Who has two thumbs and still can’t run after my half marathon in May? Yeah, this guy. Remember how I mentioned my right Achilles tendon smarting during that final tenth up the final hill? I don’t think that was a tendon; at this point I’m almost positive I tore my calf a bit.

I gave myself a couple of recovery days and, like a twit, fired up a hilly tempo run on the following Thursday. I made it 4 miles in and wham, the calf got me. Out of nowhere. I was fine and then I wasn’t. I walked a bit and stretched — bad idea when dealing with a tear — and ran some more. I was hurting and alternated running and walking the rest of the way back. So started the resting period again. This time I gave it until the following Saturday. 9 days of recovery! That should be plenty. I wasn’t going out hard, wasn’t going for a hilly run. I made it all of 9/10s of a mile before it hurt me again. I did all the inappropriate stuff again and cut my run off at 4 miles before heading to the barn.

This time I’m giving it 2 full weeks before I run. I’m kind of lost, to be honest. I don’t feel like me without my weekend long runs. So, what to do while recovering?

Swimming. I admit it, I am a sorry swimmer. I’ve never competed, never trained, never really even been taught an appropriate stroke. Sure, I had the basics when I was a kid, but I’ve never been taught an efficient exercise-worthy stroke. I make do. My buddy loaned me his Total Immersion book and I’ve watched plenty of YouTube videos of good strokes and I try to emulate that. I’ve done this a few times before for cross-training, and when I first started it was hard. I’d labor to do 400 meters. That was my workout.

Somehow this time is different. I went out and banged out 1200 meters the first day out. Buh? Hell, I did 750 meters before I even took a breather. Previously I was doing good to make it 100 meters before needing to stand up for a bit and breathe. My goal is to add 100 meters each day out. I’ll hit a mile soon which is a mark that seemed impossible even a year ago. It may not be pretty, I may not be able to do a kick-turn and I might make the lifeguards wince, but I’m doing it.

Maybe some day I’ll feel good enough to take on the Pensacola 3-mile Bridge Swim like this guy. That would be something, though the actual swimming part might not be the challenge; keeping cool while envisioning the Surface creature under me will be.

This weekend is the Inside Out Sports Classic Half Marathon (that’s a mouthful), a locally popular race through a fantastic natural park in Cary. I’d been looking forward to running a half for many months. Last weekend I decided to preview the course a bit on my long run, running 10 miles of it to see the lay of the land. Here’s the result:

I’m glad I’ve been doing more hills because there isn’t a foot of flat ground on this course. That hill about 9 miles into the race is going to be a doozy.

Today was scheduled for a simple 3 mile tempo run at 7:52. But I had other ideas, especially with my lack of leg workouts in the last two weeks and my 5K this weekend: hill repeats. Don’t know what a hill repeat is? Simple.

1. Pick a decent hill.
2. Run up the hill.
3. Jog back down the hill.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3.

Hill repeats are classic running workouts. If you’re training for a hilly race, obviously hills should be a big part of your training. However, hill repeats have benefits even on the flat races. If you don’t like to hit the weight room — or, like me, have difficulty working gym time into your schedule — a hill workout constitutes a great workout for improving leg strength as it’s related to running. It has the added benefit of being a serious cardiovascular workout as well.

I admit I haven’t done many traditional hill repeats, but that’s changing as it’s vital to both get faster and — duh — get used to hills. In accordance with my other dictate about increasing my foot turnover I started off with the 175 BPM Podrunner track going. I did okay at 172 and figured this would be a good jump. I warmed up pretty fast at an average 7:42 pace — more about that later — and maintained that on my first hill repeat. The hill I was targeting is right near my usual lake lap, so I warmed up around the lake which brought me to the beginning of the incline. The hill is right at 1/4 mile to the apex which is a good distance for a medium hill repeat; the elevation change is about 100 feet for about a 7.5% grade. I managed 4 repeats before my form started breaking down, with splits of 1:58, 1:54, 1:58 and 2:03.

Overall, a fun and challenging workout.

Thoughts on foot turnover

175 is fast. I believe that’s as fast as I’m going to try to push it except for maybe mile time trials. My warm-up at 175 SPM was quite fast as it’s really tough for me to go slower than about 7:45 with that turnover. It’s far easier maintaining closer to 7:00 pace at that turnover rate… which is great if I’m shooting for that pace but I’m not even at that pace for 5Ks yet. I’ll almost certainly try for the Second Empire Classic this weekend, but we’ll see. I don’t think I’m going to go higher for right now until 175 doesn’t feel like so much of a stretch.

They say that 180 is where the elite athletes are which I believe. I suppose there’s another side to that coin: unless you’re turning 4:00 and 5:00 miles like elite athletes it’s a bit harder to hit that turnover rate. For my near-term marathon and half-marathon paces even 175 is likely high. Or it could simply be that I’m not used to it yet. It’s interesting trying it, though, and seeing how my body and paces react.

Next stop: The 10th Annual Second Empire Classic 5K! Race report on Sunday or Monday. With hopefully good news… though the weather outlook is deteriorating rapidly. The high is currently up to 93 degrees. It was 89 yesterday. At this rate by the time Sunday dawns it’ll be 105.

Interval day! I tend to look forward with almost sadistic glee to interval day. I don’t have the intervals set up in my calendar so I pull up the training plan right before I head out to see what the day holds. Longer intervals cause anxiety so I typically have a knot of nervous energy in my stomach as I pull it up.

Today wasn’t so bad: 4 x 1000m @ 7:05 pace with 400m recovery intervals. Under 1600m per interval doesn’t cause me too much stress, though it’s entering that wheelhouse between 800m and 1600m where depending on the day it can go great or it can be ugly. Today would be good, though, I knew. The weather had cooled off to below 70 with a light breeze, mostly cloudy skies.

I am also fully in turnover rate ramp-up mode. I planned to start at 165 and see where to go from there. That’s 9 strides per minute (SPM) over where I started this process. During my warmup I wobbled a bit on pace trying to get the turnover firmed up along with the pace. One thing I’m discovering is that those higher turnovers are almost impossible at lower paces like my typical marathon pace. I’d be shuffling along like a spastic monkey trying to turn a 9:00 mile at a 182 SPM turnover! So my warmups at 165 were run faster than usual at around 8:00 pace. I did my first interval then bumped up to 169 SPM. Following the second I bumped up to 172 which is where I stayed.

The results were pretty good. It’s truly hard to determine efficiency, though. If I had really paid attention to my stride rate previously I’d be able to make some direct comparisons, but I didn’t. I assume my stride rate on interval days are faster with me paying more attention, but the simple fact is I might always have increased my stride rate as my pace increased. But I don’t think so.

Here’s the best comparison I can make. Here’s the workout today:

And here’s a similar interval workout from March during Shamrock Marathon training when I wasn’t working on turnover.

My scheduled pace today was 7:05. I had splits of 7:03 (165 SPM), 7:06 (169 SPM), 6:49 (172 SPM) and 6:51 (172SPM). For the run in March I had splits of 7:16, 7:19, 7:14, 7:15, and 7:15 at whatever stride rate I hit back then. So, a bit faster pace today. My average heartrate for the intervals today were 169, 169, 169 and 173. For the slower intervals they were 165, 160, 162, 164, and 166. About the only stat that looks favorable is maximum heart rate, with it being the nearly same at 174 and 175 both days.

What does that mean? Eh, a whole lot of nothing, really. I think a higher turnover will be an important part of meeting my goals. I’m not at the turnover rate I’ll eventually get to so everything now is just getting used to it. Perhaps this weekend if I do the 5K I’m thinking of doing I’ll have more concrete results… like a PR.

So my long tempo run was the first attempt at increasing foot turnover. I didn’t really know what to expect. In practice it was actually painless. Of course, I’m only bumping up a little bit at a time. From my baseline, plodding 156 BPM I started the first half of my scheduled 8 miles at 161 BPM. I warmed up with some butt kickers and high knee raises to get the legs moving and then headed out at the trail with the 161 BPM Podrunner track playing in the Clip+. It was a bit strange at first, making pace determination tricky. I finally got dialed in at the appropriate pace and stride rate, but my breathing was all over the map since it felt like I was working harder.

Eventually I got things sorted out. I was scheduled for an 8:22 pace but was amenable to lower. For the first 4 miles I averaged an 8:07 pace. I felt really good overall. For the back half I kicked it up one notch to 162 BPM. Obviously that’s not going to feel very different over 161, but I figure a gradual increase over my next runs will be easier than big jumps. I was trucking pretty well on the return trip and kicked it up to around 5K pace over the final mile. I finished with an 8:01 average pace over the second half.

So, experiment successful?

There’s a lot to digest with that run. For one thing I haven’t run an actual 10K race in well over a decade or even two. However, I know I broke my PR — seems like it was near 54 minutes — during this 8 mile training run which is pretty amusing to me. I think the biggest mental hurdle I’ll have to leap is my breathing pattern. I mentioned that I typically, on longer runs, have a set breathing pattern I try to maintain.

I hit the next splits in 8:58, 8:59, 8:59, 9:00 and 8:58. That gets us to mile marker 17 and the end of the good portion of the race. The rest of the day was a giant pile of suck. I hit about 17 and a quarter and didn’t feel right. I normally maintain a 2-steps-in-3-steps-out breathing cadence when I’m at pace except for hills. I couldn’t do that anymore.

Well, during this tempo run I was 2-in, 2-out the whole way. And that’s okay. That’s the adjustment I need to make. Prior to this, if I couldn’t maintain my 2-in, 3-out I considered that over-exertion and figured I was about to die. When in fact it’s probably a good thing to increase the oxygen input and carbon dioxide output as I’m going. Trying to force my body to a slower breathing rhythm was likely sapping energy. If I’m going to get faster and maintain faster paces I’ll have to get used to a 2-in, 2-out breathing pattern. And possibly even faster during the sprints at finishes.

Tomorrow is interval day and I’ll likely try to work at 164 or 165 BPM, then get 167-168 on short tempo day on Thursday. I’m fairly excited to see how my body reacts.

As part of my commitment to not get caught out by hills anymore, I will no longer avoid the rollies on my tempo days. That started today for my scheduled 4 mile tempo run at 8:07 pace after a mile of warm-up. There’s a course that I used to follow earlier in my training last year that has some reasonably challenging rolling hills that I decided to hit. Of course, when I was running them last year it was at Galloway marathon training paces of anywhere from a low of 8:30 up to 10:00.

Honestly, it felt good to do the hills and do them at pace. I also practiced some will power, trying to override my recent tendency to let up and either slow down or walk. I had to stop at one particular road crossing going and coming, but it only gave me about a 5 to 10 second reprieve. I finished with an overall pace of 7:53 with a final half mile at an average 7:30 pace.

Hopefully throwing in some more hills — and adding some real hill repeats — will keep me better prepared for the gnarly rollies than I was for St. Timothy’s.

For those of you who don’t know, I follow the FIRST training plans as described in the book Run Less, Run Faster. The book is decent but arguably has too many “I followed this plan and it worked!” stories and too little actual content. But the content that is there seems solid enough. The essential tenets are running fewer but higher quality workouts where every run counts. There’s 3 days of running per week: interval, tempo, and long runs. The nice thing is that the workouts are different enough week to week to keep it interesting.

While doing the marathon training at the pace I was training for the intervals were fairly easy. Now that I’m trying to speed up a bit in my 5K training they’ve gotten challenging. And by “challenging” I mean “why hello, max heart rate.” I know that this will help my ability to run faster for longer but it sure does hurt while doing it.

One thing that’s difficult for me is judging those paces when I get my legs going. I tend to oscillate over- and under-pace as I dial it in for any particular interval. I’m sure this gets easier with practice as I can already tell a difference when I’m given, say, a 6:52 pace for an interval and I get going and look down at the Garmin to see it closing in on that. I can’t imagine how folks pace themselves without GPS units, but I suppose it requires running on measured distances. I’ll take the Garmin over that any day.

The recovery intervals are tricky too. Do I walk them or do I jog them? Honestly, it depends on how beat I am. On the pyramid yesterday I was able to jog the recovery intervals following the 200m, 400m, 600m, and first 800m intervals and get my heart rate down enough to prepare for the next interval. However, following that I was too winded to recover my heart rate enough before the next interval while jogging, so I walked a bit until my heart was under control a bit then started jogging. That’s the best thing I can come up with and seems to not be cheating too much.

Here’s the workout as recorded by the Garmin.

I needed a run last night. Sure, I’d just run a 5K the day before but I was off all day for no good reason. Irritable, with just a heaviness in my heart. I mean, it’s not like there’s nothing going on, but regardless… I needed a run. I was scheduled for a “long run” anyway — if you can call any run in a 5k training plan “long” — so I figured I’d go out and knock out 6 or 7 miles after I put Julia to bed and clear my head.

I got everything on, kicked on the Clip+, put my reflector vest on and headed out from the house. I was going to cruise my old stomping grounds in a nearby golfing community. I used to do night runs there frequently the last time I got on a running kick so I know it well. I crossed one of the main drags and thought about my 5K and my desperate need to improve my hill running. Looking to the left there’s a long incline of almost half a mile that I knew would be “fun” so I decided to make it a hill repeat night.

I maintained my pace quite well. Scheduled for 8:22 and keeping about 8:00 flat even on the incline. My wind was better than during the race, too, with a glorious 60 degree evening and a light breeze. I reached the top of the hill feeling good and righteous, congratulating myself on getting out on my first night run this year. I felt secure in my reflector vest, listening to music quietly so I could still hear things going on around me, and if something did occur I had my Road ID right there on my…

Wait. Where the hell is my Road ID? I almost stopped dead in my tracks but I could actually picture it sitting in the drawer where I keep my wallet, keys, phones, etc. How stupid can I be? The first time I could really use and need my Road ID and I get 2 miles from the house before I realize I don’t have it.

Then my mind started working at me. This is Murphy’s Law writ large. There’s a pickup with my name on it somewhere that’s bearing down on me right this second. I’ve seen the marks on the sidewalk, the missing signs and shrubs from vehicles plowing off the road and into the landscaping. It happens. My wife, comfortably ensconced on the couch will look at the clock and start to wonder in about 45 minutes. In an hour she’ll start getting concerned. In 90 minutes she’ll be asking a neighbor to house-sit since Julia is asleep while she tries to find me. Of course I had deviated from the course I told her I would be on just so I could do my hill repeats. I’ll bleed out in a ditch before anyone finds me.

I got down the hill and did one more repeat back up before heading back to the barn. My pace kept solid but I only got a little under 4 in before my anxiety at an ignominious end became unbearable.

Yeah, it’s great having my brain.

If only there was a way to store and replicate weather at will. I’d record this past weekend and relive it all year long. Lower 70s, comfortable, sunny, glorious.

I was scheduled for a “long run” of 6 miles at 8:23 pace. I feel almost guilty for calling that a long run, hence the quotes. It’s just such a different mindset training for 5ks after training for marathons for a year. 13 miles was my shortest long run during marathon training, so 6 felt like chump change. I hit the turnaround point and felt a bit like a fraud. I’ve blown past that thing too many times in the past for it to feel right u-turning there.

With the “summer of speed” in full swing I’m savoring my long runs. I guess I’m more of a camel. That 6 miles started off a little rough but once my legs got moving the pace was quite easy. I actually averaged closer to 8:06 for most of it and finished off a bit faster than 5k race pace. I was pleasantly tired but not beat. Now compare that with my intervals and short tempo this week where I would have paid good money for a recliner and some bon-bons. I may be trying to channel cheetah, but the camel is showing through.

I may never reach cheetah status. I mean, let’s face facts here: I’m a hair short of 40 years old, 6’2″ tall and weigh just at 190 pounds. I’ve never trained for speed. I did my first intervals and speed work this winter. But I’m going to give it my all. I may puke a few times this summer, but that’s just the negative energy departing my body. At least that’s what I tell myself.

My brain is weird. I just completed my second-to-last prep run before the Shamrock Marathon this Sunday, a short 6x400m interval. Thursday I’ll complete another short tempo run of 3 miles at race pace. I’ve trained for this thing for months… and now I have trepidation and fear I’m not going to finish while meeting my goals.

I went to a concert last night with my wife and a couple of friends and as I was driving us all back at midnight it dawned on me that this Sunday I’d be running for a longer period of time than had passed since I started hearing music earlier that evening. That’s daunting. We had an hour and a half drive back from the venue and I looked down at the Garmin and saw that I had 14 miles to the next turn. I could picture that turn ahead and the distance to it and it again hit me that I’d be running right past that distance and on for another 12 miles. What the hell?

I think it’ll be triathlons in the future. Obviously, never say never. But marathon distance I don’t think will ever be a comfortable distance.

Insert humor here

I had another shirt printed up for this race after lessons learned from my previous one. Last time, for the Marine Corps Marathon, my shirt only had text on the front and that text was quite small. (Click for a bigger image.) While running I saw many shirts… from the back, with messages that either humored me or touched me or at least distracted me. My shirt, on the other hand, was almost useless. The only people that would see me from the front were the crowds and they wouldn’t have time to read it. Obviously that didn’t work.

This time I have text on the front and back. Here’s the front:

That’s for the crowds which will hopefully be out in force in places. I figure if I can provide some humor for them they’ll be on my side. Here’s the back:

I still run in memory of my dad so I wanted to continue that. My wife asked if I was always going to leave that on there and I guess my response is “until there’s someone else that should be there.” The other thing was an effort to give those behind me a little something to hopefully take their minds off things for a few seconds. I remember many of the peoples’ shirts and signs during the MCM that provided much-needed levity and this was the funniest thing I could think of to put on mine.

It’s especially appropriate given my own reactions to this final week. Hopefully I won’t be a basket case by Sunday morning.