3 x Broken 1.5 Mile Repeats

Goal:
3x1.5M with each 800m at a different pace @ 254, 300-307, 240-245 with 3:00 rest.  Option to do one mile of 30s on / off if I feel good

Actual:
2.7 mile warmup
3 x 1.5 mile with 3 min rest for 5.3 miles in 31:12 minutes for 5:53 pace
2:51, 2:57, 2:37 (3:02 for .4 mile of rest)
2:45, 2:59, 2:39 (3:04 for .4 mile of rest)
2:44, 2:58, 2:36
4.4 mile cool down in 34:00

This workout was awesome! It was really fun to break the 1.5 mile into 3 different segments with different target paces.  It also helped tremendously that at 530AM Laurie, Aaron and Eric joined me.  We did this on the 2 mile speed loop but went on the turnaround at Park Road so we didn't have to do a sharp turn on the faster 800m. This worked out perfectly as the jog back to the start was about 3 minutes exactly. 

We took out the pace too fast on the first 800m and Eric stated frankly after 400m this fact.  Aaron said "okay."  We continued on our way.  I was feeling good and it appeared Laurie was too so I didn't really want to hold back any and I vowed I would hit the same paces (or roughly around them) for the remainder of the workout.  On the last set, Aaron took off with just 400m to go and I already knew we were rather quick. Although I finished last by a couple of meters, I felt really pleased with what I had accomplished.  Granted, it wasn't many miles of work because the focus is on my big workout on Saturday, but these paces were fairly easy to hit.  

I think the average pace without the rest for the 4.5 miles of intervals was 5:34, which is exactly what I ran in the 8k this past weekend.

At this point in my training cycle, I feel like things are just really falling into place. It's nice to be able to run 5:53 pace with 3:00 jog rest for over 5 miles and not feel like it was anything crazy. I felt really strong out there today and knew that even if we went out a little fast in the first 800m that I would be able to run just as fast for the remaining 2 intervals.   Now I just hope I can do the same on Saturday.

2x5 Miles on Sugar Creek

Goal:
15-ish miles with 2x5 miles @  (1st set) 6:05-6:13 and (2nd set) either same as 1st set or as fast as 5:58-6:03 average

Actual:
2.2 mile warmup in 23 min
2x5 Mile @ 30:32 - 615, 607, 610, 558, 602 (1 mile jog rest @ 7:30) and 29:51 - 601, 558, 602, 602, 548
2.5 mile cool down for 15.7 miles total

I finally turned on the heat in my house last night.  This makes it extremely difficult to get out of bed in the morning, even if I went to sleep at 8:30PM last night.  I woke up at 5:05AM to get in this workout with Laurie and Aaron, starting at the Dilworth Speed Loop and heading down towards the Sugar Creek Greenway.  With 8+ hours of sleep, I was hoping that my legs would feel pretty darn awesome this morning.  While I hit my times prescribed and even closed my last mile as the fastest of the day, the first part of the workout didn't feel easy. 

I was very grateful for the company from Aaron and Laurie.  For the first set, we all talked the whole time and I didn't notice the cold much.  Laurie and I both commented on how relaxed Aaron looked during the hard miles.  He just ran a marathon three weeks ago and has bounced back quickly.  After the first set, both Laurie and I commented that the 6:00s we were running really felt like 5:50.  It could very well have been the combination of the half last week, the cold and the dark that made us feel like poo.  Instead of taking the 800m rest, I grabbed a quick swig of water and then ran a slow mile for the recovery.

We began our assault on the last set with Aaron leading the charge again.  Laurie headed back home after 2 miles, so I was left with Aaron.  The temperatures seemed to drop at least five degrees during the second set and my entire lower half of my face was numb. I felt absolutely ridiculous because I could not enunciate my words, which effectively stopped any and all conversation.  Admittedly, I was pretty happy I didn't have to talk any more because it didn't feel easy.  I stopped looking at my splits during this half because I realized that Aaron was doing most of the work for me, so I could just trust him to help me hit the times.  On the last mile, he made 5-10M gap on me, but I didn't really try to close it because I felt that we were already faster than what I should be at. 

I'm obviously very pleased with hitting my goal time splits, but I can tell that I'm getting to that point in my training cycle where my body is ready for the marathon to come.  This is a great sign, because I think that I am going to peak at exactly the right time.  With a couple weeks of taper and in a competitive setting, I will be primed and ready!

Workout Fail

Goal:
2x3 Mile at GHMP

Actual:
10x1 Min on/off at McAlpine

"Why do you always plan big workouts after vacation?  They never end well!"

That's exactly what Aaron practically spat out to me as he joined Laurie and I as we finished our adjusted workout of minuters.  And he was exactly right.  He also added that I never learn.  Maybe it's just that I am an overachiever and hope that each time it will go well.  Well, it didn't. 

Upon my return from California, I struggled to wake up in the morning and the humid air seemed like a shock to my system.  I, along with other Charlotteans, am probably adjusting to the full onset of summer weather that has arrived.  It's hot, humid and sticky.  Beads of sweat form all over my body and drip continuously down when I run; that's how I know it's summer.  All of that being said, the workout probably should have just been scrapped, but we decided to do minuters instead and to put all of our marbles in the bag for a hard long run Saturday.  This plan has worked for me in the past, and I just have to trust that all of my hard long runs since March will give me what it takes to run sub 5:55 at the USA Half Marathon Champs in 3.5 weeks.

Injury Free, Hit by an SUV

Tuesday was just like any other Tuesday. I went for a run in the morning, went to work, and came home to catch a run with Aaron before his 800m workout on the Dilworth Speed Loop. Aaron stopped and soon we left my house to start our run. We hadn't even run but 5 feet when the scariest 5 seconds of my life were about to take place. From the title, you can tell I was hit by an SUV. I know that is an extreme statement and you might be wondering how I could have walked away without a scratch on me. Let me explain.

At Seventh and McDowell, Aaron and I had the crosswalk signal indicating that we had the right of way to cross the street. Out of habit, we looked both ways and did not see any cars coming. We got about halfway through McDowell Street when suddenly I heard Aaron screaming. I looked up and I saw an SUV (think Yukon) coming straight towards me. Now that it's after the fact, Aaron told me that the reason why I heard him coming is because the driver was taking the left turn too fast and his tires were screeching.

I only had a matter of two seconds to consider my options before the SUV was going to hit me. In those few seconds, I realized that this car was going at least 20 mph, heading right towards me, and that he had not even started braking yet. In fact, the moment that I noticed him is the same moment that he noticed me, so he had about 3 seconds to brake even though he was about 10 meters from me. In my head, I knew that he was going to hit me no matter what and I calculated that if i kept going straight in the cross walk, that it would give him less time to brake, and therefore hit me while going at a faster speed. So, I decided it would be best to run sideways, in the direction away from the SUV coming at me. That decision alone allowed for me to still get hit by his front bumper, but with less impact. So, if you picture me running sideways, I was eventually hit by the front bumper in my left hip, thrown about five steps in front of the car. Somehow I just stumbled and never actually fell.

After I was shoved by the force of his car, I came to a stop and I pulled up my shorts, expecting blood or a bone protruding from my skin. Miraculously, there was nothing. Not a bruise, not a speck of blood, not a scratch. The whole time this was happening, Aaron was watching and screaming because the car was going so fast that Aaron had already decided that he was going to watch me get hit and thrown onto the asphalt and then have to take me to the ER. To make matters more complicated, the SUV driver never rolled down his window or opened his door to see if I was okay. Once I got out of the road, he drove off.

Like real runners do, Aaron and I continued on our run, but Aaron filled the silence by updating me on what's going on in his life because at that point, I was too flustered to make a logical sentence.

So, my running friends, I share this story with you for you to know that although by law pedestrians have the right of way in the cross walk, you really don't have that right of way until it's too late - when you are in court suing someone for violating that rule, with a broken leg or worse. Be cautious when you cross the street and be especially careful when you have your ipod on because you won't hear that car screeching towards you.

OrthoCarolina 10k Race Recap

My mom got in a bike accident and fractured her shoulder, so she's got lots of time to read my blog. She asked that I update my blog since she is bedridden and this is the one thing I can do to make her feel better while her shoulder aches.

Today I laced up my (fairly) new Nike Pegasus to toe the line at the inaugural OrthoCarolina Classic 10k Race. In the early morning hour of 645, I met up with Aaron and Jay to pick up our packets and to warm up through the first 1.5 miles of the course. We picked up Allen Strickland and it was nice to have him join us for the easy jog throughout the streets of Elizabeth.

Once we got back, we found an entourage of CRC running fans. If you want a testament of the camaraderie that the Charlotte Running Club exhibits, then check out this list of people who came out to support the members racing: Billy Shue, Jason Martin, Mark Hadley +2, Alice Rogers, Adrian Stewart, Justin Breland, Lauren Robbins, and Jay’s Dad. If you count correctly, you’ll see that ten people woke up to cheer us all on. Pretty impressive stuff.

After we said our thanks, we all parted to our vehicles to pin our race bibs, to attach our D-tags, and to take that last swig of water. With the expectations that the race was starting at 745am, we meandered over to the poorly marked start line and waited….and waited…and waited until almost 8am when a strong police man got out of his undercover car, walked up to the starter and said “You are starting this race now.” Apparently they were waiting to get the timing equipment from the finish of the 5k race, but with the cop’s orders we took off without that equipment.

I went out in a casual clip, situated behind Alejandro, with Jay and Aaron pulling away as they took off with some Queens kids. Chris Lamperski passed me in the first 400m and I asked him what pace his Garmin said we were going. He said “5:20.” Crap. Too fast. I slowed down (and you’ll see just how much when you get to the mile split). I passed Alice’s cheering squad (Justin, AJ, Jason) and maintained my pace through Elizabeth Ave. At some point, a woman pulled up alongside me and she told me she was visiting Charlotte and asked if I was from here. I asked her what pace she was looking for, and she said she wasn’t sure and then I told her I was looking for 550 pace. Well 50 meters later we came through the mile in 609 so I immediately said “Crap, I’m too slow, I gotta go!” In hindsight, that was probably very rude, so I do hope that Emily Potter understands why I took off in a mad dash: I had goals to meet! I never got to talk to Emily more, so if she sees this, I hope she emails me (I couldn't find her on facebook).

The rest of the race could be categorized as a race against my own mind, in no man’s land, with the exception of two miles in which Justin was kind enough to keep me company.
Continuing on with the race, for Mile 2, I took off and ran a 548 through Plaza Midwood. At mile 3 (550), I was still solo, with Alejandro as the next person in sight - a distant 200m ahead of me. Fortunately, at mile 4 I got picked up by Justin, Alice, and Jason who ran with me through the downhill mile. We cruised to a 544 split for the 4th mile. We saw Aaron walking up one of the hills because he was done pacing Jay. Out of the goodness of his own heart, Justin decided it would be a good idea to stick with me through mile 5, which features a couple of nasty uphills. Boy, was I grateful. We went through in 550 and Justin was telling me really encouraging things. Aaron was behind me for the 6th mile but this did not stop him from cheering me on. It was really great! I finished up with the clock stuck on 36:33 - a full minute than what I ran last year at the Hit the Brixx 10k, which is a comparable course. I was pleased. (Editor's note: pictures to come!)

I regrouped with my boys and we cooled down for a good three miles. The awards ceremony occurred immediately after we got back from our cool down, which is something that I'm not used to. I'm very appreciative of the gift certificate and the check they gave out to the top three male and female finishers. Once I grabbed my award, I got lots of free goodies that were out for the post-race expo. I was impressed with the variety of vendors and the variety of free items available. Look forward to running this again next year!

Later during the day, I ran a nice 5.4 miles with Jordan and my legs felt great!

A real pain in the butt

I have a real pain in the ass right now.

To elaborate....

This Tuesday, I ran a 5x1200m workout at McAlpine because we wanted to get in some quality intervals with a soft surface. I met up with my favorite running boys (Justin, Aaron, Jay, Jordan, and Will) and we all ran some good times on the back wooded loop, starting from the 3200m mark. Since Aaron is training for a marathon and I'm training for a 10 miler, Aaron was kind enough to run with me for my first 5 repeats around 4:00 min pace. This time he didn't come from behind, yelling "Choo Choo, here comes the Old Man Train!" Instead, he kept it more tame and gave me some encouraging feedback throughout the intervals, sticking next to me the entire time. It really helped on the last one, when I really wanted to get under 4:00, which we did. After that, he went on to run 3 more 1200s at a much faster pace around 3:45s. He reminded me afterwards that I would be doing similar sort of stuff this coming Fall for my own Chicago marathon training , and I tried my best not to cringe. ;o)

I cooled down with everyone else and my legs felt great. I drove home. I ate some eggs. I had spinach with olive oil and vinegar. I played virus buster on my Nintendo DS. I slept.

The next morning, I crawled out of bed at 540am to get ready to run to the Dowd YMCA...and all I could feel was my right butt cheek (aka glute). Really, it felt like the entire muscle had two baseballs lodged between all of the key muscles and ligaments that are essential for creating the running motion. I limped my way to my closet to put on my clothes, and crossed my fingers that once I laced up my shoes, it would stop hurting. Of course, the pain did not subside, and I walked out the door regardless. With that, I limped my way through the first mile, and the tightness eventually subsided so that it felt like I was just using a rusty lever to propel my legs forward.

Since with most runs, your mind tunes out any pain that you have, I didn't notice anything once I passed the four mile mark. Once I got home, however, I went into emergency recovery mode. I stretched extensively, did all of my Mark Kane physical therapy exercises and used a lacrosse ball to dig out the huge knots that had inconveniently situated themselves in my gluteus during my slumber. On my walk to work, however, I was limping slightly because it was too difficult to bring my right leg forward. I immediately made an appointment to get it rubbed out by a massage therapist that night.

Extensive icing, exercises, and self massages have seemed to solve my injury, but now I realize the importance of doing the injury prevention exercises that Mark Kane had given me a month ago. Now I know why Garrett is so diligent in performing all of his exercises...even if they decrease his chances of getting an injury by 25%, that's still better than nothing!

Unleash the Wild Things!

On Friday night I decided to bring one of my favorite childhood books to life by going to the movie "Where the Wild Things Are." The main character Max is, to be quite honest, somewhat psychotic and out of control; he is so wild that he makes even the "wild things" seem tame once he gets to their remote island. I walked out of the movie thinking that kid needed some major attention, otherwise he would be a complete wackjob by the time he made it to high school.

Flash forward to the next day when I was exuberant that Garrett was in town for some quality boyfriend/girlfriend time. In the middle of washing the dishes, I would let out wild screams, cat calls, or meows. Random bursts of excitement would echo out through my strange sound effects, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After I did these things that Garrett barely even noticed (this is a common practice for me, so it no longer seems strange to him when I cry out random sayings to nobody in particular), I realized that I was acting a bit like Max. Max loves to run around wildly, flailing his arms, and without notice to his surroundings.

The main reason I bring this up, is that despite the fact that "Where the Wild Things Are" is meant to show that sometimes being a family is hard, a completely opposite meaning resonates with me instead. My take-away from the movie is quite simple: you should let yourself be goofy sometimes.

With this main message resonating through my head, I could not stop thinking about running. Think about it...Aren't most of the runners you know a bit on the quirky side? Most of us have one distinguishing feature when we let our "wild side" come out. Take, for instance, some of the antics of our very own from the Charlotte Running Club. Aaron Linz lets out a tribal scream accompanied with a clap of the hands after almost every repition during workouts, even if he is feeling like absolute crap. This definitely keeps my spirits upbeat if my legs feel like garbage. On the other hand, Jay Holder likes to make a noise with his lips when he is either confused or surprised that sounds much like "bluh-blub-blub-blub." Matt Jaskot wears hand-me-down soccer shorts from his co-worker's eleven year old son...and the list could go on and on...What are your quirky ways???

In many ways, I believe that this wild side needs to be released every so often in order to keep life sane and also exciting. Wandering through the house, I'll break into a dead sprint and stop abruptly before I hit the fridge. This is me letting go of all social conventions, letting my soul out to fly openly and freely, shining in its brilliance. The same thing happens for me while running.

Although I am very biased, runners quite possibly could be the best at letting themselves act freely and without thought. After all, once we get into a running rhythm, our legs and arms flow freely without thought for hours every week as we mechinically go through the movements to create stride after stride. This is the true characteristic that runners eventually possess after running for years, no matter what your pace may be. For this, we should all rejoice in the spirit that we know how to let loose and just live life.

Feel free to share some of your strange antics!!!

Content in Charlotte - FINALLY!

I went to Mexico with Garrett who happens to be one of my best friends and also my boyfriend. It was awesome. I had a blast. It was nonstop fun, relaxation, and bliss, all rolled into one.

So why was I craving to be in the know as to what was going on with all my Charlotte buddies? Usually you are not supposed to want to leave an all-inclusive vacation because you miss your life back home. Obviously, I had a blast in Mexico, but by the fifth day of vacation, I was feeling separation anxiety from the social base I have formed here in Charlotte. I even caved in to my addiction and paid 15 USD for all day internet, that was only accessible in the hotel lobby, and logged onto gchat to catch up with family and friends. I even used Skype to call Aaron because he had such a huge PR in the VA Beach Half Marathon that I could not stand to wait and not get the race recap in his own words.

Clearly, my social circle that is mainly comprised of members from the Charlotte Running Club has become a strange addiction. Upon any separation that exceeds more than one day, I begin craving the facebook logon to read all the status updates, reading the "Weekly Runner" e-newsletter, and can't help the itch for the next long run to get caught up on the latest gossip regarding area runners.

It's a good thing that all of my other friends are pretty good facebook stalkers as well. :o)

The whole point of mentioning this addiction is that while some people may think it is unhealthy to think about your life back home while on your vacation, I think it is a clear indicator that I have formed my "third" family here in Charlotte. My second family would be those people that I met at Wake Forest, who hold an especially dear place in my heart. :o)

Some people have that itch to get out into the world and move somewhere completely new, and I definitely consider myself this kind of person. I'd like to include myself in the list of friends I know that have taken that risk to move very far away from everything that they have ever known to embark on an entirely new life experience where you can build your life from scratch.

Examples:
1. Kylee just moved to Colorado to be in the West since she had never been.
2. Matt is going on a cross country van trip until he runs out of money
3. My brother Joey moved to Phoenix without a job and now loves it
4. Merry took the leap and moved to Boston!

For those that know me, I have always stated that I really would love to live in California at some point in my life, and I still see this as a dream I would like to turn to reality...but not quite yet. Obviously, I love my sister and would love to be out in the West very much, but at this point everything has finally fallen into place for me here in Charlotte. The running club has really taken off, my job is getting better, and I have friends that I can depend on. I don't want to go through the whole process of making friends and finding running buddies all over again!

It is great seeing how so many of my friends who have pounded out grueling mile repeats or long runs all together have improved dramatically over the last four months. Together we are all truly a team, dedicated to helping each other achieve in all aspects of life - running, life, job, whatever.

Keep up the good work!

Charlotte Running Club

I tend to meet people in random ways. This is how I have met most of the people who have started the Charlotte Running Club.

To understand how the Charlotte Running Club was conceived, it is important to first understand how I met most of its original founding members. Matt was the first runner in Charlotte that I met. I purposely ran the Hog Jog 5k with the sole intention of introducing myself to the guy that ran the time closest to my goal times.

At the end of the race, in the post-run-party-tent, I waited for the announcer to present award to the third place male. After he walks away with his trophy, I immediately went up to him and said, "Hey! Do you live uptown?" He kind of looked at me all crazy and was not sure I was talking to him. I said, "Hey, I'm talking to you!" And then he said "Oh, Hey! yeah, I live uptown." From there I gave him my name and cell phone number to call me so that we could link up for some runs. Luckily, I did not scare him too much because he texted me a couple days later to schedule a "running date."

About a month after meeting Matt, I got a random email in response to a Craigslist posting that I had forgotten about. Right when I moved to Charlotte in July, I posted an ad for a running buddy that could run 760-730 pace per mile for long runs. Three months later, I decided to check my email account and someone had responded! I got excited and immediately responded, and after the email exchange got longer, I found out that this strange man also worked uptown and was willing to run from work in the evenings.

Of course, I put on my safety first hat, and was genius enough to google-stalk him first before I actually agreed to meet him. It was afterwards finding his personal webpage that proved he was not a creeper when I received an email from him, stating that he had a personal website to prove he was not a stalker. Clearly, we were both thinking of the same page. I found out later that he, Aaron, had also google-stalked me and found me on the Wake Forest Sports webpage.

To say the least, I introduced Matt to Aaron, and then as the months went by, Aaron met Jay, another local runner from Run For Your Life. With this core group, Aaron was inspired to launch a running club to bring together the masses of the CLT running community into one scene.

Now, two months after the inception, we boast about forty members, two sponsors, a newsletter, a webpage, and even a logo. Together, Aaron, Jay and I have truly made some big strides of making the club into a reality with the hopes of organizing what was once a disconnected conglomeration of runners that had no central place to find out where people got together to run.

Furthermore, it has been great to be surrounded with a group of people who are truly invested in running and share the same passion as my own.

This post was practically a marathon so I better stop here. Essentially, I trust that the Charlotte Running Club will continue to grow!!

www.charlotterunningclub.org