I wrote last Monday about going 12 miles out in the Stoney Creek forest.  I got in the pool on Tuesday for some high intensity intervals, with 20 minutes of warmup and cool down taking the entire workout almost 80 minutes.  On Wednesday I rousted my daughter for a dawn-patrol run (easy 2.5 miles) before school – not totally voluntary on her part, but she put in a solid effort so I have to give her credit.  I think the next time she is tasked with going out after school and getting some exercise she will think twice about going into delay mode to dodge her duties.  I got 9.5 more that evening (on my own) on the local loop.  Three days, probably over 4 hours of beating feet…

Back in the pool on Thursday.  Had every intention (as usual) of getting out to the high school track, but it never happened.  Got pressed for time with an afternoon departure on the schedule, so I jumped in the pool and hit it as hard as I could.  Three tabata sessions, followed by an interval ladder – 1:00, 2:00, 2:00, 5:00, 2:00.  Warm up and cool downs again took it well over an hour, it was good to get in something solid as I knew the next couple days might be light.

Spent Thursday evening and Friday in eastern North Carolina – specifically US Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.  Anson Flake of HydroWorx fame and I went down to visit my old USNA roommate, now a LtCol in the USMC.  A lot of acronyms, but that is pretty much the way it works in the military.  HydroWorx is holding an underwater marathon this fall to benefit wounded members of the US Special Forces, so we used our connection to visit the Marine Corps Special Operations Command.  We talked to a bunch of great folks down there, and hopefully a few of the relationships that Anson made will help some of the guys down there get up to Hershey PA in September and log some underwater miles while enjoying a little well deserved R&R.  The event is shaping up to be pretty cool, more info here.  Would have been a perfect visit if Anson wouldn’t have kept calling the marines ‘soldiers’.  If they told him once they told him a hundred times – “We prefer to be called Marines…..”

Needless to say, “work hard play hard” was the visit’s secondary theme, so the 4 miles we got in on Friday were not of the best quality after the abuse we inflicted upon ourselves Thursday night.  Ugh.  The legs probably enjoyed the break, however, so no big deal.  We flew home early Saturday, and so since I still had not fully recovered I got in the pool that afternoon for 75 easy minutes.  I went to bed very early that night – I’m definitely not 29 anymore…

Got out for 8 on the streets on Sunday afternoon, then 75 minutes yesterday in the pool.  Today I should have gone back outside, but even with the pool run yesterday the legs hadn’t quite recovered.  Got back in there this afternoon for an hour, should be good to go tomorrow.  The weather has sucked the past two days, so the pool was a nice fallback plan – tomorrow the wind and rain is supposed to break so I AM GOING TO THE TRACK NO MATTER WHAT.

So, essentially in the last 9 days I’ve put in 36 miles on the roads, and almost 6 hours in the pool.  I feel pretty fit, but still don’t have much direction in terms of a specific distance, let alone a specific race.  I’d still like to give the 800 (need to break 2:00 for crying out loud) and the mile (sub 4:20 still possible?) at least one more shot each in a competitive environment, then try go see “how low can you go” in the standard road distances, which I have never really paid much attention to.  The base is there, need to work on the speed.  STARTING TOMORROW.  No backing out now that I have written it in all caps….

Back to work Monday evening, nice two-day layover in San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The weather wasn’t quite as fabulous as it was when I was last out there in February, but I still love running the waterfront and Golden Gate Bridge so a little drizzly gloom didn’t put a damper on things.  Did the long run across the bridge on Tuesday (about 12.0 miles), then about 8-9 on Wednesday, staying on the SF side of the bay.  The two long days allowed for post-run clam chowder bread bowls, quite possibly making San Fran the best run-eat combo city out there (San Diego fish tacos might offer a challenge to that one…).  Spent Thursday in Syracuse, stuck to the elliptical due to the hilly downtown and the previous days mileage.

Home Friday morning, back up to the HydroWorx pool for the first of two consecutive days of pool running.  I had originally planned on running a 1500m at a meet at Bucknell on Saturday, but with my schedule getting a little clobbered and the kids having a full slate on Saturday I bagged that plan and decided to jump in the “inaugural” Hershey 10k put on by the folks out at Hershey Park – same gang that does the half marathon I’ve enjoyed running the past two Octobers.  Went pretty easy on Friday, then the same on Saturday – not really ‘tapering’ for this, but trying to avoid dragging myself to the starting line on Sunday.

Rode out to the race with a neighbor for the early (7am) start.  I haven’t run a 10k in probably almost 10 years so I don’t even know what my PR for the distance is (spoiler alert – still don’t know my PR).  I do know that even though I was probably in my low 30’s the last time I ran one of these, I am in much better shape now so it would take a disaster for this not to be my best time ever.  (spoiler alert #2 – this is foreshadowing).  Weather was warm but breezy and raining – probably didn’t make for the fastest course but it wasn’t a freezing rain so I was feeling lucky (spoiler alert #3 – that feeling didn’t last long).

At the gun local ringer John Butler (28) took the pace out faster than any of us had the onions to try to match.  I settled into second place, hoping to hit the 1k markers at around a 3:24 pace for a 34:00 finish.  I was pretty erratic to start out (3:02, 3:45?!?), guessing the person laying out the markers had a few too many chocolate martinis at the volunteer bash the night before.  I eventually settled down into a good rhythm, the splits kept getting a little faster and faster.  3:32, 3:28, 3:21, 3:22, 3:19.  When I was back on pace by the 8k mark (3:17/27:06) and was still feeling pretty good I thought I could really post a fast time.  I had lost sight of the leader long ago, but I had also dropped the third place guy around the 5k mark so it was just me versus the clock – what could go wrong?(spoiler alert #4 – don’t ever say “what could go wrong?”)

3:15 for the 9th kilometer, was now looking at something mid-33:00’s.  Still felt good, was holding back “going for it” until the 9.5 mark.  I was approaching the stadium where I knew we finished on the track, so things were looking good.  As I approached the stadium, which was located in the middle of several large parking lots, there were no volunteers or signs or anything.  I reached a point where I had to make a turn somewhere, so I asked the nearest people (a nice looking elderly couple) who said “go that way”.  So I did, even though I knew I only had a quarter-mile to go and I was now heading away from the stadium.  Other folks gave me real-time guidance around an auxiliary parking lot before heading back towards the finish.  I knew that the last kilometer was pushing 4:00 when I entered the arena, finished in 34:40, absolutely fuming.  Can’t say that I was ready to do it all over again, but I think I was so pissed and hell-bent on finding a race director that I didn’t even feel spent afterwards.  The winner John Butler was waiting with a “wtf?” look on his face as well.  Ahhhhhh!

I vote for the Hershey Kiss to be the race director next year, as he seems to be the only person (cartoon or otherwise) who knows what’s going on.....

When I finally tracked down someone at least partly responsible for the gigantic SNAFU, the dress-down I had planned for her didn’t even seem fair.  She was so unknowledgeable about racing, what went goes in to training for something like this, and how much your results mean that it wasn’t even satisfying letting her have it.  After about 39 apologies from her I switched from mad to cynical (much more my ball of wax).  I ended with the suggestion that maybe she was actually on to something, and she should keep the same course for next year and just advertise it as the Hershey 10.273k – then she would have no competition since all the other race directors are like lemmings, all doing the same silly 10k distance.

So, what could have been a sweet race (no Hershey pun intended) ended up being an essentially untimed ball-busting tempo run.  No PR, no prize (times must be tough at the Fortune 500 company – only prize offered went to the winner) for second overall, and to top things off somebody actually stole my race t-shirt that I wadded up and threw in a corner after wearing it to the rainy start line.  Who steals a race t-shirt?!?  Anyway, it was good to know that sub-34 minutes is more than just possible, but it would have been nice to have had it in the books.  A dorked up course or timing system happens every blue moon, but it still drives me absolutely crazy when it happens.  I’m sure there are some that are just out to have fun and get some exercise, but I am out there for the test – I can have fun and get exercise at home and save $35 if I wanted to.  I considered this a wasted Sunday morning and 10k opportunity – I can’t find another one anywhere near here as the  5k season seems to be around the corner.  Oh well – if nothing else I guess I dis-proved the old adage “if some is good, more is better”…

The following day was a fun one, as I got an out-of-town visitor up to Enola to check out the HydroWorx facilities and their world-famous pools.  While waiting to fly home from Bloomington back in March, Julie Hayden of Athena Track Club fame asked about the pool and its capabilities.  I was unaware of her background in aqua-therapy and training – she was well-versed in everything ‘water’, teaching and training folks down in Virginia regularly in the pool.  She was interested in adding the underwater treadmill to her resume, so we spoke of her coming up to check it all out.  Fortunately, we were able to find a mutually agreeable date for her to drive north and get together with Anson Flake, the HydroWorx president and my original connection to the company.

Julie made the trek north Monday morning, and the three of us fired up the pool in Anson’s home to show her what it was all about.  She had done tons deep water running and training with various aqua resistance devices, but had never been on an underwater treadmill.  She seemed to like what she saw, and got to play on it for about an hour while Anson and I showed her the ropes.  It was fun trading knowledge and ideas, and it’s always easier to show someone how the pool works rather than trying to describe it in a blog or at a meet.  After a quick lunch she hit the road back to northern Virginia, hopefully even more sold on the great qualities of water workouts.

Julie Hayden hammering the HydroWorx treadmill

Julie getting in some aqua-miles while Lazy Blogger stands around as usual.

Since I spent most of the morning letting Julie play with the pool, I hit the Appalachian Trail that afternoon for 9 good miles.  Back to work that night, ended up in Columbus, OH on Tuesday morning.  They have a nice greenway trail, so I went from the downtown hotel to the Ohio State campus and back, another good 60 minute run.  Columbus-Newark-Chicago Tuesday night, went long for the third day in a row on Wednesday in Chicago.  Probably about 26-27 miles in the first half of the week, not bad for me.  Chicago-Newark-Boston Wednesday night, followed by a USAir flight home to Harrisburg.  Grabbed some sleep whenever I could along the way, so when I got home I had enough gas in the tank to get up to the pool for an easy 45 minutes just to get some work in for the day.

Got out to the track on Friday, an all-too-rare occasion but better than nothing.  The Cumberland Valley track was being used by the team when I got there Friday morning due to the holiday routine, so I ventured over to the other local high school (Mechanicsburg HS).  10×400 with 800m in between, 66-67 on the quarters, 4:00 for the 800 meter rest.  The 400s were probably about 80%, but with the ‘rest’ being more than just a recovery shuffle it almost became half fartlek/half intervals.  Two mile warmup, then knocked out the intervals without too much difficulty.  Was happy with the effort, the sheer volume of the workout started to wear on me by the end but other than that I think my form held up (I have been working on that a lot lately) and I still felt like I had some hop in my step even at the end.  Mile cool down put the entire workout right at 10 miles – pretty solid way to kick off the Easter weekend I thought.

Not much the rest of the weekend, worked a quick overnighter Friday night so I just took Saturday off and chilled out with the family and friends.  Tried to hit the trail on Sunday after unleashing all my pent-up Lenten chocolate craving on the poor, unsuspecting chocolate bunnies perched helplessly in the kids Easter baskets.  It was ugly, with the ‘calories consumed’ meter pegged on “TILT”.  Sure enough, about 1 minute before my turn-around on the out-and-back run I failed to navigate a rock and popped the same ankle that has been loose this entire winter season.  There was no way I could walk it home due to the distance and my “be there or suffer the consequences” time table for Easter dinner at my parents house.  Rather than fail to heed my mother’s “suggestion”, I fought off the pain and kept the ankle warm by just powering through.  It was ok on the flat surfaces, but when I hit even the smallest uneven area I was struck with a white-hot reminder that there was still something wrong down there.  Eventually made it back to the truck and then to the dinner table with seconds to spare, had my ham with sweet potatoes and an ice compress.

Tomorrow will conclude ‘Operation Catch Up’.  It will begin with me hobbling back into the pool of course, and will end with quite possibly the worst thing that can happen to a serious racer of any age or ability.  I was furious!  Did somebody steal my Gatorade after a tough workout?  Did my favorite shoe company change the color of my go-to kicks to pink and green?  Was I cut off at the start of a road race by an idiot youngster trying to get his picture in the newspaper?  Tune in tomorrow to see what injustice I was forced to endure….

"Berra on the HydroWorx treadmill, take 19....."

Another week of the same.  The good news is that I was able to get on the trail last weekend for 6-7 easy miles after the leg had stopped aching, no problems with either the legs whatsoever.  I am officially calling the calf situation “over” until further notice.  I learned my lesson (again) about over-exertion with the quad issue, will be sure to take it easy as I reintroduce my body to the mileage I desire in the upcoming weeks.

Spent the remaining days in hotels or in the pool.  Had a 4 day trip planned with layovers in Columbus and Chicago, so I packed the outdoor gear and planned on getting my outdoor mileage program started.  FedEx scheduling had something to say about that, however, so when all was said and done I got back home a day early but never broke out the tights or gloves.  Disappointed I spent yet another week on the elliptical or in the pool, I know sooner or later I have to get out there and pound the pavement a little bit.  That isn’t even bringing up the fact the I haven’t visited the track in now almost 18 weeks….

Tomorrow I am going over to the Randolph, NJ YMCA to help the HydroWorx folks with a demonstration of their X80 portable underwater treadmill.  Word is that they are filming some workouts to demonstrate the capabilities of their equipment, which I am obviously a firm believer in.  I am guessing they were short one pale ugly guy so I got the call.  I’ve been tasked by their Department of Publicity and Workouts to demonstrate the aqua-workouts I’ve been doing  on a couple of unsuspecting “victims” to show to the masses the advantages of working underwater.  I guess now that I am on the verge of being “over the hill” I can afford to let the world in on all my trade secrets.  If you live in Randolph and are not planning on spending the afternoon ‘Tebowing’, come on over to the YMCA and tell them I sent you.  They will more than likely tell you to get lost, but who knows, maybe one of the clerks will have a sympathetic bone in their body and will let you in.  On a serious note, the treadmills are very cool, and if you are a member at a YMCA or club that has access to the units by all means take advantage of them.  If you don’t live in Randolph I’m sure you will eventually be able to catch my acting debut on the internet eventually – please say a prayer for the Costume and Makeup departments as will have their hands full for my shoots…..

Hartshorne.  Still a toss-up.  I realize I need to commit or de-commit to Tom Hartshorne sooner rather than later (like yesterday), but I go back and forth on an hourly basis about what to do.  I had thought I would run a 5k here on Sunday and just see how “smooth” I could cover the distance, but now the forecast is for a high temp of 31 degrees – with that in mind I don’t know what kind of indicator my race effort would be.  Part of me says to just go up there and “have some fun” and see what I can do, but the other part is saying there is no way I am in the kind of shape the competition is in, and to spend the weekend up there (and miss my daughter’s swim meets, etc) to get smoked isn’t doing anyone any good.  I need to decide soon, because waiting until the last-minute is so “not me” (see previous post…..).  Who ever invented decisions should be shot….

Fantastic! Better late than never...

I made it home from Pittsburgh no problem Friday morning, was good to be back after missing the holiday.  A big plate of turkey and all the fixings was waiting so nobody had to suffer the consequences.  Aside from a couple 1-2 day trips, my schedule is pretty free for the next 2.5 weeks which will be a nice break.  Hopefully I can establish some running continuity for the first time in a while and get this train headed in the right direction.

I got in the pool Friday afternoon for 45 minutes, didn’t feel a thing in my calf.  A great workout which of course got me thinking (never a good thing).  I had planned on going for an hour, but changed that and decided to cut it short at 45 mins, then put on the shoes and see if I had miraculously been healed and could still sneak down to Delaware tomorrow morning and race with my Greater Philly teammates.  I hit the roads for about 1.5 miles – still felt the knot but it wasn’t as bad as it had been in Pittsburgh.  Hmmmm….

As I think I wrote sometime last year, I never saw a race I didn’t like, and have jumped in more than a few that didn’t really make much sense.  This was definitely the case, and in hindsight I can’t believe that I let the decision to go/not to go come down to whether or not the XC spikes I ordered arrived at the house or not.  Thank God I didn’t get free overnight shipping, for they were not there when I got back and I took that as the tie-breaking sign that it just wasn’t in the cards.  Looking back it would have been really stupid to run so in the end I’m glad it worked out the way it did.  The race was going to determine the USATF Mid-Atlantic Off-Road championship and I was really hoping to help the fellows out, but it sounded like they did just fine without me so hopefully the final tally worked out in their favor and they brought home the title.  I am still in one piece (which would not have been guaranteed if I had run), a little disappointed but those are the breaks…

In line with my current plan, I spent both Saturday and Sunday back in the local HydroWorx unit for long (1 hour) runs.  Leg feels great in the warm water, don’t know if it is the reduced impact that is keeping it from tightening up, but whatever the reason it is allowing me to hopefully finally start to accumulate a little mileage on my legs.  I can still find the sore spot when I massage it afterwards so I know the issue is still there.  I hope to get seen by “my guy” in the next day or two and will hopefully get a diagnosis on the problem, but either way I plan on sticking with the underwater treadmill training for the next week or so to just “get right”.  I have no intention on running any early season indoor track this year so I’m not in a hurry to be race-ready.  Sooner or later I’m going to need to sit down and map out the goals/priorities/schedule for next year – after the long grind of 2011 I think some “change of scenery” is in the cards.  I got my invitation for the 2012 Hartshorne Mile the other day so that will be the first benchmark race that I will have to make a call on (Jan 21), sure there will be more.  I don’t know if I will (or want to) be ready that early or not, but I do think the 1500/mile will be the theme of 2012.  First things first though – get back to fun, pain-free running which will hopefully allow me to eke one more season out of these old bones…

About 7 miles into the run as my eyes were wandering I missed a rock and hit it wrong – just a quick little misstep but I immediately felt it in my foot/ankle.  Kept on going without much trouble, but it was definitely tender on the way home.  Sank it in an ice bucket back at the house and kept it wrapped all night.  I don’t expect it to cause any problems long-term as long as I don’t take up hoops anytime soon.

With the foot still pretty sore this morning, I sacrificed another beautiful afternoon for the safety of the pool.  With the low impact properties of the water and the flat, even surface of the treadmill it was a good way to “baby” my little sprain and still get in some decent work.  Got in a solid hour in the pool without any discomfort, hopefully it feels a little better tomorrow…

Back to work tomorrow evening so I plan to get in another run tomorrow morning.  The upcoming trip ends up with a long (4 day) layover in Manhattan, so like we did last November and then December my family is coming up to join me – a little family vacation while “on the clock”.   This assumes, of course, that my trip doesn’t get revised before I get to New York, but if it works out it should be a fun long weekend.  If it doesn’t I have 4 NYC “City Passes” for sale – cheap!

Yesterday’s hour in the pool pretty uneventful.  Achilles actually felt pretty good waking up, hoping that is a sign of having turned the corner on it, if not for this weekend at least for the rest of the fall.  Massaged it and the rest of the legs afterwards because I could.

Brian Ober joined me in the water this afternoon as my interval partner.  Same drill I’ve done before, rotating on and off the treadmill – one rests while the other runs.  Ended up running 8×2:00/4×3:00 with about 90 seconds rest.  Worked the underwater treadmill and resistance jets eventually up to maximum speeds, getting to be old hat.  Brian actually gets props for his effort, hanging in there much more valiantly than most “guest interval-ers”.  On the last rep he conquered “max power” like an experienced pro….

That will probably be it for quality work for the week.  Had thought about hitting the trail for a little tempo work tomorrow, having second thoughts about that now.  Not that I need any more ‘issues’, but I started coming down with a head cold on Sun/Mon that is now in full bloom.  The initial symptoms were exactly like those I experienced prior to Boston ’10 and Albuquerque ’11, which would be a bad thing since those two bouts with a sinus infection wiped me out.  This one seems to just be your basic nasal faucet thus far, the energy level seem to be hanging in there.  Will be watching this closely…

Unless I wake up on death’s doorstep I guess I will enter the race tomorrow – have been waiting like usual to make sure nothing crazy happened schedule/health wise, so achillesand cold aside I suppose I am in relatively ‘good shape’.  Whether I am actually in good shape is yet to be determined – I guess the race clock and competition will answer that question for me Saturday morning….

Going back in time to recap a good week

Time to turn back the clock and recap the week.  Would like to say that I’ve been so busy running that I haven’t had a spare minute to dust off the keyboard – more like the more free time I have the busier I seem to be.  That’s neither here nor there – making resolution #23 right now to make the time to get here regularly…

Saturday – Nothing crazy.  Still holding off on running on land, got in the pool for 45 minutes in the morning before the kids soccer games and the rest of the crazy Saturday schedule kicked off.  Leg the same – hasn’t gotten any worse, seems stable.  No sharp pain at all, still just the dull tightness.

Sunday – Post Hurricane Irene, spent the greater part of the afternoon at my parents house cutting down, dragging, and disposing of trees, branches, and other assorted debris.  Had the pre-season cross country picnic that evening before practice, got another medical consult from my PT Gary Karkuff (an XC dad).  He seemed optimistic that if I stuck to the ‘slow twitch’ exercises the risk of any catastrophic injury was low – he advised against playing squash or entering any dunk competitions though, so I have decided to follow his advice and regret my previous commitments.  60 minutes in the high school pool that evening – deep water running with the aqua-belt.  Better than nothing, after a hard day of playing lumberjack it was probably a good day for some zero impact exercise…

Monday – One of these days I’m going to have to take the leap and put on my shoes, but it wasn’t going to be today.  Back into the pool for a tempo run.  50 minutes total, warmed up for 10 minutes then amped it up every 10 minutes until I had the treadmill at max speed for the final couple of “miles”.  Cooled down for 5 minutes, then a nice long massage.  This was probably the hardest I’ve gone since outdoor nationals – hard to tell exactly where I stand, but it was good to get the heart rate up and turn the legs over a bit.

Tuesday – Strike up the band!  I found my shoes, put them on, and even remembered how to tie them.  Beautiful weather – San Diego eat your heart out.  Probably 80 degrees, blue skies and calm winds.  Loaded into the truck to find a soft, flat trail – decided on Stony Creek.  Didn’t really have a plan in mind when I started down the trail – had dreamed of an hour run but decided that 5-6 miles was probably the way to go.   3 miles out, eventually settled into a comfortable 6:30 pace.  The trail is ever so slightly uphill on the way out, so on the way back things inadvertently started to heat up a bit.  I could tell I was speeding up, but felt good so I let it go.  I could feel the achilles with every step, but it wasn’t really pain so I just kept monitoring it.  Cruised the 3 miles home pretty effortlessly in around 6:10 pace.   Like Monday it was good to get in a run like, as my kids like to say, ‘the olden days’.  In this case the ‘olden days’ just happen to be only 8 weeks ago, but it seems like an eternity….

Wednesday – Went to work Tuesday night, ended up back down in Fort Myers.  My legs were pretty sore from the previous days’ run, but I nevertheless logged an easy hour around the access roads and parking lots of the enormous mall that adjoins our hotel.  Weather was jungle hot, ended up being a shorts dripping sweat-athon.  Achilles status: no change.  So far so good…

Thursday – Only had a one-day trip, so I forged through the night to get home Thursday morning.  After back-to-back runs I opted for the pool, put in an hour at medium intensity (which I hope becomes ‘easy’ intensity soon).  Have been running barefoot in the pool for the last couple weeks due to a blister on the back of my left heel (what else could go wrong), don’t know much about angles and achilles but it feels good so I’ve stuck with it.  I can also finally feel some of the swelling from the softball ‘strike’ starting to leave my lower leg, which I hope can only help its flexibility.

Way too much blogging for one night.  I hope that despite the tightness I will be able to keep putting some more miles on my legs and have them ready for a late speed push in a week or two.  5th Ave is three weeks from tomorrow, a lot of work to do between now and then but the first steps are always the hardest ones to take and with them out of the way it’ll soon be time to get down to business….

Went out to Middletown to the HydroWorx center to use their unit, which is a slightly more powerful version of the one I use locally.  This allows me to get my butt kicked a little more during interval sessions, which is what I planned for Friday afternoon.  After spending the day at Hershey Park again with the kids, I made my way over there on the way home and got down to business.  Warmed up for 15 minutes, then drew up a workout somewhere in between something at pace and something of the threshold variety.  Goal was 10×2:00 with 1:00 rest.  Not going to bore anyone with any details, but this was one of the better interval workouts I have had in the pool in a long time.  I think more than anything I just set the perfect resistance jet level and treadmill speed for the interval length, and the rest worked out exactly as planned.  By #4 I was feeling it, by #7 I was working hard but not struggling, and by #10 I was really having to focus but the heart rate was right where I wanted it to be.  15 minute cool down, then a long massage to wrap things up.  Felt great getting out – the good kind of dog-tired, but also very confident in the direction I am heading and with the plan that has been executed.  This’ll probably be the last intervals I will do for almost 2 weeks, but I feel that I’ve gotten done what needed to get done, and am ready for the upcoming challenges.

After two hard days in a row, back to the pool for recovery.  45 minutes this morning, nice and easy.  While massaging afterwards I was having a hard time finding the sore spots in my glutes and hamstrings that had lingered a little bit this week, so I’m officially calling myself completely recovered from Sunday’s race.  If I didn’t have to go to work on Tuesday I’d probably spend the better part of the upcoming week in the water – as it stands I’ll probably get in there on Monday (maybe Tuesday), before setting off on a trip that’ll ultimately drop me off in Sac-town.  It was a great week to have access to the pool – back to back intervals, recovery, and mileage all while starting to taper for leg #2 of the Quadruple Crown.  First leg in the books with essentially a “ND”, less than a week now before the world championships get underway.  No way I change things now – the land/water combination has gotten me this far, time to see if I can take up one more level before the clock strikes midnight….

The pool enabled me to get in an interval session less than two days after racing.   Still no soreness from Swarthmore, so I warmed up and set the treadmill and resistance jets to maximum.  I had been doing “800′s” (2:00) a lot lately, so in keeping with the recent ‘longer interval’ theme I planned on 3:00 intervals at the same speed.  6×3:00 w/ 1:00 active rest.  Turned out to be an awesome set – I hadn’t felt this good in a while.  What should have been pretty tough was very comfortable, had it been on land I would have felt like I was up on my toes to finish each one.  Maybe it was something I had for breakfast or the extra hour of sleep but whatever it was I should bottle it.  Long (20 mins) easy cool down afterwards, almost didn’t want to get out of the water (but of course I was late for school pick-up as usual….).

Drove to Allentown Monday evening to begin a week of nightly flights to Indy and back.  Or so I thought.  Got to Indianapolis and was told they didn’t need me to go back until Wednesday morning – no problem, I’ve never complained about getting paid to do nothing so I went to the hotel for a day off.  Only problem was that I broke the cardinal rule of piloting – never separate yourself from your luggage.  In an attempt to minimize my gear, I left my suitcase in my truck (at the Allentown hotel) and only brought a gym bag of hastily packed essentials with me to Indy.  Three pair of running shorts but no shoes in the bag – I considered buying a pair in order to get a run in but ended up just calling it a rest day out of necessity (and fiscal responsibility).  Live and learn (although I have been doing this for too long to have not been prepared for the worst….).

Back to Allentown Wednesday morning as planned, weather here hadn’t changed since I left Monday night.  Gloom.  Got a nap, then checked the weather radar to see if any time to go was better than another.  Had my choice between bad and worse so I just went.  Got some info about a local trail here in Allentown/Bethlehem – The D&L (Delaware and Lehigh Valley) Trail follows the Lehigh River and was great.  A little soggy due to all the rain they have gotten this week (and today), but a crushed stone trail that follows the river for miles – no traffic, no curbs, but lots of aggressive geese.  Something about a hissing goose seems to send me off the trail and through the high grass every time – I know in the whole food chain thing I am probably many, many rungs above him, and I don’t even know if they can actually back up that hiss (can geese bite?), but you would have thought on this day that they were friggin’ tigers the way they owned the trail.  Maybe tomorrow I will dress in that stuff that guard dog trainers wear and not back down – I’d be curious to see what they are prepared to do next…

Bring it on, hissing goose. Nothing above the neck or on my hands though please.....

8 miles in a steady rain at old cruise pace (6:30).  Felt good until about the 7.5 mile mark, then got a weird twitching sensation in my left hamstring so I immediately shut it down.  Walked for a minute then jogged it in without any problems, don’t know if it is just me being gun-shy about hamstrings or whether there was actually something going on back there.  Guess I will find out tomorrow – has felt fine ever since so I’m guessing maybe it was a little cramp or something meaningless.  Plan will probably be to longer and easier tomorrow, then maybe go over to Lehigh University on Friday and hit the track.  Maybe the other way around, will see how I feel when (and where) I wake up tomorrow.  All I do know is that I will have my shoes at my side no matter where I end up…

Worked all night last night, ended up in Allentown PA and had a car pick me up and drive me home.  Arrived in time to quick change and make the U12 soccer match, then had a couple hours before the afternoon girls softball game.  Was dragging a little bit from the long night, but didn’t want to lose the day altogether.  Had a plan in the back of my head to get in 3 sets of intervals between last week and an upcoming meet next weekend, so I decided to use the pool today to act as the middle set between Thursdays 1000’s and hopefully another set of track intervals on Monday.

With the Jack Daniels formula still in my head, I again went with something longer.  After a 15 minute warmup, started with 5×5:00 with 2:00 jogging recovery.  Had the treadmill pegged for the entire evolution, increased the jets from about 85% on the first 3 to 100% on the last 2.  Never really struggled, felt good to be at that “threshold” point for a while without having to go anaerobic.  Don’t know if that is what “the coach” is trying to accomplish with all his Vo2MAX*DOT&#^% crazy talk, or whether I am just not pushing myself hard enough.  Further investigation is pending….

Finished strong, 12 minute cool down took me right to 60 minutes for the workout.  Great to have gotten this in, especially since the alternative would have been to just call the day a wash due to lack of sleep.  No way I would have had the motivation to hit the local streets let alone go out to the track, pool saved the day once again…

As I mentioned before, looking at possibly entering a college meet next Saturday night at Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia.  I vowed never again to drive 2 hours to run an 800m with college guys, this time I will have a plan that will prepare me for the inevitable demolition derby – maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t – either way it’ll make for an interesting story I’m sure.  It’s an evening meet, so that will make the commute a little easier – won’t have to leave the house before sunrise in order to make check-in and get warmed up.  Only problem thus far is my inability to find the meet’s registration web site, so until I plop down my Visa digits my meet plan is all talk and no walk.  Stay tuned..

After that meet I am looking at possibly a road mile over Memorial Day weekend in NJ, then either another road mile, a low key track meet, or an invitational masters mile in early June.  Then it will be a couple weeks of fine tuning before the “4 Main Events” of the summer kick off with the USATF Invitational 1500m in Eugene,  the World Outdoor Championships in Sacramento CA, my hometown Harrisburg Mile, then the National Outdoor Championships in Cleveland OH.  1-2-3-4, they’ll be here before you know it.  For now I am going to keep trying to take it hard but steady, nothing crazy but no lapses.  Sub 1:56.00, sub 4:00.00, sub 4:20.00 – it’s now or never…

MDT-ORD-DSM-ORD-MEM-RDU-ORD-CWA-MSP-MEM-LAX-SNA-MEM-MDT

Four pretty busy days.  Did manage to get in a nice long and easy 10 miler while on my Los Angeles layover Monday afternoon – out and back along the Venice Beach/Santa Monica pier.  I’m sure I’ve discussed the characters that line this “course” before – medical pot seems to be the hot item now as there were lots of guys dressed in scrubs holding up signs outside their stores that I’m pretty sure did not attend medical school.  Weather was great as usual out there, run was good after taking Saturday and Sunday off out of necessity (see above itinerary….).

I traveled back to Enola on the Tuesday overnighter, got a nap in but just couldn’t get out the door to get anything done.  Part due to just being tired, part due to plain old apathy.  Did get to bed early so that there wouldn’t be a repeat “performance” on Wednesday.  I woke up this morning to the remnants of a big storm that blew through last night – high 40’s with some leftover drizzle.  It’s May 4th for crying out loud!  While I wouldn’t bat an eye at going out in this during the winter, for some reason it’s a struggle to make it happen on days like this.  I banged out a ton of errands, including some back x-rays that have been long overdue, then finally got my act together and got on the gear.  Aqua gear, that is.  With my chronic back worse than normal, and the weather still sucking, I thought the best quality work I could get done would be in the warm water.  I had originally though today would be an interval day, but I am going to try that tomorrow.  Today I warmed up for 10 minutes then got in a 30 minute aqua-tempo run.  I gradually cranked up the jets and treadmill as I went, the last 10 minutes were pretty tough.  10 minute cool down gave me 50 minutes total of good work – no way I would have gotten that work in outside with the bad weather and my worse attitude…

Tomorrow has to get done come hell or high water.  I’m not planning on killing myself (Jack Daniels has again pointed out so eloquently that this is item #79 I am doing all wrong), but going to just try to get in a solid set of TBD intervals with a little slower pace than normal but with reduced rest.  Don’t know the details yet, if history repeats itself I will probably decide on the workout somewhere between putting on my flats and shedding my warmup shirt.  Guessing 600’s or 1000’s, but who knows.  No race plans this weekend, maybe a college meet next weekend if I can get my name thrown into the mix.  After that I don’t know – I don’t want to interrupt the training too much for an early May/June event, but would rather like to focus on a steady increase in running intensity leading up to the “Judgement Days” of June and July – probably the most action packed period I will ever see.  That seems like a long way down the road (starting June 26th),  but it is now less than 8 weeks away – time to suck it up, lose the lazy attitude, and keep the eye on the prize.  If it would just stop raining…..

Thursday after the race was beautiful day, wanted to get a recovery day in the pool but couldn’t bear to waste the warm sunny weather.  Ended up splitting it up – about 35 minutes easy on the local roads, then ended up at the pool for another 25 minutes and an aqua massage.  As is sometimes the case, the soreness the day after the race wasn’t too bad, massaged to hopefully get ahead of what I figured was coming on Friday.

Went to work Thursday evening for a marathon – rode into Memphis, operated out to Los Angeles, then straight to the United gate for a flight back to Harrisburg through Chicago.  Essentially left Harrisburg at 10:30pm on Thursday and got back at 3:30pm on Friday.  Sans sleep.  Kids – do not try that at home – I am a professional flyer on a closed course…

Needless to say, by the time I got home at 5 o’clock I did not have the energy or motivation to bust out the running shoes.  Pitched a little batting practice to the kids then called it a day.  Zzzzzzzz….

Saturday was weather armageddon.  The miserable trifecta – cold, pouring rain, gale force winds – flash floods and thunderstorms for additional effect.  Good day for…..the pool, what else?  Had planned on getting wet for some intervals Saturday afternoon, then got a call from my college roommate who was heading south from NYC to Camp Lejeune NC  (he’s still on active duty – LTCOL, USMC).  I talked him in to stopping over to break up the drive – promised him a workout and dinner.  While waiting for him I hedged my bets and got in the pool for 45 minutes of plain ole’ mileage.  Had he arrived and changed his mind about running intervals with me I didn’t want to get shut out.  Turned out to just make Saturday another double day – Brett arrived and was up for the aqua-workout.

Let him warm up to acclimate himself with running underwater, plus I had already logged some time and was still warmed up.  Set the treadmill and resistance jets to max, went with 12×2:00 with 1:00 break.  Brett did the opposite since he a.) didn’t have all the practice in the pool I did, and b.) he is a 6’5″, 250lb ex- All-American heavyweight wrestler – not exactly in track shape (at the moment).  He ran 12×1:00 with 2:00 break – while I ran he rested, and vice versa.  It was good to have someone to work out with, and he seemed to like the pool and the resistance provided by the water.  Good to get in two runs on a crummy day, made the big pasta dinner taste even better.

Left the house this morning at 4:45am to get down to Baltimore Int’l for a ride to Memphis to get back to work – a recurring theme lately.  Rode in to Memphis, then had 5 hours to kill before flying to Seattle.  Took a nap (playing a little sleep catch up), then out to the park for some mileage before the long flight out west.  My car’s battery had different ideas – ended up needing a jumpstart, then off to Auto Zone for a battery “evaluation” which quickly became a battery purchase.  With time running short I had to give up on my hope for an easy hour and settle for 6 miles in about 42 minutes or so.  Better than nothing, especially with the big sit coming that evening.

In Seattle now, long but easy flight.  Plan on getting in some uptempo miles tomorrow, maybe something like 8-10 miles with 6-8 of them being at pace.  Don’t think I have ever put in that many miles here so I don’t know exactly what kind of downtown/waterfront paths they have here, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out.  With a “normal” layover tomorrow (sleep at night, awake during the day – like we were built to do), I’m looking forward to a good run and hopefully a good day.

After taking Wednesday off in Oakland, made it back to Denver on Thursday.  Had originally planned to re-run the Cherry Creek Trail in an attempt to get it right the second time around, but ended up stumbling into an offer I couldn’t refuse.   I ended up getting the email address of my second cousin Josh Gross who lives outside Boulder.  I gave him a shout and it was my lucky day as he had a free afternoon and was willing to come to Denver to pick me up.   I probably hadn’t seen him in almost 20 years, but I see his sister here in PA pretty regularly and have heard about his exploits.  In a nutshell, he is an outdoor beast – pro rock climbing guide, Rocky Mountain National Park Patrol, and master of every other piece of extreme gear (bikes, skies, hang glider, etc.).  Essentially he’s the guy all other normal guys hate, doing all the stuff for a living that every other dude usually only reads about in Outdoor Magazine because he’s either too broke or chicken to give it a try…

The Mesa Trail - I’ve confirmed these trails actually exist in real life, not just on the glossy pages

He suggested we run the Mesa Trail, which sounded great to me.  The Mesa Trail turned out to be the trail I always thought was photo shopped into all those running magazines and trail shoe advertisements.  Unbelievable (unless you live in Boulder, you lucky SOBs) – groomed trails through cool hills, with every “degree of difficulty” you could imagine.  No wonder endurance guys and gals come here to train – with these trails and the altitude factor, I could see this being mecca for runners.  Anyway, Josh and I set off around 2pm – I figured that even though I was 8 years older than he was I would have no problem holding my own since he was a climber, not a runner per se.  Well, he was no dummy – our “run” lasted about 15 minutes, before we conveniently began to subtly start climbing.  First jogging, then hiking, then no-kidding climbing.  About an hour later we reach the summit of Bear Peak, almost 8,500 feet above sea level.  Needless to say, even though we were “hiking”, the heart rate monitor though we were banging out 6:15 miles.  The descent was much faster, with a mix of running and hiking.  Overall 7.8 miles, total time 2:18:00.  Holy cow – definitely found some thigh muscles that don’t get used running straight and level.  Did not feel a single pang of guilt when we met Josh’s wife for a big greasy burger afterwards.  An awesome experience, will add Boulder to my list of places that I will consider living after I win the PowerBall.  Thanks Josh – I don’t think I will be able to return the favor from the cool perspective if you get back east, but we’ll try to find something to challenge you (might take something on the order of Mt Kilimanjaro though…).

Bear Peak (the high part) - Josh Gross’s “homecourt” advantage

Left Denver Thursday evening for what can safely be described as a “long one”.  Denver-Dallas-Oakland in the cockpit, then straight to Oakland Int’l for Oakland-Denver-Washington DC-Harrisburg back in the cheap seats.  Left at 10pm EST, got back to the house at 6pm.  The next day.  Yawn….  Did not run on Friday, think I can be forgiven.

By the time Saturday rolled around, the thighs were in full mountain climbing pain.  This was a job for the pool – up to the HydroWorx tub, set the treadmill at a very easy pace and just started running.  With the Masters on the flat screen (perfect, since you can’t hear it over the sound of the resistance jets – no sport can be appreciated on “mute” better than golf), ended up going for 75 minutes.  Hit the thighs with the massage hose afterwards, hurt so good.  Despite being exhausted, definitely left the pool feeling better than I did when I got in.

Put in 6 easy on the roads today.  Plan on hitting the track tomorrow morning, wanted to be fresh.  Have read a bunch lately about making your easy days truly easy, so this was part of my new recovery program.  More on this later, but it actually felt good to go at a slower pace.  The legs did feel a lot better today than yesterday, so I think tomorrow will be a good session.

It’s good to be home, will enjoy what hopefully will be a productive week.  Added a fun race to the schedule on Wednesday evening – a road mile down in Maryland that a little birdy told me just might have a little “grade” to it.  With my recent downhill training I think I should be ready to go…

It was cold, but not anything I hadn’t dealt with before.  The snow hitting me in the face as I started out into the pretty decent wind froze my face pretty quickly – only packed a baseball hat (hey – opening day was only 2 days away, and it was spring..), but luckily I had my sunglasses, which on this day served as goggles.  Warmed up for a mile, then started to focus on the task at hand.  6 miles while “efforting”, pace challenging but not crazy.  Could have kept going for a little while longer, but in the end 6.0 was a good number.  All under 6:00 pace, think the average ended up being 5:52/mile.  Between the fog on the inside of my glasses and the slush on the outside, thank goodness the path wasn’t rutted or pot-holed because I could only really see about 5 feet in front of me – had to shed the shades to cross the streets because doing it Mr Magoo style one time almost got me plunked by a dump truck.  Cooled down the last mile, turned some heads when I entered the hotel lobby because as I found out when I got back to the room I had about 3/4″ of snow on my hat brim.  Wind aside it was actually some cool weather to run in, but that being said I am truly ready for a sunny 82 degree days….

Three flights that afternoon/evening, then rode the jet back to Harrisburg through the night.  Home, quick nap, then over to the HydroWorx facility.  Hadn’t really thought very far ahead training-wise, so figured this one out on the fly.  I’m back to work Sunday morning, so that gave me Thur, Fri, Saturday here at home – definitely wanted to try to get on the track one of those days.  Didn’t think today would have worked having just pushed it yesterday, so I came up with a plan to get in two interval workouts, one in the pool and one on the track.  Saturday had the best weather forecast so that became “track” day, and with the aqua-workout being a lot easier on the legs I thought I could handle that today so today became “aqua-track” day.

Am going to try to increase the speed in my workouts this outdoor season in a final push for another 800m PR and hopefully a medal at the world championships in July.  I will definitely throw in an occassional strength interval session every now and then, and will still do some long distance runs, but I am going to focus on turnover, muscle strength, and speed for the next couple months.  Opted today for “400′s” in the pool, settled on 20 x 60 seconds, with 60 seconds off.  Warmed up for 15 minutes, then got started.  Full resistance on the jets, started the treadmill out at an intermediate setting and upped it a little bit after each one.  Final 5-6 were pretty tough, no problem handling the back-to-back workouts (the beauty of the underwater treadmill).  10 minute cooldown with drills, all-in-all a pretty good effort.

Will probably go long in the pool tomorrow, then hopefully to the track on Saturday for some 600′s.  The winter blast that hit Indianapolis on Wednesday is lingering here, so for the time being winter-rules are still in effect.  Chance of 4″ of snow here overnight, the almighty just waiting to belt out “April Fool’s” tomorrow to all the groundhog believers.  I vote for a new rodent weather guesser – anyone own a willing Muskrat?

Managed to get home through the snow squall Tuesday morning, school was cancelled so that complicated my rest efforts even further.  Got in a decent nap given the circumstances though, then after taking the girls sledding (which was cut short by a busted lip) I got out and put in 6 miles on the local loop.  Cold but otherwise unmemorable.

Groundhog day again last night, home on time then to bed after breakfast and the school bus arrival.  Slept all the way to the alarm which is always a good thing, then made my way out to HydroWorx for a pool interval session.  The way the days are working out I planned on getting in something hard today and probably Saturday on the track, then maybe some 200′s or striders on Monday.  Today I decided on aqua-800′s – 2:00 intervals with 1:00 jog rest.  Warmed up for 10 minutes or so, then set the speeds and resistance for something pretty challenging.  Felt good making my way through the set, started speeding up the treadmill a bit about half way so by the end I was hammering them pretty hard.  With the cool down finished right at an hour of work – massaged afterwards then even ran for another 10 minutes outside since it had turned out to be a pretty nice day.

Aside from some overall body tightness that I’m having a hard time fixing, the runs the past 10 days or so have all been pretty good.  I’ve dodged the colds that the rest of my gang have been passing around, so knock on wood I hope to remain healthy for the next 10 days or so.  Like I said earlier I’ll probably continue the quality stuff until around Monday or so, then start to ease up quite a bit leading up to the trip out west.  Two more nights hauling the trash, then I can get the sleep cycle switched back to that of a normal human being.  Should have next week off so like the Hartshorne Mile I will have no excuses in that department.  I shouldn’t have any excuses period now that I think about it – aside from turning 42 this week and playing the ‘old’ card I’ve been pretty lucky thus far this winter.   Hopefully I still have a couple more laps left in the legs to see this indoor season through…

Needless to say I didn’t fly Wednesday night.  Spent Thursday in the hotel (can you say cabin fever), had figured on getting on a workout room machine but my quads had become really sore.  Didn’t really feel anything when running on Wed, but that evening the soreness started and by Thursday they were definitely tender.  I don’t know if I should have taken a day or two off after the race, but I am planning on babying it a little bit at this point to avoid any bigger setbacks. 

Skipped Thursday for starters, instead did the Tyson’s Corner mall ‘shuffle of shame’ for the third consecutive day, then a lot of reading that afternoon.  Have gotten into a great book, Unbreakable, by Laura Hillenbrand.  True story about Louis Zamperini, who as a 19-year-old won a spot on the 1936 US Olympic team in the 5000m.  He joined the AAF as a B-24 bombardier during WWII and eventually became a Japanese POW after drifting in a raft in the South Pacific for 47 days.  So far it’s been unbelievable, and LT Zamperini’s running background (set the national scholastic record in the mile in 1934) make it even more interesting.  Right now he is getting the tar beat out of him by the Japanese guards in his camp, but (spoiler alert) I already Wikipedia’ed him and know he is still alive and well so he must endure the cruelties and get back to the states safely.  Another hit Christmas gift – again, good job mom….

Was back and forth about getting in some work today.  Only got about a 2 hour nap after last evening’s all-nighter, but ended up getting the stuff on and went up to the pool.  Only had about 45 minutes before some kid duties, but instead of just shuffling and letting the legs have another easy day went with a pool tempo run.  Hadn’t done this in a while, but counting on the pounding in the water to be minimal.  Warmed up for about 10 minutes, then with the jets set at a pretty aggressive setting went for 30 minutes at hard, harder, and hardest treadmill speeds.  Got the heart rate up to what I’ve been seeing on the monitor during my 6:15 paced road runs so I know I was in a pretty good zone.  Cooled down for about 7 minutes afterwards, then worked the quads long and hard with the massage hose.  Could definitely find sore spots, so I did the best I could to hopefully break up some of the leftovers in there.  Legs actually feel pretty good now, with the snow on the ground I will probably be back up there tomorrow.

Planning on either running up at Penn State or Boston next weekend.  Still waiting on final word on the Boston Indoor Games Masters Mile – last I heard I was on the outside looking in.  Don’t know what criteria the director used to create the field, but it’s his race so I guess he can do whatever he wants.  First come first serve?  Guess next year I’ll take a number right away and wait for the guy behind the counter to call.  If I don’t get in I’ll go back up to PSU where everybody gets to run and the track is just as fast.  Definitely easier logistics so it won’t be that big of a deal.  I think that something casual on a fast oval might be a good thing after last weeks pressure packed run on a tough track.  Will wait a couple of days, then commit to the Nittany Valley gang – I know they’ll take me!

The usual LA Fitness daily double this morning – good hard spin class, followed by the elliptical.  I never know how to quantify these sort of things, so the elliptical has become a race to get to the mythical 500 calorie mark in as little time as possible.  For whatever its worth, made it in under 36:00 for the first time today – nothing like trying to PR in every little mundane thing in life….

In the pool this afternoon, decided that since the next 4-6 days will probably be all road distance I would get in some faster stuff while I could.  12×2:00, 1:00 jogging rest, full belt and full jets the entire time.  Hadn’t ever done this level for the whole session before, figured what the hell.  Was challenging from the outset – not quite as tough as the session out at the HydroWorx facility earlier in the week, but definitely a good exercise in turnover.  10 minute warmup and cooldown, didn’t have a chance to hit the massage hose due to bus stop duty.

So – bikes, ellipticals, and underwater treadmills.  A lot of energy expended without moving an inch.  Thus endith the week of two-a-days – when I tried to add up the mileage the number was huge, but who knows how much an hour on the bike or elliptical is worth.  All I know is that it was busy, pretty fun, and I feel fine after all was said and done.  Now all I am going to try to do is survive the remainder of 2010 – first up, the dreaded simulator.   Howling crosswind landings with an engine out and every bell and horn in the world going off in your ear anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

Were still in the frozen rut yesterday, spent the entire day busting my butt without actually moving a single inch.  Hit spin class in the morning, worked it as hard as I could.  Ended up stuck in the front row, right in front of the “teacher” – my worst nightmare back in the old days, today gave me a chance to watch Ms “Add-A-Little” in action.  Still has me in awe – I consider myself to be in fairly decent shape compared to the general population, and am not so old that I’m falling off the back side of the curve just yet.  I have no chance against this lady – I don’t think if you threw down a $100 bill and said match her RPM for 5 minutes I would be able to do it – my joints can’t even move that fast.  Maybe its like Mars Blackmon used to say “Money, its gotta be the shoes!”

Got in a round of strength after spin, skipped the elliptical.  Home, usual stuff, then around noon got up and put in an hour on the underwater treadmill.  Decent pace – not quite tempo, but not just putting in time either.  Doesn’t get much more boring than an hour running in place, but will trade boring for freezing any day of the week.  Pretty beat the rest of the day, slept well which is always a good thing.

With todays change in the weather, donned my orange hat and drove out to Stoney Creek to run in the woods.  Bear season is out but deer is still in, saw a couple of guys out there but the number of trucks parked along the road led me to believe there were a lot more hunters up on the mountain.  Temps probably still under 30 degs, but without a stiff breeze it felt great.  65 minutes total, out and back on the dead straight crushed stone road.  Quiet in the woods, good day to be the last human on earth without an iPod.  Made it back almost 3 minutes faster than I went out – without a GPS I don’t exactly know what to make of that (not that it really matters).  Felt pretty good coming in though, so I’d guess (and I’m pretty good at it) I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 6:40 going out and 6:15 coming home.  Haven’t logged a long one on land in a while so I was glad to get this in, probably another mechanized double tomorrow depending on the weather.  Possibility of snow, got my fingers crossed…

Football weekend fast approaching.  As I previously wrote, the Cumberland Valley team (football alumni, ’84-86) advanced to the AAAA state semi-finals Saturday afternoon vs. North Allegheny HS (just north of Pittsburgh) – should be a great game, planning on going up with my dad and whoever else is up for it.  This means I will miss the beginning of the greatest game of the year, however….. Army-Navy,  2:30pm kickoff in Philadelphia.  If you haven’t ever attended an Army-Navy game or seen it on TV it is quite an event.  The players might not be headed to the BCS or NFL, but I think the nation is safer with these guys in the mountains of Afghanistan instead of the Oregon or Auburn squad.  Hopefully we will take Army behind the woodshed and defeat them once again, for although the cadets are great Americans, they are still second class when compared to the Navy blue and gold.  BEAT ARMY!!

ASICS hat and blaze orange pants - the running hunter and his quarry

In my informal planning mind, I had set Monday aside as a 12 hour hunting day - perfect for a running day off out of both necessity and reality.  Well, I guess I have a blog following member of the Odocoileus virginianus family – the deer I asked to show up for me at 7:30 am was not only prompt, but even a little early.  Let’s just say that venison chili will be on the menu next week (life is good), as my hunting day was over before the clock struck seven.  Did stay out at the farm the rest of the morning though, hoofing it all over creation trying to help my dad and brother bag one – no such luck.  Got home in an exhausted state around 2:00 in the afternoon.

Ended up catching a second wind, got the running itch so I ended up getting in the pool as much for the soothing warm water as for the exercise.  Killed two birds with one stone – a truly therapeutic workout.  Ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes, nothing crazy, then just sat on the back steps which double as a spa.  Could have fallen asleep without much effort – ahhhh……  Just what the doctor ordered.  Hadn’t taken a day off in almost a week and a half, but don’t think that a workout like this has much impact on the joints and muscles that need relief every now and then.  I feel fine, so will just continue to press on until I feel like I am getting run down or experience soreness that I interpret as a sign I need a rest.  Mixing in the HydroWorx runs (both pace and interval work) with the track and roads not only keeps everything somewhat new, but gives the legs a change of pace which I think keeps them pretty fresh.  So far so good, will certainly pay close attention to catch any early signs of injury or fatigue as the season is too young to risk having something small become something serious.

Basic local loop this afternoon, 6 miles in a cool drizzle.  Felt pretty good – didn’t intend to push the pace and my average energy level made it easy to oblige.  Heading out to work tonite, a three day trip that gets me home with barely enough time to grab a couple winks before heading out to race Saturday afternoon.  Submitted an online entry to the Bison Opener, the first meet on the schedule at Bucknell University here in Lewisburg, PA (about 70 miles north of home).  Was back and forth between entering the mile or the 800, the latter went off 90 minutes later so I chose the half instead – that extra sleep could be important given the less than ideal schedule.  Will probably try to get in decent work tomorrow (Philly), probably a little lighter on Thursday (Chicago), then we’ll see how I feel on Friday (Boston) – that will be over 2 weeks without a break, so with the meet the following day I don’t feel like I will be sacrificing too much long term to back it off a little bit in preparation for this race.  As usual, everything is subject to change, so once I start the hotel shuffle I’m sure things will work themselves out.

Got in the pool yesterday as it was sunny and crisp outside, but also windy and I was a little stiff from yesterday.  Windy and sore trumped the clear skies, so I just set the resistance jets and treadmill at an average pace and knocked out an hours worth.  I’m pretty sure I am about the only person on earth that doesn’t have an iPod (actually I do – just won one in a raffle recently – but haven’t gotten it out of the box yet), so I listen to a “boom box” while I run.  This thing is a relic – complete with tape deck and a switch with the selection options of “Off, On, or Dubbing”.  Hadn’t heard that term in a while.  Anyway, an hour on any stationary equipment is pretty painful, but the warm water wipes out any stiffness almost immediately and the hour went by without too many thoughts of bagging it or shoving any sharp objects in my eye.  Did some stretching style drills for a couple minutes afterwards to cool down, then got in a strength session (20/15) which I needed badly since I have been neglecting them lately.

Got up this morning and put in an easy 6 on the roads.  Again, great weather – probably high 40′s and not a cloud in the sky.  Started out with gloves and a hat, shed them before the first mile was done.  Legs still a little sluggish, had to make a conscious effort to keep from picking up the pace because I hope to do something a little quicker tomorrow and I want to feel good doing it.  Was still coming through in around 6:30 pace though – faster than I wanted but I guess that is becoming an “easy” pace these days.  Another strength session (20/15) at the house afterwards.

Have been meaning to throw in a mini-product review for the past couple days, but wanted to put it through the paces before casting judgement.  A couple weeks ago I was driving to the airport to begin a trip and for some reason it dawned on me that I had forgotten my running socks.  It was going to be a several-day trip and I had plans for a couple good runs, so the thought of not having any socks was not good.  I have learned that some things are much harder to buy on the road than you would think, so I dove into the Target on the way to the airport just to get something to hold me over.  I was prepared to get any sort of thick cotton sock available (it was Target – not exactly Eastbay or a running specialty store).  To my surprise, they carried a 3-pack of low cut (almost no-show), technical fabric, Champion brand socks.  For $6.99!  That is about half the price I usually pay for one pair of a gucci brand.  Anyway, these socks could not be more of a knock-off from Nike’s socks if they tried, but hey, that is for the lawyers to sort out.  I have worn them now for the past 2-3 weeks almost exclusively – partly because I want to make sure they don’t fall apart, and partly because I actually like them.  Hell, even if they do fall apart for $2.00 a pair I’ve probably already gotten my money’s worth.  So, for an inexpensive technical running sock, I think you can’t beat these things – Champion brand, Target, 4-stars!  (Can’t give them 5-stars because I do still love my $13.00/pair socks, and I don’t want them to be offended by the new, cheap kids on the block….)

Was able to jump in the pool as well this afternoon.  My barefoot running experiment is still underway – today was the third straight session in the pool with racing flats on.  The belt does feel a little softer with the shoes on, but I still think that I like the barefoot feel better.  Logged about 40 minutes total at a comfortable but not shuffling pace, used the massage hose afterwards as has become the routine.

All in all it felt good to do something again – thought I would go a week + for a “break”, but it was getting boring.  The legs feel totally recovered from last weekend’s beating – I’m sure the recommended break is more for big picture recovery than just for one or two races, but I honestly don’t know how much I really need.  The water miles “count” as a fraction of land miles when it comes to wear and tear on your legs, so I will try to stay off the roads for a couple more days assuming the rest advocates know what they are talking about.  I will hopefully continue to stay active on bikes and in pools while this recharging takes place, especially with the great fall weather teasing me to get out there and go…

Navy (2-2) plays Wake Forest (2-3) tomorrow – hard to consider the season a success thus far considering how well we have played the last couple years.  Last weeks loss to the Air Force will more than likely cost us the Commander in Chief’s Trophy we’ve won an unprecedented 7 consecutive seasons by dominating the other service academies.  This week’s game is big because my father played ball at Wake and I do not want to hear the smack talk for a calendar year if things don’t go well on the field.  The game will probably be ugly, but hopefully we will come out on top.  Prediction:  Navy 31- Wake 16.  Please……

Got in the pool today for a 30 minutes – more than a shuffle but definitely not a workout.  Would have gone for 45, but ran out of time and had to get to cross-country practice.  Got in an uninspired 30 minutes there as well.  Felt super sluggish, but that could have been from the (failed to mention earlier) all-nighter last night.  Columbus-Memphis-Harrisburg, no nap upon return home.  No big deal, off for the next couple days so the whacked out sleep cycle can be easily corrected before the enduro race on Sunday.

Speaking earlier of Alan Webb, I saw in his video that he was wearing shoes in the pool.  I have always run barefoot in the HydroWorx pool.  Today I broke out a pair of old racing flats and gave it a try.  Definitely felt different, don’t know if I liked it better or not, will have to continue to experiment.  I have always enjoyed running barefoot in the pool, and I don’t know if it is coincidence or not but I have not had any foot issues in the past 18 months, which is a great streak for this flat-footed runner.  I read “Born to Run” recently, and it made me, as well as all other readers probably, look at the whole barefoot running thing a little closer than before.  I never considered running barefoot an added benefit of the pool until I read the book, but now I am beginning to think that putting in all those miles in the pool that way may actually be helping strengthen my feet and arches similar to the effect described in several studies and emphasized in the book.  Does barefoot running strengthen the muscles in your foot?  I think so.  Does this outweigh the benefits of wearing shoes (on land)?  I doubt it.  The beauty of the pool is that you can get the best of both worlds – a smooth, softer surface, with reduced impact forces (all the arguments for shoes) are taken care of, allowing you to let your feet do their thing buck naked.  Maybe that should have been my title – “How Nick Berra Got His Groove Back Like Alan Webb, Only Buck Naked”.  I think I like it, can only imagine the Google results of that one – probably a slightly different audience than normal your normal running blog….

Opted for my underwater equivalent of 10x800m – since it is more time and effort based instead of time and distance, I use 2:00 as my “on” time and rested for 1:00 in between.  Completed a 15:00 warmup, then based on my workout on Saturday I decided to start fairly aggressively with the jets (just under full force).  Completed the first 5, then bumped the jets up to the maximum level for the last 5.  Again, was never able to work with this much resistance in the past so hopefully this is a sign that I’ve been able to maintain (or even increase?!?) my conditioning during my cross-training rehab.  Never felt a thing from the leg, was pleased with how I held up and how I was able to keep the heartrate down throughout.  Had enough left to extend the last rep to 4:20 again – wasn’t easy but felt good afterwards.  Cooled down for 15:00 afterwards (was late for our departure for the Virginia Tech game in D.C), then used the hose for a quick 7 minute massage afterwards – becoming a big fan of that feature…

After getting back to the house found out that my trip the following day had gotten cancelled, so I will be around for cross country practice on Tuesday after all.  Coach Skip Springman let me know the kids would be doing a workout on their 1000m loop, we’ll see if I dare jump in for a couple and give the leg its first small dose of speed.  The recovery time after running underwater is usually little to none, so doing back to back intense days is not out of the question – for an old guy that is saying something.  Will have to see how it feels before practice, then if I give it a try how it holds up.  Under three weeks till 5th Avenue…

Got back at 3:30am from the VT-Boise State game.  If staying up all night and/or surviving on 4 hours sleep wasn’t old hat for me I probably wouldn’t be up at 8am.  Bad day for Berra sports – Yankees, Navy, and Virginia Tech all went down, the latter two in dramatic (choke) fashion.  Made for a long drive back from DC for my Hokie brother.