PR- - - Ooh Rah!

I set a Personal Record (PR) in the 5K this morning. 20:50 or 6:43/mi while running in the Chesty Puller 5K as part of the Ooh Rah Run Series at Henderson Hall. Maybe it was the appearance of Chesty himself that helped.

I didn't go out very fast. I knew that there is a hill to contend with after the turn around point. I tried to maintain a steady pace until the 2.5 mile point then I pushed to get home under 21 minutes (my previous best on this course was 21:08). The winner finished in 17:04 and was probably 19 years old. I knew I wasn’t going to catch him. And I wasn’t able to catch the top female runner either, she finished 50 yards in front of me and had a really good kick up the hill…
No age group awards the only awards were for the first and second place male and female. However, I finished 14^th overall.

I was really surprised that there were nearly 100 people in the 5K Fun Run. It really was fun…

Now, I get to spin down from training for a couple weeks and start the Marathon Training schedule on 9 July.

P.S. Trying out my new Mojo compression calf sleeves for post race cramps…I’ll let you know how it goes

My Muse

Today’s post will be about my muse. My wife completed her first Olympic Distance Triathlon this past weekend. The Philly Tri (1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run).

The Olympic Distance is amazing…Nearly a mile long swim, and then 24.8 miles thru the hilly sections of Philly, and then a 6.2 mile run…

She trained hard for the Olympic distance…her swim time was awesome clearly her best leg of the race. Her bike was really good..her first time on the hilly and challenging course that has 50 technical turns…the run then just becomes a slug fest…she fought it off and finished with a smile!

Her smiley face race jersey was the talk of the event…You spot her a mile away in it…and few even came up to the girls and I and noted they she had the best jersey and they were following her  and cheering her on because of it.

She really does inspire me. It was kind of a weird way to spend our 23^rd wedding anniversary, but I was way awesome to see my muse, complete something she has worked so hard for the last 6 mos.

P.S. Don’t stay the Crown Plaza Philadelphia West, it sucks!

Suprise..suprise

So, I'm off my training cycle right now... I have the Chesty Puller 5K at Henderson Hall next week. But I have not been training for it. Or realy training at all...So I figured I'd run the course this morning. Without really thinking or pushing I ran 7:11/mi. I did run the course backwards...I ran up Fort Whipple Hill. While the 5K course will have me running down it...maybe I can set a PR on this course which is a 21:08.. I have a couple more runs to get in before then...another suprise next week would be nice.

If you think the suit fits….tailor it.

If you think the suit fits….tailor it.

It is a rarity that you can go into a clothing store put on an outfit and it fit perfectly.  That is why for tailors will always be around. I guess you can comprise and convince yourself that it fits, even though it’s a little short there a little tug there…

I have found the same goes for training plans. Although, there are multitudes of training plans (http://www.halhigdon.com/, http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/marathon.html and http://www.waddle-on.com/), apps (http://mashable.com/2010/02/23/iphone-apps-runners/), and schedules…none of them fit me exactly. So I tailor them. Most have a day off that doesn’t fit my schedule or have a long run when I’m doing something else.

It is to ok make it your own plan. Use the best of those plans to custom fit it to you. I don’t run on Fridays…I like to do my long runs…Every now and then I miss a workout…life happens. It might be a different story if I was a pro, relying on the income. But since my running and cycling and soon to be core body workouts are for me to maintain a healthier body, I’m not as worried about.

Couple rules I use for both running and biking.

1)      If you training for a race make sure that by the time you run it your total distance run in a week equals twice the distance you are racing at (i.e. 10K race you should be running at least 12 miles is a week for Marathon you should be able to get to 50 miles).

2)      Try to mix it up. Short, long , that have hills, that have you do some sprinting, and that simulate the race pace .

3)      But if all else fails just remember, at least you are out there. "If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." John "the Penguin" Bingham

Here is my training schedule for the Marine Corps Marathon…its tailored for me. A lot of nips and tucks…

Week	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
9-Jul	Easy 6M	Hills	Easy 6M	Easy 6/ Bike 45 Min	Rest	LR=12M	Short Bike 60Min
		DT=6M
16-Jul	Easy 5M	Hills	Easy 6M	Easy 7/Bike 45 Min	Rest	LR=14M	Long Bike >60
		DT=8M
23-Jul	Easy 8M		Parvilla TT	Easy 6M	Rest	LR=12M
		Hills
		DT=8M					Long Bike >60
30-Jul	Easy 6M	Easy 8M	Easy 6M		Rest	LR=7M	Long Bike >75
				6 M Race pace
				Bike Hard 45 min
6-Aug	Easy 8M		Easy 6M	Easy 5/No Bike	Rest	Ben Moore Half  Marathon	Easy Bike <60
		Hills
		DT=8M
13-Aug	Easy 8M	Hills	Easy 6M	Easy 7/Bike 45 min	Rest	ABRT Church Creek Time Trial
		DT=8M					Easy 4M
20-Aug	Easy 8M	Hills Easy 8M	Easy 6M		Rest	Rest	A10M
				Easy 4M/No Bike
27-Aug	Ireland		Ireland	Ireland	Ireland	Ireland	Ireland
		Ireland
3-Sep	Ireland		Ireland	Ireland	Easy 4M	LR 12M	Long Bike> 60
		Ireland
10-Sep	Easy 6M		Devil Dog 7K	Easy 6/ Bike 45 min	Rest	Rest
		Hills
		Easy 6M					Navy Half Marathon/ 5M
17-Sep		8M	Easy 6M	Easy 8/Bike 45 min	Rest	LR 14M	Long Bike > 75
	Rest
24-Sep	Easy 6M		Parvilla TT	8M	Rest	LR 20M	Long Bike>90
		Hills
		DT=8M
1-Oct	Easy 8M	8M	Long Hills	Easy 8/Bike 45 min	Rest	Osprey Tri	@ Race Pace
			Hard				DT=15M
			DT=8M
8-Oct	Intervals	Rest		Easy 4M/No Bike	Rest	Hagerstown Du	Rest
	3x1
	@10K pace
	DT=6M		8M
15-Oct	Easy 5M	Easy 6M	Semper Fit 5K	Intervals	Rest	LR 10 M	Short Easy Pace Bike <60
				3 x1
				@5K pace
				DT=6M
22-Oct	Easy 3M	Easy 3 x1	Easy 3M	Easy 3M/ No Bike	Rest	Rest	MCM
		DT=4M					MCM 10K

S-U-C-C-E-S-S that's the way we spell Success

Here is a great link to to article on the Pre-Dawn Runner Blog ( http://predawnrunner.com/) ..." Be a Successful Runner? “Act As If” You Already Are" http://predawnrunner.com/2012/06/want-to-be-a-successful-runner-act-as-if-you-already-are/

I do believe there is a element to positive attitudes and successful runs...I am a glass is full kind of guy. Especially, since I have been so successful in keeping my weight off over the last two years.

So, in the immortal words of CAPT Frank P. Stagl, "Act like you belong."

A leader...

After my run on Tuesday...a fellow runner stopped me and said that I inspired him to lose weight and run.
I guess over the last couple of years he has watched me lose 55lbs (and keep it off) and continue my running journey.
For his part he has lost 86lbs and just recently completed the Historic Marine Corps Half Marathon (he ran it faster than my 1/2 marathon PR).

I wonder if there are others...I hope so.

Run alone or with someone?

I mostly run alone. I have a route. I have planned it out. Or I have a goal..minutes...miles...pace...hills, etc. Time to think...time to work on form or pace...time to be out own my own.

Run Amuck 2011

Then there are those times when I get to run with someone. This morning was one of those times.  Bobbi is training for the Philly Tri and needed 75 minutes on the road today. And I was happy to go with her. For me, it was not about pace, it was spending time with my best friend.

I'll have plenty of time to get in those solo long distance runs but this morning she needed a running partner...and I enjoyed every step of the time we spent together.

2012

2012

                  We got some cold weather running and biking gear and continued to computrain, run, bike and for Bobbi swim throughout the winter.  I looked ahead for a race. I had to compete. I signed up the St. Patrick’s Day Du (5K run/18 Mile bike/ and 2.5 run) in hilly Hampstead, MD(finishing Third in my age group). I scanned the schedule for any all Duathlons and found a few more and signed-up. The most challenging one was the Blackwater Duathlon.

So I asked , Iain Banks (http://theramblingsofanendurancejunkie.blogspot.com/) one of the co-owners of Parvilla, what the LC Nat Du was all about. He explained that it was the USA Triathlon Long Course Duathlon National Championship and that I had to do it just to say you competed in a national championship.  A 10K run, 70K bike and a second 10K run, wow! So the training began…

                  I did the computrainer series thru March, was running about 30 miles a week, biking long distance rides (2 to 30 miles) in Anne Arundel’s south county area. I ran the Annapolis Striders Cherry Pit 10 Miler, Kent Island Metric Marathon (26.2K), Hagerstown Duathlon (2mi run/10mi bike/5K run), Iwo Jima Memorial 7K, a 20K Bike Time trial in South County, and did a practice 37 mile ride.

                  Just a week before the race, I  finally got my bike properly fitted. Stu at Parvilla (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=336219063115361&set=a.298924940178107.66737.141061012631168&type=1) got me and my bike set up.

                  The USAT LC Du National Championship was held in Cambridge, MD. Well, actually held near the and partially in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  Windy and power packed would best describe the race conditions. It’s on the eastern shore of Maryland so it’s going to windy. Power pack because it was USAT National Championship there were a lot of elite athletes there, including pros on both the men’s and women’s side. The defending long and short course Duathlon champs were included.

                  That being said my goal was just to finish. My first 10K I was fine. I run a nice steady 7:44/mi pace on a out and back boring road and was feeling pretty good heading into T1 with a 47:52. T1 was a little struggle. I seems to take me forever to get my bike shoes on, but I got out an onto the bike course.

The 70K or 43.3 mile bike course was actually a down and back course also. About 11 miles down and back and you do that twice. I felt pretty good heading down the first time averaging about 19.8 mph. On the way back, the wind hit. My guess it was gusting up to about 15 miles an hour and I slowed down to about that same speed.  Hydrated and ate as I planned and made the loop to do it again. I was identical the second time around and I felt good heading into T2.

                  I was unclipped heading to the point where you must dismount before heading into the transition area. That’s when it happened. The race director moved in front of my bike just as I had no speed, my right foot snapped back onto the pedal and I fell over. OUCH!...elbow bleeding and sore…knee bleeding and throbbing with pain. I get up walk thru T2 and head out to the second run looking and feeling pretty beat up.

                  I didn’t even make it a mile before my right knee started screaming, first from the sweat pouring into the open wound and second from the pain of the knee smacking the pavement. So every 1Km of the 10K was a struggle of mind over pain and mind over quitting.

                  I’ll run to the water station it’s 2.5K away…ok, I made it. I’ll walk a little. I see the half way point. I’ll run again to there. Ok, I made it. Drink some water… walk some more…run to next water station….walk thru that water station and finally run the last 2K to the finish. The final run took 1:09:32 and I was hurting when I crossed the line. Overall time 4:35:01…179 of 220 finishers and 19 of 24 in my age group (45-49).

                  I went to the first aid station for the first time ever, in all my years of racing. And I am most grateful for my family (Bobbi and the girls) for being there for me at the finish and Iain and Sara sticking around too!

                  What could I have done differently other than no fall over?…NOTHING! And I am ok with that. Will I do this race again next year?…YES! It was my longest bike ride, it was my longest du and it was longest I had been in perpetual motion since the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon.

                  Recovery so far has been ok. I did 23 mile recovery ride the day after  and a short run of 4 miles at a 7:45 pace.

And now the rest of the season….

2011

2011

                  My 2011 goal was to keep the weight off and start hitting personnel records (PRs). I did both. A PR in the Half Marathon ( 1:48:03), at the Outer Banks ( a weekend in which everyone in t family ran something and I ran 8K on Saturday and the Half the next day).  I had a PR in the Kent Island Metric Marathon (2:18:39). I got a PR on a ten miler (1:28:27). I was just off the podium of the Ooh Rah run Series with a PR on a 5K of 21:08 (4^th place) and 31:05 on a 7K(5^th place).

                  So that sort of gets me to now. While I was transforming, so was my wife. She had also taken advantage of the WW at work program from my company, which had extended it spouses and also lost 55 lbs. This included her transformations to a runner and now a tri athlete. She got her bike in August 2011. A Giant Avail 2 from the awesome folks at Parvilla Cycle and Multisport in Edgewater, MD (http://parvillacycles.com/). We had read an article in the Patch (http://edgewater.patch.com/) about the opening of the store, about how non-pretentious they were to new cyclist and one day we popped in. Stu Waring and Sara Banks were so cool about answering Bobbi’s questions and by August Bobbi had her new bike. Believe it or not, by the time Thanksgiving had rolled around she had done a duathlon, her first Triathlon, the Navy 5 Miler, a 8K in the Outer Banks, and the Camp Letts Turkey Trot.

                  So the end of the race season brought the worry the lbs would go back on. How to insure that was NOT going to happen…Computrainer to the rescue. Bobbi signed up and was ready to get in bike shape quickly.

Instead of riding a one-size fits all spin bike at your local gym, Parvilla had stations that required you to ride your own bike to provide real-life training. Great for Bobbi but I had no bike. After, what I thought was some awesome negotiation on my part I got to use a Giant Defy 2 from the shop for the start of computrainer season. What I didn’t know that Bobbi had actually bought the bike as a Christmas present for me…I was riding my own bike and didn’t know it. 

2007-2010

2007-2008

January 2007 brought my retirement from the Navy and starting my post Navy career. This did not include any good habits of diet and exercise. I jogged a little and ate a lot. I actually ran the Historic MC Half and the MCM again in 2008. And it went even worse. Although, I beat the one legged Marine this time, I finished even slower 4:58, and did it weighing over 200lbs.

2009-2010

                  A sedentary life was starting to be my modus operandi. I ran a little, did the MC half again and couple other small runs, mostly at jogging pace. We took a trip to Charleston, SC in November of 2009 and I could barely walk the streets of my favorite city without huffing and puffing. I had to do something. I now weighed almost 220lbs and I could do any physical activity without it hurting.  Then, out of blue came the spark I needed. The company that I work for Systems Planning and Analysis (www.spa.com) offered a Weight Watchers (http://www.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx) at-work program.  Because it was cheap, I had run out of the last excuse to change my life style and I signed up.

                  I started in March of 2010 and 26 weeks later following the PointPlus program to the letter, I lost 55 lbs. This included running as my form of exercise. I ran a lot. About 40 miles a week. I ran the Historic Marine Corps Half Marathon, the Ooh-Rah run series at Henderson Hall, Marine Corps 17.75K, the Annapolis 10Miler, the Navy 5 Miler, and the Camp Letts Turkey Trot. They were all fun and I was hooked again on running again. I fell in love with my Nike Free Run shoes and my recovery after each race was quicker mainly because I was running at 179lbs instead of 220lbs.

2005 to 2006

2005

                  My last duty station in Navy, we would be stationed and live at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  I was stationed as Supply Officer but I also taught Naval Leadership courses. Surrounded by “uber fit” 18-22 year olds started me running again. I would run the fence line of the yard (4 miles) or over to Greenberry Point and back(8 miles) or combination of those  to stay fit enough, my only goal was to pass the same PT test the Midshipmen , which I did.  So, I was in shape…or so I thought.

2006

                  In 2006, I decided I would run my first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon (http://www.marinemarathon.com/) in fall. I started training in the spring and followed the Hal Higdon beginner’s marathon plan (http://www.halhigdon.com/). That year I put a lot of miles in and even ran a brutal 20 miler on the hottest day in September (http://www.dcroadrunners.org/). Results from the Marine Corps marathon were brutal I ran and walked the 26.2 miles. I even got passed by an amputee Marine carrying an American Flag and wearing a combat boot on the good leg.  My first marathon was a 4:55:03 (I didn’t even beat the dreaded Oprah run time http://running.about.com/od/famousrunners/f/What-Was-Oprahs-Marathon-Time.htm).  

I was such bad shape after the race I actually didn’t run again for four months.

Run, Kevin, Run

So, where do I begin…I have always loved to run.  I wanted to play football but was told I was too small. I really liked playing baseball, once again too small. So, I started running with the Steuben Striders (Steubenville, Ohio).  I was 11 when I when to my first track meet and I was hooked.  I tried all kinds of events.  However, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that I liked the long distance events the most.  

I continued running with Striders every summer and once I was in high school (Jefferson Union High School) I joined the track team. I really wanted to do cross country but it was at the same time a marching band season, so I stuck with just spring track season.

I mostly ran the mile and two-mile. All those who have been on a track team know you fill in any events you can to get points for the team. So, I long jumped, pole vaulted, steeple chased and hurdled. All these efforts resulted in horrible results but garnered points for the team. After a growth spurt between the end of my sophomore and junior year (I grew 6 inches in 3 months), I was gangly and uncoordinated and only weighed about 120lbs. So I just stuck with long distances.

I hated but ran the 800m, l ran and liked the mile, but really loved the two mile. Somewhere along the way I was part of a record breaking 2 mile relay team (9:15), set a school record in the mile (5:01) and two mile (9:45) and we went to the district championships. I was also running road races nothing long or fast but it had started.

I enlisted in the Navy before I actually graduated high school and was delayed in starting my Navy career by 10 months. In time after graduating HS and leaving for the Navy I ran, I was road racer. 5K’s and 10K’s were popular and I did 5 or 6 of them that summer. The best one was the Pittsburgh Great Race (http://www.rungreatrace.com/). The Great Race is a 10K thru the streets of Pittsburgh, PA. I didn’t how to train or prepare and nutrition was not the science it is today. I still managed a 36:36 (5:53/mi) and 4^th place finish in the 18 and under age group and top 100 overall.

Then my Navy career begins.  So I had no problem with the running portion of the fitness regimen that military lifestyle adds and I did well to keep my road race hobby going.  I ran the Cooper River Bridge(http://www.bridgerun.com/)  run in Charleston  5 times from 1986 to 1992 and loved the challenging hill of the old bridges. 

That was about it…for whatever reason or excuse I didn’t run as much and then not all. Well, just enough to pass Navy physical fitness test from 1992-1997 or get me through Officer Candidate School in 1998…Why I don’t know but that would all change.