After my long run on Saturday I took Christmas Day completely off. In fact I didn't even leave the house at all, just enjoyed the day with Lisa and a couple of very excited girls and their new toys.
By Monday morning I was itching to get back out there and had a workout on the plan- 6 miles tempo, plus a fast mile at the track. With John and Brad for company on a beautiful crisp Carolina winter morning, I was able to put in a solid effort running just over 34 minutes for the 6 miles and then a mile in 5:13.
Tuesday was the usual Miners Run fare and 4 of us hardy souls hit the trails at 5:30 am in pouring, cold rain, splashing through the puddles and mud at Mcalpine. A fun run in miserable conditions!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Longest run of 2011
This morning I headed out at 6am through the back of my neighborhood and down 51 towards McMullen. Ben, who was going to be doing a workout there, met me for a couple of miles before we met up with a large crew of CRC runners who were doing their own long run. I ran with them for a couple of miles before heading home the way I had come on my own again. By the time I was done I had been running for just over 2 hours and covered 18 miles, my longest run of 2011- that's what a marathon free year will do to you! I felt pretty decent throughout and with a day off tomorrow I'm looking forward to working out on Monday morning and burning off some of tomorrow's inevitable excesses.
Home by just after 8 I was able to tell the girls they would have my undivided attention for the next 48 hours with no runs planned! Later in the morning someone in our neighborhood posted on FB that they had 3 free tickets for the Panthers game so two hours later I was at the Bank of America stadium with Emily and Sophie, leaving Mom at home to cook up some treats! It was the first time the girls had been to a game and they seemed to enjoy the experience, helped enormously by the fact that the Panthers were up against a woeful Buccs Defense who Cam, De Angelo and Stewart took apart with ease! Then it was back to the house to finish off preparations for tomorrow's big day. The kids are so excited, it's going to be a great day
Home by just after 8 I was able to tell the girls they would have my undivided attention for the next 48 hours with no runs planned! Later in the morning someone in our neighborhood posted on FB that they had 3 free tickets for the Panthers game so two hours later I was at the Bank of America stadium with Emily and Sophie, leaving Mom at home to cook up some treats! It was the first time the girls had been to a game and they seemed to enjoy the experience, helped enormously by the fact that the Panthers were up against a woeful Buccs Defense who Cam, De Angelo and Stewart took apart with ease! Then it was back to the house to finish off preparations for tomorrow's big day. The kids are so excited, it's going to be a great day
Friday, December 23, 2011
Friday Miners Run
For those that don't know, the Miners run originated and is still held every Tuesday from 5am onwards, so called because of the need for headlamps as we negotiate the trails of Mcalpine. This morning Anna and Greg joined me for a Friday version. It was in the 60s and I barely needed the t shirt I was sporting.I'm on a 'down week' so only needed 5 miles or so today. I followed this with my weekly session of strides and drills that I am trying to incorporate into my routine. My legs felt good and ready for some hard work tomorrow when I have 18 on the schedule- my longest run in months.
(Recapping my daily run is an attempt at starting to update this more frequently)
I finished work at 2 today and am looking forward to the next few days at home with the family!
(Recapping my daily run is an attempt at starting to update this more frequently)
I finished work at 2 today and am looking forward to the next few days at home with the family!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Training is the goal right now
Well it looks like I only update this on a monthly basis now so I guess this can be considered December's entry. I actually have quite a lot to say so it may be a long one. I also plan to update this more frequently in 2012 (you've heard that before).
So what has the Captain been up to I hear you ask? "Not much" he replies using one of his 'Americanisms' that he has picked up. In other words nothing much of note is happening, life and running following a satisfactory course. Busy but motivated and happy at work, enjoying my daughters growing up faster than imaginable at home, getting lots of nice runs in with friends at ungodly hours in between. Life is good as they say.
So, running.... I'm in the fourth week of my Myrtle Beach HM training block and progressing nicely. I've got my mileage up into the 60s (and will soon be in the 70s) and have been completing my designated workouts and long runs satisfactorily. My knee issues seem to be a thing of the past and I am trying to take better care of myself between runs, eating and sleeping better, doing some yoga classes (!) and trying to incorporate some strengthening exercises into my routine.
It's funny, I love racing and for one reason or another I haven't actually 'raced' in three months now. In fact, before Myrtle in February I only have two 'warm up' races on the schedule, too- the inaugural CRC 8k race at the end of January and then a 5k the week before the Half. I mentioned this to Coach and he expressed his happiness with this situation and is excited to see how this turns out. In his words "training is the goal right now". I'll keep you posted with how this all progresses the next few weeks as I head towards Myrtle....
In the mean time I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Cheers!!
So what has the Captain been up to I hear you ask? "Not much" he replies using one of his 'Americanisms' that he has picked up. In other words nothing much of note is happening, life and running following a satisfactory course. Busy but motivated and happy at work, enjoying my daughters growing up faster than imaginable at home, getting lots of nice runs in with friends at ungodly hours in between. Life is good as they say.
So, running.... I'm in the fourth week of my Myrtle Beach HM training block and progressing nicely. I've got my mileage up into the 60s (and will soon be in the 70s) and have been completing my designated workouts and long runs satisfactorily. My knee issues seem to be a thing of the past and I am trying to take better care of myself between runs, eating and sleeping better, doing some yoga classes (!) and trying to incorporate some strengthening exercises into my routine.
It's funny, I love racing and for one reason or another I haven't actually 'raced' in three months now. In fact, before Myrtle in February I only have two 'warm up' races on the schedule, too- the inaugural CRC 8k race at the end of January and then a 5k the week before the Half. I mentioned this to Coach and he expressed his happiness with this situation and is excited to see how this turns out. In his words "training is the goal right now". I'll keep you posted with how this all progresses the next few weeks as I head towards Myrtle....
In the mean time I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Cheers!!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
RFYL GP Awards Night
Tuesday night saw the end of season Grand Prix banquet where I picked up my award for winning the Series for the first time. It was a great evening and nice to meet and talk to my friends, rivals and training partners in a different environment and in different clothes than usual!
After several years of running the Series in the same format it was discussed that there may be a change next year at last with two separate and shortened Series, one ending with the Greek Fest 5k in August (which would mean an almost exclusively 5k race line up) and one starting with that race and progressing through a 10k, 15k, Half and finishing at Thunder Road Full. This seems a very good idea to me and could reinvigorate interest into the Series and also get more people running at Thunder Road. I would certainly be interested in taking part in the second series, even though that may mean that my 2012 Marathon ends up being Charlotte rather than a faster and bigger marathon which was my original aim. We'll see, lots of water to pass under the bridge before then anyway!
On the training front, things continue to progress. After a few weeks of gradually increasing my mileage, the legs and body are eventually starting to come round and I feel ready to take on some additional work as I start to focus on training for the Half in February. Coach Tim should have my new schedules to me shortly so I'm looking forward to a Winter of hard work!
The 5k rust buster on Saturday turned out okay. I was pushed a bit harder than I would have liked for the victory and resultant pair of shoes but got it done. 16:55 was an ugly return on the effort I had to put in but hopefully will prove a good benchmark as I get fitter over the next few weeks. If nothing else the race made my mind up not to jump in the Turkey Trot today so I am looking forward to running there to watch and then doing a workout with Aaron (who is racing) afterwards.
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Back at it
I haven’t updated this in over 6 weeks so I thought it was about time I got my loyal reader up to speed with what’s been going on with the Captain recently. Last time we spoke I had just returned from a great trip to New York and I was suffering from a season ending knee injury.
The following Saturday, after a week of no running, I ventured up to Lake Norman to run the last race in the GP series to confirm my victory. I got round the 15k with an achy knee in the middle of the pack. As it happened John Compton raced and won by a big enough distance that I could have stayed at home and still won the series but I needed to be up there and make sure all my bases were covered. 48 minutes after the gun went off, Lisa called me on my cell that I was carrying while I was running and confirmed John had won the race and I knew overall victory was mine.
I took another week completely off then attempted a jog the following Saturday. The knee was still sore so I took another week completely off and also got myself a sports massage that seemed to help enormously. The following weekend I managed a couple of 4 milers and since then I have been very gradually increasing the mileage and intensity back to the point now where I am no longer too concerned about the knee and am back in a regular routine.
I ran 40 miles my first week back, then 45 and am on course this week for 50. I’ve done a couple of 10 mile runs, a couple of short tempo runs and even headed to the track this week for a low key workout. Tomorrow I’ve signed up for a 5k in my local park that I plan to run pretty hard so that I can blow the cobwebs out a little bit more. I’m a happy Captain!
Which brings me on to goals for the next few dark and cold Winter months. Well obviously the main one will be to keep healthy and get consistency back into my training. There is a Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach in February that I am definitely considering using as a goal race to train towards, figuring that the strength I gain training for this will set me up for some fast races over shorter distances in the Spring. I haven’t run a Half in quite a while so it would be good to shoot for a PR on what will be a flat and fast course with some of the faster guys in Charlotte heading down for me to chase. The kids are off school for two days following that race so the plan is to make a long weekend family trip out of it. Coach Budic is lined up to get me some new training schedules shortly!
So I’m happy to be back at it and hoping to finish off the year fit and healthy and ready to launch into 2012 with gusto! And if I needed any more inspiration to get myself out there and training hard again then I didn’t have to look any further than some of the performances of my friends and rivals over the past few weeks. Marathon season has been in full swing and there have been some memorable and inspiring performances around the country, from new PRs to Boston qualifiers, gutsy finishes and solid debuts. Good stuff!
The following Saturday, after a week of no running, I ventured up to Lake Norman to run the last race in the GP series to confirm my victory. I got round the 15k with an achy knee in the middle of the pack. As it happened John Compton raced and won by a big enough distance that I could have stayed at home and still won the series but I needed to be up there and make sure all my bases were covered. 48 minutes after the gun went off, Lisa called me on my cell that I was carrying while I was running and confirmed John had won the race and I knew overall victory was mine.
I took another week completely off then attempted a jog the following Saturday. The knee was still sore so I took another week completely off and also got myself a sports massage that seemed to help enormously. The following weekend I managed a couple of 4 milers and since then I have been very gradually increasing the mileage and intensity back to the point now where I am no longer too concerned about the knee and am back in a regular routine.
I ran 40 miles my first week back, then 45 and am on course this week for 50. I’ve done a couple of 10 mile runs, a couple of short tempo runs and even headed to the track this week for a low key workout. Tomorrow I’ve signed up for a 5k in my local park that I plan to run pretty hard so that I can blow the cobwebs out a little bit more. I’m a happy Captain!
Which brings me on to goals for the next few dark and cold Winter months. Well obviously the main one will be to keep healthy and get consistency back into my training. There is a Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach in February that I am definitely considering using as a goal race to train towards, figuring that the strength I gain training for this will set me up for some fast races over shorter distances in the Spring. I haven’t run a Half in quite a while so it would be good to shoot for a PR on what will be a flat and fast course with some of the faster guys in Charlotte heading down for me to chase. The kids are off school for two days following that race so the plan is to make a long weekend family trip out of it. Coach Budic is lined up to get me some new training schedules shortly!
So I’m happy to be back at it and hoping to finish off the year fit and healthy and ready to launch into 2012 with gusto! And if I needed any more inspiration to get myself out there and training hard again then I didn’t have to look any further than some of the performances of my friends and rivals over the past few weeks. Marathon season has been in full swing and there have been some memorable and inspiring performances around the country, from new PRs to Boston qualifiers, gutsy finishes and solid debuts. Good stuff!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Knee screwed, plug pulled......
One of the problems of only sporadically updating this blog is that lots can happen between posts and news is fed to you in chunks rather than through a more ‘organic’ process. So having said all I said in my last post about rediscovering some mojo and setting out on a new training plan for the Thunder Road Half I can abruptly announce in this post that I am now no longer doing the Half and am indeed starting to take some long needed down time!
My knee pain that I alluded to in my last post was not going away and despite completing a great 2 hour run with Jay in New York on Saturday (great for the company and location (running around the reservoir in Central Park really is a Runners’ World ‘Rave Run’ moment!) not for the state of the knee) it was clear that I wasn’t going to be able to carry on training at the intensity required to take a good stab at the Half in November so I discussed it with Tim and we decided it would be in my best interest to call it quits for this cycle (and year, essentially) and take my down time now instead of after the Half as originally planned.
So basically I will be doing nothing now until the knee feels better and I have had plenty of rest and recuperation. I haven’t gotten my knee checked out yet (no rush!) but if it continues to feel as sore as it currently does for much longer I will have to get it looked at get a scan if necessary. My immediate non-professional diagnosis was tendinitis but what do I know, if there is some sort of tear or other issue going on then my time off may end up being longer than currently planned!
That being said, such are the vagaries of the Grand Prix scoring system that in spite of completing all ten races to date and only losing to one of my overall rivals in one of those 10 races (Richard got me at Greek Fest by 3 seconds) I still have to complete the final race on Saturday in order to win overall. So in one shape or another I will be dragging myself around a hilly 15k course on Saturday just so I can record a finish and get the 250 points bonus you receive for competing in all 11 races. Without the 250 bonus I will likely drop some places in the standings and forego a not insignificant monetary prize for coming first overall, not to mention the chance to be crowned Grand Prix champion at last after several years of podium finishes! So call me stupid but I will be there on Saturday!
After Saturday I will just have to live my running life vicariously through the legs, workouts and races of others as in no particular order races in Chicago, Washington, Toronto, Morganton, Richmond, Savannah, New York and of course Charlotte are tackled by my close friends and training partners. Good luck all!
I can certainly look back on 2011 with a great amount of satisfaction. Not counting Blue Ridge or the Summer Track Series, I toed the line in 20 races, with 8 wins, 6 2nds, a 3rd, 2 4ths, a 5th, a 7th and a 20th (out of 40,000+ At Ukrops), the highlights being the US Masters track 10k championship victory, my 15:31 at the 49er track meet, three Grand Prix race victories, (hopefully) overall Grand Prix victory and being part of the valiant but ultimately beaten CRC team at Blue Ridge. There have also been disappointments including the Ukrops race and this knee injury that I have picked up but all in all I reckon I’ve just about earned a bit of a rest…..
In other news, our weekend in New York was fantastic! It was Lisa’s birthday present and she loved New York, never having been there before, so I am in the good books for a while!
Also farewell and good luck to running buddies and fellow bloggers Meagan and Jordan as they leave Charlotte for pastures new.
That's it for a while folks. I'm off to put my feet up and get fat.....
My knee pain that I alluded to in my last post was not going away and despite completing a great 2 hour run with Jay in New York on Saturday (great for the company and location (running around the reservoir in Central Park really is a Runners’ World ‘Rave Run’ moment!) not for the state of the knee) it was clear that I wasn’t going to be able to carry on training at the intensity required to take a good stab at the Half in November so I discussed it with Tim and we decided it would be in my best interest to call it quits for this cycle (and year, essentially) and take my down time now instead of after the Half as originally planned.
So basically I will be doing nothing now until the knee feels better and I have had plenty of rest and recuperation. I haven’t gotten my knee checked out yet (no rush!) but if it continues to feel as sore as it currently does for much longer I will have to get it looked at get a scan if necessary. My immediate non-professional diagnosis was tendinitis but what do I know, if there is some sort of tear or other issue going on then my time off may end up being longer than currently planned!
That being said, such are the vagaries of the Grand Prix scoring system that in spite of completing all ten races to date and only losing to one of my overall rivals in one of those 10 races (Richard got me at Greek Fest by 3 seconds) I still have to complete the final race on Saturday in order to win overall. So in one shape or another I will be dragging myself around a hilly 15k course on Saturday just so I can record a finish and get the 250 points bonus you receive for competing in all 11 races. Without the 250 bonus I will likely drop some places in the standings and forego a not insignificant monetary prize for coming first overall, not to mention the chance to be crowned Grand Prix champion at last after several years of podium finishes! So call me stupid but I will be there on Saturday!
After Saturday I will just have to live my running life vicariously through the legs, workouts and races of others as in no particular order races in Chicago, Washington, Toronto, Morganton, Richmond, Savannah, New York and of course Charlotte are tackled by my close friends and training partners. Good luck all!
I can certainly look back on 2011 with a great amount of satisfaction. Not counting Blue Ridge or the Summer Track Series, I toed the line in 20 races, with 8 wins, 6 2nds, a 3rd, 2 4ths, a 5th, a 7th and a 20th (out of 40,000+ At Ukrops), the highlights being the US Masters track 10k championship victory, my 15:31 at the 49er track meet, three Grand Prix race victories, (hopefully) overall Grand Prix victory and being part of the valiant but ultimately beaten CRC team at Blue Ridge. There have also been disappointments including the Ukrops race and this knee injury that I have picked up but all in all I reckon I’ve just about earned a bit of a rest…..
In other news, our weekend in New York was fantastic! It was Lisa’s birthday present and she loved New York, never having been there before, so I am in the good books for a while!
Also farewell and good luck to running buddies and fellow bloggers Meagan and Jordan as they leave Charlotte for pastures new.
That's it for a while folks. I'm off to put my feet up and get fat.....
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