43 miles in the hills

I was lazy in writing during my vacation, so it is time to catch up.

Thursday evening was just about getting 8.5 miles in before I traveled back to Pittsburgh for Matt Ciccone's 30th birthday party. I did a backwards Woodley at about 6:40 pace. I got to my mom's house rather late and tried, for the first time, the oral appliance my ENT prescribed to help combat my sleep apnea. It seemingly only makes my sleep worse, because it keeps my mouth open all night. Not only is it uncomfortable, but my mouth dries out and leaves me chronically dehydrated. It most certainly does not aid my sleeping. Of course, I did not know this the first night I sleep wearing it. I woke up late in the morning, planning to run an easy six mile around Chatham Village, a route I routinely ran while living in Pittsburgh. After one loop of my typical eight, I decided to head out to see more of the city. I ran down William Street to the south side, ran part of the half marathon course and back up the McArdle Roadway. That hill reminded me what had been missing from my hill work in Virginia- intensity and duration. After a little more than six miles, I needed a break.

After a trip to my old office, I went to visit the Gangjees in O'Hara Township, another hilly part of a hilly city. Javed said that Jess had been complaining of not having a hard enough workout lately, so he charged me with the responsibility of pushing her pace. Our out-and-back into Fox Chapel nearly decimated me. I was gasping for air on hills that I used to treat with anything from mild annoyance to delight. Clearly, Pittsburgh had gotten tougher while at the same time, I got softer. I have never begged for her to slow down, but I did then.

The next morning, I met up with a gang of cyclists in Sewickley to be part of their ride in spirit, though they were going 20 miles starting in the other direction and I wouldn't be able to keep up on foot. The plan was to run a two mile uphill warmup and then a 10 mile tempo, but once again the hills a dehydration were too much. Six miles in, I was still climbing and just stopped with my hands on my knees, trying to stop the ground from moving. I was too far out to make going back any easier, so I trudged on. Eventually I hit a mile-long downhill that lifted my spirits, but in the end I mustered maybe three miles of tempo effort.

Sunday's long run marked several points- my adjustment to the hills, a stunning recovery from eating a lot of steak and drinking a lot of bourbon at Matt's party the night before, and the welcomed improvement in sleep when I eskewed the mouthpiece. I met up with Shafer, Jo, Brandon G,Greg Brynes and Steve Garand to have them test out the 18-mile permutation of my Wild Wild West End loop, which I am constantly refining. Jo was only planning for 17 miles, so she and Shafer adjusted the loop a little, and we managed to nearly kill Brandon with his continuing dehydration, but Steve and Greg and I had a solid run. I hid some water at mile 11, and that helped a bit, and I still fell off a bit on two hills in miles 13 and 14 in which we climbed 322 feet. These were the same hills I used to conquer during my long runs, but no matter, the whole run was progress. For the most part, people enjoyed the loop, though I did take come critiques to heart when I redesigned it.

It was a total of 43 miles of hills in three days. I finally got the hang of it and realize what I need more of in my training- long, serious hills.

I got back to DC on Monday and ran 10 miles on an out-and-back to the west on the W&OD Trail.

Shafer checks out Jo's legs while Greg indicates that he's a badass.

Not the way to run a workout

Tuesday I recovered from my long run with an easy six miles in Bethesda, warming up withDirk for his working and adding 3+ miles around the track in lane six. Then I did some drills and HMDs while Dirk, Wiggy, Pat and Jimmy did a workout.

I got some fast running in Wednesday night, but it wasn't the way I wanted to do it. I planned for 3 x 2 miles (11:00, 10:50, 10:40) on the Greenwich loop, the one-mile road loop a half mile from home. I like doing workouts there because, well, each loop is a mile and it's a departure from the controlled and evenly-measured track, plus unlike the George Mason High School track, it's open for my use all the time. Plus, since I am not racing on the track, it seems more useful to practice running fast on the roads and learn how speeds feel.

As it turns out, I have no idea how paces feel, and have no real control. First off, I needed to do a more aggressive warmup, because I was too energetic at the start. I wasn't in a workout state, and so I struggled to find my pace, hoping for 5:30. Instead, I came through the mile in 5:07. Way off. Rather than slow down dramatically, I figured I might as well get used to running like that, and held on to run 5:08 for the second mile and 10:15 overall.

Slow it down, I told myself. 5:15 and 5:15 for 10:30. I was surprised I was able to run that fast despite feeling a little beaten from the first interval. At the end of the second, however, I started to feel a familiar GI issue brewing.

After taking care of that, I headed out for my third. My first ~.2 was very slow, and though I recovered, it wasn't enough, and I came through the mile in 5:28. I shut it down there and thought about heading home, but after a quick recovery, maybe two minutes, I gave another mile another shot and ran 5:20, feeling fine.

I would have much preferred to have cut down the pace, rather than cut the intensity. It's about time I figured out the quarter-mile marks to avoid making these blunders in the future. I like this loop because I'm not thinking about splits, just about effort, but if I continue to sabotage my workouts by starting too fast, I won't be doing myself any good.

10:15 (5:07,508), 10:30 (5:15, 5:15), 5:28, 5:20

I don't give directions well when I am running hard

Simply put, this long run wasn't as fun as I had anticipated.

Having seen where I erred last week, losing the Four Mile Run Trail when I crossed Shirlington Road without also crossing the bridge, I figured I was in for a smooth run today when I did the trail I had intended. I was wrong from the very outset. My calves and shins were both extremely tight and didn't respond to stretching the way I wanted them to. I think I tied my shoelaces too tight, so I had to loosen them a few times. My plan was to run 7:00 pace until the turn onto the Four Mile Run Trail and then drop down to 6:00 pace for 10 miles, with a mile and change cooldown. I was having trouble hitting my pace when I passed my first three time points, but thought I was on track for the fourth, 4.5 miles in. It turns out I was way off and almost a half mile wrong. If the mile markers on the Mt. Vernon Trail were to be believed, I ran 6:04 and 6:34 for two of the miles heading south, and was not pleased.

Regardless, I picked it up when I hit Four Mile Run. I made the correct turns and caught the trail on the steam's south bank, but I was pushing too hard to hit 6s. The shins were a little looser, but I didn't feel great, so I just quashed the tempo and decided to just run it in. I ended up missing a few turns, then hit some more significant hills than I had realized were on the trail, and was glad I didn't try to push up them. For a steady tempo effort, the W&OD is pretty solid, if boring. Four Mile Run was nice in that it was scenic and had some topographical variety.

When I got to Columbia Street, I felt a lot better, and decided to push home. When I got to the intersection of Great Falls and Lincoln Ave, some woman yelled to me to ask how to get to I-66. She seemingly just came from the interchange, so I pointed northwest and might have yelled something, but it surely wasn't helpful. I didn't want to be helpful.

Anyway, I ended up getting 18.5 miles averaging 6:40 pace. Not the way I wanted to get the miles, but again I ran decently well despite feeling awful. My right hip and thigh didn't feel uncomfortable, either, so that's progress, too...

So that's how racing feels...

I feel like disappointed in my running ability but pleased with my prognostication acumen.

I came into the St. Patrick's Day 8k with pessimistic, realistic and optimistic projections.

Pessimistic- based on my 2x4 mile workout two weeks ago, when I averaged 5:40 for all of them, I felt at the very least I could run 28:20.

Realistic- since I ran those miles alone, in the dark and in trainers, I should at least run 5:30s for 27:30.

Optimistic- I felt my reasonable limit was 5:15 pace for 26:15. Perhaps 5:20s for 26:30 would have been good.

I wound up 18th in 27:23, and I needed a strong kick to make that happen.

It was pouring in Falls Church, but only drizzling lightly in DC.

I held back at the start, wary of getting out with the Africans and Dirk. I still pushed at the beginning, and I can tell I was pushing too hard. 5:25 would have been a great first split, but I hit 5:18. Despite how fast it was,I felt good. The course, though pretty flat, was questionably designed, with four 180-degree turns. Two are within about 200 meters in the second mile, and as odd as it is to say, I started to get a little lightheaded after the second. I noticed some cottonmouth at the start, but I didn't think too much of it. In the second mile, however, I started seeing little black spots in the bottom halves of my eyes and I started to feel woozy. That's a little too early to have problems like that. I faded from the group with which I was running and just kind of tried to make progress.I regained my sense of urgency after the last turnaround with about 600 meters left and put on a burst that dropped four guys, including the ubiquitous "Sheehy"whom I heard people cheering most of the way. With 200 meters left I kicked hard. finished and immediately undermined my months of training and declared my efforts a failure.
With a little time, I reconciled my disappointment with the conditions- it was my first serious race since the Richmond Alumni 5k Labor Day weekend, I'm not exactly sharp right now, I felt as though I had been dehydrated, the course was the kind I tend to avoid, and I had a dubious sleep schedule coming in. I planned to spend Saturday evening socializing with Matt and Amy and taking in a few birthday parties, plus dealing with the time change that would rob me of an hour. I took a 3.5-hour nap in the early afternoon, hoping to store some rest for the next day. This is all very logical, because I rarely sleep more than an hour or two without waking up, choking on my tonsils. In the end, I stayed home but didn't sleep well. That tomfoolery needs to end...

Good points:

• I went through 5k in 16:54, 14 seconds faster than I ran for 5k in December. Obviously that was December, but the point is I ran almost two more miles after.
• Dirk and Robbie Wade were convinced the course was long. Wade's GPS device said it was 5.05 miles, and those things tend to underestimate, if anything.
• I ran 5:30 pace while feeling pretty awful. There's something to be said for that.
• I ran most of the race in no-man's land.
  

In the afternoon, I ran an easy 3.25 around Falls Church on a boring but effective loop.

Whole buncha' raindrops

I'm combining Friday and Saturday's runs because they are pretty much the same in my mind and I really don't think anyone cares if I don't have separate titles for each day.
Friday I waited until after work to run and make a whole production of it, with a two-mile stationary bike warmup in the gym in my office basement, then a 6:55-pace 10 miles around the Mall and Hains Point in the driving rain. It stung the eyes. Then I did some backwards walking on the treadmill to loosen my calves and more stretching.
Saturday, after 10 hours of sleep, I joined Alex for part of his run, a Park 6, though I finished up Grove to avoid the hill on Highland. after trying to give my legs some semblance of a massage, I took a 3.5 hour nap, then ran 3.5 miles around Falls Church. I tried to keep the whole thing easy before my race, despite totaling 80 for the second straight week.

Favorite Defunct Races #3

Frick Park Cross Country

Frick Park, in Pittsburgh, is one of my favorite parks for running, and it just so happened when I finally had the time and vicinity to train there routinely when I moved to the city in 2004, there was a healthy series of races managed by the West Penn Track Club and sponsored by Saucony.

When they're not fielding teams of mercenaries who they happen to pick up the day before the Great Race, West Penn is a decent enough organization. I think one person exerts too much influence in the competition division, but I digress.

The rank-and-file members of the club are quick to volunteer to help hold a race, Janice Boyko does a great job organizing and Dave Sobal puts together safe and high quality courses.

Sadly, I was only able to make it to one of the three races in the summer cross country series because of conflicting road races. Each meet offered three different races:

2k- out and back on the Tranquil Trail
4k- out on the Traquil Trail, along the lawn bowling courts on Reynolds, right on the Horseshoe Trail, right on the Kensington Trail, left on the Homewood Trail and back on the Tranquil Trail.

8k- The 4k course, then up the Falls Ravine Trail, around the exercise circuit twice and back down Falls Ravine.

If they wished to double, 4k runners could continue on the 8k course.

I ran the 4k in July and broke the course record by one second (13:02). It still stands, but only because Saucony dropped its sponsorship after that summer and West Penn ceased the race.

The club still holds a fall race, the Pittsylvania XC Challenge, though it too has waned. There was talk in 2008 that West Penn would drop it, too, and I made a bid for the Hounds to keep it running, but once Janice took the offer to the board, it was swiftly quashed by someone in charge. The club later cancelled its Gold Medal Alumni 5k scheduled for the summer and replaced the Pittsylvania race. The new race raises money for scholarships dedicated to two camp alumni who died in car accidents in the late 90s. A noble cause, but the race now goes against the behemoth Spirit of Pittsburgh Half Marathon, and its growth will be somewhat limited as a result.

Some Van Metre 5 Mile photos

I just realized how recently I ran hard

Tim Aldinger (known to some as Tom Aldridge) is in DC for the week, and has some time to hang out tonight, so I decided to get my run out of the way by running to work. The 12-mile route is gradually downhill, so I figured gravity would do a lot of work while I tried to wake up. A half mile in, my left patella started hurting like crazy, so I stretched out a little more and took it easier. I realized three miles in that since it was just about 7:50, I was pretty much just finishing my workout 12 hours prior. My fatigue started to make sense.
It wasn't a terribly interesting run, just along the W&OD and Custis trails and through the city. I averaged exactly 7:00 pace.

Competence and confidence

I wouldn't say my workout plans were dangerously ambitious, but given the limits of my previous workouts, I had cause for doubt.

Wiggy suggested 4-5 x 2k, and that sounded like a good interval to me. He also said 5:10 pace, a pace I had matched or broken twice since August. So, I knew I could run a mile that fast, I just had to do an extra lap. Then do it three more times.

I switched from the Puma flats I had been wearing to my old adiZeros, the shoes that had run 14:57 their first time out of the box. They instantly felt a lot better and I was glad I switched back. We started out slowly on the first one, 78, but recovered with a 7 and two 76s for 6:27. Not bad. Then we got a little out of hand the next one, splitting 5:05 for the mile and 6:21 for 2k, but I still felt strong and able to keep doing it.The third one went smoothly in 6:26, and the fourth one was the same, but the middle was filled with a struggle over self doubt and insecurity.
Was I actually in shape to finish this workout? There were some stretches where my breathing seemed to tighten my stomach, but my body never burned from the effort, neither my legs nor lungs. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult. In the end, it was just the way a workout is supposed to be. The repetition of such a fast pace desensitized me to to fear of running 5:10 pace and blowing up. Admittedly, in the last 2k I worried that my collapse was inevitable, and when Joe, Dave and Dirk picked it up in the last 500 I figured that time had come, but I just kept running and hit my pace exactly.
With this newfound confidence in my relative speed, I am heading to the Shamrock 8k Sunday morning downtown. The course isn't great- four 180-degree turns, but it will be flat and a chance to get used to racing again before I go to Richmond in two weeks for the Monument Ave 10k.

Relaxing is hard

I gave easy running a try on Monday, and found I didn't much like it. I had hoped to wake early and double, but fatigue from my afternoon long run carried over and made it hard to get up. I ran a Presidents' loop in the afternoon, which I erroneously thought to be 10 miles. It was 10.7, turning what I thought to be a 7:20 pace into 6:50.

Tuesday I got out of work early and arrived home at about 4:30, but was exhausted, so I laid down to take a quick nap. When I woke a few minutes later, I set off to run 5 miles west on the W&OD trail and then come back. I was at 6:30 pace at 2.6 miles, so I did as much as I could to hit the brakes. The number of bikers and walkers on the trail helped, as did my general feeling of awfulness that increased as I forced myself to slow down. I finally met my goal when it was over of 7:13 pace. It's not quite 7:20 or 7:30, but hopefully it was good enough.

The long climb

I had to work on Sunday at the legislative conference in Adams Morgan, so that eliminated me from the GRC trip to Riley's Lock. I measured out a course from the office in Capitol Hill back home along the Mt. Vernon, Four Mile Run and W&OD trails that would be about 17.5 and incorporate a 10-mile climb. After my work was done, I headed to the office to change and set out. On the heels of last week's enjoyable and passion-affirming long run, I was excited, but was skeptical I could match the experience.

I am sure I ran it faster, but I did it wrong. I planned to speed up noticeably after 7.5 miles, about when I would turn onto the Four Mile Run Trail, and push the 10-mile hill to the finish. Instead, I was rolling a mile in and though I sped up, it was not exactly what I wanted. I was down to six minute pace by the time I hit the Mt. Vernon Trail, trying my best to stick to the worn grass along the paved path. When I reached the airport, I traded leads and smiles with an attractive rollerblader, though I eventually dropped her after the turn. Or maybe she went back to the 90s.

I was into a breathing pattern when I hit Four Mile Run that suited the pace, but did not give me much leeway to greet Dave O'Hara when I crossed his path. I just let out a bizarre exhale that sounded like I was laughing. Unclear signs led me a bit astray, and I eventually left the Four Mile Run Trail when I failed to cross to the south side of the creek. I jumped on the W&OD earlier than I had planned, and the straightforward path cut about .2 miles from the total, leaving me with this route.

A new trail meant a new set of half-mile markers, and new travelers. After a young bicyclist nearly ran me off the road with his awkward riding, I sped ahead and ran in the wake of a middle-aged man who was going steady at 6 minute pace. After hitting Bon Air Park, though, I tired of him and pushed ahead, approaching what was initially the 15-mile mark with a chance to hit 90 minutes. I knew I was running fast, uphill, but I didn't realize how far off my distance was. With the route deviation, the 15-mile mark was at the top of the second-steepest hill I would climb, and once I made it to the top I began to slow down and cool down. I had another significant hill a half mile from the end on Highland, so I felt at this point I needed to tame things.

I wound up averaging running about 6:11 pace for 17.33 miles, with six minute pace or under from miles 4.5 to a little before 15, so it was good work. I just didn't have the same satisfaction and enjoyment as I did during my run last weekend. Part of it was the confusion over where the Four Mile Run Trail went near Shirlington. I think it would have been a more attractive and better experience had I followed that trail to the end, but the dropoff wasn't terrible.

It's just hard to appreciate the run for the qualities that it possessed.

Doubling for 8.5 miles....

I hitched a ride with Dave Burnham to Ashburn to watch the Van Metre five mile race. He, Klim and Dirk were running, and I planned to bike around, take pictures and generally encourage them. I didn't see how I was going to get my 8.5 miles in to finish my 80 mile week in the morning. I did about 2.5-3 miles of a warmup with them around bland developments with no trees. Though Karl's scratch left us with an extra bib and an opportunity for me to race, I didn't want to a. sully Karl's reputation with a 27 minute five mile or b. experience pain. So, I biked. It was windy when I got going, and I wish I had gloves. Dirk surged to the lead and dueled with an Ethopian until the lanky Dutchman put him away down the stretch. Jake followed them up with a 27 second PR in third, and Dave got his legs used to racing again in sixth. Gretchen ended up finished third in the women's race, so the GRCers cleaned up pretty well.

After a 3.5 hour nap, I ran a Park Ave six-mile loop. I doubled to get 8.5 miles... Turrible....

Morning runs

My plan for a morning workout on Thursday was foiled. I got to the track at George Mason High School at about 6:25, flats in hand, ready to do a mile workout- 4x5:16 with 400m recovery. The gates were locked. Son....of...a...bitch..... I looked around, there had to be another way in. A high fence, but a large pile of snow abutted it. Maybe I should jump over the fence? Then I saw the barbed wire on top. No, I wasn't leaping over any fences. I turned around and headed to the road mile loop on which I had done a workout 36 hours before. I'd give it a shot. Sure I didn't know the 400 marks, but it would be better than nothing. I changed into my flats and got ready to run, feeling colder than the 33 degree morning. I started on one interval, and within 46 seconds, I felt drained. I stopped, turned around and put my trainers back on. I wasn't going to make any progress forcing it. I tossed my shoes onto my porch and went out and ran five miles.

That afternoon, I finished up my 10 miles for the day with three laps around the Capitol. I wasn't terribly inventive.

The next morning, however, I woke up early to run to work. It was a nice change from the trip I made the other way in the snow storm. It was 12 miles, and a gradual downhill, though the Custis Trail is pretty undulating. Once I got into the city, it became less of a medium long run and more of a stop-and-go with the traffic lights. When I got to the office, though, I was happy to have my run over for the day. I think I'll do that again.

THAT's what they're talking about

Like Dirk a few days before me, I finally saw an elusive red fox while running around Hains Point on Wednesday. The absence of snow provoked me to run on the grass during my 10 mile easy run and as I headed up the east side, I looked up and saw this odd combination of a dog and a cat, traipsing toward me on the sidewalk on the edge of the river. I naturally did not handle this with quiet appreciation. I yelled "HEY FOX! RUN WITH ME!" and turned to run parallel with it for a while. It kept looking over at me for a few seconds, then scurried off. I went about my way and then managed to show up late for the free showing of Food Inc. at the Archives.

I looked through several pages of Google images for "running fox" and chose this one????

Why does Snoop Doggy Dogg carry an umbrella?

For drizzle...
That's what I was dealing with Tuesday night when I went out for an aerobic stamina workout on a little road loop a half mile from my apartment. A light drizzle that seemed insignificant when I started but added up after a while. The neighborhood in question only has two roads into it and it doesn't do much good as a shortcut for drivers on the main roads, so traffic is extremely light. It's also almost exactly one mile around, just a little bit longer. Because of the light traffic, I could run in the middle of the road, so the measurement was essentially reliable. I jogged over and ran one loop as a warm up then set off on 2x4 miles, shooting for around 5:40 pace.
My first mile was 5:30, a little faster than I wanted to go, but without the exact 800 mark, I wasn't checking my pace midway through, and I think that might have defeated the purpose of running this workout on the roads. I consciously slowed down and hit 5:38 for my next three for 22:25. I jogged the loop backwards for a recovery, then started my second set. Two things happened during the recovery, the cold drizzle, about 36 degrees, chilled my legs enough that they became numb, and I forgot the breathing pattern that worked so well for me the last time.
I came through the first mile in 5:41, and while I was a little disappointed to have slowed three seconds from the last, I kept in mind that I could just barely feel my legs, so to be able to run close on muscle memory was pretty good. I slowed a bit the next three laps and averaged 5:43 for 22:52. By the end, the t-shirt I was wearing over a long-sleeved shirt was soaked and pretty heavy.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the workout. Considering I ran 5:40 pace for 2x3 miles on the track two weeks ago, running 2x4 miles on the roads averaging that pace is pretty good. That I only looked at my watch at the mile marks made me pretty confident that 5:40 just became a natural pace. Now, to speed it up...

Nothing too sexy happening here

My morning run plan failed again, so I found myself running my entire day's worth of mileage in the evening, as has been my wont lately. I did Presidents + Seaton to get in 10 miles at 6:49 pace. Crossing Route 7 was a pain, I must have waited three minutes for an opportunity.

Efficiency

I took a morning off of running with the GRC guys to sleep in...and sleep in I did- to 11:30. I clearly needed it. It was too late for Alex, and he had already left by the time I was ready to go, so I headed out, planning to do at least 16, hoping I was up for 18. It had been quite a while since I had eaten a meal, so I wasn't sure of how I would fare, but I turned out to be just fine.
I left on what I am dubbing the Chesterbrook loop, a more confident permutation of the run up Kirby on which I got lost in January.
My left patella was pained for a bit in the first mile, but by the time I reached the short stretch of the W&OD trail, I was loose and ready to go. I blasted Virginia Lane, just because I always do, and from then on generally pushed the pace. I wasn't timing it exactly, because I left my damned watch at work, but I feel as though I was running 6:30 pace most of the first half, which was mostly downhill until the nine mile mark.
At that point, near the Chain Bridge, I turned and ran up a pretty darn steep hill- 203 feet of climbing in a half mile. The difference between this and my last trip up this hill was that in January, I basically crawled up- this time, my form naturally got as efficient as possible. It happened automatically- my knees lifted the optimal hight, I leaned just enough and my feet climbed the hill faster than I expected- I scaled the hill like a lemur scrambling up a tree. My body just naturally found the most efficient way to move, I liked that. When I got to level ground on Old Glebe, I just started rolling. I mowed down another runner and spit him out. When I hit Chesterbrook, I continued to roll, and appreciated the ease with which I was moving ahead, more than 11 miles into my run. I felt as though I had hacked my way down to 6:00 pace or below, and I wasn't straining to do it. This feeling- motion without effort- the climate - low 40s with intermittent winds, no rain- and the scenery - Virginia light suburban with little traffic- reminded me why I love running.
When I turned onto Westmoreland, I was thrilled to see almost no traffic, so I was able to move onto the actual road and started to feel like I was in a road race. When I passed Haycock Road on Westmoreland, I slowed slightly, and once I hit the end of Lincoln Avenue, I shut things down a little more for my run up Grove and around the Metro loop.
Then I fell asleep watching the Olympic hockey final and woke up eight seconds before the tying goal in the third period.

It's all uphill from here

The weekend was pretty productive in terms of getting some work on hills, something I felt was lacking in my routine during my cooldown Wednesday.
Saturday I ran from the GRC store in Chevy Chase with Klim, Murphy, Max, Ernst and Mike. We went about five miles south almost to Dupont, then turned around. I initially wanted to do a five-mile tempo in the middle, but leaving my watch at the office on Friday complicated that. Murphy also wanted to get some up-tempo work in, so we decided to do a shorter tempo on the way back to the store. That, unfortunately, meant spending most of the workout running uphill. I handled the first 5:30 pretty well, then suddenly faded. Once I had some grass to run on, I was able to catch back up. The second interval, at six minutes, was bound to be easier and less uphill, but I still faded at 5:30. The third- three minutes, was bad enough until I let two cars make turns in front of me, effectively seperating myself from Murph and Mike. Even if I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out, I was still glad to get 19 minutes of hard running that I wasn't otherwise planning. I ended up with 75 miles for the week.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #7

Secret
I ran this loop in early April 1998. One Saturday morning, all of the juniors on the track team were taking the SAT, so our road groups were fundamentally shuffled. I wound up with Doug Mitarotona, one of the hardest working all-around people I have yet met. I was a little worried, because without a meet that weekend, Doug was going to want to hammer, because he didn't waste a second that he could be working. We left with a few others in tow, and I asked him where we were going.
"It's a secret," he told me.
I knew I was entering a world of suffering when we ran up the path to Washington Road that I had previously only walked. This guy wasn't messing around! We started running a triple loop, which is hard enough when you aren't being pulled along by an achievement-driven maniac. Down onto Mt. Lebanon Boulevard and up Hoodridge. This lunatic who maintained a hyper-competitive schedule his junior year while playing soccer and running cross country and working part time. Clearly, he was a man who had no need for leisure.
He hammered himself into a top-flight runner his senior year, who outdistanced the first finisher from our arch-rival, North Allegheny's team at the WPIAL championships. I had been spared running with him throughout my first two years until now, and I was about to find out why he improved so quickly.
At some point, Doug decided to try to break me. I, being a precocious youngster of 15, didn't want to relent. I hung on as long as I could, as he took me down hills, seemingly only because we would have to go back up. Up Connor Road, down to the Galleria, then along the path through the park to the bottom of Sunnyhill. I think at this point, the rest of the group was far enough back that we had lost them, but I just kept trying to hang. Finally, I succumbed. I started to slow to a walk, but Doug rejected my surrender. He ran back down the hill and started jogging very slowly.
"Run as slowly as you have to, but don't switch over to walking," he said. "The second you switch, you've broken your stride."
So I started running again. I wish I could say I instantly felt a surge of pride and strength return to my legs. I didn't. It was worse than before. Oh God, why? I crawled along, each step of Sunnyhill getting a little steeper. I wish I could remember the relief I felt when I got to the top of the hill, but I was just too tired at that point. We turned down Beadling and I couldn't even enjoy that, because it felt like my body was still tied up inside. I think at that point I gave up all hopes of feeling good again and just pushed to stay with Doug (#133 at right) as he accelerated up Cedar Boulevard back to the track.
When we got back to school, we checked in with Coach A, who took one look at what remained of me- a sweaty, probably bleeding mess that breathed heavily enough to terrify an infant, he chuckled. He knew the medicine that I took. I don't think he gave a thought to the other runners in our group not making it back. The rest of the day was a blur, but the message stayed in my mind, my quads and my back to this day- If you hammer, you deaden the inconvenient pains that get in the way of seeing what you are truly capable of doing. After this, how could I not be confident enough to take on some of the best runners around?
It took me a few years to put everything together so that I could make the best use of what I learned from Doug that day, but the hammering run remains a staple of my training. I subjected a few underclassmen to it in my last two years at Mt. Lebanon, but it rarely took, even if they made it up Sunnyhill. I think something was lost in the retelling when I took the lesson into my hands. Doug had no such troubles.

HALP! WIND

Friday's typically an easy day with a shorter run, but today was anything but easy. I tried to run to the Smithsonian metro station to meet Melissa for a trot around the mall, but eastward winds made my progress very slow. It was more like a jog. We didn't last long. I went back to work and pretty much felt like I had suffered a stroke.

Rebound

Towpath left some encouraging words following my perceived-as-terrible workout that, in that context, weren't very effective, yet when viewed in relation to Thursday's run were quite prescient. He said I had improved since November.
As I have every Thursday for the last two years when I am running a solid mileage, I ran 12 miles, on my Pimmit-Idylwood loop, planning to neither push the pace or take it easy. I wasn't quite sure where the mile markers were, so I took splits at varying points to check later. At the point that I found out to be 3.1 miles in, I was at 18:36. By comparison, at the Candy Cane City 5k in early November, I ran 18:31 for 5k. Thursday, I kept going for nine more miles. So, Towpath was right, I had improved.
Despite having to stop three times at traffic lights for a while, which made me cool down quite a bit, I ran the 12 miles at 6:08 pace. The only times I felt discomfort were about 7.5 miles in, when I climbed a steep hill after standing at the corner of Idylwood and Leesburg Pike for a minute or two, and the last three miles, when my stomach started to act up. Stopping for traffic was a pain, but I really enjoyed rolling on Venice toward the end. I hit 9.75 miles exactly in an hour.
So, I am feeling a bit better about myself after that display.
I could use a swift five-mile tempo on Saturday.

Feels like failure

Ever since my last mile workout more than a month ago, I have been anxious to get back on the track and keep pushing. My previous workout was interrupted by some stomach pains, so I was left with a desire to see where I could go with a longer stretch of mile repeats.
I had my chance tonight, with 5xmile on the schedule at American's track. I finally met the elusive Matias who boasted the impressive (to me) resume of running with Scott Sehon, Greg Costello and Aaron Hanlon at Bucknell. Letting Karl, Jake and Dirk go ahead for their speedy miles, Matias and Andy and I held back and I led miles at 5:14, 5:12 and 5:10, with a 400 m jog between them, which I invariably took too fast. I had planned to run 5:16, 5:12 and 5:08, and admittedly, seeing 5:10 for the third interval was deflating. Matias led the fourth mile, but after 200 meters I was toast- I wasn't breathing quite right. I jogged the rest of the lap and put a long-sleeved shirt on (extra tight) and planned to run a few 5:20s to relax and still get some work in, but judging from my 43 at the 200 mark, I was done.
I keep in mind that I was still cutting time each mile and doing them under control, but regardless, I was awash in frustration and wondered aloud if I would ever break 16:00 for 5k again. I tried to run around a bit while everyone else finished their workouts, but I didn't even want to do that- I felt frail. Things picked up when we went for a cooldown run, but then I was cut from a Russian ballet troupe and sunk into a deep depression.

Just 10 miles

Since my plan to double today was quashed by my continuing inability to wake up early, I instead just did 10 miles after work at 6:50 pace, out to Hollywood and back. Boring.

Despite the loss of feeling in my extremities, I still prefer rain to snow

I didn't wake up before work to run, so my hopes of doubling were squashed. Then Melissa canceled our evening trot because it was supposed to rain, so I set out from my office after work to get in 10 miles around the Mall and Hains Point. The drizzle didn't seem so bad as I worked my way counterclockwise around the mall, but once I got to Hains Point, the deluge was constant. I rushed the run, having little shelter from trees, no long pants and no gloves. I had a pretty solid pace for a while until I hit a red light at 14th street and had to wait for a minute to cross. I ended up averaging 6:15 for 10 miles which made sense, given the flat loop and my haste to get in from the rain.
If nothing else, the rain helped expedite the snow melting.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #8

Argonne-Natrona-Karns
When I first started working at the Valley News Dispatch in 2006, I tended to run in Schenley Park and then drive out to the office. I didn't think there was any way the Alle-Kiski Valley could be more interesting.

For a while, I was right, but just because I wasn't creative. When I would work evenings, I would have to head out there before rush hour, but I'd wind up with at least 45 minutes extra to kill, so I started running from the office, along First Avenue into Brackenridge and then Harrison, where I discovered the wonder that is Natrona.

Natrona once housed most of the workforce for the Allegheny Ludlum steel mill in adjacent Brackenridge. It had so many Catholics that at least three churches thrived. Now....not so much. Population has plummeted, houses have fallen into disrepair, crime, for a time, ran rampant, though it had since cooled. I knew, despite the slightly lower-quality air around the remaining steel mill, that I wanted to make Natrona the centerpiece of any run I did around the area. For some reason, decay fascinates me, because you never know what is left over. I'd almost rather scavenge the irregular and slightly-singed merchandise at Gabriel Brothers than shop somewhere that I know I can find what I want. In addition to the historical treasures, the spectacle is just as fun. For instance, the photo at left. I befriended three young gents one day in 2007 while writing a story about Natrona. Mike, in the middle, has a Blackberry, despite his employ as a cook at the three friends' barbecue stand. Also, why isn't that guy in the background wearing a shirt?
I start in Natrona Heights at Pennsylvania Avenue and run along Broadview Boulevard to Penn St, down to Vermont and back up to Argonne Drive. The approach to Natrona down Arragone Drive is marvelous. You can see the tightly clustered houses surrounding the ornate church, St Ladislaus.

The route travels several mostly-empty streets that get barely any traffic. Federal Street features several Civil War-era houses, though recent fires have claimed several.

Moving onto Karns Road transitions the run from slum to a more rural, rolling setting. Slum might be harsh, but it's close. Karns Road might be my favorite segment of the run. Each step brings you closer to the northeastern edge of Allegheny County and its nexus with Armstrong County.

The turn up Oak Manor Drive, however, is a quick blow to anyone who wasn't expecting to have to climb back up the hill they descended via Argonne Drive. At the top of Oak Manor, you turn onto Freeport Road, which isn't great for pedestrians, but soon enough you can turn off into neighborhoods in Natrona Heights as you approach Heights Plaza and the end of the run.

The timing of this post happened to coincide with Oscar and Beth Shutt running up Oak Manor Drive today. Wacky!

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.

Let's go BACK to the Mall!

My second week of 75 miles went deceptively easy, considering I worked four of the days, whereas I only worked one day of my first 75 mile week. Not that the extra five miles is terribly hard, only about 33 minutes more throughout the week, but the whole effort is worthy of pause. I went to the store looking forward to a nine-mile jaunt through Northwest, but ended up getting much more. We ended up running around the Mall and Hains Point, but despite running some of the same route the day before, it was great to have a big group Saturday morning.
In honor of the Spiders, I wore my Richmond singlet under my t-shirt, but less than a mile into the run realized I had to be more public with my support, so I put it on over my shirt. To note, Matt Llano ran 14:37 to win the 5k with splits of 457, 442, 423, and Tim Quinn nearly PRed with a similar first-mile split. Unreal. Here's an interview with Llano on my coach's blog. To think, Hannay's 15:07 outdoors was noteworthy in 2002... It was also a homage to pretty much every running movie I have ever seen- the athletes seem to train in their uniforms. Why is Mac Wilkins, a thrower, running around campus with his Oregon singlet on in Prefontaine? Karl brought up a good point- it's good marketing for the program. It reminded me that Hampden-Sydney never gave us any paraphernalia with the the team or school name on it. It was just as well, because we were kind of embarrassing and it matched the way the school felt about us. I do have a t-shirt from the Parents and Friends 5k, which was odd to have a shirt for that but not for the team in general.
Karl also gave me another idea- charging to the front at the end of the run, to be the first one back to the store and represent my school well. I was in. What I didn't realize was how far we would end up running.
After a loop around the Mall, we headed down the west side of Hains Point, and kept going to the tip, despite being at 56 minutes at the cross road. For some reason I pushed ahead with Karl, not that it was a problem. The east side was now clear, so we returned up that side, and I kept pushing into the wind. Heading back on Ohio, the pack turned left when I was headed right, so I fell back a little there, but picked up ground. Once we hit the rock creek trails and I made the unfortunate decision to end up running through a lot of snow, I was much farther behind and soon would relent and forget about the finish, until Karl reminded me to go for it. I put on about a mile-long surge to the front, took the long way around an interchange under Whitehurst Parkway and kind of overcompensated for the extra distance. It felt good to be able to put on a burst, no matter how silly, after nearly an hour and a half of running. Jake Klim sprinted to catch up to me and I eased up, but again Karl's encouragement propelled me up the icy steps and across M street to the GRC.
We ended up doing a little over 14, so I would up with 80 miles this week. Oh well.
I'm liking the shorts-worthy weather...
In other news, I am into the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, and I'm pretty pumped about it.

Let's go to the Mall!

After building up a little extra a few days, I was able to cut my run on Friday to seven miles. I did in during my lunch break around the mall and averaged 6:28. It got me thinking about an amusing This American Life that coincidentally, Jake Marren and I referenced the next day while waiting to start and a man with a large beard drove by.

Dry roads

Thanks to a lot of sun and a high above 40 during the day, a lot of the ice and snow melted and my 12-mile loop was pretty clear. After my tempo the night before, I had no need to push too hard, but I liked the chance to go out and run without having to worry so much about my footing.
It was 39 degrees when I got home, so I took the opportunity to wear shorts and man, it was worth it. I was pretty tired so the run wasn't a chucklefest, but I menadered between 6:40 and 6:49 pace.
I thought ahead to the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, and I'll admit I am getting pretty excited about it. I feel like that could be my optimal distance to race, and the opportunity to try it for the first time on a course I am familiar with is enticing. A favorable baseball schedule this year means the course can return to the north shore. We'll have a lot of flat stretches and get away from that boring out and back on Chateau and Manchester streets that the larger crowd at the race last year necessitated. I have about two and a half months to prepare for it, and given the way I feel right now, I need all of it. I'll have plenty of races along the way at which to evaluate my fitness, chief among them being Cherry Blossom in April. If I can run under 55 there, I'll feel like I'm in pretty good shape. But right now, running 5:40 pace for two three-mile tempos is a long way from 5:30 pace for 10 miles.

Slipping on my hubris

I tried my first track workout in about a month Wednesday night. It wasn't terribly taxing, a seven-mile tempo at the American University track with Jake Marren, but it was significant that I hadn't run anything much faster than six minute pace for a long time, mainly because of the condition of the ground.
The track was mostly clear, by my mind was not when I arrived. I fancied myself a young WASPy Amerigo Vespucci in trying to navigate a shortcut to the American track from the Tenleytown Metro stop. Given my lack of familiarity with the area, this was ill advised. I ended up taking a street I thought to be parallel to Nebraska, which would take me to the east end of the campus, but this proved to be incorrect- the street was actually perpendicular. As I applied my geometry skills practically, I noticed my bag smelled rather sweet. Upon opening one of the end compartments, I found my travel shampoo bottle had opened and deposited its contents into the bag, ruining a plethora of matchboxes I can ganked from the eponymous restaurant the night before and failed to remove. Suffice to say, I was flustered when I finally showed up at the track.
After a warmup when we were joined by Dirk De Heer, Jake and I switched into road flats and started on our run. Most of the track was clear, except for some snow encroaching on the inside lane on one turn. Smatterings of ice decorated the surface, but the beauty of running laps on a track is how quickly you familiarize with the landscape and adapt. We planned to start off slow, but I naturally brought myself to ruin with a 5:31 second mile, after which I lost my composure and tried to recover from a speed I had not approached in a month, with five miles left. Around the second lap, two young man walked out to the track and up into the bleachers and smoked marijuana like cigarettes. I'm not sure why they chose the track for their doobie smoking, nor did it feel like we had spectators for the workout. Dirk had talked about hearing in his head the last song he heard on the radio, but after smelling that cheeba, I kept hearing Rick James' Mary Jane while I ran.
When I realized the remaining miles were destined for disaster, I cut off the tempo at three miles- 16:56- a shade under 5:39 pace. I immediately recovered for a mile and went back into a second three mile interval, hoping to maintain an even 5:40 pace. I did so, with some company from Chuck Kacsur in the second mile. I finished with an 81- the fastest lap of the 24 I ran harder, and ran 16:55, a second faster than the first, fresh interval.
The large piles of snow on the edges of the soccer field gave the track an odd feel, similar to the cinderblock walls on the insides of the turns on indoor tracks. It did not make me wistful for Pitt's indoor track, though.
After my cooldown, I was pretty lightheaded and ravenous. I demolished an apple and wandered to Dirk's car with the other guys. Stopping for snacks, Jake said I looked pretty "sad," mainly because the line at Subway was way too long and I couldn't seem to read the menu.
In one regard, I am disappointed that I let one mile ruin my workout, and that I let that mile happen because of my unbridled enthusiasm. I was feeling great through two miles, but I hadn't been running that fast for a while and my rust caught up with me as I got in over my head. I am happy, however, that I salvaged the workout and managed to run an even-paced second three miles with just a short recovery. It's a little step, and even though my mileage is "up there," for me, I feel like I am behind my usual fitness in Pittsburgh. I haven't done any other tempos and have done limited speedwork, but at the same time I am not racing the Spring Thaw this year, in fact I won't be racing until the Monument Ave 10k in late March, so I need not compare the two schedules. I am also building a sturdier base. Either that, or I'm old, fat and over the hill (See photo, right).

Nothing to read here, folks

I planned to do the same two loops around the Mall that I did Snow Day Saturday for 10.5 miles, but the sidewalk along the reflecting pool and Constitution were ridiculously icy, so I cut that section out of my second loop and did another loop around the capitol reflecting pool for 9.5.

Favorite Defunct Races #4

Panhandle Trail 5k/10k- Yeah, believe it or not I am wistful for a Kevin Smith race. Shortly after I moved to Pittsburgh from Richmond, I was terribly bored and took to exploring new locales around the city and suburbs. I began wandering into the west, and hoped to find a race out there. It just so happened that a 5k/10k double was scheduled for mid-October on the Panhandle Trail, a frequent training ground over the previous few years. I usually started from Walker's Mill, on the eastern end of the trail, and these races started at McDonald, so it was a nice change of scenery.
I convinced my mom to come along, and on the drive to the race I saw something starling - a smoldering hole in the middle of a pedestrian mall in Carnegie. Not just any smoldering hole- the site of the former Red Hots, a wing joint frequented by my high school cross country team. It had recently become Red Onions, and even more recently -- like, a few hours before -- burned down. That's a shame.

The drive to McDonald was scenic and pleasant, and the weather, in the low 50s, was good for a race. The course wasn't a great race course, it's somewhere I'd run for free all the time, but since the fundraiser directly supported trail improvements, it gets a pass.

Unfortunately, my body at the time was not. I didn't warm up terribly well, since I had nine miles of racing ahead of me, and I basically pulled away in the last mile to beat some high school freshman in just over 17 minutes. After a quick jog, I met Hounds Leslie McIntire and Eric Wilkins at the starting line for the 10k, which simply traveled 1.5 miles farther than the 5k out-and-back course.

Warmed up, and more likely frustrated at my middling 5k time, I took the first half of the race out pretty hard, 16:40, a good 30 seconds faster than the shorter event. After hitting the four mile mark in 21:30, I started to tire and told Leslie to go for it. Wilkins finished third and the Hounds swept the race. Not that it was a terribly deep race, but it was just a nice event to have. It was cheap, raised money for the trail, and brought some active people out for a scenic run in autumn. Though Pittsburgh's weather is typically pretty cloudy, I think that city does gray better than any other. I love running in the fall no matter what the climate, even rain, though that least of all. When door prizes remained after the drawing, Smith simply threw the remainders in the air.

That was the last, and as far as I can tell, only, time this race has been run, though the annual Trot for Tots 5k/10k is run on the same or close to the same course.

I did see this notice in the Collier Township bulletin: Watch for a spring “Friends 10K/5K Run on the Panhandle Trail”. Contact Bruce Linner: 412-279-2210, linner4@verizon.net.

So maybe this race isn't defunct after all...

Saying goodbye to the old normal

Tuesday I go back to a regular work schedule, which I haven't had in 12 days. I planned to try to emulate a normal schedule, but once I woke up and saw it was 14 degrees at 7:30, I decided to embrace the freedom that a day off gave me and skip my plans to run from the Line. I slept in until 9:30 and later went off on a 6.1 mile loop, mainly a Pimmit 6, with a few modifications, at about 6:45 pace. More ice, in fact, most of the northward trip through Pimmit Hills was icy.
I took a nap and at 5 went out with Alex for a classic Park 6, though it was a little shorter today, 5.9. Alex said on the way back we were inching close to six minute pace, which I was happy with. Not much ice on that loop, except for the trail and stretch through Falls Church Park.
Back to work tomorrow, but I have 27 miles is so far this week.
No more naps...

Sunday with Ciccone

Matt Ciccone visited and is advancing in his marathon training, so I met up with him for a run Sunday. I started from his girlfriend, Amy's, place in Logan Circle, ran west on P to the Rock Creek Parkway then went an intersection too far, adding an extra .9 onto my run. With almost 6 (at 6:30 pace) in the bag when I picked Matt, who wanted to start his run with a shot of espresso (he trains like an Italian),I figured I would wind up with some extra distance. We planned for 10 miles, which would be his longest run to date, with a loop from Amy's to Hains Point and back. We headed down the west side, and upon reaching the end, we saw the road was not plowed. We turned around and headed back and only wound up getting him a little more than 9.1, but it was okay because his run scheduled for the week before was supposed to be 9 miles but he kind of fell apart at 7 and didn't finish, so, baby steps...
We grabbed some chocolate milk, met up with Amy and had brunch at First Farmers, which was a wonderful experience all around. I had fried chicken, eggs and waffles, exactly the combination I craved when we were running into the wind north on Hains Point. We averaged 8:50 the time I ran with him, and he seemed pretty happy. Considering all the ice we dealt with on the way to Ohio St, it was good. Obviously 26 miles is different than a mostly flat 9, but I have confidence in him. He is a devotee of road biking for exercise, so he has a fitness base, and he's an athletic fellow. Of course, biking and running are different, as illustrated in this video:


That video is compliments of Pat McGuire, Ragged Mountain Running, Charlottesville, Va.

Anyway, I wound up with just over 15, and with another week at 75 on the schedule, it has given me a good head start on the week- certainly better than the 12 I ran last week and gave up simply because I was so tired after running through the snow. Only four days of work, and I am definitely trying to get some morning runs in, if only three or four miles.
My left IT band was a little tight, but it eased up once I slowed down with Matt. My right hip was sore after we finished, but I attributed that to a lot of awkward running on the ice. Most of my slight maladies have fixed themselves within a day or so, and I feel pretty good. I just want to get back to running fast and confidently on dry ground. This ice, though I haven't fallen, remains a deterrent.

75 and feeling alive or something stupid along those lines

I ran a lot later than I had planned. Coming home from Patrick Murphy's excellent Olympic opening ceremonies party, I missed an orange line train by about 15 seconds. Luckily it wasn't the last train of the night, but I still had to wait 18 minutes for one. Once on the train, we got to Metro Center and proceeded to sit there for about 28 minutes, so the other last trains of the night could converge. I appreciated the forethought, but seeing as how I was exhausted from jerking my sleeping schedule out of whack for one day of work that week, I got a little irate, though I kept it to myself. Then a middle aged gentleman who wreaked of cigarettes sat next to me. Just splendid. Anyway, by the time I got home- 1:15, I had a feeling waking up for the Haiti charity run in Chevy Chase was unlikely. When I woke up at 7:45 and knew it was decision time, I was positive. I slept until 11:30, then just kind of lied around for a few more hours, had some food, and finally got going around 5. The Presidents' Loop, named for the several streets named after American presidents, was an icy mess in several places and and snowy where it wasn't icy, so what was a good pace was frequently interrupted by having to jog to enhance safety. I ended up running 6:30 for 9.8 miles, so it wasn't too bad, but I was hoping for something a little closer to 6:00 pace. Granted, I slowed down considerably in the hazardous stretches so I very well may have managed close to six minutes the rest of the time. Anyway, I made it to 75 miles this week, mostly on top of and through snow and ice, so I am pretty happy. I just can't wait to train on solid ground consistently.

Back to work

The federal government finally reopened and with it, my office, which follows the feds. We ended up getting a two-hour delay Friday, which is just as well because in addition to dealing with waking up three hours earlier than I had been, I had to run to an underground metro station, deal with various delays once I got on a train, buy a towel and shampoo at Bed, Bath and Beyond's "beyond" section and shower before I started work. I am not good at morning runs at this point. Every Saturday morning run has pretty much been a disaster, so I have to start working on that. today's was no different. I managed 6:30 pace for most of the eight miles to the Rosslyn station, but I felt awful. Maybe it is all the training- I'm up to 75 miles this week. I generally feel really good but I am just trashed today. It's probably the lack of sleep, which sounds dubious, given my surperfluous napping this week, but I kind of got my days and nights mixed up. Oh well.

Snow Day 4

Relatively boring. I ran 6:40 pace for 5.5 out and back on Park and Columbia in the morning, took a three hour nap then ran a 5.7 mile loop with Alex in the evening. It was mostly on dry roads, and after being cautious all week with my footing I was excited to let loose and Alex was kind enough to indulge me. I had a great time climbing some hills and forgot I was surrounded by snow, until I crossed the bridge over I-66 and stepped in a pothole full of water. That shook me out of my pleasant cocoon and reminded me, rather violently, that I was running part of my first 75 mile week in almost six months. Then I got really tired. Then a guy forced me into a snowbank with his car, so I punched the rear window. A few seconds later, he emerged from his car to chase me. For a few seconds, I sped up, wondering if I could keep him out of his car long enough for the light to turn green and for him to mess up the flow of traffic. Then I decided to have some fun, and abruptly turned around and ran right at him. That changed his attitude, and we both went back on our ways. Luckily for me, he didn't know I have never been in a fight.

Favorite Defunct Races #5

McCandless Rotary 5k This race made me enjoy road racing. After having a thorough beating the week before at Brentwood in 2000, I was understandably concerned that running in college was not a wise idea. Before giving up, I figured it was worthwhile to take a shot at another race, one that was a little less competitive on the high end, with less pressure. I found the McCandless Rotary 5k on the Runners High Web site and made a trip to Wexford to run it. I wore my blue West Penn Relays t-shirt from 1997, the asics blue and yellow harrier flats and a gigantic pair of white shorts I had wound up with after gym in high school. I looked like, as a former Richmond coach would put it, like some "goon from the dorms."

Knowing the race was a lot less competitive than Brentwood, I had no fear hanging with the lead group. I wasn't sure if perhaps I could break any of these guys, and I certainly didn't have the confidence from my short road racing experience to try. I just kind of ran along with them until I tired out at 2.5 miles. Then I lagged around in no-man's land until Matt Manfred, a Hampton alumnus, caught up with me and I outkicked him to the finish, winning my age group for the first time.

It wasn't a terribly interesting course- around a movie theater parking lot, then a short loop on Ingomar Road, run twice. It was flat, pleasant and low key enough for me to get excited about racing again. The weather was mild, despite the mid-July timing. I ran it again in 2001, but in 2002 it was off the schedule, replaced, I assume, by the North Allegheny 5k XC race. I couldn't justify helping those clowns.

Snow Day 3

After two days of doubles, I held out for one run today- a fartlek in the Metro parking garage. Alex and I went over there are around 7 and planned to do 10 x 3 minutes hard, but upon arriving, we saw the savage winds had turned what should have been a clear 1200 meters or so of dry land into an inch or so of snow with ice here and there. We scrapped the workout and just took care of some distance going and up and down the garage, noticing each time we passed that the wind had caused our footprints to fill with snow, rendering our previous trips a less-empirical memory. After a few miles of that, we hit the road for a loop in the snow, only passing a few cars but not really facing awful headwinds until the last stretch. I guessed it at 9.5, Alex told me later it was 9.55. I guess I'm not as bad at estimation as I thought.

Snow Day 2

More of the same, two runs, the same loop, no more fulfilling than before. In the morning, I tried to do a multiple loop of Park- two laps through the trail, but after one, I was tired enough of running through the snow that I just ran back and forth on Columbia, and wound up doing eight miles.

After doing some work, I went back out around 9 or so and ran out to Van Buren on Columbia and back for five.

Snow Day 1

Upon hearing Sunday night that I would not have work Monday, I decided to sleep without an alarm, which was marvelous. I woke up, alerted Alex and we went out on a six-mile Park loop. It was mostly clear, except for the uphill on Mt. Daniel Road and the obvious trail section in Falls Church Park. I was so happy to be on solid ground that I ran a little faster than I should have if I wanted to truly run with Alex, so I felt a bit dickish, but it was hard to bridle my enthusiasm for being able to touch the ground.
I had some pancakes and cream of wheat and took a nap, then went out planning for another 6, but found Pinecastle hopelessly snowy and after one loop headed back and ran around the plowed but vacant road from the metro station to route 7. I did happen to run into a block of ice sticking out of the snow and bruise my shin miserably, but I cut the run at about 5.5 miles.
I liked the double, but I wish I had kept going in the morning, maybe eight miles. The poor conditions in the afternoon were a real pisser.
Another snow day tomorrow- I'm shooting for six more in the morning, probably another loop on Park- because it's reliable- and then a fartlek in the metro parking garage, though now that above-ground service is back there might be cars in there. With the federal government shut down again, maybe it will be relatively empty... Yeah, this will be a disaster...

Acquiescence

After a day or so, I began to tire of the snow, mostly because I continued to be "stranded" in the city because the Metro wasn't working above ground and I hadn't been home for a while. I spent Saturday night at Sarah and Melissa's, after going to a party for Sarah's coworker and to Bohemian Caverns. I don't care much for dancing, and after my run in the snow, I tired out pretty quickly. Also, the amount of physical contact in that club, though some people may welcome it, wore on me very quickly. I fell asleep watching highlights and lowlights from the past two Super Bowls, the exhilarating Steelers win last year and the gutwrenching Patriots loss in 2008. Melissa's boyfriend wandered by on his way to church in the morning and I tried to say hi, but my words weren't working. When I woke up and everyone came downstairs, we enjoyed a few hours of laziness and tricks from Melissa's cat Shira before I decided it was time to go home.


Rather than take the Metro to Ballston and finish the journey on foot, I chose to run the route between my office and home that I frequently planned to run in better conditions. As I left, I started to feel a weird pain in my left hip, but after shortening my stride and running on as much cleared sidewalk as I could find, I wamred it up and it was fine.
When I reached Rosslyn, I debated between running on the cleared roads of Route 29 or braving the off-road Custis trail. Still wearing the sweatpants Rob lent me, I found Route 29 too slushy to bear, given the cotton. I opted for the trail and started one of the hardest portions of a run. Over the next 5.5 miles, which took me about an hour, I struggled through two feet of snow. Some parts were driven by walkers and skiers, but none were packed down enough to support 170 pounds coming down one foot at a time, so every step meant plummeting about a foot down into the snow. I came across a few people on the trail, but most of the time was faced with a lot of snow- white almost everywhere I looked. For the most part, I looked down to try to find the best path, but around an hour in, I began climbing a long hill into the gradually setting sun. It was a transfixing experience, and I started to drift away from the conscious act of running and exist more in the state of movement and survival. I was getting tired from the aggregate vertical motion I was putting into my form to step over the snow, and I was hungry. I just wanted to end the run. More than four miles into the trail, when I turned onto the W&OD trail, I began to wander off the trail, instinctively looking for some plowed residential streets so I could have some traction and resume my normal form. I found a street but it was worse off than the trail and I started to run aground emotionally. I realized I had no idea how the streets connected in that part of Arlington, so I got back on the trail and continued on my way. I thought more about how much easier and more fun running will be when the streets are clear, and I stopped minding. I also knew I was close to the end.
When I reached eastern Falls Church, I scrapped the rest of the route on the trail and found the second half of the Park loop plowed. Overjoyed, I picked up speed, making the slogging on the trail that much more dramatically slow. I felt pretty good at that point, and had time not been running out until the Super Bowl started, I would have extended the 12.25 mile run to hit 15 and do a true long run. As I saw my stopwatch inch closer to two hours, I realized I had probably put my body through enough, and that running more after I was exhausted was an invitation for injury and burnout, I decided to finish up when I got home. I stopped at a 7-11 to buy chocolate milk and reached home, my shoelaces too frozen to untie and extract my keys.
The game ended up being a good one, with the game turning on the Saints outplaying Peyton Manning, which I enjoyed. Alex had cooked red beans and rice, which instantly warmed my stomach. The shower, my first with warm water since Friday, felt amazing, and I guzzled the chocolate milk with flourish. The federal government is closed on Monday, which means my office is too. I shall sleep without an alarm and run twice, planning for some sore hips when I wake up. With 75 miles on the schedule for this week, I am starting at a deficit because I planned for 15 on Sunday, but with 12.25 already and 12 in two runs on Monday, I'll be able to average 10 most of the rest of the week. I am mentally enjoying the longer runs, so I don't worry about burnout at this point. In fact, I am looking forward to being able to explore more when my runs are longer and the sun is out later.

It has been brought

Well, how about that snow? Comparatively, my part of northern Virginia and DC didn't get as much over Friday night and Saturday, just about 16 and 17 inches, respectively. Some parts of Maryland toward Baltimore had 30 inches. Anyway...
My friends Mary and Rob persuaded me to come to a party in Clarendon Friday night, with the promise of a place to stay that night when the metro stopped operating above ground. I don't know why I didn't pack running clothes with me when I left, but I didn't. In the morning, the reality of having to somehow get in 10 miles struck. Luckily, Rob lent me sweatpants and a shirt, and I remembered I had a pair of shoes in my office. As it turns out, I also had a short sleeved shirt. I bought some cheap shorts and socks at City Sports and walked to north Capitol Hill and got into my office, then ran two loops around the Mall for 10.5 miles at 7:20 pace. I stuck to the quasi-plowed streets, and while running along Constitution caught up to and passed a group of five plows. When I finished and got back to the office, the showers in the gym did not manage to produce any hot water, which was a problem.
Despite the lengths I took to run, it never seemed silly to me to spend my time like that. In following through, I had my first 70 mile week since August, and I am pretty happy to be back there. I'm feeling fitter and if I keep adapting to the workload, I can see myself making some big gains.
I'll get a taste of 75 miles next week before I come back down to 70, though it's going to be hard to get 15 tomorrow, what, with all of this snow all over the place...

Bring it on

I'm fine with the snow now. I'm up for the challenge and relish the chance to get tougher in awful running conditions.
The federal government let employees out at 1, so my office followed suit and I welcomed the chance to go home and have a mid-afternoon nap. It turned out to last 3.5 hours and I had an eerily prescient dream about trying to get home from somewhere far away, perhaps Prince George's County.
I woke up and ran another Park 6, returning Extract to the Giant. Decent enough movie, but not great. The snow, which had been falling for about 6 hours by the time I started out at 7:30, was pretty significant, and I only passed a few cars. Park St was pretty clear, as were the back roads I hit.

Putting my foot down, on my ears

I've started getting weak, and I became the kind of runner I always abhorred. I have been listening to music and podcasts too much, and it's starting to affect my preparation. This was evident to me on Sunday, when I was alone for the last three miles in Rock Creek Park and I started to lose my focus. I couldn't handle three miles without getting bored? Come on!

So I have instituted a new rule- no mp3 player (I never use an iPod) for runs longer than five miles. I don't really do many five mile runs yet, but when my mileage starts getting up there and I do morning runs, I might need it then, just because I don't wake up well and will need someone, like the hosts of Morning Edition, to talk me through it.

I started listening to an mp3 player when I resumed running in October and I was struggling aerobically to even keep the pace up and I needed something to distract me from the frustration. I just kind of kept them on as I adjusted to the workload and grew dependent on them. I don't want that anymore. I used to be great on my own because I tempered my mental fitness with long, cold, snowy runs in 2007. I was probably better running on my own than I was in a crowd.
Sure it will be boring, but I didn't think so when I would run in Pittsburgh. I remember, often coming down long hills, just opening my eyes as wide as I could to aid getting the full sensory experience wherever I was running. I got more out of each run than just a workout, and I wouldn't mind doing that again.

As for Thursday, I ran 6:30 pace around the Mall and Hains Point for 9.75 miles.

Revision

I finished revising the Pimmit-Idylwood loop and am pretty pleased with it. Alex joined me for the first 5 or so, and we took it pretty easy because he had done a pretty hard bike trainer ride earlier in the day, but once we parted I pushed a litle bit more for the rest. A few stretches remained snowy and icy, but for the most part the roads were clear and I built up some speed. I didn't take intermediate splits, so I am not sure how slowly we started, but I averaged 6:40 for the 11.6 or so.

Running Pseudonyms

Part of my slow comeback has to involve racing, either as an honest indicator of my fitness or because of peer pressure. More often, the latter. I don't bandit, though. Only scumbags bandit. Some runners might want to disguise their identities out of concern for their egos- they don't want their names attached to substandard times. Although I give that as the typical excuse if I don't want to explain my more twisted motivations, this gradual fitness buildup gives me an opportunity to give fictitious runners who already exist a chance to run. It's good for a laugh, and to pay homage to

Candy Cane City 5k
Aaron Gemmill
Erin Gemmill is one of my best friends with whom I commiserate daily about our fading speed and expanding BMI. In 2008 she had an unfortunate haircut that rendered her looking like a boy. Also, her voice has a low tambre that sounds like Barry White. I frequently call her "sir." At times, I came across a guy's name in race results, Eric Gemmill, which I thought was funny. Then I realized Aaron Gemmill was so obvious I had to go with it.


YMCA Turkey Trot 5k
Steve Keck
Steve Strelick is my training partner in Pittsburgh who, despite marrying his wife, Christina Keck, twice (long story), she has refused to take his last name. She has registered with teh last names Keck, Keck-Strelick, and Strelick, but legally remains Keck. When Steve went to have his hair cut, Christina made the appointment for him, and the barber (or stylist, I know how much attention Steve likes to give his hair) assumed they shared a last name. At the Turkey Trot, they did...


Gutbuster 4 Mile
Gary Kline (seen below with Michelle Corkum)
Steve Garand joined the Hounds in 2007, eager to find a competitive team with which he could improve. His quirky personality made him a lot of friends, but his secondary e-mail address made him a legend.
I got an e-mail from him one day, but the "From" section said "Gary Kline." No idea.... anyway, I asked him, and this was his response:

"That is my buy stuff with and expect spam account. I try to make it as untraceable as I can. I didn't realize the bogus name shows up in e-mail sent to others."

Ryan Jobes 5k
Eli Shaub
Lauren Elizabeth Shaub registered for the Pittsburgh Great Race under her full name. In the results, her middle name was truncated, so she appeared as "Lauren Eli Shaub." I thought that was hilarious. She did for a while, too.
She doesn't seem to think it's too funny now. That's why there's no photo.
I was fourth, so this actually wound up in a newspaper article.



Names for the future: Michael Conteam = Michelle Corkum (From the Brookline Breeze)
Brandon Gillyhans = Brandon Gillingham(From the BLAZIN 5k)
Charlie Sullivan = Andrew Sutherland (From Hack totally messing up his Carnegie Mellon Invitational entry in 2006)

Also, at the 2007 Steelers 5k, despite registering electronically, I was called "Charlie Banyas," most likely because there were two other runners named Banyas and the clerk just messed up.


Who knows where these runners will show up...

Boring

Ran 6 miles on the Park loop, stopping at Giant to return a video. about 6:40 pace.

Surprise! You ran kind of fast!

I planned to run a 10 mile progression to bounce back from the last few miles of the long run.
I was amending a Woodley 8 to become a Woodley 10, but somewhere in the presdiential streets, I lost my way. I wound up on Arlington Highway and had to adjust. I noticed my right quad was rather sore, and I was pretty bummed to find most of the roads still slippery with loose snow. This is where I ended up going.
When I calculated my pace for the run, it turned out I wasn't as slow as I expected- rather, I ran 6:30 pace for 11.2. Not bad, even though it wasn't what I had planned.