Running with Neal

Kilts and Podiums

March 28, 2020March 28, 2020 runningwithnealLeave a comment

20200314_0702200 A couple of weekends ago I ran in the Glendale 1K Kilt Run and the Kiss me I’m Irish 4K. I had a blast at both of them. I’m a little surprised that they still held the events with the recent fears over the COVID-19 virus. Although in the midst of all the media coverage of the spread of the virus and the panic that it is starting to cause I was very happy to have the sense of normalcy that comes with a race.

20200313_180904 First up was the 1K Kilt Run. This is a fun run, which means no timing or awards, to attempt to break the record for the most people in a kilt doing an organized activity. We didn’t get the record, but it was still a very large crowd. It has a festival like atmosphere with a live band playing Celtic music before the race and during for the people waiting on their loved ones to run/walk the just over a half mile.

I decided to see how fast I could go. I even wore my track racing flats, although given that the course was wet, the racing flats don’t have much grip in the corners on wet brick. At the start I felt a little like a Flinstone. My feet were moving, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was at the front of the crowd right from the start. There were about 8 people in front of me as we went around the first corner. Unfortunately, I slid out a little and thought to myself that I will need to slow down around the corners. Then something happened that I’m not used to, I started chasing people down. I zeroed in on the person in front of me and started closing the gap. Most races when I’ve gone out fast, I end up flaming out and getting passed. This time I wasn’t flaming out and I actually was gaining both speed and ground to the next person. I finished an unofficial 5th place and was the only one over 25 in that group. I was pretty pleased with myself. It felt great and I started to get the feeling that I used to when I was running the 400, of the world dropping away.

20200314_080342 Saturday morning, I got up early and headed back to Westgate Mall for the Kiss Me I’m Irish 4k. Coach V didn’t think it would be a great idea to take the whole troop out for this one, so I was on my own. My plan was to go out at a little more than a comfortable pace and try to maintain it, but most importantly I was out there to have fun. The 8K and the 4K share a lot of the same course at the beginning and with only a 10-minute start difference we quickly caught the stragglers from the 8k. This made it almost impossible to tell who in front of me was from my race and who was in the 8k. So, I just tried to keep going at a steady pace until I was a little over half-way then I started trying to pick up the tempo. My calf did not appreciate the added speed and started complaining. The complaints turned into a bit of an angry roar, so I decided to walk a few steps. Doing some small lunges stretched it back out and I was able to take off again. Next thing I really knew the finish was in sight and I dug down for whatever was left in the tank and got a pretty good sprint going. I came across the line, was handed a bottle of water and my metal by a gloved volunteer and started a brisk walk to the car. The RunBet distance for this weekend was 3 miles and I wasn’t going to have another opportunity to run. I kept my watch tracking and headed to the car. I stopped briefly to drop off the water and grab the kilt run metal for from the night before for a picture and started a light cool down run around the parking lot and back toward the finish area. Once I got my 3 miles in, I decided to go see what my race time and age group placing was. I was in a bit of disbelief with what I say. I was the 19th overall male and the first in the 30-39 age group. My first thought was that can’t be right, so I checked the bib number and sure enough it was mine.

20200314_085431 I’m fairly sure that this is the first time I have ever won my age group in any race. I’m very pleased with this result, but what makes me more excited is that it’s working. In just 3 weeks training with the SRC I’ve drastically dropped my per mile time into a range that I haven’t been in since high school, 7:30 min/mile. If I can hold that for another half mile then I’ll have my 24-minute 5K by the end of April. It means that not only is the speed still in me somewhere but it’s starting to come out again.

There is still a lot of work to do. Even once I get the sub- 24 min 5K I’ll still need to drop another 4 minutes by the end of the year. And I’m certain that they will be harder to drop than these 4 look to be. But I believe that I have a good routine in place and some great people to train with and help me along on this journey and hopefully I get to help some others along theirs in the process.

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The next several weeks look to be some trying times. My daughter is in from Indiana which I love but it will make going out and training more difficult since I want to spend as much time with her as I can. And then there is the COVID-19 virus. Unfortunately, I am in one of the more at-risk groups to have a sever reaction to it. Some days being asthmatic really sucks. I’m taking all the precautions that I can, no I’m not buying 3 years-worth of toilet paper, but there is only so much a person can do. So, if you are in one of the groups that I normally run with and you don’t see me for a few weeks it not because I don’t love running with you all, and believe me when I say that I miss the group either SRC of EMYP. I’ll be doing what I can on my own and trying not to go to stir crazy. Feel free to drop me a note if you are wondering how we are doing.

My next scheduled race is the Hippity Hop 5K in mid-April assuming that they are still able to hold it. My hope is that this scare is over by then and that my family (of which you are all a part of) comes through unscathed.

Until next time…C-ya! 20200314_080352

Fallen Officer 5K & Surprise

March 12, 2020March 12, 2020 runningwithnealLeave a comment

About a month ago one of the lifters at Kilo Barbell Club asked if anyone wanted to run a 5K with her to benefit the Concerns of Police Survivors, Arizona (C.O.P.S. AZ) Organization. Always being one who is up for a run I quickly accepted this invite and signed up for the Fallen Officer Memorial 5K.

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C.O.P.S. is a national organization dedicated to helping the family and co-workers of fallen officers in Rebuilding shattered lives of survivors and co-workers affected by line of duty deaths. Which to me is a fantastic and very worthy cause.

As soon as I parked and went to the day of packet pickup I knew this race felt a little different. I couldn’t even begin to count the number of uniformed officers I saw. The packet pickup was staffed by police cadets who where extremely polite. There were a couple of the cadets walking around passing out bottles of water BEFORE the race. When we gathered in the start corrals I saw at least three large groups of runners all dressed the same and one in each who was carrying a banner for the officer training school that they were from. There were also several officers in full gear and running shoes.

I’ve never been worried about my safety at any race I’ve ever done. That being said I’ve never felt safer than during this race. I’m fairly certain that at least half the field was in law enforcement and several were in uniform.

It was an interesting out and back course through downtown Phoenix. I always find it fun when I get to run on the roads that I commute on a daily basis. The only criticism I have is that according to my watch the course was a little long. I clocked it at 3.4 instead of 3.1. I’m also not the biggest fan of out and back courses but thats a fairly minor personal preference.

About half way through I fell in with one of the training schools, basic training academy 148. I’ve tried to find information on them but the internet has failed me.

Anyway, they were a great group to run with and were very welcoming. Even encouraging me to stay with them when I started falling back. I very much appreciated them helping to pull me along.

It brought to mind a phrase that was used a lot in a book that I finished listening to recently, Running to the Edge by Matthew Futterman. The book chronicles the coaching career of Bob Larsen and his theories on how to train and run “on the edge”. Its a great read or listen on Audible. The phrase that I keep coming back to in my runs now is; “The group is faster than the individual”. And its surprising to me that I had forgotten this. That is how my cross country team ran in high school. We were a pack. While we did have some outstanding runners come through our strength wasn’t that we always had the top runner in the race but that we had 5 to 7 guys that ran together and would chase people down. So, when they passed someone that guy didn’t drop 1 place but 5 or 6 places. It made us very hard to beat as a team. Along with some specialists for certain occasions we were a force to be reckoned with in our little corner of Indiana. In practices we pushed each other always demanding more from ourselves than even our coach did.

Its also generally what my training has been missing recently. Since moving to Surprise I’ve been doing more and more runs by myself. Granted sometimes its nice to run by myself especially when I have a problem I’m trying to work out or just need to decompress. But its when I’m with a group of like minded runners that I push and get better.

That brings me to the Marshmallow Mile. I know weird segue but stay with me. The Marshmallow mile was sponsored by Tortoise and Hare Sports and is similar to a beer mile. You eat 6 large marshmallows then run a lap around a track and repeat until you’ve run 4 laps.

I discovered a couple of things at this event. Firstly, I’m terrible at eating marshmallows quickly. it would take me twice as long to eat as I did to get around the track. Coach V participated with me and was able to keep up despite my lap times being twice as fast if not more. She would come in after I was half way through my bag of marshmallows and leave enough before me to get about 100 m head start. I’d catch and pass her but couldn’t get enough of a lead that she wouldn’t catch and pass in the “eating area”.

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I also rediscovered why I loved to sprint especially the 400. When I’m running distance I’m aware of everything going on around me. Wind, sounds, smells and sights. Which sometimes is cool if your in a place that is scenic or with friends and talking about things. But I’m also very aware of my breathing and my stride and that pain developing in my side and every other manner of thing that can distract me and scream at me to stop.

They had Olympic medalist Jenny Simpson who, along with helping to hand out marshmallows, did a Q&A session after the event. Which was very fun and informative. One question that stuck out for me was when she was asked if she had a magic wand and could grant everyone on thing in running what would that be. She talked about wishing that everyone could find that euphoric place while running where everything feels good and you feel like you could just go forever. She also talked about it being a prefect state where your aware of everything and have clarity.

For me that moment comes when I’m going fast. When I’m sprinting the world falls away. My mind goes blank and the only thing that exists is the track in front of me. And when I’m really going not even the whole track just my lane. And it feels like it can go on forever and I don’t want to stop. They were playing music loud enough that the whole track could hear and I only noticed when I stopped to eat. For me its a purely zen moment where nothing exists or matters except the track and going fast. Its that on the edge euphoria that Coach Larson is getting his runners to find in the book. And I missed it. I didn’t even realize how much I missed it until that night.

I also bumped into a guy wearing a Surprise Running Club shirt. I introduced myself and asked what is the Surprise Running Club and where do they meet. His response was priceless, “Surprise”. He then told me a little about the group that meeting in a couple different places in Surprise and what the workout are like along with the website that details the locations and types of workouts. The group is lead by coach Keith Rieger who is an accomplished runner who has qualified and ran in the Western States 100 Ultra, numerous Iron-man Triathlons and the Kona 5. He also is a knowledgeable, humble, and great guy. The rest of the SRC mirrors this friendliness and is very welcoming and encouraging. They describe themselves as a support group that is disguised as a running club. I felt completely at home with them from the start.

Between my current goal of a sub 24 minute 5K by the end of April, the reaffirmation that I need a group to push me and my rekindled love of speed I joined them for the circuit workout on Wednesday. It was amazing and completely kicked my butt. they organize into several groups woggers, runners and speedsters. For reasons I don’t fully understand I decided to try and keep up with the speedsters. There are some quick people in this group and I loved the workout of various speed\strength drills. I’m not sure I’ve worked that hard running since high school track.

On Monday they meet for interval runs, Wednesday is the circuit training and Friday is a trail run. I haven’t made a Friday yet since trails aren’t my focus right now but the Monday and Wednesday runs are fantastic, as tough as you make them on yourself and inspiring. Before each workout is the club cheer of “We not me, SRC” which I believe embodies the philosophy of the group is faster\stronger that the individual.

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Not to worry, I’m still running with the Embrace Your Pace group and they will forever be a big part of my running family. Now that soccer is over for the year I’m back at the Thursday Arrowhead loop runs.

Up next is the 1K Kilt Run on Friday and the Kiss me I’m Irish 4K on Saturday.

Until then…C-YA!

Accidental PRs and Running the Tangent

February 18, 2020March 10, 2020 runningwithnealLeave a comment

Last weekend I ran the Mesa 10K. This race is part of the Sprouts Mesa Marathon weekend and going into the race I was ready for it to really suck.

Not because of the race or the organization, but I didn’t think I was ready for it at all. To start with I haven’t trained for any kind of running race since mono in November. That’s mostly due to soccer season. Originally, this was to be the year of the 10K and when I signed up for it nearly a year ago I was still on track for that to happen. However, after the injuries and mono those plans changed, but this was still on my schedule. So, I decided to do it anyway.

Added to the lack of training I ran a very hard soccer day the night before. Lots of running and fast paced. Which is fun but exhausting and thanks to the overtime and PKs to decide a winner, a late night.

Coach V and I decided that Saturday morning in order to get to the race in time to catch the shuttle to the start line we needed to LEAVE the house by 4:15. Which meant getting up around 3:30 in order to have ourselves and the baby ready to go in time.

Well, we overslept, but just a little and we were out the door by 4:20. A little behind but recoverable. On the way there we discovered a section of I-10 that was closed and causing all the traffic to stop as everyone was trying to get off the highway. Now we were seriously behind and I was starting to worry about catching the shuttle to the start line. But, nothing we could do so I tried to think of other things. I got my nebulizer ready to do a breathing treatment using the AC outlet in the van only to discover that it draws more than the outlet can handle and won’t work.

“That’s OK”, I thought,” I’ve never used it before a race before and I still have my inhaler. Wait, were is my inhaler?” After a near frantic search of my race bag the compartments in the car and coach V’s purse I determined that I left it at home with no time to turn around.

“Well, I planned on taking it easy anyway.” I told Coach V who was trying to hide her concern. A sever asthmatic without his inhaler running is generally not a good idea. But, it wasn’t going to stop me.

After we parked, I got out of the van to discover it was a very chilly morning to be in a short sleeve shirt and my running kilt. As I walked over to stand in line for the shuttle I started visibly shivering. After what felt like forever, about 10 minutes, I got on the school bus that was being used for a shuttle. I haven’t been on a school bus since high school track and I remember having more leg room back then. The bus was slightly warmer and I stopped shivering. Although it was short lived. as soon as we got out of the bus I was cold again. I kept telling myself that once I start running I’ll be fine.

I milled around the start area with everyone else waiting for the race to start. Finally, they started playing the Start Spangled Banner. A cool thing they did was when it got to the line “and the rockets glare” they set off red fireworks. Which I thought was very cool although I wondered what the people in the neighborhood beside must think of these fireworks going off at 6:30 in the morning.

We lined up in a mob and got a 5 second countdown to the start. Ok, here we go. I started off at a light run but not looking at my watch. I now know it was about an 11 minute mile pace and slowly increased to around a 9:30. I was feeling pretty good.

My original plan before the late night and inhaler missing was to go light the first couple of miles, let the crowd stretch and thin out and then drop the hammer down from mile 2 though 5 and walk the last couple of miles in.

Coming up on mile marker 2 I decided to walk a little and do a quick system check. Lungs where fine, legs where feeling bouncy, I was smiling and having a good time, so why not. At the 2 mile marker I turned it on and went to about 9 minute miles. I went for about a half mile, took a .1 break and then went back at it. I kept that up for 3 miles, which was the goal. The 5K inside the 10K as I decided to call it was at about 30 minutes. Which I was pretty happy with. Another quick check, all systems good, so I kept the pattern up, running the last 2 miles in 9:19 and 10:17. I crossed the line at 1:02:38 and thought to myself, “Wow, that was kinda quick”. When I found coach V her coment was, “I thought you were going to go easy.”

The post race was great. The major sponsor of the Mesa Marathon is Sprouts Framers Market. For those who don’t know that is a grocery store specializing in natural and organic foods. They handed me a reusable grocery bag and then I went through the goodie line. By the time I was through it, I had califlower tortilla chips, squash pretzels, 3 different jerkies, and an assortment of other goodies overfilling my bag. Mesa 10K post race

Overall a great race and as I discovered later in the day a PR for the 10K distance by about 8 minutes. Which for not trying I thought was really good and I’m extremely happy with the result.

I also want to mention the Mesa Police that helped throughout the race blocking the roads and keeping us safe while we ran. I’ve done alot of races and I have never seen a friendlier group of officers helping with a race. From friendly waves as we ran past to full volume cheering us on it made the experience very enjoyable and really helped to know that not only where they their doing a job but fully engaged in the run. Kudos to you all and thank you for all that you do!

The race did present something that got me thinking. somewhere in the middle of the course you come around a corner and there is a massive sweeping curve to the right. What struck me was that there were 3 lanes on the road blocked off for the runners but everyone was hugging the left hand side or the outside of the curve.

In auto racing the drivers attempt to make the curves into as straight of lines as possible. Generally going into the curve high, kissing the apex and coming out high. This helps them to carry as much speed as possible through the curve. And for anyone who ran shorter distances in track, namely the 200 and 400, the reason that the start is staggered is to normalize the distance between the lanes. If they all started in a straight line the inside lane would go a shorter distance than the outside.

So, with that knowledge I veered away from the pack and headed for the apex to run the tangent. I got a ton of strange looks from all the people hugging the left curb like it was a cliff and it got me thinking.

Has it just been so ingrained in them from their training runs to stay to the left that they don’t think about it. Or is it that one of the first runners through stayed left and everyone else is just following the person in front of them even though the better path is right there. I think that far too often we get stuck in the way we have always done things or following the person in front of us for fear of going the wrong way. This is not an issue I’ve had and yes it has gotten me in trouble a few times. I once turned a 10K into a 13 mile run because I thought I knew where I was going. I took 40 people with me by the way. But generally, it has served me well. Leading me to new places and meeting interesting people who seem to be as crazy or crazier than I am. If I had followed the safe path I probably wouldn’t have started running at all.

So, If you remember nothing else from these posts remember: Run the Tangents!

Post race with Molly

Until next time,…C-YA!

Streaking and Inch-stones

February 11, 2020February 11, 2020 runningwithnealLeave a comment

Frozen Feet I’ve decided that this year I’m gone to try streaking. I’ve seen articles about it in magazines and I’ve heard others talking about how they can’t imagine not streaking once they started. What finally convinced me to give it a try is when my therapist, Yvonne, talked about it.
Wait…I’m talking about running or some type of aerobic activity every day. What were you thinking about?
Anyway, I’m talking about going out and doing some type of activity for at least 10 minutes every day. For me sometimes that is running, sometimes it’s walking, and this time of year a lot of the time it’s soccer. The point is that everyday I go out and do something. Now I know that this doesn’t seem like a whole lot since I go on a lot of runs, but I usually don’t do something athletic every day. So far, I’ve had a streak going since 12/31/2019… 28 days. Runner’s World encourages people every summer to streak for a month or two with the hope being that once you set the habit up it will continue past the challenge.
There are sites set up to help encourage run streaking like Run Bet. Similar to diet bet where you put a little money down on losing a certain amount of weight by percentage in a given amount of time. RunBet has you put some money down and you follow a prescribed by the challenge distance for a set amount of time. For instance, I signed up for one that starts mid-February and lasts 4 weeks. During that time, I have 5 runs of a varying distance that I have to do every week. The main caveat is that you can only log one run a day. At the end of the challenge all the money is divided up by the number of people who completed the challenge. Not something that you will make a bunch off of but it’s a fun little way to help motivate yourself to get out consistently. Marshmallow Mile

Along with starting a streak the local running store Tortoise and Hare Sports began the annual Frozen Feet challenge in association with Brooks. Which is a challenge to walk or run at least mile every day for 6 weeks. It needs to be a purposeful mile. Meaning that you can’t count just the general walking around that you do during the day, you need to go out with the intentional of completing a mile. Throughout the event they are holding some events such as a marshmallow mile. Think of a beer mile and just substitute the beer for marshmallows.

In line with the re-aligned 2020 goal of a 5K under 18 minutes. I’ve done 2 things. The first being I’ve started working with a nutrition coach. Jet, yes the same one who coaches me lifting, at Kilo Barbell Club is a certified nutrition coach through PN coaching. After talking with me about where I am and the ultimate goal of running significantly faster we decided that the main goal of the nutrition coaching should be to lose weight. The main thought being that I’m carrying too much extra weight that isn’t geared toward helping me run. Admittedly, I have gained a fair amount in the past year. When I started working with her on nutrition I was up to 200 lbs I’m now at 188. I’m not only changing what I eat but how I eat.

Second, I’ve broken the main goal down into sub goals. There is a basic tenant in engineering. If you have a problem that appears to be impossible to solve, break it down into smaller pieces until you have a problem you can solve. Solve that, then go on to the next, and then the next, and so on until the problem that was too big is solved. Another way to put it is the old line of: How do you eat an elephant? Which of course is properly answered as: One bite at a time.

So, I’m going to break the end goal into milestone and inch-stones. We use this system in my day job and I don’t know why it’s just occurring to me that I should apply this principle to my running. For the uninitiated milestones are the major accomplishments or tasks that need to be completed on the way to a goal or as I call it at work a deliverable. Inch-stones are a further breakdown of the milestone into even smaller accomplishments on the way to a milestone. We also use what I call mile markers, these are set point on a calendar used to measure where we are on our way to the milestones and to make any adjusts necessary in the inch-stones.

Ok, sorry, I became an engineer there for a second, hopefully I didn’t lose anyone. The way I see my running goals are as follows. The end goal is to qualify for Boston by 45. So that will be the “deliverable”. I believe that to achieve that goal I have the following milestone that I have to hit. I need a 5K under 18 by the end of 2020, a 10K under 40 by the end of 2021, a Half Marathon under 1:30 by the end of 2022, and then 2 years to increase that to the Full marathon under 3 hours.

So, for now let’s just look at the 5K milestone. My current 5K time is 29:57 set on Jan 11 this year. That will be the start point. My inch-stones then will be, April sub 24 minutes, June sub 22, August sub 20, October sub 19, December sub 18 with Mile Markers in March, July, September, and November. Year of the 5k Jan

Up 6086 tomorrow is the Mesa 10K. I know, I just spent all this time talking about 5Ks and I’m running a 10K. Originally this was going to be the 10K year that is until the injuries and mono. I signed up for this a year ago with a discount code. Here is my plan. I’m going to take the first mile easy. And by easy, I mean nearly walk. Then I’m going to run miles 2, 3, and 4 as if it was a 5k. Then just jog or maybe do intervals for the last couple of miles. (note: this was meant to be posted on Friday. I did well on the 10K but more on that later) Until then…C_YA!

New Shoes and 2019 Goals

January 2, 2020January 3, 2020 runningwithnealLeave a comment

Let me start by saying Mono sucks! But, I’ve got some other things to talk about before getting into that.

I got new shoes! And its a departure from my normal Sauconys. Enda Itens. Enda Sports is a company from Kenya. They got their start from a Kick-starter campaign and have been producing shoes for about 2 years. They build shoes with the philosophy that the big corporations have sold us on over complicated and over engineered running shoes. Basically, I like the philosophy of “Keep it Simple”.

I’ve now done numerous training runs and several races with them and I love them more every time I wear them. Generally, I forget that I’m wearing them, which is a very good thing. It means that they aren’t bothering me or causing any issues for me to become conscious of and I can focus on the other aspects of running. The other great thing about them is that, relatively speaking, they are cheap, about $100. Honestly, I can’t say enough about these shoes.

OK, enough gushing about shoes. The back half of the year was a rough one for me from a health and running perspective. I got a membership at Kilo Barbell Club and began lifting 3 days a week. I’m not a weight lifter and generally have no idea what I’m doing. Jet and Keven are very patient with teaching me how to lift properly and getting me to rest between sets. I had no idea that the rest between sets was so important.

Just as I was getting into the swing of lifting, I went to the doctor after having a sore throat for a week that I couldn’t shake and feeling exhausted to the point of not being able to get through my work day without taking a nap. Turns out, I somehow contracted the Epstein-Barr Virus better known as Mono. This was the beginning of October.

As I stated above, Mono sucks. I was exhausted all the time no matter how much I slept. My whole body was achy, I wasn’t allowed to do any exercise. No running, no biking, no lifting, nothing! It was brutal. To add some extra stress, I got a new manager on the first day I had to be out from this.

Luckily, I have a somewhat flexible job and was able to work from home as I was able most days and go into the office just a couple of times a week. Not ideal, but it was better than being out completely. Unfortunately, this came right as we where preparing to move across town and my daughter from Indiana was here for 3 weeks. Needless to say I was little to no help packing and Coach V should be nominated for sainthood.

Finally on Nov 13, 1 month, 2 weeks, and 1 day after my last run I tentatively went out for a short run. A slow 2 mile effort around my new neighborhood at a 10:37 average pace. It felt AMAZING!

Running Is My Therapy Still feeling a little hesitant to get back at it too fast, I started working full days at the office again and Thursday I joined the group for the Arrowhead loop run. The more I did the better I started feeling. This is when Coach V put forth the theory that I was no longer fighting mono but depression. Coincidentally, I was listening to an audiobook titled Running is my Therapy by Scott Douglas. And as I thought about it, I think she was right. I use running to help keep my mood level and the ADHD in check. It clears my head and helps me to stay focused throughout the day. In the book Mr. Douglas discusses studies that show the effects of running (aerobic activity) to be very similar to antidepressants. That is all well and good, but can be taken too far. I had become so dependent on running that when it was taken away I began to struggle.

In my profession we call this a single point failure. That means the entire operation can grind to a halt if one piece is removed. It is something to be avoided. When we find those we work to find ways around them as contingency plans. I have no contingency plan for running.

He also talked about a therapist in California that does something that they call running therapy. After a search in the Phoenix area I found a counselor, Yvonne Lewis from Creative Quiescence, that does running therapy.

The premise is to have a talk therapy session while on a light run. The thought is that it can be a little less intimidating to talk to someone when you are side by side and doing some other physical activity. If you go on group runs or have a training partner you probably talk about everything under the sun. Including some things that are very personal and you probably wouldn’t talk about if you were to just sit down with someone over coffee. This approach appealed to me since I get very uncomfortable talking about my feeling and emotions. As you have probably noticed I don’t mind telling stories.

I’ve been to 3 sessions with Yvonne and I feel like I’m getting a lot out of them. Generally the session starts in her studio with some talking about how things have been since the last session and how I’m feeling in general. Then we go outside and run or walk at a conversational pace. She has me focus on mindful running and listening to what my body is telling me. This is a small departure from me telling my body to be quiet and get moving. Although it turns out I was already practicing some mindful running without knowing it.

10492_6077274_enm967002334ram We talk about running and how I run or react to situations running or reffing and how that might be translating to other areas of life. She is very good at guiding my thoughts to come to realizations and insights. All in all, I like it and feel like this is helping my running and other areas of life. I know that therapy can be intimidating and mental health has become a hot topic, but it is important and getting help if you are struggling there is just as important as going to PT for a calf injury.

2019 is over and my goal accomplishment rate was 50%. In a previous post I talked about my goals and having high goals and low goals. I had 2 high goals for 2019.

Pay off my consumer debt, credit cards, car loans, etc. and 25% of my student loan.
Get my 5K time to sub 18.

And the Low goals of:

Pay off the consumer debt
5K under 20 minutes.

I’m happy to report that I knocked #1 out of the park. I have cleared the debt completely with the exception of my mortgage. So, put a big fat check on that one.

The fitness goal didn’t go so well. Not to make excuses but the baby coming in April, 2 injuries in May and June then Mono in October, these goals just were not in the cards for this year. And I’m OK with it. Basically, I’m just pushing the 5K goals out a year. That leads to the announcement of:

2020: The Year of the 5K!

There are a couple of steps that I have already started toward that end but I’ll go into more detail on those next time. Until then…C-YA!

Spartans, Swiss Days & New Goals

July 30, 2019September 13, 2019 runningwithnealLeave a comment

So, its been awhile. Life has a way of getting extremely busy especially during the summers. And add to that I wasn’t able to run the majority of June and I haven’t felt like writing much.

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I was able to do the Spartan Stadion Race. While I wasn’t able to do it as quickly as I would have liked I had a blast doing it. That was mostly do to having someone from to run it with. Dr. Ryan, my chiropractor, did the race with me and was a lot of fun to run with. I probably would have slacked off it I hadn’t been trying to keep up with him. Managed to cut 10 minutes off my time from last year and reinforced that I still don’t know how to climb a rope. One day I will conquer my nemesis the rope!

After the Spartan I started running a the 2 min on/off cycle and only for around 2 miles. Until the end of June when one of the guys, John, goaded me into running with him. We maintained an ok pace, around 10 minute miles but we ran for all 4 miles. Came to find out that he had already done several miles before the group got there and continued for a couple more after. But, it was what I needed.

John also encouraged me to come out to the bike rides as a way to build fitness. So, I thought lets give it another try. Attempt #3 went a lot better. I took the old Schwinn and met up with the group. and it didn’t go too bad. Although, the guys did tell me that I was fighting the weight of the all steel bike and that a newer little bike would be amazing things to both my comfort level and ability to keep up.

The weekend while at a used sports equipment shop I found an aluminum Cannondale from the 90’s. On the first test ride with no adjustments I knew that they guys where right. The Cannondale was so much easier to ride than my Schwinn. So we got it. John had a set of clip-less pedals that he wasn’t using and told me I could have them. I just needed to get cleats and shoes.

Being attached to your pedals is kinda interesting. I feel like it didn’t take as much effort to get the same power per stroke the trade off being when you stop you have to remember to un-clip. If you don’t you slowly fall over. I’m happy to report that I remembered to un-clip before I stopped every time. However, three quarters of the way through the ride after having stopped I forgot to push off and get moving before clipping my right foot back in and slowly fell over on my left. I’m told this is a right of passage that everyone goes through. I was just bruised and had a couple of scraps so I was able to continue. And I dare say that I actually had fun.

I have now purchased a bike jersey and shorts to go along with my shoes. And since the group usually rides on Wednesday’s the jersey is hot pink and the shorts match. Why? Because on Wednesday’s we wear pink!

At the end of July I ran in the Swiss Days 5K with several of my cousins and brother. I knew that there was no way i could stay with my speedster cousins having only been back to running for 3 weeks but I still wanted to put up a decent time. My family did very well. I got 18th in my age group with a time of 28:46. Given that I’m still rebuilding from the injuries to my foot and calf I’m pretty happy.

received_2082643498696906 On the way home from the great Indiana road trip we stopped for the night in Albuquerque, NM and I found a great little 5K to run. The Rudi Cancer 5K. This is an annual run to benefit cancer research in honor of Kevin Rudi. Compared to a lot of the runs I do this was very small. About 60 people, mostly family and friends of the Rudi family. His mom came and introduced herself to us and was extremely friendly. Even though most of the field already knew each other they were all very welcoming. It was one of the most challenging 5k courses I’ve encountered. The entire first mile was uphill, the second was downhill and then back up for the third. It was brutal, but a lot of fun.

It has got me re-evaluating my goals for the year. Between injuries, newborn, work, and we are trying to sell our house and find a new one, I’m not sure that my goal of sub-18 5K is reasonable. I just don’t have the time to train without sacrificing time with my growing family. So, this year my revised goal is to get my 5K under 24 minutes. But, don’t think that I’ve given up on my quest for a sub 18, its just going to move to 2020. All the rest of the goals will then push back 1 year. So it will look like this:

received_476802426218927-1 2019 5K under 24 minutes
2020 5K under 18 minutes
2021 10K under 40 minutes
2023 13.1 miles under 90 minutes
2025 26.2 miles Under 180 minutes

Due to the longer distances involved I’m going to give myself 2 years for both the half and full marathons.

There is SO MUCH more that has happened since the last post but that will have to wait for another time.

Until then…C-ya!

More Injuries and Addiction

June 3, 2019 runningwithnealLeave a comment

I’ve been reading a lot of books on running and the personal stories of various runners. They have been written by various levels of runners, although they are all faster

and perhaps more serious than I am. From the instructional 80/20 Running by Matt Fitzgerald and Endure by Alex Hutchinson to the historic Born to Run and Natural Born Heros by Christopher McDougall to the inspirational North by Scott Jurek, and Let Your Mind Run by Deena Kastor, and the combination of inspiration and instruction of Run Forever by Amby Burfoot. Then my personal favorite, the humorous and inspirational The Incomplete Book of Running by the host of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Peter Sagal. peter-sagal-the-incomplete-book-of-running

All these books have had some great advice and given me things to think about on my own running journey. While I’ll never be going for an FKT on the Appalachian Trail, or any other trail for that matter, or competing for a chance to podium on an international race. I’m still extremely surprised when I get a podium in local 5ks and that is usually because they are small races. It has made me realize that every runner, regardless of level, has a story. Whether it is a health scare, overcoming addiction, therapy, or any other host of reasons, we all have something that got us started.

But, for all the host of reasons that we get started we all seem to have one thing in common, other than running of course. The year that no matter what we did we were plagued by injury. Sometimes it’s not a whole year, sometimes it’s longer. For some of us it signals an end to running, some come back even stronger. Almost all of us realize what running means to us and reflect on what running has brought us, especially those who have been doing it for a long time. I mean what else do we have to do but think about running while we aren’t able to.

All my life I’ve battled things that, according to most, should have stopped me from running. Inflamed growth plates in my heals, the flattest feet known to man, knee problems, a list of injuries three pages long. I was told during my junior year of high school track by a doctor that I should stop running forever due to a back problem. And last but not least, asthma. And not just the mild variety. As a kid I was as bad as they get. I could only play outside for a couple hours a day at one point because I couldn’t be out in the pollen for longer than that without my lungs seizing up.

I actually think that the asthma and back issues are what have driven me to continue running for as long as I have. And even with all the of injuries, most of which came through my own stupidity and lack of self-preservation, I’ve always recovered and carried on. They have never strung themselves together in any way that would keep me down for more than 3 weeks.

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Unfortunately, I’m not as young and able to heal as I once was. I talked in my last post about having plantar fasciitis for the second time in my right foot. That stopped me from running completely for 3 weeks and then, at the advice of my physical therapist Charlie, a very slow return. I’m very happy to report that my right foot feels amazing. It’s not completely recovered as I still feel a little fatigue toward the end of 3 mile efforts, but it is less each time out. I have been using a walk run method again suggested by Charlie of 2 min on and 2 min off. This has been extremely effective and I’m maintaining an average around 11 minutes per mile. Given that I walk for a good portion of the run is pretty good. It’s also further pointed out that I have no sense of pace. Some of the runs are well under 8 min/mile and some are around 9:30. And it’s not that the first run cycles are really fast and then they slow down. They seem to be random.

donut-1024x1024 About a week ago I went to Tortoise and Hare for the monthly donut run. I was having a really good run. I was even gaining on one of the faster runners when it felt like someone stabbed me in the calf. Luckily, it was at the end of a run cycle, so I stopped and tried to stretch it on the curb, then walk it off. However, at the next run cycle it was back within a few steps. Did I stop and head back? Hell NO! I adjusted my foot strike to land on my heel and that seemed to help. So, I soldiered on, albeit a little slower. It also felt super awkward. I finished my three miles with a noticeable limp. Later that day, I found myself in my in-law’s pool swimming laps with a 4 and 6-year-old taking turns riding on my back. Nothing like swimming with a moving 40 lbs weight on your back.

Over the next couple of days there was a dull nagging pain, so I decided that I should rest it and took 5 days off until the Thursday Arrowhead loop. Which come to think of it is where the plantar started. Hmmm…

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Anyway, I was glad to be back running and Coach V even came with Molly in a carrier to walk while we all ran. I intended to take the 3-mile cut of the 4-mile loop, but during the first 2 min run something stabbed my calf again, but this time the pain was more intense. I walked the rest of that run cycle and the next trying to stretch as I was walking. I also decided to turn around at the mile mark and head back. A smarter person would have turned around right away, but I’m not too bright when it comes to injuries.

The new part is that I noticed some bruising around where the pain was. Since no good can come of that I called Charlie and will get it looked at tonight. I fear that he is going to tell me to lay off running for a few weeks again.

The issue is that it’s going to start getting difficult to be built back up for the Swiss Days race and the speed I would like to do that in if I can’t get back to training soon. In the meantime, I now have a carrier for my bike, so I can join the group for rides to try to keep\rebuild my fitness.

Coach V and I have been talking about addiction recently. This have been mostly due to helping a friend who realized that she had a problem and has decided to get some help. Meaning she must move across country. So, we helped her sort through, pack and load her stuff into a U-Haul for the move. We have also talked about the number of endurance runners who have had similar type problems in their lives and how running, in some cases extremely long distances, have helped them manage the addiction and overcome it. There was an interview once where Robert Downy Jr. claimed that he simply replaced one addiction, namely drugs, with another, going to the gym. He apparently will go workout 2 to 3 times a day, sometimes more. Maybe that’s what those runners are doing. Maybe that is kind of what I’m doing. I’ve had a couple of issues in the past. Poker being one of them. I nearly failed out of Purdue because I was playing so much. I never viewed it as an addiction because I was able to decide to quit playing one day. After a letter from Purdue stating that if I didn’t get my grades up they would kick me out and meeting a girl that told me she wouldn’t be interested in someone who failed out of school, I just stopped and didn’t play again for 3 years. And I’ve never played with the frequency or stakes that I used to.

A couple of other things developed after poker that I’m not quite ready to go into on a forum that is as public as this, but there were things that replaced poker. I never thought of them as an addiction, but they could be. I never got involved with any kind of drugs. Not for lack of opportunity, just never interested me. Coach V has suggested that perhaps running is an addiction I have. According to her I get irritable, moody, and jittery if I haven’t run in a few days. I don’t think that I’ve taken it to an unhealthy level, but it does explain some things.

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It might be somewhat telling that I’m not scheduled in a road race until the end of July and its driving me a little nuts. I’m scheduled to do a Spartan Stadium Sprint at the Arizona Cardinals Stadium in a couple of weeks with my Chiropractor,

so maybe that will take the edge off a little.

Until then…C-YA!

Injuries and Cautiousness

May 13, 2019May 13, 2019 runningwithnealLeave a comment

Being injured sucks.

Now, I’m sure that seems like an obvious statement but there it is. I’ve been down for almost 3 weeks now with plantar fascitis.

It happened on an unscheduled Monday morning run around the Arrowhead Loop with Jon and Courtney. Sunday Courtney posted on the FB group that they were in town and asked if anyone wanted to join them for a run Monday at 5:30 am. I jumped at the chance to run with them because I hadn’t seen them in awhile.

I was the only person, other than Jon and Courtney, to show up. We started out fairly slow about a 10:30 pace the second mile sped up a little to around a 10 minute pace. At that point Courtney told Jon and I to take off and not worry about staying with her. So, Jon and I took off and went down to a 9:20 pace.

It was in this third mile and chatting with Jon that this run had a shot at negative splits. I’ve never done negative splits on any run of any distance. I was pretty excited by the prospect. So, as we crossed the 3 mile point Jon kicked it up a notch and I went with him.

Jon does a fantastic job of pushing without getting annoying about it. We were cruising along just a little under 9 minute mile pace and I started feeling a twinge in my foot just in front of the heel. Normally I would have stopped and walked a little to feel out what was going on but the prospect of being so close to negative splits for a 4 mile run I pushed on. With about a quarter mile left it was starting to hurt and I changed my gait a little to try to relieve the pain without slowing down. By the time I finished I could barely walk. BUT we got the negative splits finishing the last mile in 9 minutes!

I haven’t been able to run for about a month. I could barely walk the first week and decided that I should get some help with this. Not so much to get through the acute phase but to figure out why it’s happening and prevent the next time.

Cadence-PT-and-PERF-BlueLetters1500x500 So, I decided to set an appointment with Charlie Boeyink at Cadence Physical Therapy. Charlie is a runner and often comes on runs with the EYPAZ group and Tortoise and Hare Running store. I decided that this would be a good idea since he is a runner, so he has a better understanding of the stresses of running and the mechanics involved. Not to mention the mentality of an endurance runner. Namely that we are nuts and go insane when we can’t run.

Charlie has a little different approach to PT than a lot of the other physical therapists that I’ve been to. He doesn’t like the model of seeing the therapist for just a couple of minutes and then getting handed off to a technician who, for the most part, watches you do exercises that you do at home. He is very hands on and looks at more than just the injury to what may have contributed to the injury happening in the first place.

He has also introduced me to a new technique. It involves dry needling and, just to up the game a little, he hooked a TENS unit to two of the needles and started running electricity through it. Dry needling is odd enough on its own and I’ve had that done before, but adding electricity to it is, um….interesting. And I liked it! I liked it a lot actually.

It also seems to have gotten good results. After 3 weeks, I’ve been able to get back to running. Albeit I’m taking it slow and easing back into it, but last Thursday I ran about 2 miles. At Charlie’s advice I ran 2 minutes then walked a minute with very minimal pain. Actually I wouldn’t call it pain as much as mild discomfort, closer to fatigue than pain.

Saturday morning I ran in the Tortoise and Hare Sports 4 mile Ice Cream Run. For this run I did a 2 minute on and 2 minute recovery cycle. This worked very well. Although my pacing on the run portions is all over the place. the first two cycles were 7:52 and 7:47 respectively. Then a couple of 8:30ish, a 8:09, a 9:45 and the last one was 6:04. I have got to find some consistency. Of course this is a similar problem to what I’ve always had. I have no concept of pacing. That is something to work on as I re-train from this injury.

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The next real race that I’m signed up for is the Swiss Days race at the end of July back in Indiana. I’m hoping that I can be recovered from this injury and able to average 7 minute miles for that race. It would be a return to my high school times in a race that I ran several times when I was in high school. I also will be running with my cousins, as it’s our annual Steiner Gathering.

Berne-Swiss-Days This means that my extremely fast cousin Brad will be there. He mentioned recently coming out of retirement from competitive racing to do one more 5K at speed. He is a sub 18 running and may be even faster than that. My goal is going to be to hang on to him for as long as I can and see if he can pull me into a sub 20.

Currently, I don’t know when my next run is going to be. I’m under orders to report back how the 4 mile run went and wait for instructions. In the mean time I’m going to install a hitch on my car and try to find a used bike carrier.

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Until next time…C-YA!

Timing and New Arrivals

April 29, 2019May 13, 2019 runningwithnealLeave a comment

4267_1554572271183 They say that half of everything is timing. They also say that hindsight is 20/20. With that in mind looking back at the first part of the year this wasn’t a good time to start an aggressive training program for a couple of reasons.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I did a lot of soccer reffing at the beginning of the year. and it extended longer into the year than expected. I tried to start 5K speed training at the same time. I know know that this was less than ideal. I had to skip a lot of training runs to work soccer games and they aren’t quite as equivalent as I hoped. That was mistake #1. I think it actually lead to more mental aspect of running fast than fitness problems.

Once the seemingly never ending soccer season finally ended I was able to get down to the business of training and following the plan that Coach Corrie had laid out for me. It went very well for about a month. I was fairly certain that I was going to die during a few of the sprint workouts. Had what was probably the worst asthma attacks I’ve suffered in the past decade. red-card

The workout was repeat 400s and I only had to do 5. I was actually really excited for this workout even though my search for a track to do it on had failed. 400 was MY race in high school. I know how to run a quarter mile, or so I thought. I found a quarter mile loop in my neighborhood. Laced up the flats and set out on a short warm up to the loop. Coach V even came with to help time them. Temp was good but windy, I mean seriously windy. But I ran track in all kinds of weather. As my middle school coach, Coach Smith, would say, “We are an ALL weather track team.” besides when you are running a loop you have the wind at your back the same amount as its in your face.

We had previously worked out that i would need to run just under 1:30 400s to equal my goal race pace. and my thought was “no problem” I used to be able to go sub 50 seconds. Turns out that was 20+ years ago and a few things have changed. Namely about 70 pounds.

Lap 1:

The first one wasn’t bad came through at 1:23. The main concern I had is that it took all I had to pull that off. I was only suppose to rest for a minute before round 2. I stalled and waited 2 before I felt like my heart wasn’t going to explode.

Lap 2:

This one was somewhat predictably slower. 1:48 I was finishing into a headwind and it was taking a toll. Again waited 2 minutes and went again

Lap 3:

About half way though I was struggling mentally to keep going and walked a couple of steps before turning back into that merciless headwind. The I waited 3 minutes and noticed that coach V was concerned. It had taken me 2:30 to make that lap. And I was apparently starting to look pretty rough. I was losing control of my breathing. Which isn’t good for anyone but is of particular concern for an asthmatic. But did I stop. No, I’m just not built that way.

Lap 4:

I was completely mentally out of this workout at this point. I was beating myself up for taking so long on lap 3. I lost complete control of my breathing and then turned into the wind. A headwind feels like its sucking the air out of your lungs and doesn’t let you replace it faster enough. This greatly amplified the sever asthma attack that was continuing to get worse with each step. 1:52 Ok that was faster but I knew that I was paying for it. I waited about 5 minutes for try to regain my composure and not throw up as soon as I took another step. Coach V suggested calling it a day and reluctantly I agreed. I knew that once I stopped the asthma attack would get worse but I had to get out of this wind if there was hope of controling it.

So we walked home. She tried reassuring me that I did a great job on a very difficult workout made more difficult by the conditions. But frankly, I was pissed off at myself. For being so slow, for walking in a 400 m run, for letting Coach V and coach corrie down. And for letting an asthma attack get so out of control before I started taking it seriously. It took almost 3 hours of constant use of my rescue inhaler and meditation, I may talk about that in a subsequent post, to get to get a handle on it. In hindsight I should have gone to a hospital for it. It took another 3 days before I felt like I was breathing normally again

While I’m still not happy about that day but I know that one bad session does not have to invalidate a program or progress. I was still improving and more importantly having fun.

I felt like I was getting faster, too. During the group runs I was hanging with some of the faster packs, and occasionally leading.

This is where you might expect me to say something along the lines of , “And then disaster struck”. And as cool as that would be to say, it wouldn’t be true. Other parts of my life simply started to take over.

I believe I’ve mentioned before that coach V and I where expecting our 4th addition to the family. This coincided with the last month of the training. The last month of the pregnancy was exhausting for me, so I can’t imagine what is was like for coach V who stayed at her day job up until the day before baby Molly’s arrival. She wasn’t sleeping well do to being so uncomfortable, which meant I wasn’t sleeping well since i’m a pretty light sleeper. I also tried to pick up as many of the household tasks as I could to take some burden off her. So running just moved down the priority list.

The latest addition to the running support crew arrived on April 2 at 8:24 am. 6lbs 8 oz and 19 inches long, easily the biggest coach V has had to date. Coach V made the whole thing look easy. Completely natural birth, no complications at all and we where out of the hospital the next morning in time to get lunch. 20190402_100852

Molly is now nearly a month old and we are still trying to re-establish routines and find the new norm for the house. The biggest challenge is Molly wants to eat constantly. I mean this kid is definitely mine she has my ability to eat anytime regardless of how long its been since she last ate. This isn’t the first go around with a baby for me or coach V and this impressive.

So, I think its safe to say that I’ve been a little distracted recently.

There is still time this year to work on my sub 18 5k goal and I haven’t lost hope. I have speed in this body somewhere. I just need to find it again.

I am struggling with staying focused during races. I’ve been running 5ks like I used to run the 400m dash. Go out fast and try to hang on. Its how I ran in high school cross country too. The issue seems to be that after about the 1.5 mile mark my brain starts screaming at me to stop and walk a couple of steps. The main problem is that once you stop and start to walk, even if its just a little bit, its hard to start back up. It also starts a cycle of wanting to stop more frequently. I know this is all part of the mental game and that my body can easily handle running 3 miles, but I don’t know how to get past this mental hurdle.

I recently ran in the Scottsdale Run the Runway. Coach V and Molly came to support me 4 days after she was born.

Talk about a flat course. Basically you start in the middle of the airport on a taxiway. Run to the end turn left to get on the runway. Go the length of the runway. Turn left back to the Taxiway and run back to where you started.

4275_1554572287538 Before the race I bumped into one of the guys from the Embrace your Pace Group and decided to try to stay with him. I did alright for the first half. it was a rolling start so there was alot of dodging slower runners and strollers at the beginning. Aaron is a big believer in negative splits, which is kinda the opposite approach I’ve always used. However, with someone there who I know that I can stay with during the group runs I thought I would give it a try.

I made 2 errors.

Error number 1, we had just had a kid 4 days ago. I was exhausted. Turns out that birth is taxing even for the dad, although I’m sure its to a lesser degree than the mom.

Error number 2

This is kind of 2 errors in one. I had only been on 1 run in the previous 2 weeks. and that lead to the second part of the error. I kinda have 2 modes, going hard and seriously laid back. I have no concept of internal pacing. During the group runs I push myself to stay with people. Aaron has more pace disciple than I do and uses the group runs as “easy” run. So, my pushing after a month of intense training can stay with Aaron’s easy to moderate run. His race pace is..um..faster. Had I stayed with the training through to the race I may have had a shot of staying with him. After 2 weeks of nearly nothing I feel lucky to have stayed with him as long as I did.

It was really cool to see him at the end of the race cheering me to the finish. He did mention that the strength of my finishing kick was an inspiring thing to watch. Admittedly I can drop the hammer down when I need to, just not for very long.

But my kick is part of what frustrates me so much. I can get down under 5:30 pace during the kick to the finish. So to me that says that I’ve got the foot turnover and power to go fast. I’m just not sure if I don’t have the endurance or my brain doesn’t think I have the endurance to go that fast for 3 miles.

My high school coach always thought that I was subconsciously holding on to too much reserve. I think it it has more to do with going too fast at the start, and slowing down to a recharge pace in the middle. So, next race I’m going to try for a negative split. Its time to stop thinking like a sprinter and think like an endurance runner.

Until next time…C-YA!

Catch up and Coaching

March 11, 2019 runningwithnealLeave a comment

Run 3-6-19

So, it’s been awhile. About 2 months actually. And boy does it seem like it’s been a non-stop couple of months. I keep thinking that I need to write a new post and then I get distracted with something. Ok, mostly soccer.

January and February are pretty busy times if you are a soccer official in AZ. I was working 4-5 nights a week and nearly every one of them was 2 games. Then just when I thought the season was over I got pulled into the post season tournament. I was surprised mostly because of a rule that you have to have been reffing in AZ for 3 years before your eligible. However, the AZ association, AIA, talked to the Indiana association, IHSAA, and they confirmed that I’ve been a ref for nearly 10 years and have been working their post season tournament for the past 5.

So, I worked the first round of the tournament and I thought that would be it. I even put my AIA jersey away for the year. Then I got a call that they wanted me to work the boy’s quarterfinal.

Then came the tournaments. Over the course of 2 weekends I worked 17 fairly high level games. It was a lot of fun but SO exhausting. I also had a chance to talk with some higher rated officials who gave me some good advice on things to work on.

Bridging Soles

While all this was going on I started working with a running coach Corrie VanKampen and her coaching company Bridging Soles (https://www.bridgingsoles.com/). After an initial conversation with her about where I currently am and reviewing my goals she developed a 12-week plan. She agrees that the goal of an 18 minute 5K in 2019 is aggressive but is doable. The basics of the plan is a lot of slow (conversation pace) running with some speed work sprinkled in.

I love having a coach again. I say again but I haven’t had one since high school. It’s great having someone to give encouragement and let you know that you are doing well and on a good path. We talk either by phone or Skype once a week. I have a tendency to be my own worst critic and am very hard on myself when I don’t hit the times that I’m supposed to on training runs. Coach Corrie has been great at telling me that I’m doing well and developing more speed at a good rate.

Spring training

Which brings me to what Coach Corrie is calling my first practice 5K, the Spring Training 5K held in Surprise, AZ. (Side note: this is my favorite name for a city. I yell ‘Surprise!’ in the car every time that we go by the city limit sign.)

So…. Back to the run. This was an evening run on a Friday night. It was possibly the flattest course I’ve ever ran. Officially there was 29 ft of elevation change. I’m pretty sure that the step off the curb was the largest change that I noticed. It started and stopped on the concourse of the KC Royals and Texas Rangers spring training Ballpark. It was a lot of fun finishing there under the lights. I also ran, pun intended, into a very energetic running from my home state of Indiana. She’s was actually shocked when I told her I knew where Kokomo was and that I had been there! And in case anyone was wondering the Beach Boys song is not about Kokomo, Indiana. If you go there with that expectation you will be disappointed.

If I’m honest I was a little disappointed with my time. 28:08. I think a couple of things worked against me. It was a night race. Which means that I was already tired from the day both mentally and physically. My day job, I’m an engineer, has become a lot more demanding in the last couple of months. Which is a good thing as I was starting to get a little bored, but it’s part of the reason I haven’t written as much on here.

I need to get in more miles. Coach was letting me get away with using my reffing in place of long runs on the weekends. I don’t like to do training runs on days I ref. If I were to run before the games, then it’s not really fair to the kids playing to have a ref that is already tired. If any of you have seen me after reffing all day you know that I’m in NO SHAPE AT ALL to run. Not so much that I couldn’t physically do it although there would be hard from that aspect. After a couple of games, I’m so mentally drained I can’t always decide what to eat after the games. Reffing is very mentally tasking on top of the physical effort. While it’s not a bad replacement I don’t think that its retraining my brain to think of a 5k as “a quick little jaunt through the park”. I seem to have 3 speeds. Walk, sprint and long distance run. I need to find another gear in between sprint and my current marathon pace.

I need to load new music on my watch. I’m had the same very short playlist on my watch since last St Patrick’s Day. While I still like the songs I need something else it’s become too predictable. Last year once the runs/races got long I started carrying my phone and listened to tunes through Pandora or Amazon Prime so the playlist was always changing. However, since the races only last about a half hour and I want them to only be able 20 minutes I’m not taking my phone anymore.

Last week on the advice of Coach Corrie I subbed out the prescribed speed work to see how fast I could burn a mile. In my opinion it was not fast. I did one mile, waited about 10 minutes to recover and then did another. Mile one was 7:42 and mile 2 was 8:40. Again this was done at the end of the day (you would think I would know better) and in the second mile I started having some pain in my calf that radiated up into my knee. Similar to the pain I had last fall.

I did learn several things during the runs. First and foremost, I need to start doing the exercises that I was given for my calves last fall. Second, my brain is a noisy place in the evenings. Which is why I need to go back to more before work running.

The third is a little more difficult. I found myself looking at my watch to see how far was left and thought “oh no, I’m only half way.” Which seems ridiculous for someone who only a couple of months ago ran 26. This got me to thinking I thought the same thing during the 5K at the 1.5 mark. The main problem with it is that it completely demotivated me and made the last half mile a struggle. I instantly started feeling every ache and pain. I actually thought I can’t do this at one point. Yet last week I ran with the group on Thursday and barely noticed when we had gone 3 miles.

There is a mental game to running and I’m struggling with it right now. I think the answer is to just run more. Or follow the plan at least.

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This week I’ll be joining the Embrace your Pace group on Tuesday for the Rio Loop and Thursday for the Arrowhead loop. Speed work on Wednesday and I’m not sure about my weekend running plans yet. Until then…C-Ya!