So Im kinda bored and though I might share a story. I woke up this morning around 930 ish, France time, to find that my host family is no where to be found. This is not unusual as they are a very active family and I figured they might be out playing tennis or riding bikes. I was not planning on doing anything major running today becuase yesterday I biked 26 ish miles and the day before I swam about 3/4 of a mile in addition to running. So I sat out and read my book for a while and went and took a shower and fooled around on the internet like I usually do and finally my host dad comes home and he has just gotten back from a run and he sits down on the couch and he cracks open bottle of Hoegarden. We begin to talk and it turns out he just got back from a 3 hour run up in the mountain trails around our town. I knew he was a runner but that kinda of amazed me. First that he did that, and second the first thing he did after was drink a beer on the couch. We got more into talking about running which is difficult as my French is bad but he speaks a little english so it works. I have already agreed to compete in a Sprint Triathlon with them in a week and today he asked me if I wanted to run a marathon with him the weekend after. I said I couldnt because I am going to Paris to which he replied that was ok and that I could still do the next week. I again respectfully declined but somehow he got me to agree to a half marathon trail run instead.
Little did I realize that my host dad is actually a ridiculous ultra distance runner. Every year he runs a 50 or so mile race through the mountains around lake annecy and also another race that goes around Mt Blanc that he says is 300 kilometers and took him like mid 40 hours to run I think.
Long story short I was inspired slash felt kind of guilty for not running more and went out for an actual run and now I feel a lot better about myself.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Let's Make Nationals This Year
I don't want to have any regrets after this summer of training. This past year was horrible for me running-wise, and it left me with too many "What Ifs?". "What if I had run more miles?", "What if I wasn't anemic?" Let's do everything we can to make nationals. If we do, we won't have any regrets. We only have so many years of college running, and those years fly by. No more waiting until next year to "do everything right" as Ragz likes to say. Don't procrastinate. Run the miles (>70), treat your body well, and have fun. It will be worth it come November.
Read Ethan's blog post on this same vein (http://gojumbos.com/cblog2/?p=83) .
Here's an excerpt:
You may be a freshmen and have 12 seasons of competing in front of you, but this is the ONLY shot for the 2008-2009 teams. Next year will be your only sophomore year and so on. Right about now, many freshmen and sophomores are looking at me cross-eyed. Somehow their denial is so strong they have managed to convince themselves that college will last forever. They have no sense of an end or urgency to make it something special. Coaches and seniors can talk about all this until they’re blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is, some people will never realize the impermanent nature of their college years until it hits them in the face like a 2×4.
If you have a goal…go get it…now…don’t wait.
Read Ethan's blog post on this same vein (http://gojumbos.com/cblog2/?p=83) .
Here's an excerpt:
You may be a freshmen and have 12 seasons of competing in front of you, but this is the ONLY shot for the 2008-2009 teams. Next year will be your only sophomore year and so on. Right about now, many freshmen and sophomores are looking at me cross-eyed. Somehow their denial is so strong they have managed to convince themselves that college will last forever. They have no sense of an end or urgency to make it something special. Coaches and seniors can talk about all this until they’re blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is, some people will never realize the impermanent nature of their college years until it hits them in the face like a 2×4.
If you have a goal…go get it…now…don’t wait.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Yaaaaaa
HOORAY, BLOG.
So we're talking about goals for the summer and i suppose i will post my own thoughts.
First and foremost, mileage: no matter what i do this summer, I will not sacrifice my mileage for anything. Anything new I try will be in addition to the mileage i have already been planning, not instead of it. I don't have anything really specific in mind, but the plan for now is to have a moderately slow build up to around 95 miles a week with 100+ not out of the question. Last summer's mileage felt very comfortable, though it fluctuated a little much, especially when i got sick. Hopefully we will all be able to find a good mutual time to run this summer (i'm hoping to start between 5 and 6...). Considering last year was mostly solo, the help this year should be very... helpful. I'm hoping to get most long runs into the 16-18 range. And we really need to get going early in the morning. I got owned today by the heat and humidity.
For the rest of the week, I'm hoping to get at least one run uptempo, and one easy run in the range of 7 minute pace per week. And one good tempo effort maybe every 10 days and/or a fartlek type deal. Usually 4-5 double days a week.
Non-running things-- lots of abs, pushups and other body weight stuff. Some stretching. Some stride lengthening and strengthening stuff like bench step ups and hill bounds. I'm also willing to try all that crazy shit JRags talks about and any other reasonable ideas anyone comes up with, again, with no sacrifice of mileage. I guess that's it.
So we're talking about goals for the summer and i suppose i will post my own thoughts.
First and foremost, mileage: no matter what i do this summer, I will not sacrifice my mileage for anything. Anything new I try will be in addition to the mileage i have already been planning, not instead of it. I don't have anything really specific in mind, but the plan for now is to have a moderately slow build up to around 95 miles a week with 100+ not out of the question. Last summer's mileage felt very comfortable, though it fluctuated a little much, especially when i got sick. Hopefully we will all be able to find a good mutual time to run this summer (i'm hoping to start between 5 and 6...). Considering last year was mostly solo, the help this year should be very... helpful. I'm hoping to get most long runs into the 16-18 range. And we really need to get going early in the morning. I got owned today by the heat and humidity.
For the rest of the week, I'm hoping to get at least one run uptempo, and one easy run in the range of 7 minute pace per week. And one good tempo effort maybe every 10 days and/or a fartlek type deal. Usually 4-5 double days a week.
Non-running things-- lots of abs, pushups and other body weight stuff. Some stretching. Some stride lengthening and strengthening stuff like bench step ups and hill bounds. I'm also willing to try all that crazy shit JRags talks about and any other reasonable ideas anyone comes up with, again, with no sacrifice of mileage. I guess that's it.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
JRags - Week 1 - Residual Training.
Week 1(?) is in the books and boy, was it strenuous.
Returned home from ECAC's last friday, left the next morning for the Poconos to golf until my arms fell off. Squeaked in a 99 in our second to last round. Left to go back home 3 days ago, jogged with my high school team yesterday as my first real form of exercise in 8 days, and ran a race today benefiting our school's board of education foundation. The competition looked stiff. 40 year olds, 11 year olds, and not much in between. There were a few legit guys, like 8:49 3ker zach schwartz from brandeis, a dude from germany whose warmup consisted of doing all out strides in a full sweatsuit for AN HOUR, and some syracuse alum with a sick SU tat on his thigh. Cruised through the first mile with the top 5 and felt like we were running 6:00 pace. Later it turns out we went through in 5:25. Pulled away in the second mile and ran 9:58 for the last 2 miles... oops. "5k" finish in 14:55. schwartz was second in 15:28. turned out to be 2.89 miles on googlemaps, but i'm wheeling it this week. extrapolates to like 15:50-16:10 pace. It felt really smooth considering my conditioning (fat (not really)). More importantly though, those previously mentioned 40 year old women were all over my spandex-clad nuts at the awards ceremony. It was so good, yet so bad.
Sparksnotes: HOLY HALF-TIGHTS, BATMAN!!!
Returned home from ECAC's last friday, left the next morning for the Poconos to golf until my arms fell off. Squeaked in a 99 in our second to last round. Left to go back home 3 days ago, jogged with my high school team yesterday as my first real form of exercise in 8 days, and ran a race today benefiting our school's board of education foundation. The competition looked stiff. 40 year olds, 11 year olds, and not much in between. There were a few legit guys, like 8:49 3ker zach schwartz from brandeis, a dude from germany whose warmup consisted of doing all out strides in a full sweatsuit for AN HOUR, and some syracuse alum with a sick SU tat on his thigh. Cruised through the first mile with the top 5 and felt like we were running 6:00 pace. Later it turns out we went through in 5:25. Pulled away in the second mile and ran 9:58 for the last 2 miles... oops. "5k" finish in 14:55. schwartz was second in 15:28. turned out to be 2.89 miles on googlemaps, but i'm wheeling it this week. extrapolates to like 15:50-16:10 pace. It felt really smooth considering my conditioning (fat (not really)). More importantly though, those previously mentioned 40 year old women were all over my spandex-clad nuts at the awards ceremony. It was so good, yet so bad.
Sparksnotes: HOLY HALF-TIGHTS, BATMAN!!!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Starting back up again and some goals
After my outdoor season ended I planned to take a full week off followed by some cross training and then after another week running again. When reading period hit, though, I was swamped with stuff to do and then got a fever at the end of the week. I tried to get things started again with a four mile run before the break-up BBQ, but wound up taking most of the next week off as I had a final each day and spent pretty much all of my remaining time studying. I finally got rolling again at 2:30 in the AM on my final night in Houston Hall. The next week I started lifting but was still having trouble running. For the first time in several years I was having trouble just getting out the door to run. After a week of struggling I'm starting to feel pretty good again. I should be close to 30 this week with some cross training and 3 days of upper lifting thrown in, too. Next week I'll be in Florida for a few days so I'll try to keep on building there, but when I get back it'll be time to throw down through June and beyond.
So, time for some goals.
1) Continue lifting upper and doing core and throw in some lower too and try to get back to where I was a year ago strength wise. I don't think I can maintain 3 days of upper a week, but I'm gonna shoot to do 2 days of upper, 1-2 days of lower, and ~5 days of core a week, aiming for getting stronger instead of gaining mass.
2) Drills and such: I want to try to do some hill sprints 2x a week to work on speed/turnover, do strides a few days a week, and work on some other plyo stuff.
3) Mileage: I'm hoping to reach 50 by the end of June so I can get into the 60's in July and try to hold that and then build if all's well. By the end of the summer I'm aiming to double 2-3 times a week, too.
4) Most importantly, stay healthy. Stretch after every run, ice whenever something hurts, use the foam roller, etc. To build strength in my lower legs, I'm going to try to get back to doing barefoot running at the end of my runs on a more regular basis.
Non-running goals:
-figure out what I should actually put on cliffbargar.com and then do it
-get back to practicing clarinet/saxophone
-get paid?
Also, another note in response to Jrags' recovery drink:
What I like to do after runs is make a smoothie - throw in some OJ, whatever frozen fruit I have in the freezer (usually strawberries/bananas/blueberries), some yogurt, and a scoop of protein powder (1/2 serving). After I lift or do a workout or long run I generally put in another scoop of protein powder to make a full serving. Not only does it taste great, but it's got plenty of carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. Fuck ratios.
So, time for some goals.
1) Continue lifting upper and doing core and throw in some lower too and try to get back to where I was a year ago strength wise. I don't think I can maintain 3 days of upper a week, but I'm gonna shoot to do 2 days of upper, 1-2 days of lower, and ~5 days of core a week, aiming for getting stronger instead of gaining mass.
2) Drills and such: I want to try to do some hill sprints 2x a week to work on speed/turnover, do strides a few days a week, and work on some other plyo stuff.
3) Mileage: I'm hoping to reach 50 by the end of June so I can get into the 60's in July and try to hold that and then build if all's well. By the end of the summer I'm aiming to double 2-3 times a week, too.
4) Most importantly, stay healthy. Stretch after every run, ice whenever something hurts, use the foam roller, etc. To build strength in my lower legs, I'm going to try to get back to doing barefoot running at the end of my runs on a more regular basis.
Non-running goals:
-figure out what I should actually put on cliffbargar.com and then do it
-get back to practicing clarinet/saxophone
-get paid?
Also, another note in response to Jrags' recovery drink:
What I like to do after runs is make a smoothie - throw in some OJ, whatever frozen fruit I have in the freezer (usually strawberries/bananas/blueberries), some yogurt, and a scoop of protein powder (1/2 serving). After I lift or do a workout or long run I generally put in another scoop of protein powder to make a full serving. Not only does it taste great, but it's got plenty of carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. Fuck ratios.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Home Made Recovery Drinks
I think Greg-o brought this up last summer, but now that the entire world is living on a budget and I'm taking my recovery more seriously, cheap recovery drinks sounds like it makes sense. Here's what I've found.
The majority of recovery drinks on the market contain only a few things.
1) Carbohydrates - spikes the blood sugar to speed up nutrient delivery to muscles. Also feeds the body so it doesn't think it's going to starve after a workout. If the body isn't fed, it will burn the protein you put in it to save its fat reserves. If you satisfy your body's craving for carbohydrates (fuel), then it will save the proteins for when it works to rebuild structural breakdown once you go to sleep.
2) Protein - obviously very important in muscle repair, protein is the brick and mortar in getting stronger.
3) Vitamins - Certain ones speed recovery and everything, I don't know the exact science. I figure I can crush up a Centrum and throw it in there, or save myself the trouble and just swallow it (which is what she said).
4) Flavoring - I want my drink to taste like Nick's cock. Which tastes eerily similar to my own ass. Fuck.
The most common (and I suppose healthiest) carbohydrate used in recovery drinks is maltodextrin, which has a high glycemic index and is absorbed quickly into the blood stream like glucose. It is also fairly tasteless, maybe a little sweet. You can get it online from beer brewing companies for about $2-3 per pound. Protein, as we all know, is readily available at any GNC type nutrition/supplement store for $3-10 per pound, depending on how fancy the packaging is. Flavoring is easy, either suck it up, or add a little vanilla extract, strawberry or chocolate syrup, or whatever your favorite flavor is. Vitamins can be taken orally...
For a limited time only, you can get 15 grams of protein, 45 grams of maltodextrin, and vanilla flavoring for about 50 cents per serving. This is using the a 3:1 carb to protein ratio. If we decide on 4:1, it would be about 60 cents. Still real fucking cheap compared to buying a gatorade and balance bar for like $3 total.
Would anyone be interested in a homemade drink like this?
The majority of recovery drinks on the market contain only a few things.
1) Carbohydrates - spikes the blood sugar to speed up nutrient delivery to muscles. Also feeds the body so it doesn't think it's going to starve after a workout. If the body isn't fed, it will burn the protein you put in it to save its fat reserves. If you satisfy your body's craving for carbohydrates (fuel), then it will save the proteins for when it works to rebuild structural breakdown once you go to sleep.
2) Protein - obviously very important in muscle repair, protein is the brick and mortar in getting stronger.
3) Vitamins - Certain ones speed recovery and everything, I don't know the exact science. I figure I can crush up a Centrum and throw it in there, or save myself the trouble and just swallow it (which is what she said).
4) Flavoring - I want my drink to taste like Nick's cock. Which tastes eerily similar to my own ass. Fuck.
The most common (and I suppose healthiest) carbohydrate used in recovery drinks is maltodextrin, which has a high glycemic index and is absorbed quickly into the blood stream like glucose. It is also fairly tasteless, maybe a little sweet. You can get it online from beer brewing companies for about $2-3 per pound. Protein, as we all know, is readily available at any GNC type nutrition/supplement store for $3-10 per pound, depending on how fancy the packaging is. Flavoring is easy, either suck it up, or add a little vanilla extract, strawberry or chocolate syrup, or whatever your favorite flavor is. Vitamins can be taken orally...
For a limited time only, you can get 15 grams of protein, 45 grams of maltodextrin, and vanilla flavoring for about 50 cents per serving. This is using the a 3:1 carb to protein ratio. If we decide on 4:1, it would be about 60 cents. Still real fucking cheap compared to buying a gatorade and balance bar for like $3 total.
Would anyone be interested in a homemade drink like this?
Some more goals and subconscious motivation
So I thought I'd hop on the fad and throw down some more goals for the summer:
now for something slightly creepier: a few days ago, after i had taken a day off (oops) i went to bed and had a dream where ethan called me out for not running. so go run. ethan is always watching. even when even when he's a few states away
- 165-by-cross and keep it there
- run consistent mileage. its hard to say exactly what i should be doing, but I think building to mid 70's by the second or third week in June seems reasonable. Once it gets there my goal is to keep it there (and possibly build into the 80s depending upon how my body responds) with the exception of planned down weeks
- abs 4 times a week
- sub 28@ clamfest, sub34 b2b
now for something slightly creepier: a few days ago, after i had taken a day off (oops) i went to bed and had a dream where ethan called me out for not running. so go run. ethan is always watching. even when even when he's a few states away
Quality vs. Quantity - Summer Edition
Let's have a pro and con for quality of miles vs quantity of miles in the summer.
QUANTITY:
PRO:
Minimally invasive training mentally and physically.
Lower chance of overtraining.
Prepares for the volume and duration of the school year.
CON:
Missing the middle steps between 6:30-7:30 pace summer miles and 5:00-5:30 pace Fall workouts.
Less effective at developing aerobic capacity.
QUALITY:
PRO:
Makes transitioning to Fall workouts more natural
Allows for bigger workouts in the Fall, and an improved ability to recovery from them.
CON:
Chance of burnout if taken too intensely.
Higher chance of injury.
Obviously neither extreme is correct. Don't run 25 miles a week at 5:45 pace, but don't run 140 miles a week at 8:00. The 2-3 quality days per 8-10 days I was talking about are days with a regular run, maybe 8-10 miles, a few steps faster than the usual 6:45-7:15 clip, working down to 6:00 or so for the last half hour. I really think the benefit is huge of having a run like this every week. They are completely aerobic, the way our tempo runs SHOULD have been over the summer and during the year last year. As I've said to Nick a few times this year, no one should ever DNF a tempo run (which I've stupidly done my fair share of times). If you do, it's not a tempo run. Tempo running is pushing up and improving your aerobic limit, maximum aerobic output, threshold, whatever you want to call it. To do that, we run at or just below that limit. Running just below that limit, we're still completely aerobic, meaning you should never ever feel a drop of lactic acid build up when running "tempo pace." The benefit of this kind of training throughout July and August is better preparation for full on tempo runs and tempo /cruise intervals, which are the 8k paced stuff like 5xmile, 3x2000, 5-8x1200 type workouts, as well as developing your aerobic engine over the course of months and years. Those of us looking toward the marathon in a few years (which is basically all of us based on who's been posting) should be very interested in this. Uptempo running is pretty close to marathon/half marathon pace, which I think Corey mentioned in his post. I think HM pace is the ideal middle ground pace where you can stay minimally invasive, while still increasing the bounds on your maximum aerobic output. OK someone else take over.
That, and running a lot on hills a few times a week. This will be another post once I'm home. We did no hills in September October or November last year, and I think we, or at least I, paid the price by sucking monkey nuts at Mt. Greylock last year.
QUANTITY:
PRO:
Minimally invasive training mentally and physically.
Lower chance of overtraining.
Prepares for the volume and duration of the school year.
CON:
Missing the middle steps between 6:30-7:30 pace summer miles and 5:00-5:30 pace Fall workouts.
Less effective at developing aerobic capacity.
QUALITY:
PRO:
Makes transitioning to Fall workouts more natural
Allows for bigger workouts in the Fall, and an improved ability to recovery from them.
CON:
Chance of burnout if taken too intensely.
Higher chance of injury.
Obviously neither extreme is correct. Don't run 25 miles a week at 5:45 pace, but don't run 140 miles a week at 8:00. The 2-3 quality days per 8-10 days I was talking about are days with a regular run, maybe 8-10 miles, a few steps faster than the usual 6:45-7:15 clip, working down to 6:00 or so for the last half hour. I really think the benefit is huge of having a run like this every week. They are completely aerobic, the way our tempo runs SHOULD have been over the summer and during the year last year. As I've said to Nick a few times this year, no one should ever DNF a tempo run (which I've stupidly done my fair share of times). If you do, it's not a tempo run. Tempo running is pushing up and improving your aerobic limit, maximum aerobic output, threshold, whatever you want to call it. To do that, we run at or just below that limit. Running just below that limit, we're still completely aerobic, meaning you should never ever feel a drop of lactic acid build up when running "tempo pace." The benefit of this kind of training throughout July and August is better preparation for full on tempo runs and tempo /cruise intervals, which are the 8k paced stuff like 5xmile, 3x2000, 5-8x1200 type workouts, as well as developing your aerobic engine over the course of months and years. Those of us looking toward the marathon in a few years (which is basically all of us based on who's been posting) should be very interested in this. Uptempo running is pretty close to marathon/half marathon pace, which I think Corey mentioned in his post. I think HM pace is the ideal middle ground pace where you can stay minimally invasive, while still increasing the bounds on your maximum aerobic output. OK someone else take over.
That, and running a lot on hills a few times a week. This will be another post once I'm home. We did no hills in September October or November last year, and I think we, or at least I, paid the price by sucking monkey nuts at Mt. Greylock last year.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I wanna be in Corey's butt
To post my goals, they're almost identical to Corey's. Having consistent QUALITY days 2-3 times a week with either ~10 mile uptempos, 6-8 mile tempos, bounding, intensive core and strength, and plyometrics. Along with a long run.
Here are some of my thoughts about building mileage (maybe 90-110? Mark has the second-to-last say) THROUGH the summer instead of hitting my peak in August like I did last year. Finish the build after Open NE's, maybe as late as NESCACs. I was thinking something like this in terms of % of highest mileage.
Rest of May - basically 0
June - start at 40% build up to 55%, down week into July 4th road race, going for the four-peat. start with nothing but easy jogs. Incorporate a 20-30% long run and 1 uptempo run at "best aerobic effort" (ex. 7 miles at 30-45 seconds slower than current 8k pace, maybe 20-30 slower than any of the in season tempo runs last year, so maybe 6:00?). Begin bounding and dynamic strength stuff. I'll post more about this in a few weeks I think. STRETCH.
July - 55% after the race, build to 70%, then another down week. Every 8-10 days, have 1 long run (~14-16 probably easy), 1 uptempo run (ex 8-9 miles at 6:15 down to 6:00 or whatever), and 1 somewhat short tempo run (4 miles at 5:35-5:45)
August - 70% after down week, build to 85%. Same set up as July, but adding a mile to the tempo every one or 2 weeks, but keeping these very relaxed so that I feel in control all the way to through the finish. I have to remember that summer is the time when we prepare for the work to be done in September and October, not the time when we prepare for the races in September and October. Those are the ones that don't count...
September - Treat September the way I wanted to treat August last year if I hadn't gotten sick going into River to Sea. Keep the tempos and uptempos, stay away from the track, continue to build mileage from 85% to 95%. Down week going into Opens.
October and November - Obviously all of this part is up to Mark and Ethan, but get 2 or 3 more weeks in at peak mileage going into NESCACs, run NESCACs on an up week, then taper a little bit for Regionals. I've been so worn down by NESCACs the last two years that I've had to take a huge taper going into regionals just to get through the warm up and to the line. I shouldn't need to taper all that much if I'm still running well off of aerobic workouts and a fuck-ton of miles in September and October.
"One Percenters"
I don't know where I heard that phrase, but I sort of like it although it sounds retarded. One percenters are the things you do every fucking day, every fucking day, every fucking day that each make you 1% faster. They are:
1) Flexibility/Range of Motion - my hips are so tight that it pulls my core way out of line and robs me of a lot of power and efficiency.
2) Core Strength - See above. Also good for injury prevention.
3) Barefoot running - No more mothertrucking soft tissue foot injuries.
4) Power Development through bounding - Longer strides with the same effort expenditure = much faster running.
5) Recovery (sleep, nutrition, hydration, cross training) - Why work out if you don't refuel and thus recover from and get stronger from the workout?
I gotta run, but I will come back to this post again. Post any questions or comments. Sorry for the inappropriate title.
Here are some of my thoughts about building mileage (maybe 90-110? Mark has the second-to-last say) THROUGH the summer instead of hitting my peak in August like I did last year. Finish the build after Open NE's, maybe as late as NESCACs. I was thinking something like this in terms of % of highest mileage.
Rest of May - basically 0
June - start at 40% build up to 55%, down week into July 4th road race, going for the four-peat. start with nothing but easy jogs. Incorporate a 20-30% long run and 1 uptempo run at "best aerobic effort" (ex. 7 miles at 30-45 seconds slower than current 8k pace, maybe 20-30 slower than any of the in season tempo runs last year, so maybe 6:00?). Begin bounding and dynamic strength stuff. I'll post more about this in a few weeks I think. STRETCH.
July - 55% after the race, build to 70%, then another down week. Every 8-10 days, have 1 long run (~14-16 probably easy), 1 uptempo run (ex 8-9 miles at 6:15 down to 6:00 or whatever), and 1 somewhat short tempo run (4 miles at 5:35-5:45)
August - 70% after down week, build to 85%. Same set up as July, but adding a mile to the tempo every one or 2 weeks, but keeping these very relaxed so that I feel in control all the way to through the finish. I have to remember that summer is the time when we prepare for the work to be done in September and October, not the time when we prepare for the races in September and October. Those are the ones that don't count...
September - Treat September the way I wanted to treat August last year if I hadn't gotten sick going into River to Sea. Keep the tempos and uptempos, stay away from the track, continue to build mileage from 85% to 95%. Down week going into Opens.
October and November - Obviously all of this part is up to Mark and Ethan, but get 2 or 3 more weeks in at peak mileage going into NESCACs, run NESCACs on an up week, then taper a little bit for Regionals. I've been so worn down by NESCACs the last two years that I've had to take a huge taper going into regionals just to get through the warm up and to the line. I shouldn't need to taper all that much if I'm still running well off of aerobic workouts and a fuck-ton of miles in September and October.
"One Percenters"
I don't know where I heard that phrase, but I sort of like it although it sounds retarded. One percenters are the things you do every fucking day, every fucking day, every fucking day that each make you 1% faster. They are:
1) Flexibility/Range of Motion - my hips are so tight that it pulls my core way out of line and robs me of a lot of power and efficiency.
2) Core Strength - See above. Also good for injury prevention.
3) Barefoot running - No more mothertrucking soft tissue foot injuries.
4) Power Development through bounding - Longer strides with the same effort expenditure = much faster running.
5) Recovery (sleep, nutrition, hydration, cross training) - Why work out if you don't refuel and thus recover from and get stronger from the workout?
I gotta run, but I will come back to this post again. Post any questions or comments. Sorry for the inappropriate title.
Goals
I really like Blaney's idea.
Training Goals:
My goal this season is to run at least 1000 miles from the time I move in till september. That works out to be about 85 mile weeks for 3 weeks followed by a down weeks of 55. The plan leaves me with about 30 extra miles to play around with. Within each week, I my goal is to include 2 or 3 of these: an up-tempo, fartlek, tempo or HM paced work with a focus on increasing the time spent at the faster pace. Twice a week my goal is to include hill bounds, plyometrics, explosive med-ball tosses, and general and hamstring strength stuff.
Overall Goals:
Destroy the excuse, "I'm much better at track"
Second 7
I don't know what I want for a time goal yet.
Training Goals:
My goal this season is to run at least 1000 miles from the time I move in till september. That works out to be about 85 mile weeks for 3 weeks followed by a down weeks of 55. The plan leaves me with about 30 extra miles to play around with. Within each week, I my goal is to include 2 or 3 of these: an up-tempo, fartlek, tempo or HM paced work with a focus on increasing the time spent at the faster pace. Twice a week my goal is to include hill bounds, plyometrics, explosive med-ball tosses, and general and hamstring strength stuff.
Overall Goals:
Destroy the excuse, "I'm much better at track"
Second 7
I don't know what I want for a time goal yet.
Team (insert goal here) by cross
Jerzy I think you should probably be worried more about team pass weigh in by cross then 100 pushups. But if you do get to 100 pushups that would probably make you the strongest person on the team. I tried to see how many pushups I could do just now without stopping and I got to 50 and now its hard to type.
I think having goals by cross country is a pretty good idea, seeing as we all have goals while we are in season it makes sense to me to set good goals ( besides not being obese hutch) for the start of cross. In trying to think of what goal to set that would be a good thing many things come to mind weight goals, mileage goals, strength goals, not injured etc... Its hard to say what would be the best. For me any weight goal would be accomplished by running enough so that seems unnecessary. I don't really feel the need to have more then normal upper body strength either. What I really want to do is be able to dunk a basketball by the end of the summer but I feel like that is not really feasible for me. Long story short is I think it would be interesting to see everyones goals for the summer just to see where everyones heads are at and to see different perspectives on summer training.
There are 15 weeks from now to september first which is 105 days.
Just to stick with the 100 number thing my goal:
Run or Crosstrain for 100 out of those 105 days.
There now Jerzy, Hutch and I all have goals lets see some others
Blanes
Monday, May 18, 2009
Starting running again
I just got back from my best run of the summer- a 9 mile jog around Brookline with some former teammates. I'm finally starting to remember how to run. The first week back running is always horrible for me; my legs ache, my breathing is heavy, and I have to battle to not get passed by middle-aged hobby runners. It's amazing to me that in a month I'll be running 3 times as much as I did last week, and I'll mostly likely feel better doing it.
On another note, like Hutch, I'm also hopping on a train this summer- Train 100 by Cross. However, it's not the 100 Pounds by Cross Train (I'm shooting for 85- only 7 pretzels and 3 peanut butter crackers per day), it's the 100 Pushups in a Row by the First Day of Practice Train. Can I do it?
p.s. I know it probably doesn't help with running
On another note, like Hutch, I'm also hopping on a train this summer- Train 100 by Cross. However, it's not the 100 Pounds by Cross Train (I'm shooting for 85- only 7 pretzels and 3 peanut butter crackers per day), it's the 100 Pushups in a Row by the First Day of Practice Train. Can I do it?
p.s. I know it probably doesn't help with running
maine is a great state
except for those times when it turns out its actually really boring...shiiiit
anyway summers off to a pretty slow start. last week was my first one back running since nescacs and it was a pretty shitty week. didn't hit a ton of miles or run all that fast but hey i figure it'll come. i think i jumped the gun a bit too much the first few days. i was pretending i was in the same shape i was at the end of track. after a few days of that, every muscle in my legs hurt, nothing that a few easy days wouldn't solve though. by the end of the week i felt like i was starting to hit stride a bit. theres still a long ways to go. luckily there arent any races that matter for a while. except for may 25th. where i have to break 5 for a mile. so i can win a pie. because pie is what i need to get on train 165-by-cross. sorry if this rambles but its 2am in maine. and i'vebeaten the entire state in NBA live 08. and the cops wont let us play wiffleball in the scvhool parking lot tonight. and letsrun sucks tonight. and sleep is overrated.
sparknotes: contrary to (popular?) belief maine isnt all its cracked up to be. i'm not in very good shape after 2 weeks off but need to run a 5 minute mile so i can win a pie.
anyway summers off to a pretty slow start. last week was my first one back running since nescacs and it was a pretty shitty week. didn't hit a ton of miles or run all that fast but hey i figure it'll come. i think i jumped the gun a bit too much the first few days. i was pretending i was in the same shape i was at the end of track. after a few days of that, every muscle in my legs hurt, nothing that a few easy days wouldn't solve though. by the end of the week i felt like i was starting to hit stride a bit. theres still a long ways to go. luckily there arent any races that matter for a while. except for may 25th. where i have to break 5 for a mile. so i can win a pie. because pie is what i need to get on train 165-by-cross. sorry if this rambles but its 2am in maine. and i'vebeaten the entire state in NBA live 08. and the cops wont let us play wiffleball in the scvhool parking lot tonight. and letsrun sucks tonight. and sleep is overrated.
sparknotes: contrary to (popular?) belief maine isnt all its cracked up to be. i'm not in very good shape after 2 weeks off but need to run a 5 minute mile so i can win a pie.
Friday, May 15, 2009
ECAC's News
Yo, live updates from ECAC's. I'm in the library across the street staying cool.
Last night Nick ran a season-best steeple, 9:36.9 I believe. This morning, Longley unfortunately pulled up in the 4x1 with a bum hamstring. Not sure how bad, but he is successfully limping around, which I suppose isn't too terrible. I just finished my 1500 in 4:00.40. Splits were retarded again. 59/60, 2:05, then must have closed in like 2:14. 3rd in my heat, 8th overall. This part's funny...
I go up to Mark and Ethan to say "Hey I'm taking off to go on vacation, its been a fun year, see you in the fall" when Ethan informs me that I will be replacing LC on the 4x400. To this, I reply that I am NOT, in fact, replacing LC on the 4x400. Obviously, I was wrong. Now I've got an hour to kill until we warm up for hopefully another fast one, which will erase the last of my (legitimate) HS PR's, save the 800.
go-go-gadget: mmmothafuggin relay...
Last night Nick ran a season-best steeple, 9:36.9 I believe. This morning, Longley unfortunately pulled up in the 4x1 with a bum hamstring. Not sure how bad, but he is successfully limping around, which I suppose isn't too terrible. I just finished my 1500 in 4:00.40. Splits were retarded again. 59/60, 2:05, then must have closed in like 2:14. 3rd in my heat, 8th overall. This part's funny...
I go up to Mark and Ethan to say "Hey I'm taking off to go on vacation, its been a fun year, see you in the fall" when Ethan informs me that I will be replacing LC on the 4x400. To this, I reply that I am NOT, in fact, replacing LC on the 4x400. Obviously, I was wrong. Now I've got an hour to kill until we warm up for hopefully another fast one, which will erase the last of my (legitimate) HS PR's, save the 800.
go-go-gadget: mmmothafuggin relay...
Thursday, May 14, 2009
La vie quotidienne a Talloires
So I missed out on this last year but it will be nice to have another distraction from work this summer. However, as I am in Talloires right now I may actually have some interesting stuff to post.
As far as training goes, which is I guess what this thing is supposed to be for I am finally overcoming set backs from basketball injuries and sickness only to find out that I left my running shoes at home. I have my racing flats though! Anyway after my last final I thought I had tonsillitis so I went to health services and they checked me out saying I probably didn't have mono or strep and so they gave me some penicillin variant drug. Turns out I'm allergic to it now though I haven't been in the past. So for the past week ending yesterday pretty much I had a full body rash in addition to a swollen throat. My doctor at home assumed that I have mono but I found out today that I don't.
As for now, Talloires is amazing. Everything is situated right next to Lake Annecy so the views are beautiful. Pretty much all I eat is ham and cheese and little chocolate cookies. My French sucks but its getting better. The only bad part is that I am now taking classes again. Only 2 of them but they are long and I just want to go outside.
So long story short, enjoy being outside and not in class or work while you can, I'm gonna go get some running shoes and I'll post again with something actually relevant to the blog.
Keep up the good work ladies.
As far as training goes, which is I guess what this thing is supposed to be for I am finally overcoming set backs from basketball injuries and sickness only to find out that I left my running shoes at home. I have my racing flats though! Anyway after my last final I thought I had tonsillitis so I went to health services and they checked me out saying I probably didn't have mono or strep and so they gave me some penicillin variant drug. Turns out I'm allergic to it now though I haven't been in the past. So for the past week ending yesterday pretty much I had a full body rash in addition to a swollen throat. My doctor at home assumed that I have mono but I found out today that I don't.
As for now, Talloires is amazing. Everything is situated right next to Lake Annecy so the views are beautiful. Pretty much all I eat is ham and cheese and little chocolate cookies. My French sucks but its getting better. The only bad part is that I am now taking classes again. Only 2 of them but they are long and I just want to go outside.
So long story short, enjoy being outside and not in class or work while you can, I'm gonna go get some running shoes and I'll post again with something actually relevant to the blog.
Keep up the good work ladies.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Goings-on of Medford/Somerville
Way to be, Bellet. Bringing it back. A phrase that could easily develop into a season motto. We're talkin' DIII Regional Titles. After a several year drought, let's show the trophy its old home and...
...Bring It Back.
However, Nick (hi) would have my head if I start thinking about summer and cross country while I still have a blazing 1500 meter race to throw down in 3 days. As such, I thought I'd shoot you guys an update on thing back on the homefront.
OPENs:
Skip is a fucking monster. 68xx??? WTF??!?! Probably the best part of his decath was watching him walking around the high jump pit in a singlet, half tights, and sunglasses sporting a gorgeous umbrella to shield him from the 80 degree heat and sun. He swiftly ditched the umbrella, jogged to the edge of the track, and took a shit on 1.86m (6' 1.25") on his first attempt. Baller(ina)ness.
As for the distance guys, Billy ran a smooth 1:55 from his heat of the 800 to cap off a pretty absurd streak of running the 800 (consistently) every single weekend for just under 2 full months. In the 15bills, you've probably heard by now, but Jesse "I don't care how fast my heat is, they're gunna suck on deez nutz" Faller won the middle heat going away in a school record 3:51.08, a second shy of the auto qualifier. In the slow heat, I finally broke 4 with a not-so-smooth 3:59.93 going 61 and 2:06 for the first 400 and 800. Hooray being the last seed! In the 5000m, Cap'n Welch battled both a combination of heat and humidity and a slew of DIII upstarts from the region in a tactical seeded section race. By day's end, he failed to improve on his season best, but is ready to pop one (hopefully two) more good steeples. He ran a few 400s over hurdles and practiced playing in the sandbox today and looked really good. On a related topic, we think townies stole the rakes from B to practice long jump...
Yeah, that's what's been going on around here. Other than that, it's a lot of hanging out looking for food and jobs (of which I still don't have either) and salvaging goodies from the around the dorms. I found a motherfuckin' lap desk! Useless, I know.
You fuckers better be running.
Cliff, I'm shitting in your ceiling tiles.
JRags
...Bring It Back.
However, Nick (hi) would have my head if I start thinking about summer and cross country while I still have a blazing 1500 meter race to throw down in 3 days. As such, I thought I'd shoot you guys an update on thing back on the homefront.
OPENs:
Skip is a fucking monster. 68xx??? WTF??!?! Probably the best part of his decath was watching him walking around the high jump pit in a singlet, half tights, and sunglasses sporting a gorgeous umbrella to shield him from the 80 degree heat and sun. He swiftly ditched the umbrella, jogged to the edge of the track, and took a shit on 1.86m (6' 1.25") on his first attempt. Baller(ina)ness.
As for the distance guys, Billy ran a smooth 1:55 from his heat of the 800 to cap off a pretty absurd streak of running the 800 (consistently) every single weekend for just under 2 full months. In the 15bills, you've probably heard by now, but Jesse "I don't care how fast my heat is, they're gunna suck on deez nutz" Faller won the middle heat going away in a school record 3:51.08, a second shy of the auto qualifier. In the slow heat, I finally broke 4 with a not-so-smooth 3:59.93 going 61 and 2:06 for the first 400 and 800. Hooray being the last seed! In the 5000m, Cap'n Welch battled both a combination of heat and humidity and a slew of DIII upstarts from the region in a tactical seeded section race. By day's end, he failed to improve on his season best, but is ready to pop one (hopefully two) more good steeples. He ran a few 400s over hurdles and practiced playing in the sandbox today and looked really good. On a related topic, we think townies stole the rakes from B to practice long jump...
Yeah, that's what's been going on around here. Other than that, it's a lot of hanging out looking for food and jobs (of which I still don't have either) and salvaging goodies from the around the dorms. I found a motherfuckin' lap desk! Useless, I know.
You fuckers better be running.
Cliff, I'm shitting in your ceiling tiles.
JRags
Bring it back?
So I'm sitting here at home, kind of bored, watching game 4 of the Denver series. 5 days into the summer, I feel like my life has been pretty uneventful since college. So I figured I might as well try to get this blog started again. I feel like it's most useful in the summer, when we're spread all over the country, for finding out what's going on with everyone's summer training. I think it can fill in some of the gaps in the distance log.
At least for me, summer training has a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world to drag myself out the door for a run, even though once I get out there, I usually love it. This blog really helped motivate me last summer. Just to see a teammate's post-run thoughts, or someone's theory on training--whatever was being discussed-- was just enough to get me excited about running, just enough to give me a spark.
I'm excited about the upcoming season. I know it's still track season and xc isn't even on the radar screen right now for some people. But I wanted to get the ball rolling with this thing and see if we can bring this back.
Looks like there will be a game 5 after Dirk and Melo each with 40+ in a 2 pt game. This playoffs has been unreal so far. Mark Cuban is a bitch.
At least for me, summer training has a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world to drag myself out the door for a run, even though once I get out there, I usually love it. This blog really helped motivate me last summer. Just to see a teammate's post-run thoughts, or someone's theory on training--whatever was being discussed-- was just enough to get me excited about running, just enough to give me a spark.
I'm excited about the upcoming season. I know it's still track season and xc isn't even on the radar screen right now for some people. But I wanted to get the ball rolling with this thing and see if we can bring this back.
Looks like there will be a game 5 after Dirk and Melo each with 40+ in a 2 pt game. This playoffs has been unreal so far. Mark Cuban is a bitch.
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