Delayed gratification

Sunday I went to Balitmore with Jess McGuire to watch the Kelly Shamrock 5k, a dubious choice because I don't care much for St. Patrick's Day or Baltimore. I ran for about 45 minutes around the city, but felt off, so I bagged the other 50 or so minutes I had planned and watched the race.
Dirk said I should take the afternoon off and not worry about my second run, but after a car ride to Bethesda and a long metro and bus ride home to Falls Church, I figured I could get an easy seven in without causing trouble for my stomach, since I had a steak and cheese sandwich at 4:30. I ran a Park Plus, averaging 6:47s and felt fine. I'm glad I did it.

Monday I did my first hill "workout" in a while. I warmed up with seven miles of Pimmit Hills, then started the hill portion.
It's complicated, but: 200m sprint steep up, 30 m recovery, 200m sprint steep down continuing into 200m sprint gradual down, 200m recovery gradual, turn around, run medium 600m up (400m gradual, 200m steep), 230m recovery steep down.

Initially, the 200m steep uphill sprints killed me, but I realized I was going all out too early. I adjusted the second time, and that was when the gradual uphills started to become a problem. I was running the gradual 400m too hard, and my tank was empty by the time I got to the steep part. I was totally dead by the time I got to the end of the fourth, and instead of doing it again, I threw in a few extra 200m uphill sprints. I felt like I was mastering those. After a mile cooldown, I had 13.

Tuesday I did a sedate Scott's Run 11.75 miles in 6:40 pace. My glutes were sore from the hills, and I worried I might have done too much, but hoped it would pass.

Wednesday I felt like total garbage when I got to the track. The warmup was a struggle, and there was a point where Lindsey was talking to me and I had no idea what she meant. I ran a medium 800m warmup and noticed I went 2:35, so somehow despite feeling like I was better off
I stuck behind Murph for the 2k- running pretty even for 7:25. I took the lead for mile and 1200, running 5:04 and 3:41. Dangerous Dave led the 800 in 2:22 and the first 200 of the 400. I took off at that point and finished in 66 high, probably my fastest 400 since 2008. I somehow put together my most complete workout in eight months after feeling like I'd be pulled from the track before we started. Steve's suggestion to get regular turnover work is really starting to pay off -- mentally, running 73s doesn't even bother me anymore, and I have the basic turnover to do it. The only reason I didn't try to run harder at the end of the 400 was the fact that I hadn't run faster than 70 seconds on a track for a while and wasn't sure if I could do it. The hills certainly helped my basic speed, and perhaps my residual soreness and lethargy worked in my favor Wednesday, bridling my enthusiasm until I really needed it. Maybe that's why I finished with a 66.

Up and down (repeat as necessary)

Well, the Spider alumni race didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, partially because of my overconfidence in my ability to run hard for 5k, partially because my back hurt in a variety of running postures. The train was actually fast, for once, and I joined six other former Richmond track athletes for a mexican dinner, after a 5.5 mile run around campus. The sleeping bag I brought was not enough to help me fall asleep in the evening, despite my exhaustion, so I lined up some couch cushions, which turned out to be a mistake. The lack of firmness and support caused my back to sag, and when I woke up it felt as though a shard of glass was jabbed into the left side of my lower back. No twisting seemed to pop in into comfort, so I went off to the race, hoping it would straighten itself out. That never really happened.During my one-mile early warmup, I was so stiff I was running almost completely horizontally. Stretching helped, and when I ran a ~3 mile warmup with some dude from UVA who knows my step-cousin, I felt decent. I must have mismanaged my time somehow because suddenly we were seven minutes from the start and I was trying to get my spikes on.

After a raucous alumni team cheer and some strides, we were off. I bolted around a pack of William and Mary guys (which sadly did not include Mt. Lebanon alumnus Rad Guzenhauser) and was in the front before I knew it, with Sean McKinney close behind. The grass was a lot longer than I expected. I hit the first of three damp soccer fields and let loose with my legs on the short grass, pulling away from a few pursuers. This persisted for a while, with shouts of encouragement from Lauder, and me egging him on. I thought, "Well, let's see how long I can stay in the lead. I can at least continue to amuse my cohort." Yes, I thought the word "cohort."

This lasted until a little short of a mile in. I started to fall back right as Levi Grandt, Ryan Lee and a W&M dude came by on a short uphill. Levi graciously thanked me for my rabbiting work, which was quite nice of him, and I tucked in behind them. We passed what I thought was the mile in 5:00, and I was hearted by that- I clearly hadn't gone out too fast, and had a good start for the rest of the race. I wanted to just keep my pace up, and I tried, but the long, wet grass started to slow me down. Despite its layout, the course, on the St. Catherine's school fields in Goochland County, is not terribly fast. Though it has its fast portions, they are broken up with long grass and uneven hills. For what we work with, it is a good cross country course, because you have to be strong and smart to race it well. A fewmore people passed me and I hit the two mile in 5:22, a step down, but I continued to have a chance at sub 16. I pretty much kept my pace up and took two guys out, but hitting the third mile in another 5:22 scuttled my chances for my moderate goal. I didn't really kick it in and finished in 16:22 in 11th place, if nothing else, the first among the alumni to finish.

Did I honestly expect to run fast with form like that?

It turned out that the person who was calling out mile splits was actually at the mile mark for the girls' race, which was a bit farther along on the course. Levi said our first mile split was 4:47-4:48. In one regard, I am impressed I was able to run that on such an unfriendly course. On the other hand, I am horrified that it makes my second mile split 5:35 or so... At least I recovered an ran 5:22.

After a delicious waffle and hashbrowns at the dining hall, we toured the new football stadium surrounding the Fred Hardy track. Simply put, it's beautiful, inside and out. All we have to do is win games.

I did a 6.5 mile afternoon run from the Hannays' house, into Byrd and Maymont parks, but I was parched the whole time. I focused on rehydrating as soon as I got back in preparation for the long run workout the next morning.
Lauder and Molz and I drove to the southern end of Skyline Drive, in Shenandoah National Park.
We parked several rolling miles in and started running, six out and six back. Lauder kept us company on his bike and juggled water bottles for us. I dropped back from Molz after 3.5 on Lauder's suggestion, which turned out to be pretty good. It gave me some time to focus on chasing him and building some mental strength. I caught back up about nine miles in, and finished the last three miles with him. They had been out there a handful of times prior, so for me, the first 12 miles was largely about getting to know the layout and preparing for the workout. After a monster climb in the last mile, we finished up the "warmup" in 75 minute- 6:15 pace for 12 miles. Molz changed his shoes and I took some water before starting on my eight mile marathon pace (5:40) workout. I went ahead so Molz would have someone to chase, and it seemed from his movement I was on time, but I very well might have been too early. I held back like crazy on the first, downhill, mile, running 5:17. I held back more for another mile- 5:20, flatter, but still downhill.
The third mile turned uphill, and I slowed down to more of what I wanted- 5:31. The next mile was more uphill- 5:48, and Lauder pulled up to me on the bike. The coaxed me through mile five as best as he could, telling me what 6:00 pace was, but I was starting to falter and meander into the middle of the road, which was hazardous with faster-than-appropriate traffic coming around corners. I didn't light the world on fire with that mile- 6:25, but recovered when things flattened out for 5:38. Every now and then he would remind me to turn my head to check an overlook, and each time I was glad I did.
The turnaround, of course, knocked me off pace, as I ran the seventh mile in 5:48 and never felt like I had my momentum until the very end of the mile, then closed downhill in 5:27, but was not aggressive at all by that point, even when given a downhill mile on a platter. I would have liked to have finished the last mile closer to 5:00, given how much it beguiled me on the way up, but I just wasn't pushing enough downhill. Also, it was my 20th mile, and if I am running 5:27s after 19 other miles, I will be pretty happy. Lauder keeping me company and encouraging me, especially in the fifth mile, was crucial to my successful workout. Molz's suggestion was the reason this all happened. There wasn't a second of the run where I wasn't enjoying the experience, even when I saw the fifth mile marker way out of reach for my goal pace, I knew it was just one of eight miles and I could recover. The run was gorgeous, the hills challenging, the weather amazing and the overall morning was incredible and reinforces the confidence I have gleaned from the shorter track workouts.
Molz and I ran three easy miles at 7:00 pace or so, then Lauder picked us up at the bottom of the hill, we headed for the Charlottesville Waffle House, where Ann Mazur stopped in to say hello, and then back to Richmond.

What I did on my summer vacation, a report by Charlie Ban

I had the good fortune to be able to spend a few days at the cabin that my coach Steve Taylor built, along with his brothers and friends, in Giles County, Va. I ran, ate, slept, read and explored the mountainous region of the New River Valley near and in the Jefferson National Forest in a 4.5-day stretch that turned out to be just what I needed to push my marathon training forward with renewed vigor.

After my work schedule quashed my plans to spend a week in northern California, I was looking around for some kind of running retreat, and Steve graciously offered me the use of his cabin when I asked him for suggestions. It was a few hours away from my usual weekend destination in the Canaan Valley, WV, but it was worth the trip, and, as he said, the price was right.

Steve has been a great coach and friend since I met him in October 2001, while visiting the University of Richmond for the first time. We talked at the time about our shared acquaintances Kristin Price (whom he and his wife Lori coached the year before at Virginia Tech and I knew from my nascent road racing career) and Scott Munro (whom he tried to recruit to come to Tech and I knew from high school track and his years living with my friend Charlie at Penn State).

Though he was rightly skeptical of a middling former Division III runner whose transfer made me possibly ineligible for a while, he gave me a fair shot and stuck with me through

a two week adjustment to Richmond's crippling summer heat and humidity in which any lesser coach would have cut me to get me out of his hair and saw his patience pay off when I finished among the varsity runners in our alumni race.

He has continued to encourage me in my pursuit of the running lifestyle and his offer to let me stay at the cabin did a lot to get me through part of a hot and muggy month and spend time recovering from the rest of the world. My other running-heavy trip, Reno, was also work-centric, so I didn't get the chance to nap, veg out and unplug from the world like I did in Giles County.

The view from the cabin's back porch.

Mountain Lake

I drove through the afternoon Saturday and arrived at the cabin around 6. After unpacking a little, I headed to the Mountain Lake to get an eight mile run before dinner. I started at 4000 feet and climbed until I reached a transformer station at the top of that particular hill. As I added distance to my run on different trails, I started to get a chill- I was no longer in the Washington area where running with a shirt was silly.

I headed to Perisburg to Queen's Pizza and Subs for dinner. Steve told me he ate there four nights in a row earlier this summer and it did not surprise me one bit. Great menu here- New York-oriented food without having to deal with New Yorkers.

I had a steak and cheese sub and a medium pizza and devoured it all. I fell asleep around 10:30, since there was no electricity to enable me in staying up too late. I planned to get up early and do a long run in the Cascades Recreation Area, but I ended up sleeping until 8:30, which was a little later than I had planned.

I headed back up to the Mountain Lake and parked farther down the road at the biological center. I ran to a grass-covered road and followed it until I hit the trail system, took that to the hotel and then followed the road back to the parking lot, then added on 33 minutes out and back farther out on the road to total 10 miles. I leafed through the new copy of Running Times and read fellow Spider track and journalism enthusiast Dan Petty's article.

After a nap, I read The Best Game Ever. It was a non-fiction book. It was a good book. It was about a football game. Some people say it was maybe the best game ever. (Is this satire of grade school book reports doing anything for anyone?)

That evening I took the camera out to the War Spur Trail and took some shots as I ran another seven miles. I tried to connect to the Appalachian Trail, but the farther I ran the less it seemed like I was making any headway.

Some parts of the War Spur Trail were so wild I couldn't always exactly follow the trail, and I very well may have veered off into the woods a few times.

I went back to Queens and had another steak sandwich and a dozen mild chicken wings, which were naturally too hot for me until the actual temperature cooled down.

The War Spur Trail, just look for where there aren't any ferns and run there.
Breathtaking view from the War Spur Overlook.
Where does the trail go, anyway? I don't really care, it's just good.
You have to duck a little.

Cascades Trail

I got up early on Monday and went to the nearby Cascades Recreation Area to start my 20 mile or so long run. I started with a 2+ mile trip on the second of two trails to the waterfalls. The trail was mostly large rocks and I moved very carefully, not wanting to destroy my legs in a fall. After a while I got sick of it and moved up to the trail across the creek, which was wider, softer and mostly dirt and small rocks and I was able to open up my stride and feel natural. I took that back to the parking lot, stopped at the bathroom and grabbed a drink from the car. I headed back out, intending on making a trail if I had to. I passed the waterfall and found a logging trail Steve had mentioned. I followed it until I wound up seemingly in someone's yard, and kept going. I ran out to the road and then followed it up the mountain for an hour, and I was moving pretty quickly at this point, enjoying the climb and the challenge.

The backdrop of the Cascades Trail area.

I wondered how recently anyone else had been out there, and whether I should have brought any water with me. Every almost every 3.5 minutes I saw a beer can, so I started considering them unofficial half-mile markets.

The Cascades Trail (in the fall). (I didn't take this)

It wasn't terribly warm, but I was moist with sweat and needed to wring my shirt out when I turned around after an hour of running and climbing but it was wet with effort, not my skin's tears. It had been a while since I had been this comfortable on a run, probably since my last day in Reno.

Later, I found I had started at about 2200 feet and stopped around 4100.

Logging Trail (in the fall). (I didn't take this)

The trip down was fun, though with all of the rocks in the road I wasn't exactly tearing irresponsibly down the mountain. I did get back to the car 11 minutes faster than it took me to get to the turnaround. I added a loop out on the road and back for an even 2:30, which I approximated to be about 21 miles. I took a nice nap in the afternoon and glanced through Bruce Fordyce's Marathon Runner's Handbook, which I curiously checked out of the Falls Church library, hoping to see what he suggested. Turns out, not much, but some of the anachronistic running fashions made for amusing photos.

I stopped by Howard Nippert's house down the road to check out his home remodeling effort. He has pretty much torn the house apart and undid all the damage and neglect the previous owners contributed and has a great project going on. Howard is an old Virgina Tech teammate of Steve and Lori's and one of their best friends. He kept increasing his racing distance and is now one of the county's top ultrarunners, competing in distances that make me ill to consider. He set me up with a road loop the next morning, then I hit Queens again for a chicken sandwich and fried mushrooms.

Running clothes have a way of adding up.

Clover Hollow

I drove out to Newport to the Clover Hollow Road loop that Howard suggested. Not having a detailed map, I wanted to drive it first, and of course, I missed some crucial detail as to where I should turn. Howard said to just stay on the same road and it would create a 6.2 mile loop, but I couldn't remember where he told me to park.
So, I just parked at Clover Hollow's intersection with Placid Lane, with the blessing of the woman who lived on the corner, and set out at about 10:40. I ran 40 minutes out through beautiful rolling farmland and turned around and came back, finishing five minutes faster than when I came out. It turns out the loop included a small portion of Jones Lane, which I passed about 1.5 into the run. I ended up doing about 11.25 miles in 80- minutes- 7:08 pace. Not great, but it was hot and sunny and I was a little worried about getting lost. I really enjoyed the views, though.
I liked the rolling hills.

It got a little gross

I went to Christianburg to see Inception, then came back to the cabin for my afternoon run.

I was headed down to Whitt-Riverbend Park for some flat recovery running. I crossed the train bridge, which was a little frightening, and ran along the tracks, looking for a break in the fence to get to the park. I smelled a pungent oder, much like the pellets you could feed to animals at the zoo when I was younger. When one such trip to the fence proved fruitless, I climbed back to the tracks and was staring right into the eyes of a deer. On its side. On the train tracks. With no flesh or fur anywhere but its head, otherwise just a skeleton. I must have an iron stomach, because the smell was enough to choke me- I am shocked I didn't vomit.

I eventually didn't find a way in farther down the tracks, so I headed back, then right before I crossed back over the bridge I saw there was a wooden frame on the fence at about the same level as the barbed wire.

I could climb onto it and jump over the barbed wire. I did a few laps around the park, running a trail along the New River and back up to the campground area that was perfectly flat. I probably did about 6.5-7 miles. Then, back over the fence and up the hill to the cabin and a korean stir fry dinner in Pembroke.

Pandapas Park and the trip home

I got up Wednesday and met Howard at Pandapas Park in Newport.

We ran around for nine miles and toward the end I noticed the humidity and temperature start to creep up. I ditched the shirt and had some Gatorade and headed back out for six more miles, but about a mile in I started to get lightheaded, so I went back to the car and decided to put off some of the distance until my afternoon run.

I drove home, with a stop in Salem to check out Roanoke College, where my brother Edward is starting in a few weeks. It's a nice enough place, but it left me missing Hampden-Sydney, despite the persistent boredom and lack of women. I tried to go to Roanoke to see a few sights suggested by my stepmother, who grew up there, but just as I was arriving, a heavy storm moved in and I headed back home.

I made a detour into Centreville to do my afternoon run at Walney Park. When I got out of the car, the discomfort inherent in northern Virginia punched me in the face, then the kidneys, then the groin. This was going to be miserable. I headed off for my first of three 3.25 mile loops on the wood chips and dirt. It's a really nice park, and it feels softer than anything else on which I run. The heat got to me after about 20 minutes, but I kept pressing. I started to feel better around 35, then I stopped to use the restroom and the heat that I felt the second I stepped into the confined portable bathroom was too much to bear. The smell wasn't a factor, it was just so hot. I was once again nauseated, but managed to hold onto my lunch. I stopped after 6.5 miles and headed home, after 20 minutes of trying to stop sweating.

This wire counts the number of people who enter Walney Park, both to keep records and to put Joe Wiegner out of a job.

Remarkably unremarkable long run

After Saturday's overdistance run, I had a bad feeling about 15 miles on the rolling hills of Poolesville, MD, or thereabouts. A stupid reunion with Papa Johns' garlic dipping sauce the night before with dinner made my attempts to sleep well an exercise in frustration. Luckily for me, Dave Burnham picked me up on the way to the run, sparing me an earlier wakeup to ride the metro into town for a carpool.
The grave sensation followed me through the early stretch of the run, two loops based around River Road. I didn't help myself by wearing a long-sleeved shirt over another shirt, but we would be making a trip back to the cars after the first nine miles, so I could drop it off. We eventually picked up the pace, and my spirits lifted. As soon as I knew it, we reached the 12-mile mark and Pat Murphy and I headed back. Jake Marren and Karl kept going, so Dave and I drove by them a few times- Jake was going for 24, and his form remained remarkably composed for having run that much.
Oh, there was a dead goose, too.