My Current Training Plan

  This is an outline of my training schedule for the near future.  Basically until I get really fit or come up with a goal race.  This is a base phase or general fitness schedule.  This is not targeting racing well.  It is targeting improving my overall fitness.  It isn't too different from good half marathon specific training but I'm not doing it with a specific half marathon race in mind though I will likely run the New Bedford Half Marathon in March as well as the Jones 10 mile in February and a 15k in early April.

  This schedule is designed around four main goals.  In no order to return general aerobic fitness, to improve lactic threshold, to improve muscular power and efficiency, and to touch on every major training speed and effort in each two week cycle.  The workouts I selected were selected based on two main criteria.  First did they accomplish the training goal and second they had to work with the training resources and limitations I have currently.  Ie, I need to be able to do them without a track, in a New England winter, and in the dark as 11 out of 13 of my runs each week from early November until March are generally run in the dark.

  I like repeating a similar or even identical micro cycle a few times through a phase of training.  Partially because I can gauge how my body is progressing but also I'm just a very habital person who if I didn't give a damn about performance would probably do the same double every day over the same routes at the same effort. I like what I'm doing to be a bit mindless so I can focus entirely on doing it well.  Or at least that is the excuse I give myself.  

  Without further B.S. here is the schedule

For both week one and two I do an easy morning run, almost always 4 miles because of time constraints, Monday through Saturday.  On Saturday the run maybe done as the afternoon session and it maybe longer.

Week 1

Monday in the afternoon I'll do 10 miles at a steady effort- generally between 6:00 and 7:00 per mile, depending on conditions and how I'm feeling.  This is a fairly hilly run as there are a lot of hills around here.  After the run I'll do either Squats, dead lifts or box jumps.  The run is for recovery and general aerobic fitness, the exercises are for range of motion in my hips, power in my ankles and glutes and to increase strength as a means of increasing efficiency.

Tuesday in the afternoon I'll do a Mona Fartlek (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/monaghetti-fartlek.html) This is most importantly a bounce threshold or alternation session.  I would actually prefer to do Aussie quarters, (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2014/12/workout-wednesday-australian-quarters.html) right now to be able to focus on specific paces but with no indoor track option that isn't happening.  The secondary focus of this session is to touch on a bunch of quicker paces 5k down to perhaps mile.   After this session I'll do either squats, deadlifts, or box jumps.

Wednesday in the afternoon I'll do a medium long run.  Right now that is only 12 miles I'll build it up to 16, I should go up to 18 but frankly 18 miles after work in the dark is a tall order particularly when sandwiched between two workout days. Physiologically this workout is for basic aerobic fitness and there is a time on the feet efficiency training effect for the leg muscles but for me it is much more plainly about building up my ability to run longer without coordination problems.  Finally you guessed it I plan on doing either squats, deadlifts or box jumps after the run.

Thursday in the afternoon, short hill sprints- max effort very short, 10 seconds give or take. I'd prefer to keep with the 100's and the like but without a track that isn't an option and I don't have much for flat areas with good footing so short hills it is.  To be honest as a general rule I like short hills better anyway but right now I want to focus on my form on the flat so I'm sorry to lose that.  These are obviously a muscular exercise though they do also help increase the stroke volume of the heart.  I will start the winter only doing about 10 of these but I'll increase that by 2 or 3 sprints each time.  In the past I have done 30 or more sprints though I doubt I'll get to that many.  It will be key for me to keep good form on these which is a struggle for me on hills but I have been improving so hopefully it will be good practice. squats, deadlifts or box jumps after

Friday 10 miles, same as Monday.

Saturday 4x2 miles at Half marathon pace. with 3min recoveries with drills.  This is for lactate threshold and muscular endurance at speed.  The drills help with the latter and with improving form.

Sunday Long run- I'm around 13/14 miles now will try to push out to 20 to 22.  Long run is for basic aerobic fitness, efficiency and muscular endurance. I may do squats, deadlifts or box jumps after this.

Week 2

Monday same as last week

Tuesday 3 mile tempo, half marathon to marathon pace, 10x30 second hill repeats at a good effort, but not max, focus on form putting weight of stride on glutes and quads. Try not to hunch at shoulders. This is for lactate threshold and muscular power and efficiency.

Wednesday same as last week

Thursday 6 x mile at 10k pace with 2 to 3 mins recovery with drills- bit of threshold, lot of muscular efficiency and muscular endurance.

Friday same as last week

Saturday 20 to 30 x 20 second sprints fartlek style, meaning I'll just put them in on a run where the footing looks good. Full recovery.  This is for muscular efficiency and endurance.  Though it is also good for stroke volume but not as good as the hills.

Sunday fundamental tempo run in the 5:25 to 5:50 per mile range over rolling hills.  Hopefully as the coordination improves I'll be able to increase the volume on these.  This is my single favorite type of workout.  I have since beginning the form work I have been able to to up to 22 miles like this but only on soft surfaces.  So on the road I've been stuck in the 12 to 15 mile range on a good day.  I'm going to start in the 9 mile range and try to build up.  I may play with stopping for drills and continuing on in an attempt to 'teach' the body to hold the form that doesn't lead to coordination issues.  This is for aerobic fitness.  Sessions like this can lead to huge jumps in general aerobic fitness as well as your threshold.  I actually don't know exactly why perhaps it is simply that it is an under trained area or it is that threshold is impacted well by not going over it but by testing it from below.  I can tell you that these workouts changed my life as such for me I simply believe in them as an article of faith.  Also as I mentioned I love doing them.  Running for a long time at a quick pace is to me the single most enjoyable training experience.

Odds and Ends

 In weeks that I race I'll just drop the hard effort from the weekend.  If I race on a Sunday I'll skip the long run as well.  I'm planning a few races over the winter.  A 5k on the 1st.  A 5 mile, a 10 mile and a track 5k in February and a half marathon in March.  Hopefully by that point the winter is coming to an end and I'm getting fit and I'll be able to move onto a new training program with more specific goals. 

2016 in review and Goals for 2017

  2016 in Review

 Well that sucked...  For me, and it seems a lot of people 2016 was a year I would prefer to not remember for very long.  In terms of running and life. I lost my brother and my relationship with my father which has never been all that hot pretty much seems to have ended. I missed most of the years training and racing.  I had some of the slowest annual best I have had since college.  I also ran the slowest 5k I have run since my senior year in high school. I missed the most training I have since my 'injury period' during college when I couldn't seem to run around the block without getting a new injury. 

  All that said I feel optimistic about the future. I am finally back training.  I have rehab my body to the point that I can do things I can't remember ever being able to do before which has me running quickly with a level of relaxation I've never had before.  Now 6 months off from running means my fitness is so poor that even feeling smooth I have no real racing ability. 

  In terms of accomplishing my goals for last year, be they process or outcome for the most part they were failures.  That said the two goals I did accomplish were to run a sub 15 5k race, my 14th straight year with at least one of those, and a sub 25 5mile or 8k race, my 13th straight year.  I do feel like I dodged a bullet getting those two out of the way before my troubles killed the year.

2017 Goals

  Goal 1 as it is every year is finally put the coordination troubles to bed and return to a competitive marathon.  I don't see this happening in the first half of the year but I do see reason for hope that it could happen and I believe I'm on a path that could finally get me running with no problems.

  Second I want to stay focused on really training in a balanced way and not fall into just running.  

  Third  I want to keep up my yoga and other cross training.  These are very hard to fit into my day to day life but I think they are the key to running well as I get older and to fixing the coordination. 

  For outcome goals I want to keep my sub 15 and sub 25 streaks going.  I'm going to race a flat road 5k on the first in hopes of checking that one off the list right away.  It is a pretty tall order given my fitness but I'm fit enough to take a shot at it.   

  Beyond those two goals I want to return to sub 14:20 5k shape, sub 30 road 10k race and sub 1:05 half marathon racing. If I knock off one of each of those I will be super happy.

  I want to return to the Cow Harbor 10k and to the top 10 there. 

  I also have some life goals I would like to check off the list.   Win a big check, you know the photo op kind, I don't care about the amount.  Go 1,2 at a race with Melissa. Win a unique and cool prize. 

Training Blog December 19 to 25, 2016

Monday AM road 4 with Melissa and Uta, 32:41 tot. 4
               PM Massage with Anna-

I'm pretty sure Anna approached massage like this overhead lift and is intent on causing maximum pain.

Tuesday AM 4 miles with Melissa and Uta, 32:14 tot. 4
               PM 3.1 miles warm up with Uta, 1/4 mile jog to start after dropping her off, drills, strides, Monaghetti Fartlek, covered 3.85 miles in the 20 minutes. 5:11 pace. Pretty nice to run the same pace as last time but to go for twice the time. 3.2 cool down, squats after 6x6 starting at 75lbs up to 125lbs.

Mona rates this mona a "toughen up buttercup" --- sure it is a step in the right direction but there are no participation awards around here.

Wednesday AM 4 miles road with Uta, 29:09 tot. 4

                    PM Raleigh Tavern 10, 1:07:04, deadlifts after 6x6 starting at 115lbs up to 155lbs tot. 10.1

Thursday AM 4 miles road with Uta, 29:31, light snow tot. 4

                 PM 4 miles and box jumps, supposed to do hill reps but I was foiled by ice, crazy icy and no salt or sand on the roads, 3x10 at 20in, 24in, 30in on the box jumps tot. 4

Friday AM 4 miles with Uta, not as icy, they had salted, but corners were still touch and go tot. 4

            PM Raleigh Tavern 10 mile, 1:07:47, normal Friday night exhaustion, tot. 10.1

Saturday AM cold hard rain, 3.1 mile warm up with Uta, drop her off, change to dry top, 1.2 miles out to course, 4x2 miles on lightly rolling road loop, at tempo effort.  I figured with the tougher course, compared to the rail trail, that I would be hard pressed to run much under 5:20 pace but was pleasantly surprised.  So I did 4 drills, then 2 miles-10:26(5:14/5:11), 2:59 recovery with 4 new drills, 2 miles- 10:18 (5:06/5:11), 3:00 recovery with 4 new drills, 2 miles- 10:16(5:05/5:10), 3:02 recovery with 3 new drills, 2 miles- 10:10(5:03/5:06)  As you can tell from the splits the 2nd mile was a bit tougher, sort of a lolly pop loop and the biggest hill is in the first 600m and last 600m.  I think it is fairly equal both ways but there is a difference between doing it on fresh legs at the start and in the last 1/3rd of the rep. 1.2 cool down 7:58 

PM Christmas Eve festivities

Sunday AM 13 miles on road, bit icy, but the sun was shining and it was a glorious morning, 1:22:19 tot. 13

Summary 82 miles for the week, two good workouts. Fighting the weather a bit but I'm very happy with this week.   Keeping my head up and moving forward. 

Training December 12 to 18, 2016

Monday- We landed at Manchester a bit after 4AM after a long string of delays.  Then we had a nice drive home in the snow.  I got to bed at 5:20am and the alarm went off at 6AM and it was off to work.  As such I didn't run.

Tuesday AM I actually did try to get up and run but couldn't do it.
                PM about 4 miles warm up, because I took Uta for a bit over 3 then dropped her at the house, then jogged to start and did drills and strides, 3 mile tempo on winter street in 15:07, (5:04, 10:07) then 10x30 second hills, focus on form so they were only like 90% efforts.  I was shocked that this went that well. 3+ cool down  tot. 12+

Wednesday AM 4 miles road with Uta, 30:13 tot. 4
                     PM road 10.2 with Uta, in 1:05:40, did 6x6 dead lifts starting at 95 up to 145lbs tot. 10.2

Thursday AM 4 miles road with Uta, 30:24 tot. 4
                  PM  ran from School because I had parent conferences so we had a break between the afternoon and evening sessions to go eat.  I used it to workout.  I did 3+ warm up, drills, strides, and a 400m on the track, which was snow covered and turned out to be quite icy in 82 seconds.  I decided that wasn't going to work.  I found a turf soccer field that was basically clear so I did 6x5mins with 3mins recovery with drills during the breaks I ended up covering more than a mile on each rep which was surprising considering how cold/windy it was and how many layers I was wearing. only a mile cool down tot. 11.5

Friday AM road 4 solo, very cold, windchill was -16 and Uta wanted no part of it, 28:31 tot. 4
             PM road 10.2 with Uta, cold 12 degrees, very tired, 1:07:31 tot. 10.2

Saturday body finally broke down a bit from the lack of sleep, I slept 14 hours and had a bit of stomach bug. took the day mostly off except for 2 hours of shoveling.

Sunday AM 11+ easy, first 7 with Uta and Melissa, hips were sore from shoveling, 1:21:35 tot. 11.2
              PM Bikram yoga, 90mins

Summary 67 miles, two very good workouts.  All things considered I couldn't be much happier with this week.  So I didn't do a mona fartlek so no mona rating picks instead I'll just give you a series of cute Uta photos….

Uta wanting to eat a nearby chipmunk

Uta texting

Uta and her buddy polar bear

Uta drinks a hard cider at the end of a long day of being awesome

Weekly Training Blog December

 Alligator from an awesome boat tour in Wakulla State Park during which we saw a bunch of these guys and a few Manatees.

 Monday AM 4 miles with Uta, 30:15, tot. 4
                3:30PM cross training and massage with Anna, mostly did handstands and variations of jerks
                6:30PM raliegh tavern 10 mile, total ice skating shit show, 1:10:38, dead lifts after 6x6 start at 95lbs up to 155lbs tot. 10.2

Tuesday AM out and back on Dale with Uta and Melissa, 33:45, it was icy again but not nearly as bad as last night but Melissa HATES ice so we went pretty slow tot. 4
                PM 3+ warm up, drills, strides, half Mona fartlek on Glendale loop, not as icy as last few runs but there were a couple spots, averaged 5:12 pace for the 10mins and felt much better. 3+ cool down

I thought this would get a Steve Moneghetti "Atta Boy" rating but…

Instead I actually got a "what the hell are you talking about?" because it is only the 2nd Mona of the cycle and it was still only a half mona.

Wednesday AM road 4 with Uta in mix of snow, freezing rain and rain. 30:37 tot. 4

                     PM raliegh tavern 10 mile, 1:08:38, box jumps after 3x10 at 20in, 24in, 30in tot. 10.2

Thursday AM road 4 with Melissa and Uta, 31:57

                  PM off I had a very long day at work, it was getting late and I knew I had to be up at 2:30am the next morning for our flight so I had dinner and went to bed.

Friday AM off for travel to Tallahassee 

            PM 41mins of jogging around the course and drills, tot. 5++

Saturday AM 10min warm up with Melissa before her race.  Then 18min warm up after she started the race, drills, 4min jog to start, wait in check in line then forced in 5 strides in the 5mins before the start.  Race USATF club xc championships.  I finished 119th and ran 32:10.  Splits 5:02, 10:11, 15:15, 20:43(long), 25:36(short), 30:55.   I finished about 15 seconds and 17 places in Front of John Schilkowsky who beat me by about 15 or 20 seconds last weekend so I felt good about that.  I followed my race plan pretty much perfectly and I competed well over the last couple miles.  I'm super unfit so this was about as good as I could hope for.  In 2005 I was really fit and ran club cross but raced like an idiot and though I had a shot at the top 10 I ended up 85th or so.  The field is much deeper now and I got 119th in awful shape so I feel pretty good about how I approached things.

  Now the story….  So let me be clear.  I started it.  I was moving up through the field and after 2 miles I was cutting across on the tangent and I cut a guy off.  Not on purpose but I was cutting across the field and there was contact and we both got a good stumble in.  A few seconds later the other guy rushes up next to me and gives me a good elbow. Ok fair enough.  Then he keeps leaning into me and elbow pushing me over to the edge of the course, which at this spot was some heavy bushes.  I probably should have said something but I didn't.  I have a temper when I race, and yes I know I was in the middle of the pack with no shot at doing anything but that doesn't have any impact on my competitiveness.  Anyway I sort of used my right arm and threw the guy to the ground.  That wasn't really my intent.  I just wanted to give him a good enough jolt that he would cut the shit and we'd move on but down he went.  Now his teammates around him were none too happy, for obvious reasons and were shouting and stuff.  I was moving faster so I was out of range fairly quickly but when someone tells you I'm an a-hole, keep in mind sometimes I'm an a-hole.   I actually sort of figured I'd be dq'd but either they never ended up complaining to the officials or the officials were like Umm you all finished a 100 and what? and blew them off.

Sunday AM 14 miles solo out and back on St. Marks rail trail, 1:30:22. Awesome place to run would love to do tempo's on this.  We do have the Chelmsford rail trail now which is very similar, though has more road crossings and obviously living up here it is out of commission for fast running for the next 4 or 5 months. tot. 14

Summary 75 miles, one decent workout, one decent race. I'm happy with this.  The race is poorly placed in the overall scheme of things, So I end up not increasing to the 90's this week and with a travel nightmare that ended up in Melissa and I getting back to our house Monday morning at 5:20AM and me at work at 7:20AM after that I didn't run yesterday or this morning so this week will not be an increase week either.

  That said it was a nice trip and I was very happy with the race for the shape I am in.  I executed my race plan perfectly.  I really would have loved to be sub 32 and top 100 but honestly I thought those goals going in were wildly unrealistic so to come as close as I did I'm very happy.

  Generally speaking I am feeling strong and moving freely.  I am still having coordination issues but I could see those being wiped out in the coming year if I continue to make the muscular progress I have been making.  Additionally I feel that the improved muscular power, and more importantly range of motion, have made me MUCH more efficient at speed and so I am noticing very fast improvement with little work and I think I could end up running quite well in the coming months with some good training.

  That said I have some concerns about moving training forward in the winter. I have to lay out a training schedule that will be balanced and effective but can be accomplished without access to a track or much in the way of extended flat ground.  Where footing will be to varying degrees a problem on nearly every run.  That will work with 10 out of 13 runs being completed in darkness each week.  All of these issues can be overcome but it means that planning becomes very important.  I have my schedule to a point that I'm pretty happy with it and I should have it pretty well squared away by the end of this week.  There are some small things about running in the dark and on the ice that annoy the hell out of me that I'll simply need to such it up and deal with but other than that the biggest hurdles were making a plan that would accomplish my goals within the constraints of a New England winter, my schedule, and my current training resources.


Lastly, and I think this is pretty obvious, Mona is not judging my workouts, I don't know him, He certainly doesn't know me.  I'm just a fan, of him and his fartlek.  I don't own the pics.  I just stole them offline.  I don't have ads on the blog.  I don't make any money for this as such I don't feel guilty doing that.  If you own one of the pictures and don't want me to use it just post a comment or message me.  If you are Steve Moneghetti, first thank you for checking out my blog!  I'm honored!  Loved your book by the way.  Second I'm guessing you know it is all in good fun but if for whatever reason you don't want me to continue just message me or comment.  Getting a cease and desist note from one of my running hero's will rate right up there with my other odd life accomplishments like taking an ice bath with Teg and Solinsky and Frank Shorter saying "Hi, Nate." to me.

Weekly Training November 28 to December 4, 2016 Almost real training...

Monday AM road 4 mile with Uta, 30:07 tot. 4
               PM 8.3 miles, roads in 56:32. This was in a cold rain, of course it was dark as well. This was
                      one of those runs where you are kinda certain someone is going to run you over tot. 8.3

This is the start of my race Saturday.  If my form looked that good all the time I'd be a happy man. The gentleman on my left shoulder is the eventual winner John Schilkowsky.

Tuesday AM 4 miles in cold rain with Melissa and Uta on roads, 31:26 tot. 4
                PM 45 degrees and pouring cold rain.  I did a 3.1 mile warm up with Uta then toweled her
                       off before heading out again- this time spent socked to the bone not moving much was
                       not helpful to the warm up process.  I jogged a quarter mile from the house to my fartlek
                       loop, did drills- a skip, b skip , a+c skip, hops, both types of side skips fast exchange
                      with hold.  Then some strides.  Then did a half a Moneghetti Fartlek, 10mins- 1x90,
                      2x60, 2x30, 2x15 with equal rest.  I covered 1.87 miles in the 10mins that is 5:20 pace.
                      Interestingly in the 90 second rep I was in the range of how far I would go when running
                      Full Mona's that cover 4 miles.  Just keep in mind when I do that the recovery pace has to
                      be in the 5:20 per mile range and today I was averaging that pace overall. It was good to
                      get in a fartlek but humbling to see how far from full fitness I still am.  2.4 mile cool
                      down in 17:39. tot. 8.3 miles

Even though it was nice to get back to doing one of my favorite workouts if I'm going to be honest this half Moneghetti would definitely have to rate a Steve Moneghetti is not impressed. 

Wednesday AM 4 miles with Uta on the roads, not really raining just really foggy.  No time as I forgot

                            to stop the watch tot. 4

                    PM Road 8 miles solo in cold hard rain, 53:21, not an enjoyable run tot. 8

Thursday AM 4 miles with Uta in, you guessed it, a cold rain. tot. 4

                  PM at North Andover track, 2 miles warm up, 15:17, full drills. 15x200m with 2mins rest-

                         jogged 200m on most of the recoveries.  I did the first 4 with some of the 400/800 girls

                         from Merrimack College who were working out and on those ones I walked across the

                         infield with them on the recoveries. I averaged 31.74 for the 200's. Felt pretty easy

                         overall.  I wanted to do this 'on' 2mins not with 2mins rest but I took the chance to run

                         with some people at the start over my original plan as extra rest is not a problem on this

                         session because it is all about the muscular development, 3+ mile cool down 20mins 

                         tot. 8.6 miles

Friday AM 4.1 miles roads with Melissa and Uta in 31:26.  Holy crap it wasn't raining at all.  I mean it

                    was still dark and cold because well all my weekday runs in the winter are in the dark and

                    cold but no rain! tot. 4.1

             PM 8.2 miles on roads with Uta who wanted to hammer, particularly after we ran into and then

                    for a short stretch sort of with a group of deer. time-52:45 tot. 8.2 miles

Saturday 1pm 3+ miles warm up, bunch of drills, bunch of strides, Race Frozen Frolic 3.4 mile in Wakefield MA. finished 2nd behind John Schilkowsky who has run 4:02 and 8:06 in the past but I have no idea what kind of shape he is in now. I lead to about 2.8 miles or so and then he went by me and really buried me from there to the finish.  The course is very flat but it was super windy.  From about 600m to 2 miles most of the course was into a VERY strong head wind.  From 2 miles to the finish you had mostly a very nice tailwind.  Splits 1-5:03.02, 2-10:04.28 (5:01.26), 3- 14:57.35 (4:53.09), 1:53 for the last .4 (4:50 mile pace).  The good news was that I ran this course 2 years ago and ran 16:53.  That was a bad day at the time but to be back to a place where I am running faster on a good day than I was in the past on a bad day is a big step forward.  Back into the ballpark of my normal racing.  So I'm really happy with the run. I was also really happy that I was able to race hard been locked in a sort of 90% effort the last few races so it was nice to start to get tough again.  Did about 3 miles cool down mostly with two UML runners who did a tempo in the race.  tot. 10.4 miles 

This is me at the finish. Form isn't that bad.  Little forward lean at the waist, some collapsing in the hips but not awful. 

Sunday AM 14.1 miles on roads, 1:30:56, sadly this kinda felt like a long run, but hey its been a while so I'll take it.  I did hops, knees to chest jumps, box jumps 10x20in, 10x24in, 10x30in and squats, 6x6 starting at 65lbs and going up to 115lbs after the run. tot. 14.1 miles

Video of me doing the last set of box jumps

PM bikram yoga


Summary ~86 miles for the week, two workouts, one race.  Like I said that is almost real training.  The miles were a nice step up.  The workouts obviously pretty light but they were fine for where I'm at and the race was certainly a step forward and honestly better than I had hoped for.  My goal was to run 5:00  pace, which would have been 17:00 but with the wind I really thought there was no way that was going to happen so I was very happy to actually be under that.  Slowly, ever so slowly, I'm working my way back.  Unfortunately for the next 3 to 5 months the weather and darkness are going to make things harder so this is a rough time to be just getting my wheels under me but sometimes that is just how it goes. Hope your running is going well.

Weekly Training Blog November 21 to 27, 2016

Monday AM road 4 with Uta in 30:05 tot. 4
               3:30PM dead lifts, handstands and massage with Anna
              6 PM 5.8 with Uta extended Bear hill loop, 37:17 tot. 5.8

Tuesday AM road 4 with Melissa and Uta in 30:55 tot. 4
               PM 10k version of bear hill loop with last 3 miles progressively faster, 5:28, 5:27, 5:21
                      actually more progressive than it looks as each of those miles was a bit tougher terrain
                      than the one before it. squats after tot. 6.25

Wednesday AM road 4 mile in cold rain with Uta, no time I forgot the watch. tot. 4
                     PM coventry 10k loop solo, 41:07, first run of the week in the daylight, thank you half
                           day!! tot. 6.25

Thursday AM road and trail 10+ with Uta, 66:11, box jumps after tot. 10
                   Spent the rest of the day cooking and eating.

Friday AM coventry 10k solo, 40:25, cold rain, dead lifts after tot. 6.25
            PM road 4 with Uta, 28:29, I felt good, Uta did not want to go any faster than that. tot. 4

Saturday AM raced European style( there were hay bails, and it was multiple loops of the same
                        course) xc race in Woburn, listed as 4k, Chris Mahoney's garmin had it at 2.83, I won in 14:37,
                        ok effort but not great. I'll take it, total of 10 miles with drills if you include warm up and
                        cool down etc.. tot. 10
                 PM road 4 with Uta, she needed her run and I wanted to flush the legs a bit, 29:36, tot. 4

Sunday AM road 12.1, first 5.2 with Melissa in 37:40, then solo, 1:22:55, did squats after tot. 12.1
              PM 90 mins bikram yoga

This is my form looking decent at the start of the race.

Summary ~76 miles for the week, two good efforts.  Downside was I didn't get in the extensive muscular session, though I got in more intensive muscular work than usual so not all bad.  A good step towards regular running, which I generally view as 90 to 110 miles a week around work but more honestly anything over 80 is fine.  So hopefully this week I step up to that.

  I need to come up with a winter workout plan.  I know the types of workouts my body needs but I need to figure out workouts and locations for those workouts that will work with the weather and footing that is soon to be arriving.  I don't have an indoor track at my disposal unless I want to spend some very late nights going into Boston and with 4:40am wake up calls that is a fools errand.  I have been loving the flat rail trail for tempo stuff and I will continue to use it until snow and ice forces me off it.  Anyway that will be my focus mentally this week.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to do two week micro cycles. I know some of the workouts I want to do.  I know all of the types of workouts I need to do.  I want to find a flat, low traffic mile stretch of road, if it could be within 3 miles of my house I would die of joy but so far that isn't presenting itself.  I'd also like to find a flat loop or longer straight stretch for tempo work but so far I'm struggling there as well but I may find something by driving to it on that one.  I need to figure out how I'm going to attack the muscular side of things.  In the past I have done hills but my core isn't strong enough yet to hold form consistently on hills so that would be counter productive, but sprinting in 12 degree weather on icy roads isn't exactly ideal either.   Anyway at least I'm confident I'll be doing some real training, now I just have to sort the details.   Hope your running is going well.

Training Blog November 14 to 20, 2016

Monday AM bear hill 5.1 with Melissa and Uta in 39:18, nice views of the super moon tot. 5.1
               PM Out and back on dale with Uta, 27:48 tot. 4
               late PM bikram yoga, knee/ITB didn't feel good so I forced myself to find time for this.

Tuesday AM out and back on dale with Uta, 31:01 tot. 4
                PM 4 miles around Neighborhood with Uta and Melissa in a cold rain tot. 4

Wednesday AM out and back on dale with Uta, 29:19 tot. 4
                     PM at north andover track in dark, pretty late day, maybe 7PM?, 2 mile warm up, 7 mins
                            of drills, 400m at tempo effort in 75.3, 200 jog recovery then 20x150M on 90
                            seconds, average of 23.7, 1 mile cool down tot. ~6

Thursday off stomach bug

Friday AM out and back on dale with Uta and Melissa, 30:14 tot. 4
            PM bear hill 5.1 with Uta, squats after, 34:31 tot. 5.1

Saturday AM at chelmsford rail trail, 2.5 warm up, most with Melissa and Anna, stop for walking
                        drills, 4 drills, then 3 miles in 15:43.13 (5:16/5:13/5:12), 4 drills (4:04), 2 miles in
                       10:19.77 (5:09/5:09), 4 drills (3:21), 1 mile 5:00.3. 2.5 cool down 16:29, good control.
                 late AM after workout went over to Anna's gym and did about 90mins of light cross training
                 PM graston and accupuncture

Sunday AM 90mins bikram yoga
              PM 8.2 miles in 55:19 tot. 8.2

Summary 55 miles or so. 2 workouts.  Ok week but really need to get stepping it up from this. Gonna race a bit over the next few weeks, mostly for fun.

This is Uta looking normal, she was very hurt that I posted a pic of her looking all swollen when she is really so good looking…. Ok really I just didn't have a timely pick for this week and who doesn't love cute dog pics.

Training Blog November 7 to 13, 2016 Getting Back On Track

 Monday AM 4 miles with Uta, 28:41
                PM Anna for massage, box jumps and squats, generally when I squat I'm doing very light
                       weight but Anna wanted me to get in the range of a full squat PB so we could use it to
                       set my regular weight at proper percentages.  I ended up at 175 which is basically my
                       bodywieght.  Anna seemed sure I could do more but we were out of time and frankly I
                       couldn't do much more.

Tuesday AM no run late night at Vet last night, Uta had an allergic reaction to something,

               PM this run was actually really late because I had my annual physical after work, 4 miles solo

                       in 25:51, box jumps after, 10x20in, 10x24in, 6 x 30in tot. 4

Wednesday AM 4 miles solo on roads, Uta has the next few days off while she is doped up on

                             benadryl, 27:23 tot. 4

                     PM 4 miles in 25:57, box jumps after 10x20in, 10x 24in, 10x30in, tot. 4

Thursday AM 4 miles in 26:56, tot. 4
                  PM 2+ warm up, 15:08, basic drills- a skip, b skip, a+c skip, backwards skip, side skips,
                         side cross over skips, ankle dribbles, 400m at tempo effort-79.3, 30x100m on the
                         minute- i.e. the next rep starts exactly 1minute after the last rep started, slowest was
                         16.4 it was the first rep, fastest was 15.4 it was the last rep, I averaged just under 16 for
                         the full thing, just about a half mile cool down tot. 5+

Friday AM 4.1 miles with Uta, in 25:11. This was at about 10:30am because I had the day off and did
                    blood work for my annual physical in the morning tot. 4.1
            PM road 4.3 miles first 3.1 with Melissa and Uta, in 30:48 tot. 4.3


Saturday AM 6 miles give or take around Phillips Academy while Melissa did a workout, did the first
                        14mins with Melissa and Uta, rest solo, 41:17 tot. 6
                 PM porter road 4mile solo 26:51 tot. 4.1


Sunday AM at Chelmsford rail trail, walking drills- a walk, b walk, a+c walk, backwards walk, both sideways walks, 2.6 mile warm up in 18:23, drills- a skip, b skip, a+c skip, backwards skip, 2 mile tempo from 6 mile mark to 4 mile mark- light wind at back and I think this direction is slightly down hill though this trail is so flat it is very hard to tell-10:20.88(5:09.33/5:11.57), drills- fast exchange, straight leg skip with left A skip, straight leg skip with right A skip, straight leg skip with alternating A skip, (3:58), 2 mile tempo from 4 mile to 6 mile mark- 10:33.80(5:15.85/5:17.95), drills- side skip, side skip with cross, ankle dribbles, calve dribbles(3:37),  2 mile tempo from 6 mile back to 4 mile- 10:16.66(5:08.14/5:08.52).  0.6 cool down in 4:24.  Depending on if you count drills or the jog backs on drills towards the distance or not something in the 9 to 10 mile range for a total distance.

PM Bikram Yoga for 90mins.  Seemed to help the knee. Felt good overall.

Summary Back moving forward again.  Around 53 miles for the week two workouts that I'm quite happy with. Some tightness behind the left knee which seems to be a reaction to actually toeing off on that side.  Something to watch and work on but not something I'm freaking out about. Pelvis/hip seems much improved. Hopefully stretch the miles to the 60-70 range this week and get a moderate effort in addition to the two main sessions.

Training Blog October 1 to November 6, 2016

Monday off still playing it safe with the soreness in the glute/pelvis area did a lot of stretching and body weight exercises as well as some squats

Tuesday PM 4 miles on roads with Uta, pelvis seemed fine, 26:42, squats after tot. 4

Wednesday AM 4 miles with Uta, 30:12 tot. 4
                     PM treatment, acupuncture and massage

Thursday AM 4 miles with Uta, 29:56 tot. 4
                  PM 4 miles with Uta, 25:56, squats after tot. 4

Friday AM 4 miles with Uta, 28:30, tot. 4
             PM 4 miles with Uta, 24:51, squats after, tot. 4

Saturday AM Bikram yoga 90mins
                 PM 5.1 miles with Uta, 31:16, vermont loop, tot. 5.1

Sunday AM at Franklin Park, Melissa was racing, 3+ easy 22:35, some light drills, first mile of the xc course at tempo effort, 5:07.3 almost exactly what the women's winner ran for her first mile, mile cool down. After that I ran about 2 miles of running around the course while Melissa raced and doing her cool down with her tot. 7

Summary well that was a lost week.  I did the tempo Sunday so I would feel like I had done something other than slog around.  At least the hip/pelvis seems to be ok and I can start getting rolling again next week.  Hopefully do something close to matching last week and then increase from there.  On the plus side my latest round of exercises and drills has finally unlocked my ankles which has massively reduced my daily pain quotient.  My right ankle has been very unpleasant for the last few years with tendonitis I just couldn't seem to shake and it is 99% gone now, which is pretty amazing.  Also on both sides I'm able to to push off my big toe when running and walking which I haven't been able to do in years.  Certainly this is good for my speed and efficiency and hopefully it will be good for my coordination.
  I greatly increase the quantity of my squatting to build the muscle density in my pelvis and improve my rear chain firing pattern.  On Sunday I built a plyo-box so I can do box jumps at home as well for the same reasons and to continue the process of the rebirth of my ankles.  Also after that, maybe not for a couple weeks, I'll need to increase my dead lifts to balance the squats and also help with bone density.   It is crazy given my mileage history that I am doing stuff to dense up my bones most of which would take a truck to break them but I did get a stress fracture and I don't want that to become a regular thing.
  Hope your running is going better than mine.

  Hey if it's good enough for Paula it's good enough for me…

Training October 24 to 30, 2016, two steps forward, two steps back.

Monday AM 4 miles out and back with Uta felt a little quicker but I don't have a time because I
                       couldn't find my watch this morning and didn't have time to look for it. tot. 4
               PM at school, 20:45 warm up, full drills-13mins- 30x100m strides 'on the minute'. Slowest
                      was 16.5, fastest was 15.7 all but the first 2 were under 16.3. 4minute cool down tot. 5+

Tuesday AM 4.1 miles neighborhood loops with Melissa and Uta, 32:29, tot. 4.1
                3PM Drills, box jumps and massage with Anna
                6PM 4 miles out and back with Uta, 25:51 tot. 4

Wednesday AM 4 miles with Uta, 31:33, we were crawling Uta was not happy to leave mom in the
                            nice warm bed. tot. 4
                     PM Coventry 10k solo, 42:14 tot. 6.2

Thursday AM 4.1 miles neighborhood loops with Melissa and Uta, 32:20 tot. 4.1
                  PM 5.5 miles with fast finish, last 2 miles in 10:44, 5:19, 5:25. full thing in 35:46 tot. 5.5

Friday AM 4 miles in cold rain with Uta, 30:22 tot. 4
             PM just over 4 miles with Uta, Melissa with us for first 25minutes then she stopped for drills
                    and 200's tot. 4.1 miles

Saturday AM 3 mile warm up, first mile with Melissa, 22:35, full drills, half a dozen or so strides with
                         two 30 second efforts race great bay 5k, 2nd place 15:23, first place was Neal
                         Darmody, he broke away right off and I went out in 5th.  After about the first 1k which
                         is slightly uphill I moved by the two guys I was following and surged up to Chris
                        Antunes who had a 5 to 10 yard gap.  I got up to him at about the mile, which we
                        passed in 5:01.5, for the next mile Chris did most of the work and I would push the
                        downhills, we passed two miles in 9:55.9(4:54.4), I inched away from Chris in the third
                        mile but didn't close the large gap on Neal at all, 3 miles in 14:51.1(4:55.1).  Obviously
                        this is much better than a three weeks ago.  I got a better effort, it is also a faster course,
                        about 30 to 40 seconds quicker usually compared to Great Island. These are actually the
                        three fastest miles I have run since coming back, though obviously my 100's are at a
                        much faster pace. After we, Melissa and I, had a nice conversation with Neal and his
                        wife Micaela who I knew as a 50lb kid running for the greater lowell youth team back
                        when I was a Greater Lowell guy.  I definitely felt old but they were real nice. 1 mile
                        cool down with Melissa tot. 7+

Sunday XT 90min bikram yoga

Summary The race was a big step forward.  However afterwards I had noticeable discomfort/odd feeling in the area I had the stress fracture.  As such I took Sunday and Monday off.  Feels fine now.  I got some treatment and changed up my exercises a bit.  Hopefully a bump in the road but I'll probably avoid speed work until at least this weekend.  Also with the day off and two days of just 4 so far this week the volume will be lower as well.   I was bitching to Anna about the pain coming back and she basically laughed at me telling me how bad my form still sucks and how I should expect problems. So one step at a time I suppose.

Training October 17 to 23, 2016

Monday AM road 4 miles with Uta in 32:06, tot.4
               PM road 4.1 miles with Uta in 27:46 tot. 4.1

Tuesday AM 4.1 miles in a cold rain with Melissa and Uta, 34:17 tot. 4.1
               PM longer bear hill loop, 5.5 miles, solo in 37:20, with last two miles up tempo, 5:39, 5:38
                      tot. 5.5

Wednesday AM 4 miles with Uta in 31:53 tot. 4
                     PM 4.1 miles with Uta in 27:23 tot. 4.1

Thursday AM 4 miles with Uta in 30:15, tot. 4
                  PM from school, did 24min warm up, full drill set, 15mins, 22x100m 'on the minute',
                         slowest was 16.51, fastest was 15.50 mostly between 15.9 and 16.2, felt very relaxed
                        aerobically but muscles in low legs and hip area a little tired on the last 4, felt smooth
                        and very relaxed, not sprinting.  Which as slow as these are for most decent male
                        runners I often feel like I am SPRINTING to run under 16 flat or faster.  5min cool
                        down tot. 5 miles or so….

Friday AM 4.1 miles with a bathroom stop at 2 miles- in 33:08.  Had a 24 hour stomach bug so this
                    was it for the day tot. 4.1

Saturday AM 4 miles on road with Uta, 27:56.  I had planned some tempo for today but after not
                        eating anything yesterday and losing some decent fluid weight I was feeling pretty weak
                        so an easy jog and my exercises were it for the day. tot. 4

Sunday AM 1:04:00 running easy around Franklin Park before Melissa's race.  Lot of running
                     Celebrity spottings, Anna Willard, who is coaching melissa, Mary Cain, Tim Broe.  Of
                     course Ruben Sanca- Always love seeing that guy. Got to chat with a few other UML
                     types and see the local crowd.  Nice morning.  Part of me was wishing to be racing, but I
                     wanted to be FIT and racing, so the other half of me was VERY happy to be on the
                     sidelines and not trying to do battle in a competitive XC race with my current tools which
                     are pretty dull…. tot. 9??
              PM 90mins bikram yoga

Summary about 56 miles for the week.  Two moderate sessions, one stomach bug and just about the best session of yoga I have ever had.  Ok week.  Hard time with the 4:45 wake ups this week.  Hopefully no hiccups next week and I can get in 3 decent sessions and a few more miles.  Hope your training is going well.

Training October 10 to 16, 2016

Monday AM 4 miles porter road loop, 28:40 tot. 4
                PM 4 miles porter road loop backwards with Uta, 26:41, tot. 4
                XT bikram yoga, 90mins

Tuesday AM 4.1 neighborhood loops with Uta and Melissa, 32:27 tot. 4.1
                PM 4 mile out and back on dale with Uta, 28:16 tot. 4

Wednesday AM out and back on Dale/Coventry with Uta, 30:51, tot. 4
                     PM 25:23 warm up, full drills, 14mins, 16x100m on Methuen track 'on the minute',
                            averaged 16.1 felt good, 5min cool down tot. 5.5 miles


Thursday OFF

Friday PM dale/coventry out and back with Melissa and Uta, 30:57 tot. 4

Saturday AM 50:23 with Uta at Shed park, tot. 7.5

Sunday 1PM On chelmsford rail trail, 1.6 warm up, 12:43, drills, 2 mile tempo 10:37 (5:16.7/5:19.7), 3:50 recovery with more drills, 2 mile tempo 10:17 (5:09.7, 5:07.3), 1.6 cool down in 11:36 tot. 7.2


Summary ~ 44 miles, two workouts, happy with both. Some 'fantom' pain in the stress fracture area that wouldn't worry me at all except I haven't had it before this week.  That is why I took Thursday off. Hopefully I'll keep moving in the right direction this week.  Hope your running is going well.

Training October 3 to 9, 2016

Monday PM ran from school after work, 25min warm up on the roads then a full drills session, about 15mins, then 12x100m 'on the minute' in 16.6, 16.3, 16.6, 15.9, 16.1, 16.0, 16.1, 15.9, 16.1, 15.8, 16.1, 15.8, felt good form wise, felt easy aerobically, muscularly bit tired after. 5min cool down tot. 5.5 miles

Tuesday PM vermont loop 5 mile with Uta, 32:49 tot. 5

Wednesday 3PM massage and drills with Anna
                     5PM 10k coventry loop, 40:51 tot. 6.25

Thursday PM 3+ warm up, then 6x1min fartlek with drills, so I would do 2 drills from my full drill set then a 1min rep on a very flat stretch of road, and repeat.  I measured the stretch I was covering and was happily surprised to see I was running around 66's per 400m pace.  I normally need to be very fit to run that kind of pace for anything over 200m and I'm not at all fit so it made me feel like the form work is paying off at least in a little way, cool down, total 6 miles

Friday PM 10k coventry loop with Uta, 42:29 total 6.25

Saturday mid day 40:13 around Phillips Academy.  first 25 mins with Melissa and Uta.  tot. 5++

Sunday AM a couple miles of warm up broken up a bit, some strides and some race pace efforts of 30 to 45 seconds, a good number of drills but not a full set. Race Great Island 5k, 4th place in 16:11.  This is the first time I have run a 5k over 16mins since the fall of my senior year in high school.  It was a shit race.  I didn't want to get sucked out too fast, which I didn't but then I was too slow at the mile, 5:14- (I was 5:15 at the 10k two weeks ago).  I increased the effort but not enough in the second mile very much running in no mans land.  I ran another 5:14 (10:29), but that mile is a bit slower than the first.  I tried to get after it the last mile but I just really didn't have that much juice and I was also splitting my mental efforts to focus on trying to have good form. 5:09 (15:38) for the third mile.
  Honestly I probably shouldn't have been racing.  I signed up for the races I'm in this fall back this summer when I assumed I would be much further along in the comeback and would be ready to start to race into shape instead I'm barely training.  I'll race again in a couple of weeks and hopefully by then I'll at least be in a better spot mentally and will be able to produce a better effort.

PM cross training bikram yoga.

Summary I really hope things are going to start to get better.  I'm very happy that I got in 3 quality efforts and the miles were up slightly( ~40 for the week)  This coming week I'm hoping to add in some morning runs to up the miles a bit and to keep the workouts.

Training September 26 to October 2, 2016

Monday 4 miles, 28:47 super sore after race but it was bilateral so from being out of shape not hurt.

Tuesday 10k in 43:25, still very sore.

Wednesday 4 miles 27:34, sore.

Thursday 10k in 43:05, less sore but still sore and muscles tired by end of run

Friday 4 miles with Uta in 25:24, I felt a little better but honestly only went faster because Uta wanted to push.

Saturday 4 miles in 25mins, full drills- a walk, b walk, a+c walk, back walk, leg fast change, a skip, b skip, a+c skip, hops, leg fast change 3 hops, shuffle skip with A right, left, alternating, backwards skip, ankle dribbles, mid calf dribbles.  All in all about 14mins, then 10x100m on road, on the minute( so if I run the 100 in 16 I start the next one after 44 seconds rest), Averaged high 16's for the 100's.  Then did very light weight squats, dead lifts and walking lunge variations- 5 types- basically a standard muscular session to work on form and glute activation.

Sunday 8.3 miles solo in 57:01.

Summary  38 miles for the week, only one session of anything but light jogging, which I had hoped to be able to do on Tuesday but the body wasn't ready until Saturday.  I should be able to get more in this week.  Hope your training is going well.

Weekly training blog September 18 to 25, 2016

Monday PM 10k in 48mins with Melissa and Uta

Tuesday Off

Wednesday 6PM 10k in 42:05

Thursday 3:30pm Exercises, drills and massage with Anna
                 6:30PM 4miles in 26:15

Friday 6PM 5 mile vermont loop, 33:23, drills-13mins, 8x20 second strides with jog back rests

Saturday PM 4.2 miles around fields at Phillips, some with Uta

Sunday AM 15min warm up, light drills, couple strides, Race Lone Gull 10k (USATF-NE championships) CMS needed a 5th man and I needed a baseline for my fitness…  I finished 29th in 32:36. I'm certain that is my worst finish at a Grand Prix..  That said I would have been happy with it during my time as an Undergrad.  It isn't pretty but it isn't the worst I thought I could run.
Splits 5:15, 10:33, 15:37, 20:54, 26:02, 31:24.  no cool down already my longest steady run tot. 8.5
PM 90mins Bikram yoga

Summary 35 miles or so.  So I have my base fitness.  Now it is time to improve on it.  No small way to go but it could be worse. Hope your running is going well.

Weekly training September 12 to 18, 2016

Monday Off- meetings after school

Tuesday 4 miles, 27:25, drills

Wednesday 3.1 miles around neighborhood, forgot to write down the time

Thursday Off went to Red Sox game

Friday 5.25 miles with Melissa and Uta, 40:19

Saturday 25mins jogging at Shed park in Lowell with Uta, drills and 8x20 second strides- probably just over 100m very controlled focus on good form.

Sunday AM bikram yoga, 90mins hot yoga
              late AM 6.25 miles with Melissa and Uta, 48mins.

Summary yup not much in the right direction there.  Basically in a holding pattern until I get a bit more info on how my healing is going along.  So I'll either be ramping it up more quickly after Wednesday or staying very slow… We'll see.  Either way I'm planning on racing the long gull 10k to get a base line on my fitness.  I really have no idea what to look for other than I expect it will be bad.

Training September 5 to 11, 2016

Monday noon 3.1 around the neighborhood doing jog 7mins walk 1min. 20:05

Tuesday 3:30pm cross training with Anna
                6pm 3.1 around the neighborhood doing jog 8 walk 1min, 20:52

Wednesday PM 9.25 miles of 7mins jog, walk 1min, in 1:01:55

Thursday PM 3.1 around the neighborhood, jogged 9mins walked a minute, jogged the rest, 20:36

Friday off

Saturday AM something around 9miles around Shed park in Lowell while Melissa worked out with Anna, 1:02:05

Sunday 1PM 22:14 easy around phillips fields with Melissa and Uta, then drills, then 6x100m aiming for 20 seconds focus on good form and feeling easy, 18.6 for the first one then between 18.9 and 19.7 for the rest. total about 4 miles

4PM bikram yoga

Summary just over 30 miles for the week nothing flashy… did cross training exercises as well.  Long way to go. Hope you're well and your running is going better than mine.

Training August 29 to September 4, 2016.

Monday PM 3.1 miles around neighborhood of 5mins run to 1min walk. 21:35. Drills after.

Tuesday PM 9.1 miles of 5mins run to 1 min walk, 1:03:02

Wednesday PM 3.1 miles around neighborhood of 5mins run to 1min walk, 21:07. Drills after.

Thursday PM 9.1 miles of 6mins run to 1min walk, 1:00:02.

Friday AM bikram yoga for 90mins.

Saturday mid day- 3.1 miles around neighborhood of 6mins run to 1min walk in 19:46

Sunday AM 9.25 miles of 7mins run to 1min walk in 1:02:34. drills after

Summary 36.7 miles.  This is one slow build up.  Stress fracture leg feels fine. Basically my form is very different after all the weeks of exercises so I'm being very careful coming back to avoid any more issues, hopefully…  Other than that just continuing with the daily exercises and settling back into working.   Hope you are training better than me!

Training August 22 to 28, 2016

Monday AM Bikram yoga
               PM 4.4 miles of run 4mins walk 1min, 33mins.

Tuesday AM Bikram yoga
                PM 3.1 miles of run 4mins walk 1min, 22mins

Wednesday nothing of note

Thursday PM 4.4 miles of run 4mins walk 1min, 32mins

Friday AM Bikram yoga
             PM 5.7 miles of run 4mins walk 1min, 41mins

Saturday nothing of note did help my brother in law move.

Sunday AM 8miles of run 4mins walk 1min, 57mins.

Summary  yup if I don't start doing some real training soon this is going to get pretty boring….  I did keep up with the auxiliary exercises daily.  Work starts this week in earnest after a few days of training and a few more of setting up my classroom last week.

Training??? Week of August 15 to 21, 2016

  I have to start with a bit of Olympic talk.  It has been amazing as someone who started competitive running in the 1990's to see the current state of US distance running is amazing.  Again and again you heard and read about how Americans would never win Olympic medals again. We couldn't compete with the Africans.  Look at us now!  It isn't just the medals either.  The women in the Marathon, 3 in the top 10! Top 10 in the Olympics is the real deal.  Jared Ward, largely viewed as the 'other guy' on the marathon team gets a 6th in the marathon in a field with a dozen or so sub 2:07 men running 2:11:30 in 72 degrees with 94% humidity.  That is real racing!  From top of the team to the bottom it is amazing how far we have come.

  Ok my running or lack there of…

Monday- bikram yoga 90mins

Tueday- bikram yoga 90mins.  One 2.2 mile run of 4mins jogging 1min walking, 15:22 total time

Wednesday nothing of note

Thursday bikram yoga 90mins, one 3.1 mile run of 4mins jogging 1min walking, 22:36

Friday bikram yoga 90mins

Saturday 30mins of 4mins jogging 1min walking around phillips fields

Sunday Nothing of note

 Other than that each day I do 25 to 35 mins of exercises to help with injury recovery.  Each days set are different and they range from stretches, to body weight strength stuff, to drills, to mashing(self massage with a lacrosse or accumobility ball).

  Hope you're running more than me!

Where I've been and where I'm going.

  I finished out the spring training well and feeling upbeat about my slow but steady improvement.  I had an awful 5k at the BAA 5k but the workouts were coming along and I expected things to start to look up.
 
  I also began working with Anna Willard, yes the former world #2 in the 800m and Olympic steeple chaser, on changing my muscular system and form through a very involved system of exercises, massages and stretches in hopes of fixing the coordination.  Now obviously anytime you do something that is going to change your form it comes with a huge risk of injury.  I knew this going in but decided to push on because what I really want is to race marathons again and without change that wasn't going to happen.

  After a couple of months I was starting to see some changes in my form.  Coordination was about the same but my flat 100m sprints before workouts were getting much faster.  In fact some of the fastest I have ever done.  However this increased speed was not coming from an even change in my form and I got hurt in mid may.  I felt a pain on a workout in my low butt/ high back of leg area.  It was quite sore on my run the next day.  On that Sunday I raced the Travs Trail 3 mile.  One of my favorite races. I was in a good bit of pain on the warm up but decided that I would gut it out and take a few days off after.

  It turned out to be a lot more than a few days.  I could barely walk for a week.  MRI's would reveal that I had caused a stress fracture at the base of the pelvis where the hamstring attaches.  This would be pretty slow to heal.  During this time I continued to do the exercise from Anna and continue to work towards fixing the coordination problem.

  I have started to jog a little bit over the last couple of weeks but I'm a long way from any real training. I'm also starting a new job in a week or so and am more than a little worried about how I'm going to fit everything in.  I want to get back to a reasonable training level, for me about 100 miles a week plus or minus about 20 miles.  I also spend about 30 minutes a day on the new exercises. I try to go to a 90 minute yoga class once or twice a week, an hour exercise session with Anna each week and an hour of treatment with her associate Brad each week.  This combined with writing lesson plans for a whole new curriculum, and doing the normal test corrections and day to day homework associated with teaching and you can see how I'm a bit nervous about trying to get through the day with enough time to make a healthy dinner and find enough hours of sleep to actually absorb the work I'm doing.

  As it is I don't have the most exciting life. Basically my social interaction with the world beyond Melissa and Uta is Facebook and Twitter. But one thought I have for how to get more done is to quit both of those.  So I think I'll start firing out the blog because the comment section at least gets me a little bit of a window into the rest of the world but it isn't as easy to lose 30mins mindlessly scrolling.

  I hope you are all well. I hope your running has been and is currently going better than mine.

Brennen

  Some of you may already know my brother, Brennen, killed himself on Wednesday night.  He was a veteran who served in Afghanistan.  Sadly he was one of those who did not come home whole and who has been fighting depression since he returned. He lost that battle this week.
  There has been an outpouring of support for myself and my family from all corners of our lives that has been humbling and overwhelming and I'll be thankful for it for the rest of my life.
   I have a feeling I won't be posting here for a while but I wanted to take advantage of this platform for two things.
  First to say thank you publicly to everyone who has reached out in so many different ways to myself and my family.  It has meant the world.
  Second my Brother left his girlfriend and her son, whom were dependent on him, in a bad place. Though they had been together more than ten years they had never married so she does not receive any VA benefits and Brennen didn't have insurance.  My parents and I are able to pay for simple funeral services that my brother wanted but we have set up a gofundme account, Brennen's gofundme.
  This account is to help Brennen's girlfriend with all of the basic expenses that are left and that are sure to come up in the coming months.  So many have already helped out and I consider each donation to be a personal favor for which I am eternally grateful. So thank you for your support, your understanding and your love.
-Nate

Training February 15 to 21, 2016

Monday AM valley spofford 6 mile solo, 0 degrees a bit cold for Uta,  41:45.
               3PM road 10, first 6 with Uta in 43 mins then solo for 4, 69mins total time.  Low back was tweaked a bit after AM run- weird it has been great for almost 2 years.
               5PM Bikram yoga, 90mins hot yoga, skipped sit ups and was careful on forward bends. Back felt much improved after.


Tuesday AM 6 miles, valley spofford loop, with Uta, in around 45mins- Uta just wanted to shuffle along- she is usually less bouncy when Melissa and I are around the house all day for a few days.
                PM 3.1 warm up, strides with jog back.  I actually timed these strides and was shocked that they were around 20 seconds.  I kinda assumed my strides off the track were always short.  Seems maybe they are always long.  By this point it was raining pretty hard and I was having a hard time staying warm.  That combined with how poorly my last two hard sessions had gone had me feeling very nervous.  Moneghetti Fartlek around glendale loop- covered 3.89 miles, 5:07 pace.  Huge improvement from last weeks abysmal 3.80.  Honestly I was hoping for 3.85 so this was real nice.3.1 cool down

Wednesday AM 18.2 miles, same loop as Sunday.  Worlds of improvement. 1:55:26.  Felt pretty good. Calves shredded.  Struggled to toe off well after 14 or 15 miles,  Feld coordination threatening in the last mile or so.  good run.
                    PM bikram yoga, 90mins hot yoga, put the back to rest.

Thursday AM valley spofford 6 mile with Uta, 41mins, calves really shredded.
                  PM 3.1 warm up, skipping warm up, light drills, strides, 3 mile tempo run in 15:22- 5:12, 5:10, 5:09, focused on taking it a little easier and feeling strong.  Still not without some trepidation as that was the plan last Saturday and I died after a 5:14 first so this was a good step in the right direction.  1min recovery then 8xhill sprint- estimating around 100m. with jog down recoveries.- all jog downs were 49 or 50 seconds all the reps were in 20 seconds except the 6th which slipped to 21.0 and the last which dipped down to 19.9. Focus on toeing off and keeping shoulders back with good power. tough to do calves very tired. 3.3 cool down, 23:45.

Friday AM valley spofford 6 mile with Uta in 44mins
             PM raliegh tavern 10, 67mins
             5PM bikram yoga, 90mins hot yoga

Saturday AM Raliegh tavern 12.2 miles in 1:19
                 PM valley spofford 6mile  solo, 41mins calves very tight still but on right side this has brought in the ITB as well.  Did a lot of foam rolling and exercises

Sunday AM 3+ warm up, skipping warm up, light drills, strides, Race USATF- NE 5k 3rd place in 14:55. 3.5 cool down in 26mins.  splits(220yard laps on this track not 200m) were very consistent- fastest was 35.4(twice), slowest was 36.8. mile- 4:48.7, 2mile- 9:34.99, 3 mile- 14:24.5

Summary 

 111 miles for the week, two decent workouts, one race. Made it to yoga 3 times thanks to being on vacation from school for the week.  

  The race;  On the positive side 14 straight years of at least one sub 15 5k race is checked off the goals for the year list, My 2016 goals . I was also happy that although the pace became hard to maintain it never felt fast.  I felt controlled and steady.  That is a much better place to work from than when you feel like you're flying and the splits tell you that you're crawling. I ran very consistently and was hurting but I didn't get a great effort out.  That is to be expected given the lack of racing and track work that I'm doing at this point in the year.  In terms of fitness I would say this is a slightly better performance for me than the Jax half and the super Sunday 5 mile.  On the downside 14:55 is pretty slow even without doing track work and I have a long way to go to get real fit.  So out the door again tomorrow and hopefully build on the consistent last couple of weeks and keep chipping away for a while.

Update on Coordination Struggles

  My coordination problem has, unfortunately, defined my running career.  At least from my perspective.  It has followed a few trajectories along the way with very distinct turning points.  Some of which were so clear that I new them the instant they happened and others I only saw in retrospect.

 The problem started in late January 2007 during an alternation workout, actually it was one of the better sessions I have ever run.  It happened on the last effort of the workout.  I was so far gone I just thought it was a symptom of being on the edge of darkness.  Quickly it would become a much bigger issue. Killing a couple workouts before I got mono and was forced to take a 6 week break.

  The problem seemed in a holding pattern during the build up to the Olympic Trials.  It was always there but it would only bother me in the very late stages of specific workouts.  As such I was able to get very fit in spite of it. I even was able to race well in races where I lost the coordination.  I lost coordination just after mile 7 at the BAA half and still finished top 10 in 1:06:17 which was a solid time on that course.  I have little doubt I would have been sub 1:05 without the issue but I ran well.  At the trials I lost control of it coming up to the 19th mile mark.  It cost me.  My last 10k was 32:56 with out the hobbling effect of losing the coordination I have little doubt I would have been able to match my previous 10k of 31:26.  So I would have been able to run perhaps mid 2:13's.  I may or may not have been able to catch Dan Brown.  In the scope of things it was a minor difference.  My time was slowed more by the hills than by the coordination on that course and the difference between 6th and 7th at the trials is small.

  In January of '08 I was following a schedule Canova had sent me.  I was sure with some treatment and focus the leg would sort itself out.  Instead as my fitness soared my leg crashed until by march or so I couldn't do any of the long workouts.  I also ran an abysmal half in Houston.  I hit the the 5 mile mark in 24:05 feeling good, shortly there after I lost control of the leg and hobbled in with a 1:08:22.

  At this point I changed tactics. Avoiding fighting the coordination in training and still trying every treatment I could find to fix the problem.  For the next three years the pattern stayed the same.  Slowly, ever so slowly, my leg got a little worse and little worse.  I was forced to learn new ways to train.  I worked well around it.  I set PR's at the mile, 3k, 5k and 10k.  I qualified for two USATF national indoor championships but all the time I was tortured by the knowledge that my best at 5k was middling on a national level at best but that a guy like me who has a 58.8 400 meter best in shape to run sub 14 for 5k is ready to kill a marathon. BUT I couldn't run one.  I could barely run a 10k.  By late 2010 I couldn't even do that anymore with any consistency, particularly I struggled it if was flat.

  In January 2011 I had surgery on my low back.  By march I was back running.  The improvement was HUGE.  I could race 10k with no problems, even if it was perfectly flat.  Half marathons became what 10k's had been a 50/50 shot at getting by.  I could do training runs longer over 9 miles again.  I could do tempos up to 10k, sometimes more.  I thought it was just a matter of time before I worked back to being fully functional.  I was wrong.  For two years this is where I held.  The biggest victory was that pre surgery I knew it was only a matter of time before running would be taken from me completely and now I was not losing ground. I still searched for an answer but for the most part I was resigned to the fact that I would at least be able to keep running on some level but that I would never get to do the long workouts or races that I loved best.

  In November of 2014 I raced Josh Mcdougal.  He told me about his success in combating the problem by focusing on ankle flection and thoracic posture.  It was a lighting bolt.  I felt my ankle had been fixed by my back surgery- my disc had been cutting off nerve function to the ankle area.  The improved posture caused a huge jump in what I could do without coordination.

 I still had bad days but I had good days.  I did a 20 mile HARD for the first time since 2007.  I completed real marathon workouts.  My fitness surged.  I dnf'd at Boston but that was diet and fitness related not because of coordination.

  Over the next year I struggled with health, mostly due it seems to diet, and my coordination stayed about the same.  I could, on good days, do a lot.  On bad days I could still struggle on an easy 12 mile run.  With my diet issues sorted out I started running well again late last fall.  The mileage back up.  The workouts back in the mix.  I managed a 36k hard, on grass.  Still at times it seemed no matter how hard I held my shoulders back it wasn't enough.  A few times I lost coordination and I swore my shoulders were pretty damn good.  More and more I was realizing I was in a new holding pattern.  I had been since January.  I could get through half marathon races.  I could do half marathon length tempos.  Longer on soft surfaces but doing so was VERY hard because of the amount of focus and work on my shoulders needed to do so.

  Then it hit me. "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be the truth."  It was impossible that for nerve function I somehow needed to run with my shoulders behind me.  The problem must be elsewhere….  What was it McDougal had told me. Thoracic and Ankle!  I had assumed my ankle was totally fixed. Yet I was running better on soft surfaces.  On soft surfaces you inherently toe off more.

  Monday I started focusing on toeing off more.  It was hard.  My calves are weak.  By wednesday I did my medium long run.  A weekly slap in my fast in terms of coordination.  I generally do 16.  I don't generally lose coordination BUT I do fight it constantly.  Flexing my spine/shoulders back again and again.  Feeling the coordination threatening to go from 10 miles on and struggling so hard to stay ahead of it.  This time I ran and ran.  My calves were begging for mercy by 14 or 15 miles but for 18 miles I didn't have any sense that I was going to lose coordination.  All this and my shoulders were in Good position but not forced way back.  I didn't have to do any isometrics while running to force them back more.
  LIGHTING.

 This may not be the last step in this long journey and it is going to be a couple awful weeks on my calves but this is another huge step in the right direction and I'm feeling very upbeat about my chances of really racing a marathon this year.