Tag: Shelby Park

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Tempo Training for IMWI and New Orleans 1/2 Marathon

For some ridiculous reason, I can’t sleep.  I’ve been doing tougher workouts than I’ve done in years and I’ll settle into bed around 9 or 10 (thinking I’m tired) and stare at the ceiling or Seinfeld and Office re-runs until one in the morning.  Last night, I added a little melatonin to the mix and I think it may have helped.  I fell asleep quicker and had a bit of a haze this morning. 

I drank my go-to orange juice/water mixer and added an apple to my belly before heading to Shelby Park to meet aspiring runners in training for New Orleans and/or the Country Music marathon.  Kevin, Jim and Daniel were there as well (Mark is in Phoenix for the Rock n Roll 1/2, which I’m assuming he crushed).  It’s nice to see the guys wearing Crushing Iron gear and more than it being the title of this blog and our documentary film, I feel like it is becoming an attitude with all of us, including our coach, Robbie Bruce, who sent me this pic the other day after his bike workout.  Image

This morning’s run was eighty minutes, which still kind of makes me chuckle.  It’s just so strange to show up for these runs with no doubt in my mind I will be able to handle them.  That said, it wasn’t easy.

We started with a 15 minute warm up around a 9 minute pace, then went into our “race pace” tempo (which met some discrepancy because we weren’t sure which race we were emulating) and Jim decided it would be my New Orlean’s Half goal. 

I was caught up in a discussion with another guy and didn’t realize Jim and Kevin had taken off ahead of the pack.  I looked at my watch and realized it was tempo time and put my head down to catch them cruising at just under an 8 minute pace. 

We raced down Davidson Street toward LP field and remarkably I felt fine at that pace considering I had only woken up 30 minutes earlier.  After the 15 minute tempo we slowed way down for two minutes before doing another 15 minutes at sub 8.  We did one more of these (3 total 15 min tempos at an average of 7:53 each) then cooled down for 16 minutes to hit a total of 80 minutes. 

Our overall pace for the run was 8:24, which is pretty damn sweet, and we covered 9.52 miles.  It got me thinking.

If I did exactly that at New Orleans, I could add one more 15 minute tempo segment at 7:53 and pretty much finish the entire half marathon around 1:45, which is very encouraging considering I sit here feeling pretty fresh.  In reality, my technique will be more like starting at 8:30 for a couple miles before locking in just under 8, then hopefully having a little kick.  We’ll see. 

Afterwards a few of us went to Bongo Java for an incredible feast on . . . coffee.  Now, I will probably go to my Facebook feed and watch people get furious about the NFL Playoffs. 

 

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Mind Over Matter

I have never had a knee problem before, but last weekend I ran in Percy Warner Park and that could have been a big mistake.  I have gotten used to running through little aches and pains, but this felt like a scurry of squirrels had found some choice meat on the side of my leg.

Since I am the KING of self diagnosis, I started wondering if it had something to do with the slope of the road.  I was running around to the left and my right leg was on a lower plane the whole way.  It wasn’t bugging me on the uphills, but coming down put me in that happy-crazy-survival-mode like the guy who convinces himself he’s having fun even though he’s lost in the dark and getting chased by wild boars.  When I got the the bottom and regained sanity I thought, damn, I hurt this knee on the downhills.  As it turns out, I was right on both accounts.

Injuries are funny.  I have probably heard 100 people mention their IT Band.  It never sunk in.

Even a friend of mine who runs Percy Warner all the time said he loves running there but it’s hard on his knees.  Why didn’t I hear these warnings?  It’s like a little kid who has to burn his hand on the stove before he believes it.

I limped around Saturday and most of Sunday before I started to believe my running career was over.  Hyper-aging to the point where I even looked in the mirror a few times and thought “I really do look like my Grandpa.”

On Sunday and Tuesday I swam 35 minutes, then ran about 4 miles with the East Nasties on Wednesday.  The knee actually didn’t feel too bad, but after the run I did walk up on two dudes locked in a very “breathy” tongue-frenzy next to my car when I went to get my wallet for pizza.

Today, I was nearly committed to my Wisconsin Badger ban, but elected to DVR the game (and spend much less time watching) while I went for a short, flat run on the Greenway.  You know, just a little jog to see how it feels.

Nine miles later I was once again cussing myself for another glorious knee throb.  It honestly wasn’t too bad until I started mowing my lawn, but let me tell you I might as well have been dragging a plow through that backyard.  I was literally almost crying and this time it wasn’t because of the mole destruction.

So . . . I bought a foam roller and have been doing that, but I think the real trick is to stay out of my running shoes for a few weeks.  There is no way I want to hit January with tender knees and ankles.  If you need me I will be in the pool or posturing like Gandhi in one of Nashville’s fine yoga studios.