2014 Year in Review! Welcoming 2015!

As 2014 comes to a close, I figured I'd write one recap post for the year. This year was an interesting one to say the least. Kimi and I started the year off by training for the Rock the Parkway half marathon in April. It wasn't our best training leading up to that race as we both have a hard time dealing with the cold temperatures and Kimi was sick for a week or two about 5 weeks prior to the half.  That definitely slowed us both down a bit. However, with that in mind, I still managed to run a 1:16:30 and Kimi was still able to win the race outright. The times we ran were a huge eye opener for us though. We knew that we were going to have to get some serious training in for the next two months heading into the Grandma's marathon in June.

This year's Grandma's marathon was one of our best experiences yet. Kimi ran amazing and qualified with a B-standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon which will be held in February 2016 in L.A. I will never forget the feeling watching her cross the finish line just shortly after me.  She ran a 2:41:54 and I ran a 2:38:05. Both P.R.'s.

After that race, we were both pumped up with the results which caused us to go right back to training with very little rest. This made running for the next few months feel almost like a chore rather than something we just craved doing like before. We still managed to put in some good training but our performances were more hit or miss rather than always being hits like we're used to.

We definitely traveled a bunch this fall.  We went to KC twice, Columbia once, and Tulsa once.  The races didn't all go as planned but we were still able to learn some good lessons from each experience that will help us in 2015.  We capped off our racing season with our annual appearance at the Bass Pro half marathon where Kimi brought home another 1st place effort and I managed a 4th place time.  It was a bittersweet day for me.  I had finished in the top 3 for the past 3 years so this was disappointing to have that streak broken.  However, I am quite proud of my efforts after fighting the side stitch that nearly debilitated me at mile 8.

In all, 2014 was a pretty solid year of running. Our total miles were the least we've run in the past 4 years but our marathon performance makes everything else from this year just not seem as important. We are both looking forward to 2015's running challenges and races. In 2015 we plan to run the Rock the Parkway half again followed by the Grandma's marathon just like this year.  However, the intent is to literally 'rock' Rock the Parkway this time around as prep for our June marathon where we intend to run some new personal bests again this year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Year Recap-
2536 miles
2:38:05 Marathon - New P.R.
1:15:20 Half Marathon
16:30ish 5k

Merry Christmas and Happy Running, from Dr. Marshall Reed

The last couple weeks have been solid. Kimi and I are almost back up to normal mileage amounts for ourselves. Last week, we covered 46 miles without any workouts. We haven't started workouts just yet.  Usually when we don't do workouts, we like to have solid runs that are finished off with the last one fast one rule. This simply means our last mile is about 20 seconds faster than our fastest mile of the run up to that point. We've had multiple 'last one fast one' miles around 6:20 so far. This just helps us to stay out of a training rut as we are simply adding mileage.

This has been a great week so far. We fought the urge to stay in bed yesterday morning when the weather was just gross outside. At first, we were a bit worried about slippery conditions but Kimi decided to go outside and check the roads to see if they were slippery or just wet. Fortunately, they were only wet for the most part. There were a few bridges that we crossed that were covered in slush and slowed us a bit but we managed to keep moving right through it.  As much as I love this Christmas and New Year's seasons, that is usually the beginning of the real winter temperatures and weather. On a brighter not, it means that there are only about 60-75 more days of really cold temperatures prior to the weather shifting back to warmer conditions. When you think of it like that, it sure makes things easier to persevere through all the training.

Keep in mind, what you do over the next 2 months sets you up for the rest of the year's training and racing seasons. That usually helps keep you motivated.

I now want to take this time to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. May you have much joy spending time with your families. Have safe travels and may all your wishes come true! That last line sounds kind of lame but I hope you enjoy anyways!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(I'll be back after the presents have all been opened!)

Getting back at it!

If you read my last post, you got a good idea of how important rest is and how much we were looking forward to having that rest this year. This is the time of year that is most difficult for Kimi and me to accomplish our runs. The weather turns cold, outdoor conditions (rain/snow/daylight) make it difficult, and our next event isn't for several months. However, this winter we are determined to conquer all of those things and better than we have ever done before.

We both have high aspirations for next year's racing seasons and we don't want to start out the year behind like we did this past year (mostly that was due to a couple sicknesses that set us back). Kimi and I have been running extremely low mileage over the last couple weeks allowing for some much needed rejuvenation prior to hammering the next 6+ months of training. We are planning to venture into mileage amounts higher than we've ever done in order to try to really see just what we are completely capable of. 

Yesterday was our first day to miss running in over 3 weeks. It wasn't due to a lack of wanting to go, but simply from the icy conditions outdoors and our lack of treadmill access. I'm not typically a fan of the treadmill but when used occasionally, it's better than not being able to run at all. I keep telling Kimi that we should have invested in one back in August when I almost bought one for a good price at a Sports Authority going out of business sale. I wish I had done so now.  Unfortunately, that just wasn't in the cards at that time to get one. 

Over the next several weeks, Kimi and I will be returning to normal mileage amounts for us (50+ miles per week).  Then we will venture into the 70's and hopefully by the time mid-May comes around, we'll be rolling in the 80's and 90's. Time will tell, but I think it's going to be a great 2015 of running.  2014 was good but I expect an even better 2015.

The power and importance of rest! (and a quick month recap)

First of all, let's do a quick recap about what's been going on for the last month. The last time I posted, Kimi and I were preparing for her to run the Kansas City Half Marathon.  Headed into the race, I was quite confident in Kimi's abilities as our preparation over the weeks leading into it pointed towards a quality outing. On race day, we headed downtown and were ready to go for what should have been an exciting morning. I was on a bike riding all over the city cheering for Kimi. After 3 miles, Kimi was right in the mix for a top 3 place.  That was the last time I saw her for about 3 more miles. Around the 6 mile mark, I was waiting for her to pass me by when the 3rd and 4th place girls went by and Kimi wasn't anywhere to be seen. I knew immediately that something wasn't right. I waited just a little longer to see if she was on her way or if she had dropped out for some reason. After a little longer, she came around the corner and I could tell immediately that she was upset. She shouted to me that she had fallen at mile 4.  I asked her if she was ok and she said she was.  She continued the race, but at this point, had simply lost too much ground to make up. Kimi finished 5th that day with a time right around 1hr 21 min. She wasn't happy at the finish and I had to reassure her that unfortunate circumstances like these do occur and that she would have been right in it if it weren't for the fall.

Two weeks later, we were both gearing up again for another half marathon. This time, the Bass Pro Cohick half was the goal. This is one of my favorite races each year because it's competitive enough for me to really compete and it usually brings out some of my better racing. I told Kimi prior to the race that I thought she'd be surprised with just how well she would run.  She was a little unsure based on how the KC half ended up. She sure didn't disappoint one bit. She rolled in a 1st place finish with a time of 1:18:35. This isn't her best time, but it was pretty impressive considering the colder temps and strong winds that were out there.

My race was an interesting one. I started out and was shocked by how many guys were really competing for the top 3 spots in the half. This became clear immediately after the break from the Marathon course which was only a mere 1 mile or so into the race. I never gave up hopes that I would be able to finish in the top 3 spots.  I had moved into 4th place by mile 4 and was slowly picking up ground on the  3rd place guy.  As soon as the course started heading back South, I felt it start happening.  I could feel the side stitch creeping into my side. I eased up the pace hoping to hold the stitch at bay and was able to do so for about 3 miles. It was there but not full bore.  Over those 3 miles, I was unable to close the gap on the 3rd place guy but I hadn't really lost anything either. We were both maintaining a consistent pace. That's when I decided to start picking it up again. Just before the 8 mile mark, I had closed the gap significantly.  I still trailed him by probably 10 seconds but that was down from 21 seconds the mile before so I was really gaining confidence.  That's when it happened again. This time, it was instantaneous. "BAAAM!"  Felt like I had taken a knife in the side of my abdomen. This was one of those, 'you aren't running through it' kinds of side stitches.  I had a dilemma on my hands. Do I stop and try to get it to go away, and then continue or suffer to the point that I am forced to a walk anyways. I hit a water station and decided to stop, drink some fluids, and stretch my abdomen out as well as I could. I wasted nearly 30 seconds at this stop but it was well worth it.

I continued on and at this point couldn't see the 3rd place guy anymore. As I was leaving Phelps Grove Park, I was finally to a straight stretch long enough to catch a glimpse of him again. I wasn't sure I would stand a chance to catch him but I'm not one to give up hopes. I was able to get my pace back down to about 5:45 pace. Then 5:35 pace. Then 5:30 pace. I was once again rolling. And by mile 11, I could really tell I was gaining on him and I was gaining fast. There is a pretty good uphill climb just before mile 12 and at this point, I was certain that I was moving fast enough to catch him and perhaps pass right by him. That's precisely what I did. Unfortunately, as I went past him, I could feel myself running out of gas and I knew that if I was going to beat him, I was going to need to put some space between us prior to the last half mile.  I continued pressing but just couldn't shake him. That's when I said to myself, when we turn the corner with .3 to go, I'm going to give it one last all out push to see if he has it in him. I think he was thinking the same thing and unfortunately for me, he really had it and I didn't any longer. He poured it on and I just watch him roll away from me.  It's not like I gave up, but when you have it, you know it, and when you don't, well, you know that too. This was the year that ended my top 3 finishes streak.  Perhaps this will simply motivate me to be even more prepared next year.

And that brings me to my next point. AHHHH REST!!!  Following our June Marathon, Kimi and I didn't take the proper recovery time prior to picking up our training for our next set of races. What a mistake that was. Coming off the high that was our Grandma's Marathon, where we both set personal bests and Kimi qualified for the Olympic Trials, it was extremely difficult to stop training. When you accomplish something like that, and feel so good about it, stopping just doesn't seem like the thing to do. You typically feel like, 'I can do better so let's getting prepping right now!'.  Probably not the best idea.  We learned the hard way on that one. By the time August had come around, both of us were starting to feel mental fatigue and physical fatigue.  That is precisely what made our training for this fall racing season not go exactly how we would have liked it to go. However, thanks to that experience, we have learned our lesson and probably at the perfect time because now we are within 16 months of Kimi's Olympic Marathon Trials.  That means that over the next 16 weeks, everything needs to be scheduled precisely with cycles that allow for adequate training and preparation for the next several racing seasons or else our training for the biggest race of her life, will be a struggle rather than a blast!

So when you ask us how much we're running right now, you'll get the answer that most people would have never guessed. Kimi and I are hitting a whopping 3 miles per day this week following '0', Zero, Notta, Zip, running last week. And next week, we're going to hit an impressive 4 miles per day!  Perhaps by February, we'll be rolling in the miles and won't be feeling bogged down after this nice recovery period.

Don't worry though, I'm sure I'll have plenty of fun stuff to write about over the next several months which will include many cold, dark, and challenging runs as we prep for another trip to the great Grandma's Marathon!

Right smack dab in the middle of it!

It's been 4 weeks since my last post and we've had a lot happen in that amount of time. First of all, Kimi and I went to Columbia to run the Roots'n'Blues 10k for the 4th year in a row. It's been one of those races that for whatever reason, has eluded Kimi in regards to winning. This year, was definitely one that we both feel we let slip away.  For the first time in the 4 years, this is one that we can honestly say we didn't do our best preparation for.  The following weekend, Kimi ran the Panther Run 10k which she took 1st place in.  This was one of her easiest wins in a long time. While she was running the race, I did a 6 mile tempo run.  There are many times, where doing a workout seems more beneficial than participating in a race, and this was one of those for me.

Over the last week, we had two awesome workouts. On Wednesday morning, Kimi and I got up and went to the Frisco trail. I don't know what we were thinking on this one but of course it was extremely dark.  However, that didn't stop us from having a stellar workout. We ran the first 3 mile press just under 6 minutes per mile circling around the streets just off the trail and then heading down the trail as soon as it was light enough to see where we were going. The next 2 mile press was also solid near 5:55 pace and then the final 1 mile was near 5:47.  We didn't finish quite as fast as we had hoped but all in all, it was a good workout.

On Saturday, we made the short trip up to the Drury track for some 400's.  16 of them to be exact. We were both curious how this workout was going to turn out, but never did I have any doubts that we'd be able to complete it. I won't go into all the details and list all the splits but we did manage to hit all of them under 80 seconds.  The sad part for me is that any time we sprinted, Kimi would just pull away from me like I was standing still.  That girl has some major foot turnover.

This coming weekend, Kimi and I are going up to Kansas City for the Waddell and Reed Half Marathon.  I'm not planning to race it myself so I'm sure I'll be gearing up for a nice hard workout on either Friday, or Saturday.  I think I might try to get it in on Friday so I can ride a bike around KC Saturday and cheer for Kimi.  My big race is coming up about 3 weeks from now.  I'm gearing up for the Bass Pro Half for the 4th year in a row and looking forward to the challenge.

That's pretty much all that's been going on with us over the last week or so.  Hopefully I'll have some good news to report next week following the KC Half.

What a race! Separated by 1.5 or less seconds!

Over the past couple weeks, our training has simply felt like a grind. It hasn't been horrible, but it hasn't felt as easy as it did back in the spring. Fortunately, we're finally to racing season which will shift our training focus towards speed work rather than simply mile after mile of training runs. Our mileage has been solid with weeks in the 60+ miles per week range for several of the last few weeks.

We had some really good runs last week which all started with a 10 mile run out at Wilson's Creek Battlefield. We followed that up with what I hope will be the starting point of many good quality workouts to come on Saturday morning. We ran 6 x 800 on the Drury track.  It started a little rough but we kept ourselves focused and continued to work through the struggles until the workout started to turn around. By the end, we were starting to hit some good quality times even as the rain came down on us. 

Following the workout, my parents came to town to help us lay some tile in our bathroom. That made for a long day. I sure do appreciate my Dad's hard work. He did the majority of the grunt work and I don't think we would have got it done in one day without him. 

Sunday morning came all too quick after our long day Saturday. We woke up an headed out to the Frisco Trail for our long run. The goal was to simply hit a 15 mile run and hopefully feel decent doing it. We headed out towards Willard for 7.5 miles and turned around and came back.  The entire run went decent. We've definitely had better, but it was overall a success.

(The above portion was written last week and not published so what follows is actually a recap of this last week)

Last week was an interesting one. Our week started out strong with some solid runs. Nothing too special, but solid. On Wednesday morning, we woke up early and headed to the Drury track for 400m repeats. The goal was to run 8x400m with 400m recovery between each. We had a time goal of about 75-77 sec per 400. We started our warm-up and I just had a bad feeling for the workout based on how my legs were feeling. They just didn't feel like they had recovered from our run the day before. However, I've had days like this before and then started the workout to have it work itself out during the workout. That definitely wasn't the case on this day. We ran one repeat and it was simply sub-par. Kimi and I both felt horrible. We turned to each other and decided to simply do a regular run and give it a go the next day instead.

Thursday came around and we woke up exactly like the day before and headed up to the Drury track to attempt the exact same workout.  As soon as we started this one, I could tell it was going to be better. I still wasn't sure how good it would be, but better for sure. We started out with a 78, and then it just got better from there with multiple 76's and 75's and then one of them at 73.  This was exactly the type of workout I was hoping we'd have.

The weekend was a big one. Kimi and I were headed up to the Plaza 10k so that Kimi could run in a very competitive race and see exactly where her fitness level is at this time. This had to go down as one of the most memorable races I've watched of Kimi's since her collegiate days. At no point during the race were the top two runners ever separated by more than about 15 meters. They even swapped leading a couple times after the 5 mile marker. Coming down the home stretch for the final quarter mile, it was a dogfight. Kimi and Connie (the fellow competitor and our friend) pushed the entire way to the finish line. I was so excited because I love watching Kimi dig deep and drive all the way to the line. She never gave up and by the time they crossed the line, Kimi had edged just slightly in front. Kimi and Connie have a history of racing each other where either one of them could win in any given race and any given distance. Kimi was fortunate to have the slight edge this time, but there would have been absolutely no shame in losing to Connie.

It's now time to prep for our next race. In about 2 weeks, we're headed to the Roots-n-blues 10k in Columbia, MO.  This has always been one of Kimi's toughest races. She has placed 2nd for three straight years and it's been to 3 different people each time. Perhaps this will be her year? Perhaps not? Either way, she'll give it her best shot and we'll live with the results!  Also, I'll be toeing the line for the first time in months as well so it should be a good experience.

Heat, Heat, Go away! Come again after we've had too much of the cold, please! :)

The last few weeks have been challenging weeks. Kimi and I have returned to heavy training. Over the last couple weeks, we've been running over 60 miles per week and all in singles. It hasn't come quite as easy as it did prior to our June marathon but I'm assuming that has a lot to do with the intense heat that has taken over during the last month or so. I've always found that some of the hardest mileage of the year comes in August while the hot temperatures seem to just hang around and the anticipation for cooler air just keeps building. With that in mind, sometimes you have to alter your expectations for how you might feel on a day to day basis with the understanding that when the cooler air does arrive, (and I'm sure it will eventually) the times will get easier to hit and the way you feel will also improve.

This is is exactly what Kimi and I are banking on. Our runs haven't been absolutely horrible but they definitely aren't going quite how we'd both like them to be going right now. I remain optimistic and trust in what we're doing right now but it sure does get difficult in late August to stay the course when the times you're used to running in Spring and Fall temperatures aren't happening.

Over the last couple weeks, Kimi and I have run two workouts each week and a long run.  We've run a Fartlek, and a track workout.  They both were reasonable but definitely slower than what both of us have grown accustomed to.

Over the weekend, Kimi and I headed to Nixa for the first ever Diva Dash 5k - Nixa put on by KC Running Company. Kimi has always enjoyed these races because of their competitive fields.  She usually gets to really compete with some of the best female runners in the mid-west at these races. This particular event wasn't quite as fast as most of the Diva Dash 5k's have been in the past and Kimi ran off with the win by 3+ minutes. It was hot and she ran really well considering she was pushing herself all by herself. She managed to muster up a 17:54 so all in all it was a good day!  Since Kimi was running in an all women's event, I had to do my own tempo run by myself. I started about 15 minutes prior to the start of Kimi's race and ran the entire course myself. However, I had planned to go an additional mile to make a 4 mile tempo so I had to do a little bit of looping towards the end just to finish out the tempo run. This was probably one of the better tempo runs I've had in quite some time. To be honest, I couldn't even begin to put a finger on why that is unless Kimi's old Garmin Forerunner was simply being generous to me (which it does seem to do for some reason).

Over the next couple weeks, Kimi and I are going to be focused on a lot of speed work and high intensity tempo runs to get us into racing shape.  The next couple months are the most exciting racing months of the year (but of course, you know that already)!

A Birthday Celebration! Two week review!

August is what I consider the best month of the year. Other than the extreme heat that typically comes along with it, August is the month that everything seems to happen in. Students of all ages typically head back to the classroom, fall sports practices start up in preparation for the upcoming competition season, and it's the month when I was born. So I'm officially beginning the final year of my 20's which saw an awful lot of time with my eyes staring into books, notes, and exams. That basically engulfed 7 years of my 20's.  I've now been a chiropractor for 2 years and it has been a lot of fun. I love every opportunity I get to help someone else improve their life and/or their performance.  So how am I going to celebrate the final year of my 20's?  That's the ultimate question that I've been asking myself and I think I have an idea for how I'm going to do it. Here's what I think I'm going to do to celebrate my last year in my 20's.

First of all, I've always wanted to complete 100 push ups straight through.  There was a time when I could do 50 straight through.  This will be the first thing I attempt to mark off my list of goals for my now 29 year old self. I started this on August 1st and I'm already up to 35 straight through by adding 5 per day. I don't expect to accomplish this in 13 more days, but if I keep at it, I should be able to complete this in about a month or so I think.

My next goal will be to run a new personal best in the 10k and then again in the half marathon. Currently, my personal best in the 10k is 34:04 which I ran in college on the track. I've come close a few times on the roads since but just missed by about 4 seconds a couple years ago. Following that, I'd like to regain my half marathon P.R. shape from 2012 when I ran 1:12:58.  I don't know for sure if I'll ever repeat that feat, but I sure would like to get close. In the following Winter/Spring, I would like to run a new personal best in the 3000 meters which would likely have to be completed on an indoor track. If I am able to accomplish that feet, it should roll me directly into the next goal to finally dip under 16 minutes in the 5k.  My next goal will be to run a Marathon under 6 minutes per mile. I came very close to this just this past June. I averaged 6:02 per mile so that makes me believe I can still accomplish this goal.

The simplest way for me to put it is that I intend to run a P.R. in pretty much all common distances from the 3,000 meter up to the marathon. Do I believe that I will have failed if I turn 30 and don't accomplish all the goals? Of course not, but I intend to do my best for the next year to see if I can't have the best year of running yet.

Now to recap the past two weeks.  Kimi and I have been training pretty well for the last couple weeks. We put in our first tempo run on Saturday. It was to be a 6 mile tempo run between 6:00-6:05 pace followed by a long cool down of 5 miles. We were rolling through the first 4 miles of the tempo when our momentum sort of fell apart. It wasn't bad, but we weren't able to hit our goal pace for the remaining two miles. We might have started out with a tempo run that was slightly too long for our first one. Sunday was an awesome run that neither of us saw coming. We had a 10 miler and we decided to stay home and try a new route. We ventured out on the South Creek/Wilson's Creek trail to the west and were we ever taken back by the hills. We haven't ran hills like these in quite some time other than the Wilson's Creek Battlefield hills.  The run was pretty solid averaging under 6:50 pace per mile.

Prior to the weekend, we had put in some solid miles including another 10 miler and an 11 miler during the week. Those weren't great runs by any means but they weren't terrible either. The
 weekend before that was a great experience. Kimi ran the Diva Dash 5k in Tulsa where she took 2nd place. We were fortunate enough to walk into a Sports Authority that was having a going out of business sale where I was able to find 6 pairs of running shoes for $36 a pair (and that included the tax). I should be set for nearly the entire 30th year of my life. :)

This week brings high mileage and a couple good solid workouts on the schedule so hopefully I'll have some good news to report during my next blog post!

For now, I'm signing off to go celebrate my 29th birthday with a simple 5 mile run this afternoon.

We even picked up one pair for Kimi! 

The Miles are going by!

It's been two weeks now since my last post. That's mostly because Kimi and I have been simply logging the miles with and having been doing a lot of workouts or anything too incredibly exciting.  However, The last two weeks have been solid mileage weeks. Just last week we managed to crank out 64 miles which should start my streak of 60+ mile weeks that I'm hoping to hold until some time in October. The week prior to that was 58 miles so even that was a solid week.

Kimi is planning to run the Tulsa Diva Dash this week which is a 5k so we'll be headed that direction on Friday night. With that in mind, we decided to do a couple workouts before she heads down there. On Saturday morning, we did a pretty decent 2 on 2 off workout.  It went as well as could be expected. Most of that is probably due to the phenomenal weather we've been having. Looks like this week will be headlined by hotter temps unfortunately.  I can't complain though, the weather has been awesome so far this summer.  Our long run also was great on Sunday so I think Kimi will be just fine for her upcoming 5k race.

The real question is whether or not we will be running a marathon this fall. We have been tossing around the idea of running the Prairie Fire Marathon in Wichita but haven't fully decided on it yet. I hope to have it all planned out and ready to go in the next week or so. In the mean time, I'm preparing as if we are going to run it and then if we don't, I'll simply be that much stronger for the Bass Pro Half in November.

Is our recovery really over already? Time to focus again!

Recovery time has ended. We're now starting to get our focus back to training. Following the Grandma's Marathon, Kimi and I didn't run for several days.  This is one of the few times we take some significant time off from running to let ourselves refocus mentally and physically. We managed to run a total of 19 miles during the week following the marathon. 

Last week we increased the miles significantly in order to prepare for the Firecracker 5000 in Branson.  We were asked to join a team known as the 'Idiots Running Club' which was full of some pretty amazing runners. All of them had either run a 100 miler or are currently training for one so we didn't quite fit the group prototype but we're both marathoners so that's good enough. We had a lot of fun at this race. Kimi and I weren't sure how we'd actually feel on race morning since it was only a couple weeks after our race and our runs hadn't been anywhere close to normal pace yet. 

Much to our surprise, we both had an excellent race. I started out really good for me with a 5:11 mile and I was surprised at just how easy it was feeling up to that point. That's when the fatigued legs started to set in a bit. I managed to keep it together enough to still have a great finish for myself. The second and third miles were both 5:30 ish and then I finished out to a 16:35 and a 7th place finish.  Kimi ran really well too. She finished 1st overall for women, 13th overall in the race, and had a time in the 17:teens.  All in all we were quite pleased.

Thanks to the few weeks of lower miles and a long weekend, we were finally able to accomplish a lot at our house. We're both really excited that everything is starting to come together and become more like a home rather than a construction site! We've also been planning out our Summer/Fall racing schedule so we can start planning the training for it.  I haven't fully committed but I might be running another marathon this fall.  If so, I'll have to have an awesome training season so that I can truly go after my goal of sub 6min/mile.  That should make for some good blog posts in the future so I hope you'll keep following Kimi and I as we continue training and pursuing goals. 

Last week's mileage - 43 miles

5k race - 16:35, 7th place

Grandma's Marathon Recap! Part 2

I want to take a short step back to the days leading up to the race. In case you didn't know, Kimi and I have been working with Cassie Dimmick, a registered dietitian from Achieving Your Best,  in order to try and maximize our performances.  After Kimi's Twin Cities Marathon last October, I knew she only needed to drop 3 seconds per mile to reach the Olympic Trials B standard. I wanted to give her every advantage possible to help get her across the finish line fast enough to qualify.  I met Cassie at the Bass Pro Fitness Festival Expo in November and we hit it off right away. I knew she'd be perfect for us to work with.  Cassie has been great at helping us with our focus nutritionally by keeping us accountable.  Even though I'm a chiropractor myself, working with someone who can look at our nutrition objectively from the outside helps tremendously.

Leading up to the Grandma's Marathon, we practiced with our Nutrilite Endurance Cubes and water intake multiple times during long runs and long hard workouts to help prepare our stomachs to handle the fueling necessary for achieving our goals. The week prior to the race, Cassie put together a specific food schedule for us.  I'm not going to lie, it felt like I was eating non-stop on Wednesday and Thursday. However, when race day rolled around, my stomach felt great and clearly the energy was plentiful just like we had hoped it would be. 

I want to take this time to give a shout out of thanks to Cassie for all her hard work and dedication to helping us achieve our performance goals. 

Thank You Cassie!!

www.achievingyourbest.net

Moving forward now to after the race. Kimi and I hung out around the refreshments and post race festivities for about an hour or so at least. This was simply to get settled down and get some food back in our systems. It was still quite chilly so both of us changed into some dry clothes and wrapped ourselves with blankets that were provided to cut the wind.  We finally decided we had had enough and wanted to head back to the dorms to get cleaned up so we made the 1/2 mile walk (which felt like an eternity at this point) to the bus pick-up area.  After getting cleaned up, we checked out of the dorms and drove to Minneapolis. We decided to split up the return trip so that it might not feel so incredibly miserable.  Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel half bad on Saturday evening after the race. However, by the time we had arrived home on Sunday, I was stiff as a board and walking was becoming quite difficult.  Thankfully, the soreness in the muscles only takes about 3 or so days for me to get back to where I feel like I could run. Kimi on the other hand, is already talking about running and how great she feels just a few days afterwards (I'm jealous of her incredible ability to recover quickly from everything).

Kimi after the race

All smiles on the bus ride back to the dorms

The question most people have now is what's up next?  And for that, I guess you'll just have to wait and see.  I do know there will be some fun and exciting training over the next few months. That's a fact!

Grandma's Marathon Recap! Part 1

Race day has now come and gone. We spent the last four plus months preparing for this one big day. It's quite nerve racking to think that all that hard work leading up to the big race could all be for nothing if the day doesn't pan out the way you hope it will.  Thankfully, that wasn't the case for us and thankfully, that's not usually the case. Typically, when you put in the hard work, the results will follow.

We left Springfield Thursday morning and drove all the way to Duluth, MN where the Grandma's Marathon is held. We did stop a few times along the way.  One of our first stops was simply to get some lunch at the wonderful Subway!  Oh how we love Subway!  Then we headed up the road to an outlet mall just north of Minneapolis to do some walking around.  While in this little town, we found a running trail to do a short 2 mile run with some 20 sec strides.  Much to my surprise, this run actually went well. I thought we would feel terrible after 9 hours in a car. After the run, we jumped back in the car and finished up the remaining 2 hours to Superior, Wisconsin (which is where we were staying-in the dorms at UW-Superior).

We slept in just a bit on Friday to make sure we would be plenty rested. Then we went to the running trail that is right along the coast of Lake Superior to do another 2 mile easy run with only four 20 sec strides this time. The temperatures were a bit on the cool side on Friday. When we woke up that morning, temperatures were about 44 degrees with a wind chill in the upper 30's. Brr.  We then spent a good portion of the day going to packet pick up and just hanging out at the dorms relaxing. We topped off the evening by eating at Olive Garden.  We assumed it would be crazy busy so we went to eat early (5:30 ish) and still had to wait over an hour to get seated. It was definitely worth it, however.

Race day was just about 12 hours away now and we knew we were going to have to get up early the next morning to get our pre-race meal taken care of 3 hours prior to the start. So when 4:45am rolled around, we got up, ate our bagels with peanut butter and walked over to the bus stop to get on our bus. The Grandma's Marathon is a point to point race meaning they bus you out 26.2 miles from the finish and have you run the entire way back to the city.  With this being my second year in a row running this race, I knew exactly how to handle the starting area which gave me a little more sense of calm prior to the start.

1 hour prior to the race

 All the restroom stops taken care of, and the final few sips of water completed, I headed to the start line to meet up with Kimi (She was able to drop her stuff at the elite drop area so we had to go to separate areas prior to the start of the race). We lined up and Kimi was just about 10 rows of people in front of me in the 'Elite' corral but none of that matters as soon as the starting gun goes off.  It took me about a mile to get fully caught up to Kimi.  I stayed with Kimi for the first 10 miles. We were clipping off mile after mile right at about 6:05-6:10 pace and were feeling pretty good.  So far, it simply felt like we were doing a long tempo run together.  At mile 7 I told her that I would stay with her through 10 miles and then I was going to try and get caught back up to the 6 min per mile average that I was hoping to break. We crossed 10 miles in 61:10 so I knew we were averaging 6:07.  My goal at that point was to try and get the average down to 6  minutes by the time I hit 20 miles. At this point, I knew I needed to average 5:53 per mile to accomplish that task. Mile after mile clicked off and I couldn't quite get the pace down below 5:53 except for maybe one or two miles which clicked off about 5:52.  At 20 miles in, I still needed to make up about 40 seconds.  I kept the legs churning hoping that I might be able to get the pace back down for the final 3 miles or so which would still give me a chance. I came through 23 miles this year and was exactly 30 seconds over pace.  All I needed was a 5:50 average for the final 5k to get exactly 6 minute pace. Unfortunately, I just didn't quite have enough to get that done. I did however, hold it together much better this year than I did the year before which allowed me to run a new personal best by 1 minute and 45 seconds.  All in all I was quite pleased with my performance.

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I waited around to see how Kimi would finish up.  This is where the nerves really set in.  The unknown for how she would do over the remaining 16 miles since the point where I left her was quite suspenseful.  I was watching the clock and watching the runners coming in. You can see the runners for about the last 2 tenths of a mile headed straight to the finish line. I quickly picked out Kimi's stride and jersey colors. I was stoked. She had about 2 minutes cushion to complete the remaining 2 tenths. I started cheering and waving my hat trying to bring her to the finish!  I get tears of joy just thinking about her accomplishment. She worked extremely hard to get to where she is now and to see it pay off is just awesome!  Kimi's time ended up being 2:41:54 which is under the Olympic Trials B standard by a minute and 6 seconds.

My Goal: sub 6 minute pace
Actual: 6:02/mile 2:38:05
Kimi's Goal: Sub 2:43:00 (Olympic Trials B Standard)
Kimi's Actual: 2:41:54 - Successful!

The time has finally come! It's RACE WEEK!!!!

I'm going to make this post a quick one since I simply don't have time to expand greatly. Last week was a great week. We hit every run exactly like we'd hoped during the week. On Saturday, we were scheduled to run 20x400 meter repeats on the track as a good speed session. We started the workout at the Drury track and the wind simply had other plans for us. We made it through 3 of them fighting the wind and then decided to shut down the workout and try it again the next day. This close to the marathon, it just didn't make sense to fight extra and increase fatigue. So, we went back to the track on Sunday morning and started again, we had made it through 5 of them right on a good pace when the clouds opened up and dumped heavy rains for about 20 or so minutes. We waited it out and then took a warm-up lap prior to continuing on with the workout. Since we had run three 400's on Saturday, we decreased the number of repeats to 16. The workout went exactly how we'd hoped it would. All signs seem to be pointing in the the right direction so we're hopeful that our race will turn out great as well.

Yesterday, we went up to the Frisco trail to do our last and final tune-up workout. The plan was to warm up 2 miles, run a 2 mile hard tempo, and then cool down 2 more miles for a total of 6 miles. We did this workout in the evening so we could maximize our sleep this week, and also to have to fight the heat a bit which will make 50 degrees on race day feel even better. Much to my surprise, we rolled this workout as well. Both miles were under 5:40 so needless to say, our confidence is high going into this weekend.

Now that work is nearly over for the week, we finally get to set our sights on the traveling and playing for what should make a great weekend!!

I'm not sure if there is athlete tracking but if there is, I'll make sure to tweet our information prior to the race so anyone that wants to follow us can do so.

2013 Grandma's Marathon Photo, I hope I look even better at mile 25 this year!

What a week! "Is it go time yet?!" June 2 - June 8

The week started off tough following our 24 miler which if you recall, didn't go the greatest.  Monday and Tuesday were recovery days and I definitely used them as such. I went a grand total of 12 miles over the two days. One Wednesday, we managed to get back closer to normal. We decided because the weather was being reasonably cool, that we'd wait until the evening to go up to the Frisco trail and put in a solid 8 mile run. The 4 miles on the way out weren't great but on the way back, we really got it rolling. We managed to keep all 4 return miles under 6:45 including the last mile which we ducked under 6:30 on while doing some strides. Thursday was our next scheduled workout which was to be hill repeats. It had been quite rainy that afternoon so when we started down the South Creek Greenway trail, it was simply puddle after puddle and walk after walk in order to get through without completely soaking the shoes.  Finally, we managed to get the 2.5 mile warm up completed on our way to a new hill we were going to try using for hill repeats. Ever since we moved from Republic into Springfield, we haven't really found a good hill to use for hill repeats. Thankfully, this particular hill was right at a quarter mile long which is exactly what we were looking for. The purpose of hill repeats is to run them at a reasonably hard pace but not necessarily all out in order to build strength and make flatter courses just feel easier. This almost always does the trick and it definitely did this time too (I'll explain that in just a minute).  We ran up the hill 8 times before we called it quits and started to make the 2.75 mile trip back home (decided to take a different route to avoid the water on the trail).

Friday is always our easy day so we simply trotted an easy 3 miles and that's it.

Saturday was to be our toughest workout during this entire training cycle. Yasso 800's were on the schedule and this was our first ever attempt at this particular workout. Yasso 800's are meant to be a good gauge of what you're capable of during a marathon. The workout goes a little like this. If you would like to run a 3 hour marathon, you do 10 x 800m repeats on the track in 3:00 (min:sec) with 3 min recovery between each repeat. If you'd like to run a 2:40 (hr:min) marathon time, you should run 2:40(min:sec) per repeat with the recovery of 2:40 (min:sec) between each. Kimi and I both have slightly different goals for our marathon but only by a couple minutes. With that in mind, we set out to run the monster workout with a goal pace of 2:40 (min:sec) or slightly under per 800m repeat.  Let me back up just a bit more. Friday night, we checked the weather.com app on my phone and looked at the hourly forecast. We were supposed to be good to go Saturday morning from about 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. without any major storm issues. Boy were they wrong. We just started to head out the door when, "bang!" the thunder and lightning hit and the sky opened up with rain. We went back inside and decided to wait it out and perhaps try again in the afternoon if we had to. Only an hour later, we looked outside, the wind seemed slightly calmer and the sun was shining. I looked at Kimi and said, "you ready to go give it a shot?"  We got dressed and headed back out for attempt #2. This time with much better success!

So just how did the workout go? It was phenomenal! By no means was it an easy task but we hit the first two at 2:40 and then dropped them down to 2:38 for the rest except for the last one at 2:37! I was pumped and excited about the accomplishment.

Sunday was also a great run. We nailed 15 miles just cruising along. It did start a little slow but that's to be expected after the workout we had the day before!

All I can say at this point is, "is it go time yet?!"

Goal Mileage - 60mi
Actual - 58mi
Goal Workouts - Smoke some 800's
Actual - Did just that!

Speed and Rest is all that's left!

The last couple weeks have been solid weeks. Following our 22 mile long run a couple weeks ago, I was curious how quickly we'd be able to recover. We took the entire week up to Saturday as a mileage only week to help speed up recovery in order to get ready for a 10 mile workout. The goal of the 10 miler was to run 10 miles non-stop but with 4 miles at marathon pace followed by 1 mile up tempo from there and then another 4 miles at marathon followed by a last mile up tempo again. We nailed this workout exactly how we had hoped to. We ventured out to the Frisco Trail which is our favorite spot for nice long workouts or long runs.  We even set out two tables with cups with water on them at miles 3, 6, and 9 so we could practice using a new straw technique for drinking water at water stations. This worked out quite nicely.  This particular Saturday morning was a drizzly/light rain type of morning which made for a perfect setting of one of those breakout style workouts. We rolled through the first 4 miles easily maintaining a sub-6:10 average and then dropped the pace down to 5:53 for the 5th mile. The next 3 miles we settled back the pace just a bit but were able to keep it a little faster than the first 4 miles. The 9th mile was a challenge as it's the most challenging mile on the trail but we still managed to keep it right at 6:10.  That left the last mile to try and get it back down below 6:00.  It wasn't easy and it took us more than half of the mile to get the pace down to where we wanted it. The final .5 mile was all about determination and pressing to the finish. Finished up with a 5:54 and both of us were quite pleased. We finished out the run with 5 more miles of cool down work to complete a total of 18 miles for the day. We also managed to hit a total of 65 miles for the week which was pretty decent for us as well.

The following week would hold our last remaining long run challenge (24 miles) prior to the Grandma's Marathon but that's not all we would do this week. Wednesday, we headed up to Frisco for 5x1mile repeats. The goal was to try and hit all 5 repeats near 10k pace.  This wasn't our best workout ever, but it wasn't too bad either. We persevered through and managed to keep all 5 right at or below 10k pace which all in all is exactly what we had set out to do. Let's just say it could have felt easier, but what can you expect after the way we ran over the prior weekend. We also knew the weekend ahead would bring great challenges because our plans were loaded with tiring work at the house. It was finally time to tackle the hardwood floors for the living room. However, prior to that, I got the bright idea of participating in the relay for life and helping out a friend as he ventured for 45 miles around the track that night. So, we went to bed Friday night at about 9:15 with an alarm set to wake us up at 11:30 (p.m.) to go over to the Parkview track and start our run directly at midnight so we could count the miles as our Saturday training.  It wasn't our fastest 7 miles ever, but it was pretty enjoyable as we got to spend some time with Derek (you're tough, but nuts man!). We made it back home by 1:30 or so and were able to get back in bed by 2:00 a.m.  I figured I could get about 6 more hours of sleep if I simply slept until 8:00 so that's what was attempted. I couldn't quite make it until 8:00 but 7:45 wasn't too bad.

First few miles of Derek's 45!

Let the games begin!  We worked all day at this point to get our hardwood floors about 3/4 the way finished.  It was exhausting work, but it looks awesome if I do say so myself. *A quick shout out to my brother - Allen, my Dad, and my Father-in-law for all your help! Couldn't have done it without you guys!*

Just Finished!

The floor took me through Tuesday evening to finally finish it up but it was definitely worth it. The biggest problem was our long run didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. We made it through 18 miles before really suffering and struggling to finish up. We did cover 24 miles but it wasn't pretty towards the end. Looking back on the week as a whole, it wasn't too bad as we managed a good workout, finished up our living room floors, and kinda/sorta ran 24 miles reaching 70 miles for the week. 

Now it's time to generate speed on our strength so over the next few weeks, we'll be headed back to the track and out to find us a hill for some repeats.

Let the results start rolling in! Week of May 12 - May 18 in review

Last week was an excellent week. We had every intention of hitting 70 miles again last week but weren't able to get there thanks to the weather. With the storms on Monday night last week, we didn't manage to get a run completed. This isn't exactly the way I'd prefer to start off the week but what can you do. On Wednesday, we were seeking a track to run on so we traveled over to Kickapoo to see if we could get on the track there and unfortunately, they were having some sort of sporting event so that wasn't successful. We quickly jumped back in the cars and drove to Glendale. We could have actually used their track facility but just before we started our warm up, we decided that neither one of us were feeling up to it. We jumped in the car again and ventured over to the Sequiota Park to get a run in. It wasn't anything great. In fact, it was actually quite miserable which simply confirmed our decision not to attempt the track workout this evening.

Thursday morning, we decided to attempt to use the Drury track and do our workout. Thankfully, this track is open during the day so we were able to finally get on a track.  The planned workout consisted of 1600, 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400, 300, 200, with a 400 jog between each one. Since it was our first time to get on a track, we decided to scale back our expectations a bit. The goal was to do the longer distances near 10k pace and then work it down towards 5k pace and under as the distances got shorter. That's precisely what we did. We started out with a 5:33 mile which isn't great but isn't too bad either. The 1200 went even better near 4:05.  The rest of the way we kept progressively speeding up our pace as the distances grew shorter. It sounds easy to do this because the distance is shorter, but keep in mind that fatigue also places a role in the workout the further into it you get. We finished up the workout with a total of 11 miles which meant we had a 3.5 mile cool down afterwards and that simply felt like forever. 

Saturday, we headed to Marionville for the Running of the Squirrels 5k. Kimi was going to race it while I was going to do my own 3 mile tempo. Then immediately following, we were headed to the track there to do 4x400 repeats.  We both managed to have a good 3 mi tempo/race and then quickly headed to the track. We honestly didn't expect to run the type of paces that we managed following the 3 mile tempos. We ran all four 400's at 75-76 seconds with an easy 400 jog between. 

The best part of all of last week was of course the way we finished up the week. Sunday morning, we headed to the Frisco trail to take on the somewhat daunting task of a 22 mile long run. The plan was to run out 6 miles and back followed by out 5 and back. This allows us to trade out water bottles at the car near just over half way through the run. Unfortunately for me, I started to develop a blister on my right heal and could feel the sharpness of it a mere 8 miles into the run. I was simply hoping that I would have a spare pair of thin socks in the car so that I could swap the socks I was wearing and then continue. We made it back to the car and I was in luck. I had stowed away in the center console a pair of thin socks. I quickly changed the socks and we headed back out for the final 10 miles. We were both shocked at how well our run was going after the Thursday workout and Saturday workout as we were expecting to feel some fatigue. Thankfully we didn't. We just kept rolling. Kimi was getting stronger and stronger as the run went on and as we approached the final mile, I looked at her and said, "all you need is sub 6:30 to get to the trials, let's do it."  We started the mile strong knowing that the first .2 would have the wind slightly blocked and the next .3 would be fighting the wind (which at this point was probably approaching 15 mph). We came through the first half mile near 6:33 pace and then had to pick up the pace some more. 6:32, 6:31, 6,30, 6:29, 6:28, went the pace on the garmin. We were doing exactly what we needed to do. We managed to hold strong through the finish. Both of us were pumped up about the results of this one. This is precisely the type of long run we had grown accustomed to during our 2013 marathon training cycles.  

Next up, more speed work and quality mileage. 

Total Mileage - 65

Long Run - 22 miles 

Workouts - 2 quality performances

April 28-May 4 and May 5-May 11 in Review

If you've been following Kimi and me in recent weeks, you've noticed that we've been finally hitting consistent quality mileage.  We finished up April strong and jumped right into May even stronger. Our mileage goal for last week was to hit 70 miles with only one double.  That would mean that we would have 50 miles prior to our weekend long run which just happened to fall on Sunday this week because we headed down to Bradleyville for a 5k on Saturday.

In past years, Kimi usually goes to Bradleyville on her own while I go to the Republic May Day 5k. This year we decided to both go to Bradleyville together.  It turned out to be a great decision this year because I was able to get 2nd place. Our scheduled long run for this week was a 20 miler. We decided to head up to Frisco like we usually do but instead of running out 10 and back 10, we decided to make it a double out and back because this would allow us to stay on the part of the trail with trees to help block the winds. I just get so tired of fighting wind everyday so once in a while, it's nice to avoid it as much as possible. Our run went great. We managed to clip off mile after mile under 7 min pace and even added a finishing mile around 6:30. It was a good solid long run making that 3 straight weekends with great long runs.

April 28-May 4
Goal - 70 miles
Actual - 70 miles

The goal last week was to cut our miles back slightly to 68 miles. I began the week by getting ready for a 7 mile run on Monday following the 20 miler the day before only to cut the run short due to pain in my right lower leg. Rather than push through and turn it into a full blown injury, I decided to stop at a mile, walk back home, grab a bike, and ride the rest with Kimi. The next day I could still feel some discomfort in the right leg but it was only slight. I decided to give the run a shot and fortunately the leg didn't flare up much and I was able to complete the 9 miles on the schedule. That evening, I made sure to get some treatment from Kimi so I could try and get my legs to fully heal up which would allow me to get right back on track for the remainder of the week. We did an easy double on Wednesday which totaled 12 miles. Our runs up to this point hadn't been anything special. In fact, they were less than mediocre really. The 20 on Sunday had really taken it out of both of us. Heading into our scheduled 6 mile tempo run on Thursday, we were both thinking there was no chance we'd have a good one.  Our warm-up started out about as slow as we've ever run for a warm up. We now stood there at the starting point for a 6 mile tempo and I was seriously debating whether to even give it a shot when Kimi turned to me and said, "let's at least try and see what happens."  So that's what we did. We clicked off our first mile and much to my surprise, we were on a decent pace, near 6min mile. So we just kept rolling down the trail clicking off mile after mile (not stellar, but under marathon goal pace for Kimi), until mile 5.  Kimi and I were both starting to tire out a bit but I told her that we were going to keep going for as long as we could maintain under her goal marathon pace or until 6 miles; which ever came first. We were both pretty excited when we finished because the workout went much better than we thought it was going to though it wasn't as good as we would have liked when planning out the training cycle.

We now had one day to recover prior to our next long workout during a 17 mile long run. The goal was to run 3x3mile with the first around 6:10 pace, second near 6:00, and the third sub 6:00 pace. This workout started out awesome. We nailed the first press 15 seconds under pace. The second was just under pace as well. The third one didn't go exactly as planned but it wasn't too bad either. All in all, this workout was a great test of our strength and ability to turn around in only 48 hours to push hard again.

Week Goal - 68 miles
Actual Miles - 62 (good enough for me)

Bring on next week!

Success is in the air! Week of Apr 21-Apr 27 in Review

If you thought the last post detailed a good week, then this post will detail what I considered an even better week. Our goal this week was to run every day of the week, have one double, one good tempo run, and an excellent long run!  The week started off extremely well. I was fortunate to get to run with Kimi over lunch every day this week. We had some solid 8 and 9 mile runs near 6:50 mile pace. nailed our double on Tuesday just like we had planned. Wednesday followed with another solid run, which brings me to Thursday and our workout day.

*The Workout* The goal was a 4 mile tempo run with each mile right at or slightly under 6 min pace. This would bring us in at just under 24 minutes. If you would have asked either of us prior to the workout just how we thought it would turn out, neither of us would have guessed what resulted. We did our two mile warm up and then gathered ourselves. We looked at each other with one last attempt to gather confidence from the other and then counted down. 3-2-1-Go! The timer's were started and we were on our way. We came through the first half mile on pace to run a 5:52 which I just assumed would slowly creep up closer to 6min. It didn't! We rolled through the second mile in the exact same time and then began the third mile which is slightly more uphill. Much to my surprise, the pace never climbed above 5:55 during the entire uphill portion of the mile. After clipping off a 3rd mile at 5:51, I got rather excited for the finishing result. I looked at Kimi and chuckled a bit, "let's make this an epic finish!"  We increased the intensity a bit and were now holding strong at 5:45 pace through the first half mile of our 4th mile. The intensity picked up some more and now with only a quarter to go, we were on pace for a 5:42.  I looked at Kimi and said, "we can still break 5:40!"  We dug deeper and cranked up the intensity even more. We managed to clip off a 5:38 by the finish and were both very excited about the workout.  Perhaps this would be the workout that we will both look back at and remember as the turning point in our 2014 training cycle.

Next up was the task of having an awesome long run.  We headed out to Willard Saturday morning be since I had some friends that were running the Railroad 8k.  Our goal was to get there early enough to try and time it up where we could see my friends finish and possibly help one of them on to the end.  We didn't get started quite early enough to finish with him but we did get to cheer both of my friends on during their run as we were running in opposite directions in the later part of our run. We switched it up and decided to run towards Springfield first. It's about 6 miles to Spf making it 12 miles when we arrived back to Willard. All we had to do was run out 2.5 miles and turn around and go back to the car at this point. Of course, the last 2 miles are usually the toughest 2 miles simply due to fatigue, but on this particular run, we were rolling and clipping off a consistent sub 6:50 per mile pace until the wind picked up and made the last two miles tough. With our determination to finish the goal of an excellent long run, we dug deep and kept pressing onward. We managed to keep the final two miles under 7 min against the wind and finished our 17 mile run with a pretty stellar average of 6:51 per mile. FINALLY, we had the type of long run we had grown accustomed to during our 2013 marathon training adventures.

*Sunday was an adventure all in itself. It took us all day to get the texturing finished in our living room, kitchen, and guest bathroom. * Now just to get it painted and get some new floors. :)

Goals:
67 miles
1 workout
17 mile long run

Actual:
67 miles
1 - 4 mile tempo - 23:20!
17 mile long run!

Things are trending upward! Week of April 14 - April 20 in review

Last week ended up being a really good week. It sure didn't start that way though. Monday- no running at all. Kimi and I were still a little tired from the weekend and with the cold weather, it was quite easy to just take the day off.  We decided that we were still going to reach our goal of 60 miles even if we took the day off so we calculated out what we would need to do to accomplish the goal and that's exactly what we did. We only needed to do one double in order to get to our 60 miles.  Our goal was to hit the miles, complete one workout (possibly two) and have a solid 16 mile long run.

We started our quest Tuesday with a solid 10 mile run. We ran 9 miles on Wednesday and followed that up with our only double of the week on Thursday. Thursday morning was also our workout day. We contemplated on what workout to do this week and finally landed on 800's on the trail. The goal was to run 6 of them. So far this year, workouts haven't been coming as easily as we would both like for them to feel, but we pushed through and completed the workout.

Ahhh, FRIDAY!!  Thank God for Friday's. Friday is our day to trot a nice easy 3-5 miles depending on the week.  This week, we needed to trot a 4 miler. With the Go Girl! Half Marathon Health and Fitness Expo, I had to get up and do my run early in the morning while Kimi was able to do hers over her lunch break. I spent the rest of the day enjoying the company of Connie Craven of Renewal Massage sharing a booth at the expo.

Saturday was the Go Girl race day. Connie, Kimi and I set up my tent to offer the participants the opportunity to have a post race soft tissue treatment/massage experience. There was a wonderful turnout for the event. I don't know the exact numbers yet but this was by far the most people that I've treated at a race so far.

Following the race, Kimi and I went home and decided to take some time to eat lunch and rest a little prior to venturing out to rock a 9 mile run. We had discussed doing a workout this afternoon but instead decided to go to Wilson's Creek Battlefield to get some hill work in. The run didn't start out feeling very good and I was shocked at the turn of events as this run just got better and better. We were rolling up the hills and down the hills like it was no big deal which is shocking considering we haven't been to a reasonably hilly terrain in quite some time.  My only fear was that we might have over done it one day prior to our long run.

Sunday = Long Run Time*  We were determined to make it 16 miles today. I knew it was going to be tough but I was determined. The funny thing about determination is that it doesn't always win out over the bodies fatigue. The way out wasn't terrible but with a slight breeze at our back, I knew it was going to be a long 8 miles back based on the pace of the trip out. We made the turn and headed back. Mile 9 clicked off and then the fatigue started to really get to us. In my mind, I always feel like if I can just make it back through Willard to where the trees begin to line the trail again, then I can make it the rest of the way putting one foot in front of the other. It didn't go quite as planned. Our bodies were winning the battle over our minds. Fatigue set in and we had to stop and take a short break. We decided to go ahead and take our Carb Boom energy gels during that break to fuel us the rest of the way back. We started back into the return trip and made it a couple miles before we simply needed to take a rest again. At that point, I was determined to finish up the run with no more stops. It wasn't easy. Following Rock The Parkway, I have been battling a blister on my left big toe that just won't quite heal up before I get back on it and get it inflamed again.  For the final two miles, that blister was really burning. I knew that if I stopped, it would be even harder now to get going again so I trudged on to the finish. It wasn't the prettiest of runs but I have definitely had worse.

All in all, it was a great week. I completed the goal of 60 miles, along with a hilly run, one double, and one reasonable 800m workout.  Let's hope that next week goes even better as the goal is to increase the miles up to 67 miles.

On another note, I did manage to complete the Kitchen ceiling texturing Sunday afternoon, so all in all it was a great Easter!

Goal:
- 60 miles
- 1 workout
- 16 mile long run

Actual:
All the above!

As well as could be expected - Week of April 7 - 13 in review

Last week was an interesting week. The weather was wonderful (finally) and we had a decent week. Kimi and I ran every day of the week. To say it was without struggle would be a lie but we managed to get through enough to give Rock the Parkway a shot. We'll get to that in a bit. First, let's detail how the week actually went.

We started off running solid miles and at pretty decent paces. Since moving to our new home at the end of February, we are still trying to establish some decent routes. Kimi came up with a new one that would allow us to get on some asphalt (rather than sidewalks) and off the South Creek Greenway trail (at least some). The new route is a bit tougher than some of the other routes we have been running lately. We ran that route early in the week and did quite well. The plan was to do a speed workout on Wednesday night. We drove up to the Frisco Trail so we could give it a go. The plan was to run 1k, 1k, 800, 800, 600, 600, and then some 400's to finish out. The weather was decent so we both thought it was going to be a good workout. However, during the warm-up, both of us simply felt sluggish. It was suddenly difficult to run a warm-up pace.  We made an executive decision and decided to cut the workout for that evening and give it a shot the next morning instead.

Thursday morning was crazy windy, and warm. Not complaining about the warmth since this is much appreciated. The warm up was quite a bit better than the night before but still didn't feel great. Knowing that we were going to be racing in a couple days, we decided to shorten the workout and eliminate the 600's. We started the first 1k and worked ourselves into it. Not our greattest split but not terrible either. The second 1k was quite a bit better.  Our 800's were both reasonable though taxing. After the two 800's we were both feeling the fatigue. Let's just say that our 400's didn't go great but we did manage to get through the workout eventually.

Rock the Parkway is one of the events that Kimi and I have both run before and simply ran ok at. Two years ago, Kimi ran Rock the Parkway and was the overall winner with a time in the 1:19's and I had a top 10 finish with a time around 1:16:30. The goal of this weekend was to complete the half running hard and using it as a workout.  I started out relatively conservative compared to my more recent halfs running the first mile in 5:50 and the second around 5:45. It was around the 3rd mile that I knew it was going to be a difficult day. I was simply laboring much too hard at this point in the race to really think I was going to run a great time.  I did manage to hang onto 5:50 miles for a good portion of the event until about mile 7-8 where a pretty good hill got me. I couldn't manage to keep the mile under 6:00. In fact, that mile clipped off around 6:10. Thankfully I managed to get it going again as soon as I got back to the parkway for the return trip. The return trip wasn't nearly as easy thanks to the head wind but I managed to fight hard as I could see the 9th place runner and 10th place runner both struggling and slowly coming back to me. I pressed onward hoping that I could still get that top 10 finish that I had achieved 2 years ago.

With 3 miles remaining, I was now running solely in 9th place with the 10th and 11th runners trailing just a little ways back. I started to feel my big toes developing some monster blisters on them (just like the last time I ran this event). It was becoming painful and I wasn't sure how I was going to get through to the finish.  Then I reminded myself, it's going to hurt no matter the pace, but the sooner you get back, the sooner you get your shoes off to relieve some pressure.  So I pressed the pedal down again with a mile to go. I had gone from running 5:50 pace to now letting it all go at a clip of 5:35 pace. I could just almost see the finish when I heard the 10th place finisher creep up right next to me. I dug deeper and dropped the pace down to 5:31 almost immediately.  Thankfully, he didn't have much fight left in him and he quickly fell back behind. I pressed the remaining .1 mile to the finish and was actually somewhat pleased with how I finished up. I stood at the finish waiting for Kimi.  I was very pleased to see her coming in with no other females in sight. She was going to be the winner for the second time at this event.

All in all, it was a good week. We now know that we both have a lot of work to do to get ourselves ready for our next big event coming up in June. Be prepared to be impressed as our miles start to ramp up and we start rolling in the near future.

Check out the progress in our house remodel!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BlIGykvCIAA0N2d.jpg

Another week bites the dust! Week of 3-31 thru 4-6 in Review

This was another great week for both of us. The goal this week was to hit 60 miles and have a solid 15 mile long run along with at least one good workout to start developing a little turnover. If you read my last post, you already had just a little insight to how the week was going. With Kimi working some long days so she could attend a continuing education seminar over the weekend, it was a challenging week. It's interesting how challenging weeks bring out the discipline in you so you can make sure that you get everything accomplished. Kimi and I did our first workout on Wednesday. It wasn't anything crazy fast or anything crazy long. We did a simple fartlek of 2 min on, 2 min off for 4 miles followed by 1 min on, 1 min off for the 5th mile. It wasn't as easy as either one of us had hoped it would be but that's to be expected with the way our training had been over the winter. Needless to say the least, but we managed to struggle through and finish up the workout.  I woke up Thursday expecting to feel awful after our first workout. Thankfully, that was not the case. I had what I would consider a turning point type of run. I was planning a 10 mile run but never expected it to feel the way it did. I started out with a 6:55 first mile, which is pretty good. I looked at my watch and thought to myself, "hmm, that's odd, I don't feel like I'm going that fast."  The second mile clipped off around 6:50 and with that, my confidence started to grow because it was simply feeling easy. The next mile clipped off around 6:45, and that was the uphill mile so once again I gained more confidence and the excitement for what could be during the remaining portion of the run grew even more. Then it just got easier as my body found a groove that just felt great. I clipped off mile after mile at or near 6:42 until the final two miles.  This is one of those places where you can go one of two ways. Either your body starts to feel fatigue or you get so excited at the final result that you just let loose and roll it in.  As I neared the 8 mile mark on this Thursday, the clouds rolled in, and rain started falling. I knew right then and there that this was definitely a turning point type of run. I was so excited to take on the challenge of finishing hard with the rain drops pelting me in the face that I simply turned up the intensity. Little by little, the pace went faster and faster. I finished up the run with a 6:35 and a 6:20.

If you think back to your history books and recall all of the wars ever fought, you will remember that they always detail a "turning point in the war."  I truly believe that last week was that point for both Kimi and me. I knew we still had to get through the weekend and it was no slouch of one for Kimi. A fire has been lit under that girl and she's starting to get into a groove. Sunday afternoon was going to be our biggest challenge. After Kimi's continuing education seminar, we were headed up to the Frisco Trail to knock out the final run of the week.

*The Long Run*
A beautiful day near 55 degrees with a moderate wind of about 13-15 mph according to my weather app. Chance of rain was around 30% so there was no telling whether we would get soaked on this one. On the drive to the Frisco trail, I looked at Kimi and told her, "Today is going to be a battle, but all you have to do is find a way to win!"  Then I also reminded her of the Nike slogan "Just Do IT" which is my phone's lock screen background. Much to my surprise, the run was feeling quite easy on the way out towards Willard.  That's when I remembered the wind direction. Of course, it was directly behind us. I looked at Kimi after 5 miles into the run and reminded her, "the way back through Willard is going to be a difficult battle that we have to find a way to win!"  We took our Carb Boom and a quick drink just before turning around to head back into the wind so that we wouldn't have to struggle even more with breathing as we were headed into the wind. Sure enough, the wind was doing exactly what I feared. The struggles began.  We were still 6.5 miles away from the car and the only relief we would get from the direct head on wind would be by some of the trees lining the trail on the South side of Willard. Once again, I  turned to Kimi and said, "we just have to make it through Willard, and then we'll get some relief."  I was so proud of Kimi as she fought and fought against the wind. She was determined to make the entire run today, and it was going to be a good one no matter what.  As we made it closer and closer to the end, the excitement began to build. At 1 mile to go, we could nearly taste the finish line now. I pointed out to Kimi that this was going to be a 'turning point in the war' and that we were well on our way now. We made it to the finish and I was quite pleased with our time. We had managed to maintain a pretty healthy pace the entire way back despite the headwind and onset of fatigue.

All in all, it was a great week. The plan was 60 miles, and I nailed it again.

*for those interested, I also began the ceiling texturing and I think it looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

Week Goal = 60 miles
Actual = 60 miles

FINALLY!!! Now we're getting somewhere! :)

Things are finally looking up and trending in a positive direction. It wasn't easy, but I did manage to string together enough miles to get to exactly 60 miles last week. I even skipped one day during the week just feeling tired. However, instead of letting that one day mess up the entire week plans, I quickly rebounded with a double on both Thursday, and Friday to get my miles right back on track like I had planned. Kimi is starting to get back into the flow of things also. Following her two sick weeks, she has now managed to complete a 43 mile week and a 53 mile week.  If the weather will cooperates this week, she might even climb on up to 60. It's been a tough week on her because she's having to try to cram her work hours from 5 days into 4 days. And of course it's not because she's getting a 3 day weekend. No, she has a continuing education seminar this weekend. So all in all, if she manages to get through the week with 60 miles, she will feel quite accomplished I'm sure. Kimi also participated in the Frisco Highline for Scouting 5k on Saturday last weekend. She isn't greatly pleased with her time because that's her first 5k over 18 min in a while but looking back at what she's had to deal with the last month or so, it isn't all that bad either.

The jury is still out on whether we will be participating in the Rock the Parkway half marathon next weekend. That will depend mostly on how this weekend goes. We need to have a quality long run Sunday to get our confidence where it should be.  That's going to probably be our deciding factor about whether we will go ahead and give it a shot.

I know it's the middle of the week, but I don't want to go into details about how this week is going so far. Let's just say...it's going quite well and you should look forward to my next blog post with all the details.

Week Mileage Goal = 60 miles
Actual Miles = 60 miles

It's Go Time!

Kimi is finally back to running with me! Thankfully. I love to run, but it's so nice to have someone that helps keep you motivated and honest. Last week was a great week. With the weather getting nicer, it has become much easier to lace up the shoes and go for a run. I had a solid week running every day of the week. I came close to messing it up Friday when thankfully Kimi persuaded me to going out and put in my easy 3 miles. Of course, I had to talk her into riding the bike with me, but I managed to get out there and do it. On Saturday, we decided to do a progression run. For those of you that don't know exactly what a progression run is, I'll detail it a bit. A progression run is a run where you start off conservative (easy) and slowly speed up the pace each mile. We started out with a 7:08, dropped it to 6:54, and then made it interesting with a 6:30, 6:27, 6:14, and 6:09. Then followed it up with a simple cool down of 7:14. Since Kimi is recovering from her illness, she went 7 miles, and I went back out to get my 8th mile at a nice easy pace. 

Saturday was a pretty exciting day in general. For those of you that have been following my blog, you know that we just recently purchased our first home and are doing quite a few changes to it. One of those changes is outside in regards to a few trees. There are quite a few oak trees on our little lot and one of them was directly in front of our front door. Unfortunately, it was starting to get pretty dead looking and kind of ugly so we decided we would cut it down to make the house look that much better from the street. My brother and his two boys came to town to help along with my in-laws Bill and Lynn. We cut down the oak with no problems whatsoever which made a huge difference for how the front yard feels. Then came the fun stuff. We had 6 trees in our back yard. Now 5. I had intentions of taking two trees down in the back yard simply because they were a little too cluttered together and because I was hoping to open up a little sunlight so I can grow a small garden out back. We have a fairly small yard and there are a few power lines that run near the alley-way behind our house. We started with the smaller of the two trees I intended to take down. In order to be 100% certain we wouldn't come anywhere close to the power lines, we decided to cut the tree down from about 17 feet up. So I climbed the ladder, strapped myself to the tree just below where I wanted to cut and had at it. The idea was to cut a wedge in the side of the tree to make the tree fall towards the center of the yard.  Let's just say, I went slightly too deep with my horizontal cut of the wedge which basically led the tree to fall the opposite direction. Even when it started falling, it didn't fully make it to the ground. The tree was now wedged between another tree's branch and its own trunk. And worst of all, the chainsaw was now being pinched and so the troubles began.

After a good 20+ minutes of trying to cut the rest of the way through the tree with a hand saw (not a sharp blade of course) to make it fall, I finally decided to climb down and take a break. In doing so, my brother, Bill, and I grabbed the rope that was tied to the hanging part of the tree. We did just a few strong tugs on the rope getting the tree to shake back and forth when finally, we heard a crack and down it went.  Though it didn't go exactly as planned, everything worked out just great in the end.

That was the majority of my Saturday adventure. Sunday, Kim and I decided to head up to the Frisco trail to do our long run for the week. The weather was a bit chilly but otherwise not too bad. I was scheduled to do a 14 mile run and Kimi was shooting for 10 miles. Thanks to our long day of work the day before, our run wasn't blazing fast. Not that it was terribly slow either (still under 7 min mile avg) but not as good as we are accustomed to for our long runs.

To wrap things up, I can definitely feel myself getting more and more motivated along with excited about the next 6-8 months of training. I still have intentions on hitting 3,000 miles this year but that means I am going to have to do a lot of higher mileage over the next several months to get there. If you take my average weekly mileage up to this point, I think I'm on pace for only about 2100 or so. Thankfully we are only about 12 weeks in so there is plenty of time to increase the weakly average.

Week In Review
Mileage Goal = 54
Actual Mileage = 54
Long Run Goal = 14
Actual Long run = 14

Going to have to turn it around and quickly!

This year has been a tough one so far. I'm not going to make any excuses for how poor my training has been so far this year. All I know is that if I want to get back to or even close to the level I was at a year ago, I am going to have to get myself out of this rut of lazy training and get focused on a good and challenging goal.  Two years ago, Kim and I both broke 3000 miles in a year.  Last year, though not quite as good, still had 2600+ miles.  This year, I'm on pace for nearly 1800 miles. That's just not going to cut it if I want to perform at my top level again. So what is this goal? And how on earth do I turn it around?  Well, it sounds simple, but in reality, changing a trend can be tough. It all starts by taking it one day at a time. The change in the weather should be a huge boost in itself because let's face it, running in shorts is way better than tights or pants. I'm also going to place goal cards on the wall in the bathroom (don't have a mirror yet) and motivational cards around the bedroom that will help change the intensity of our focus. All in all, the only way to buck the trend is to get out there and start putting in the work stringing run after run together to a point where not running starts to feel like an impossible option because things are going so well that you simply don't want to stop. The goal is to get my miles above 50 this week and then above 60 for about 13 straight weeks prior to the Grandma's marathon in June.

I had the most lazy week of running last week and I used the excuse that my running partner has been ill all week.  I feel terrible going out and doing runs when I know she wants to so badly but can't. All I can do is hope that she gets well soon so we can start pushing each other forwards towards our goals.

On a bright side, our house is coming along nicely. We have been painting trim, doors, door jams, and closet shelves like crazy.  It's pretty exciting to see it slowly coming together. It won't be long until we get to a point where all we'll have left to do is flooring and then a slight makeover to the kitchen. All in all, it's going quite well.

First Room All finished! :)

This week goal: 50 miles + Running
Finish Painting Doors and Door Jams
3 minutes of Abs Daily