have decided to carry them at the shop so look for them to arrive in the near future.

I have recently enjoyed running in my other pair of trail shoes, the Brooks Cascadia. They are a little heavy but run great on the trails. They have great grip, shed mud well and feel great out of the box. My first run in them was on a 20 mile trail run in a down pour rain (check out Erin's blog for the other crazyness that happened on this run!). They worked great and I had no blisters or any other problems that come along with breaking in a new pair of shoes. We will also be bringing this shoe in this spring.

My spring/summer race schedule is still in the works but has been put together for the most part. I am currently registered for the Capon Valley 50K in May and the Highlands Sky 40M the day after my birthday in June. I then hope to cap it all off with the Pikes Peak Ascent in August. I am going to try to throw in a few other short trail races in there as well.

Everyone be safe out there on these snow and Ice covered roads. I took a hard fall on some black ice this morning. Have a great Christmas and a happy new year!

A Time for Change

Well, it has been nearly three week since the big half marathon that most of my previous blog posts were leading up too. The race went fairly uneventful so I didn’t feel a big need to sit down and write about it. From start to finish things went flawlessly; I started out at what I thought was a nice conservative pace (I didn’t see a mile marker until about mile 3) and tried to hold that pace for the rest of the race. I tried to push on the uphills, cruised on the down, and maintain on the flat and this is what I did throughout the race. I was by myself nearly the whole time except for the last two miles where I managed to pass two other guys. In the end, it was actually a boring race to write about but I did run a PB of 1:20.47 and was happy to see all of my hard work pay off. That was defiantly the best I had felt racing in a long time. It was also great to see Erin achieve her goal of 1:35 as well.

Since the race, I have spent most of my time just getting out and running. Not worrying about mileage, workouts, when I am going to run or what effort to run at. When I have time, I go out and run; that’s it. I have also spent a great deal of time trying to decide what I want to do next running wise. I know I have touched on this in previous posts but it has been hitting me really hard lately. My basic three options came down too: 1) train for something on the track in the spring, 2) Try my hand at a spring marathon, or 3) get ready for some ultra trail races. After about three weeks of debating with myself I have chosen option 3.

There is something about ultra trail running that really speaks to me. I like the idea of getting back to basics, just getting out and running. I love the thought of putting in lots of easy miles without pushing the pace. There is also nothing like getting lost on a backwoods trail; the scenery is beautiful and everything is so quite. No more rushing cars, people screaming ridicules things at you and people getting ticked off that their road to McDonald’s breakfast is blocked due to the stupid race you are running in. Don’t get me wrong, I will defiantly still jump in a few road races here and there 5K-Half Marathon but that is not going to be the focus of my training.

So, I am on my way to training for some ultra’s. I have a pair of brand new New Balance 100’s on the way as well as a nice running pack so that I can start running to and from work to add up the weekly mileage so as to get my legs use to going for long periods of time. I have also been reading anything I can get my hands on about the sport and would love to hear from anyone out there that has some good advice to offer. I am also interested to see how long it takes Erin to get that extreme competitiveness she has going and want to run some ultras as well. As of now, she still thinks they are crazy but I don’t see that lasting to long.

I think that pretty much sums it up. I will probably have a lot to blog about with my new endeavor in life and I am sure there will be plenty of interesting storys to tell. If I don’t get a chance to post before Thanksgiving, happy holidays to everyone and get out there and do a Turkey Trot!

Race Week

This week began my official taper week for the half marathon. It started out on Sunday by doing an easy 11 miles with Erin and Ellie on the trail in Star City heading north towards Point Marion. It was a nice day and the trees were beautiful. Unfortunately, I felt horrible the entire way and could not wait to finish. This is not the way I prefer to feel the week before the race that I have been training for the last four months. I decided to take the following two days off (Monday and Tuesday) and get rested up as well as try to take in some more calories to refuel. I came back on Wednesday for an easy 6 miles and felt awesome. It took everything I had to hold myself back and not push the pace too hard. I then ran 4 on Thursday and 2 miles today. It felt like I had just left for my run when I was already getting back home. I will be taking tomorrow off before the race. Hopefully all of this will work and I will feel refreshed and ready to go on Sunday.

My goal for the race is to finish around 1:22. I think that I can probably run around a 1:20 but after my horrible half marathon in the spring I have decided to take a more conservative approach. I am planning on going out somewhere between 6:15 and 6:20 pace. This will probably be the most difficult part for me because I am horrible at pacing myself in the first few miles of longer races. After that I have no real major race plans. If I feel good and think I can go, I will try to slowly pick up the pace throughout the rest of the race. If not I can hold steady and still finish around my goal time. I will see how I feel on race day.

Here is the list of my major concerns right now (in no particular order):

1. What racing flats to wear: Adidas Adios or Nike LunaRacer? I am going to take both with me and decided in the morning.
2. Weather: The weather report for Sunday has changed just about every day that I check. Right now it is saying partly cloudy with a high of 50 and a low of 37. Arm warmers or no arm warmers? Gloves or no gloves? What shorts to wear? Again, I will probably bring everything with me and decided in the morning.
3. Dinner the night before: What will sit well with me and leave me fueled for the morning? This can be difficult in a strange city.
4. Wait time: The location of the start line is difficult to get to once they have closed the streets. They are recommending being at the line and hour before the race. This is a long time for me. What am I going to do? What if it is cold?
5. Am I going to have another bad race? I hope not!

Yes, I know I am crazy. This is nothing out of the ordinary for me. I get like this before almost all of my races. I think that Erin is probably about ready to kill me right now because I go over this list with her just about every second of the day. I also try on both pairs of shoes every night in my attempt to decide what to wear, and I am still undecided. Anyway, good luck to everyone else out there that is running this weekend. I will try to have a full recap after the race.

10 Days and Counting

Well, we are down to the final 10 days until the big half marathon. It has been a tough week of training but these will be the last few hard workouts I put in until after my little time off after the race. Erin and I started out the weekend with 6:30 AM trip to Wheeling on Saturday to run the Auggie’s 5k. The race went well and I was able to finish 1st in a time of 17:09. I felt very strong throughout which gave me a huge boost in confidence for my half marathon goals (even though I really wanted to get under 17:00 minutes again). It was a fun time overall. Erin finished 2nd overall for the women (running another PR) and we got to get in some good advertising for the shop. I also got to see my old coach (finishing 5th overall in a time of 18:27 at an age of 51!) and catch up on running store stuff. If you are ever over near wheeling be sure to stop in his shop, The Runners Connection, in Bellaire, OH and check it out. After everything finished up there we headed back to Motown and finished up the day working at the shop.

The next day was my long run day. I headed out the door by myself (Ellie wanted to run with just Mommy) without a real course in mind. I thought I would just explore the Morgantown neighbor hoods. My legs were really stiff from the race the day before but I started to loosen up a bit after about mile 5. The run ended up being a little hillier than I would have liked but I was able to get in a good 16 miles the day after a hard effort race; so I was happy. After Erin and I grad some lunch we headed out to the pumpkin patch for some Ellie fun. She had a blast even though the place was an entire muddy mess from the previous week’s worth of rain. A good time was had by all!

I had my final workout yesterday, 6 Arboretum hill repeats followed by 15 minutes of 60/30’s. It is a good strength workout followed by speed to get the legs turning over again after the slow uphills. I am feeling it today to say the least. I am really looking forward to my taper week next week. My body is getting worn down and having trouble dragging myself out bed for runs in the morning.

I will try to give an update next week before the race and then hopefully a full recap after. Have a great week!

Kevin

Nervous

I have been a little worried here lately because I was just not getting excited about the upcoming half-marathon Erin and I are doing. Well, that has all changed in the last few days! I am getting really nervous about the race and it is all that I think about most of the time. I just keep running through the race in my head over and over again.

I was hoping to get an idea of what kind of shape I was in at the 10k I did last weekend. Erin had decided to do the 5k instead and left me to push Ellie in the 10k; not the most ideal racing conditions. Erin finished first in the women's 5k race and I finished 3rd in the 10k. I ended up running 39 min. and some change but that was after stopping to buckle Ellie back in the stroller at one point and stopping two other times to pick up her Dora the Explorer book off of the ground. There was also a nasty head wind on the way back and anyone who runs with a jogging stroller knows how hard it is to push those things into the wind. They essentially act like a big parachute. So in the end, I still really had know idea what kind of shape I was in.

This past Saturday on an 8 mile run I decided to time some of my mile splits. I usually don't time my self and just go for mileage and base my effort on how I feel that day. It was a normal day so I felt my splits would accurately represent what my normal training pace was. I hit the split between mile 3 and 4 in 6:45 and then between mile 5 and 6 in 6:42. I defiantly tried not to pick up the pace because I knew I was timing myself so I felt those accurately represented my normal run days. I was happy with those times considering that I had just done 10 hill repeats up the Arboretum main trail just a couple days before. I was so happy in fact that I decided to tempo the last two miles home which I really regretted the next day when I had to do my long run of 16 miles!

I know this is a boring post to most people but it is just an update of my training for the Spirit of Pittsburgh Half Marathon. I think I am probably going to do the Auggie's 5k this weekend to see what I can run a 5k in right now. I will give an update as to how that goes.

Enjoy this beautiful fall season!

Kevin