TT Running Club

“Scary Girl here is an article that may help...http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-78-79-0-402,00.html”

“Tarabull...check with a PT.

There are exercises you can do to strength your knee and keep muscle strength balanced.

Good luck :)”

“OK, I had success with the 4x1-mile. I did the workout around the lake near where I work. They run 5k races there, so the miles are marked and seem to be pretty accurate. So I jogged to the start line, stretched a bit, then took off. After the first mile, I jogged around for 3 minutes, then did the 2nd mile, etc. So I ran Mile 1 twice. I averaged 6:27 - woo hoo! Actually, not as fast as I used to do this workout (used to be all around 5:50 or something), but it felt good to get out there and at least try to do some fast running. And this after one of my heaviest weightlifting workouts ever. Tomorrow a day off from workouts, then an 18-miler on Sunday morning....”

“Ghoulder, sounds like you are making great progress. I was gonna email you but I'll ask you here. Do you have any pointers for training for really long distances, marathon and beyond. I have used Hal Higdons training schedules with great success but am wanting more info. Email me if you want, thanks.

Tarabull, have you seen the doctor yet? I would think that the sooner you get it checked the better.”

“your gonna float thru that Marathon!

I did a really light two mile workout tonight - the first mile was quick (for me) but i wasn't timeing it, the second mile was at my more normal pace.

So I guess I'm as ready as I can be for the Phantom 4 Miler tomorrow am. I've decided my goal is to finish in 38 mins or less. Hopefully around 37.

The coolest part of this race is that my daughter (10) is gonna run the Kids Trick or Trot Mile! She's excited about it!

Then they're having a Pumpkin Dash, it should be pretty fun.”

“I made it! Finished the four miles in 38:08, so i'm fairly happy about it. The sadistic bastage that planned the route made us climb a hill at the start of the 4th mile too!

Sarah did her mile race in 11:12. After a really fast start with all the other kids (climbing that same stupid hill) she realized that she'd need to take a more reasonable pace. I did the mile run with her, (yeah, I've had a big day) and we both had a great time with it.”

“Nice, Roam and Sarah!!

Birch, let me come up with some info for you - probably not 'till Sunday or Monday. Until then, go run about 20 miles each day or so.... :-)”

“Did a wonderful walk/run workout today. Followed part of the high school cross-country trail for a while. Up more hills today than I've ever done. BF says it was a total of 2.5 miles, I'll believe him on that. I was exhausted when we were done.

We had indredible weather today....warm (low 70's), sunny, but very, very windy. I couldn't help but get outside today. Very strange for October 30th.”

“Did a wonderful walk/run workout today. Followed part of the high school cross-country trail for a while. Up more hills today than I've ever done. BF says it was a total of 2.5 miles, I'll believe him on that. I was exhausted when we were done.

We had indredible weather today....warm (low 70's), sunny, but very, very windy. I couldn't help but get outside today. Very strange for October 30th.”

“you gotta love those surprise nice days!!”

“yes, apparently it was twice as nice!”

“Congrats on your run Roam, you are a fine model of inspiration”

“Roam, congrats on the time of you and your daughter. Glad you both had a good time together which is even more important.”

“Sounds like a good workout, smiley!

I succeeded in completing my 18+ miler this morning. I did a kind of figure eight course around town, stopping at home for an extra supply of clif shots and a sip of gatorade. I felt pretty dead when I got home at the halfway point, but then felt relatively strong for the last few miles. Whew!”

“I ran my second trail half-marathon Saturday on Mackinaw Island, and had a fantastic time.

The weather reports were gloomy; 80% chance of rain and very windy, though it was supposed to be warm. The 200 mile ride up Friday night after work was dismal. There was a steady rain and fog. It was cool seeing the illuminated towers of the Mackinaw Bridge loom up over the bridge in the fog. It looked like a scene from Lord of the Rings.

It was still raining in the morning, but when we got on the ferry for the ride to the island, the sun was coming up and through some clearings in the sky; all the rain clouds got lit up from below. Very pretty, but I botched the picture (exposed the film).

This was a trail marathon, but a little unusual. There are no cars on the island so the roads are narrower. They try to keep it clean, but there is horse crap everywhere on the roads. Most of the island is a State Park, so the trails are wide and well maintained for mountain bikers. There is a large bluff around the whole island.

The 1/2 started on the lakeshore road so it was flat for 2.5 miles, then a nasty climb up the bluff, and then 5 miles through interior trails w/ some long hills. That brought us back towards the city and the start, and then we ran the same course as the 5.7 race. The next 2.5 were narrow and very hilly, but they were small hills. The last 2.5 was along the lakeshore road again, back the way we had started.

I started too fast and tried to slow down, but when I hit the first big hill I got worried. I didn't feel strong, and I had trouble breathing in the humidity. I wanted to run under 2 hours very badly; I had done it a few times in training on flat rail-trail. I was watching my watch & pace. The interior part wasn't too bad and I kept pace until it got hillier. Some real dark clouds rolled in and the temps dropped 20 degrees, it started raining, and it got much, much windier. I got soaked and a little chilled and the hills were killing me. When I got to the last flat 2.5 on the shore I had to make up time so I ran it as hard as I could. Last 3 miles were just over 8 min miles. I was probably the most wiped out at the finish as I'd ever been. I finished in 1:59:28, 26 minutes better than my previous time.

My wife had wanted to do the half, but a sore knee made her change her mind. She switched to the 5.7 and ran well, without hurting herself.

We had lunch and talked to some of the locals who stay through the winter. Most of the summer residents were already gone and a lot of the shops and homes were already boarded up for the winter.
The weather had gotten pretty crappy, so we took a rough ferry ride to the mainland and drove straight home.

That was the last big race of the year, and what a wonderful year it’s been. My first race ever was less than a year ago. This year I ran about a dozen 5k’s, 3 10k’s, 2 half marathons and a full marathon.”

“Thanks for the race report, le Subtil! Sounds like you really worked hard to hang in there to get under 2:00:00. I keep bugging BowlderGal because she's never taken me up there in all the times we've gone back to MI to visit her family....”

“le Subtil = AWESOME”

“Way to go, LeSubtil! Make sure you wash your shoes off well, nothing worse than horse crap stinkin' everything else up. :)”

“LeSubtil, congrats on another great race and an amazing season! I really enjoy seeing others fall in love with running. Any stuff for next year?”

“Birch,

I promised you some thoughts on LONG distance running.

My main thought is that anyone who runs ultras is basically a freak of nature. A freak in a good way, but a freak nonetheless. Personally, I don't think we're really made to run very long distances, and most people probably shouldn't be running marathons on a regular basis.

That said, there are some people - even you, perhaps - who discover that they are one of the freaks of nature whose bodies are actually able to take the pounding of the many many miles it takes to train and compete (or at least participate) in ultras. I envy that freakishness.

A friend of mine (and XC ski / winter camping buddy) discovered he was one of those freaks kind of by accident several years ago. He had been doing the usual 5k's, 10k's, etc. with the rest of us, and just thought he'd start training with some longer runs. His body just didn't seem to mind. So he kept at it, and then started competing. Before long he was a serious competitor, and at the peak of his career finished 2nd place in the Western States 100-miler! Another guy (and yes, another winter camping buddy), has recently had a similar experience at about the same time that he qualified for, and ran in (albeit slowly for him) the Olympic marathon trials. He went out an set a new American record for 50k.

Here's a web site that has a pretty good collection of links about training, etc. for the longer distances. http://www.run100s.com

That's about the limit of my brain dump on this topic. Keep up the good work, you freak, you!”

“Speaking of ultras, the Chicago Lakefront 50/50 was this weekend. 50 miles or 50 kilometers, take your pick. A guy in my running group did the 50 miler.

Yep, he's nuts.

I settled for a 10K on Sunday.”

“I prefer "freak of nature" to "nuts" hub.... :-)”

“Whatever floats your boat, dude.

Run on!”

“Bowlderman, I have toyed with the idea of running an ultra but the long runs would actually be training for a 72 hour 240 mile adventure race I am helping to build a team for. I can get more running in then anything else and Its a great way to build the necessary endurance. Its also a great way to toughen my feet which will hopefully put off blistering (though I am not too prone to them). Thanks for the link, I will check ity out.”

“I forgot to mention that my long run on Sunday put me over 1,000 miles for the year. I think the most I did in a year was a little over 1,500, so I'm not anywhere near that, but still, a decent accomplishment....”

“That's amazing! Maybe I'll start tracking my miles in 2005. Think I can make it to 100? :)”

“1,922 as of Sunday!

Hey BowlderMan, we're heading to Bellingham, WA this weekend for regionals. Our women look pretty tough this year and just finished 2nd in the Conference a couple weeks ago. Our top 3 go 18:48, 18:49 and 19:13 for 5K! We'll be trying finish in the top half, at least.”

“See? Aero's one of those freaks of nature!

Woo hoo! Good luck. That's a pretty tight grouping. I was just talking with one of my neighbors, whose daughter runs XC with one of the nearby private high schools. They're probably the 2nd best team in the area, so will likely go to the State meet. Their typical MO is to run in a really tight pack, like 3-4-5-6-7.

I've avoided the XC races for the most part this fall - it just hasn't fit in with the marathon training. I am planning to run the annual "alumni" race hosted by my old high school coach and others on Thanksgiving Day. I think I may have a legitimate shot to best my PR of 18:12 on the 2.95-mile course. BTW, I recently found an on-line listing of the all-time best times there, and I'm about 4 minutes slower than the fastest - yikes!”

“Cal State-Chico is the favorite this weekend; ranked #4 in the nation and just went 1-2-3-4-5 at the CCAA conference meet!”

“Chico State has a rep as one of the top party schools in the country, but they always seem to have some top notch runners, too. Their alums and friends have a club team, too, that competes in our region - the Chico Track Club. They are usually right up there!”

“They're probably good beacuse they're always training with hangovers!”

“Carbo loading.”

“I've been asked to post a link to the group that organized my race from last weekend. I stuck the logo up a couple of days ago.



I thought it was a cool logo - they put on a very well organized and fun event too.

www.runpalmbeach.com

Results!

Anyone coming down for the Marathon of the Palm Beaches?
last edited: 11/03/04 9:21:47 AM”

“I am unhappy to report that my hip is hurting again. I had a planned day off from running on Monday, which was good because my foot was sore. But my hip started hurting during the day (it hadn't hurt during or after my 18-miler on Sunday). Same place where it hurt for a couple years before my chiro finally solved it. I had to cancel my run yesterday, and the jury is still out for today's run. Of course, everything was fine until I forked over 100 bucks for the 30k and the marathon! Ugh.”

“Big Bummer Bowlderman, gonna see the chiro soon?”

“I already had an appointment scheduled for this next Monday, so I think I'll see if another day of rest or short/easy running will make it better without moving that appointment up. Problem with going to the chiro is they want you to take it easy for a couple days after the adjustments, so I lose training.”

“well just don't push through the pain - listen to your body.

When's the marathon anyway?”

“Bowlder-- hope your hip feels better. My Bro-in-law has been having hip problems.. it turns out that he has a mild form of arthritis setting in... and he's only in his mid-30s...”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that, Roam. It's just hard to follow through with the rest. The marathon is 4 weeks from Sunday, on 12/5. The 30k is week after next.

Pink - that was one of the first things the docs ruled out. Of course, the 8 doctors not being able to figure out the problem was the reason I went to the chiro. I do have some arthritis in my left big toe that flares up now and then.

Hip feeling better this afternoon - I will try a little jogging later....”

“Hmmm. Went for a run after work, and the hip felt fine. That was weird. Maybe my body was telling me it just needed an extra day to rest up. Back to the plan....”

“that was prolly it - you just did a pretty big day Sunday.”

“Take care, Bowlderman!

I was paying attention to my stride while running today. It was short. I have short legs, but still, I wonder how much I could increase it. Any tips?”

“Smiley, there was a time when people were all analyzing their strides and trying to change them (back in the 70s or 80s). Then, when everyone started getting hurt, they realized that the best stride is the one that you have naturally. So don't do anything. Your stride will fluctuate naturally as you speed up and slow down....”

“Cool. I thought about trying some speed work, but I would just like to work at getting longer distances in before I worry about the speed. I figure I have the whole winter to work back up to a 5K distance. I plan to run a couple times a week, and do elliptical/other stuff the other few days I work out.”

“If you do decide to do some speed work, make it fun. e.g., if you're running with someone, race them to the next light pole, that kind of thing. When I'm doing speed work, I sometimes I imagine I'm in a race and trying to compete with someone, which is something I enjoy.”

“I did a few mile repeats on a road loop last night while BowlderSon was at soccer practice. My goal was to just go as fast as I could go. My times: 6:10, 5:56, 6:03. Not only was I pleased with the times in general, but I felt strong enough on that third one to kick it in at the end. Plus, the hip feels fine!”

“Where's Artex been lately?! I did my "Hills of Death" run after work today: serious hill work and it goes through a cemetery! Awesome view of SF and the bay just after the sun went down. Challenging getting out of there back onto streets, since they don't have any lights in there - yikes!”

“Bowlderman, I see your speeds and am green with envy. I could run that fast providing I was tied to the bumper of a buick and it was run or die....

I hit 988.7 miles today. I am getting ready to roll into treadmill season. I have mixed emotions about my hamster wheel. I get kinda bored but I seem to really rack up the miles in the winter.”

“I'm gonna try to keep it on the roads once I get to CO. Are there any issues with breathing cold air? Seems like it would just be an adjustment just like any other environmental factor (like humidity).”