Frustration

Disaster started with a failed attempt at a long run on Sunday morning. I was just absolutely depleted of energy from the previous day's race. So, I cut the run short to a 40' Recovery and decided to shift my long run to Monday in more accomodating climates.

Well, Monday I felt horrible. Travel days are rough for me lately. I just don't either eat enough or get a nasty headache (dehydration, caffeine?) all day. I started out on my run after eating a late lunch, but there was no way I had the desire nor energy to run 1h50' hard on the trails. I turned around and got in 14-minutes. Plus, even worse, my right adductor is acting up again. I felt it first after the track workout last week and opted not to treat it before the race and now it is painful. However, I will attempt to train through this one.

So, tomorrow I go long, intense on Friday, and then tempo on Sunday before heading out to Whistler, Canada, for our long-anticipated Sales Meeting... and the long run went well. Felt a bit weak out there, but a night of icing and a couple of days of intelligent resting resulted in a solid long run. Headed out to the Illinois Monument in good time and then headed back, feeling strong, the pain in my hip present, but numb, and a little weak. Focused on mechanics. Had some great running and the hit the roads for the final 3.5 miles home on hills and had some depletion/mechanical issues, but got going quite strongly, imitating Tergat, Khannouchi with arm carriage, and finally the final 600M or so like Cheruiyot closing downhill and then uphill. A solid effort, but need to get much stronger.

And so I ventured out to Birmingham, Alabama, to celebrate the 12th Anniversary of Trak Shak, a specialty running shop operated by Olympic Trialist, Scott Strand. Scott holds personal bests of 3:42, 4:00, 7:56, 8:34, 13:51 and 2:16 in the Marathon and was the hometown favorite to contend for a spot on the 2004 USA Olympic Marathon Team. I finally got to meet him and he is one amazing man. Truly genuine with a beautiful family and a great head on his shoulders. Oh, and he can still run. I joined in the post-work, 8.5 Mile Run through the streets of Homewood, AL, in a pack of about 12 very fit guys. After 5K, the pack separated between Scott and two older guys, and then myself in no-man's land. So, I fought hard (I had run 18M yesterday) to catch the leaders and then just stayed tucked in, knowing I was semi-injured and depleted, as I heard Scott calling out sub-6:00 mile after sub-6:00 mile. Oh man. Up and down hills, through streets. This run was very old-school and very aggressive. Finally, my right let could take it no more and I lost contact in the last 800M and jogged it in. I had been dropped by Strand and these two older guys. Well, turns out "older guy #1" was none other than Dewayne Miner, former SBU and Arkansas great (4:10 in high school) that went on to run 8:02/14:04 and win the Penn Relays 5000M in 1993. Complete stud and great runner. The other "older guy" was a classic over-achiever, top urologist working 80-hour weeks and one of the top duathletes in the nation. Whew... realized that I'm just not that good a runner. However, I will have a chance to redeem myself in three weeks at the Cotton Row 10K in Huntsville, as both Strand and Miner will be racing. Target, on!

Tried to recovery big-time this morning in preparation for a key hill workout tomorrow in that I need my right leg to be as close to 100% as possible. We shall see, as I am pretty beat up right now.

Heck of a hill workout. After getting in late last night for a second night in a row, slept hard and woke up to face the monster: 8 x 800M Uphill/Downhill with 90" recovery. I had a perfect hill scoped out and confirmed by my cyclist-buddy, Dave, who says that the hill is a b!tch.. probably a 5-6% grade compared to the 12% I usually run on. Anyway, did not feel great in my warm-up, legs were very achy, weak, and tired. However, I had to get this in. Started out with the uphill, about an 800M climb that really climbs the final 200M. Ran well. Downhills were easy and I looked forward to them, working on my technique. My 3rd uphill was definitely my best, running tall, Radcliffesque. At times, I tried to run like Cheruiyot or Khannouchi, but found myself bushwacking like usual to make the climb. What a great workout.

Last night I headed out to Georgia Tech to meet up with the Florida State guys where my little brother went to college and graduated with a 29:35 personal best over 10,000M, among other accomplishments. His teammates were Tom Lancashire and Andrew Lemoncello, both NCAA top-level athletes. The bonus was that Javo Cruz was going to be racing the 5000 that night. So, I spent the night hanging out with Javo, Andrew, Tom, Head Coach Bob Braman, and Assistant Coach Sean McManus (an old nemesis of mine in high school). Tom had already won the 1500M in 3:43, while Andrew ran 3:47. I got to watch one of Britain's young steeple hopes, Luke Gunn and Mark Buckingham, race with teammate Sean Burris to an impressive 8:57-9:03-9:05 sweep. The 5K was tough, as Javo, the top seed, was pressured into leading in muggy conditions and ended up running 15:07, but showed true grit by not being out-kicked by a GSU runner. Teammate Steve Gaebert placed 2nd after leading until 1200M, running a brave 14:56. Overall, it was a nice evening with the guys and I look forward to watching them compete at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in two-weeks time.

This morning I had a pretty solid tempo effort at The River. I improved upon my best time on this loop (previous runs of 16:08 & 16:12) by over 10-seconds, running a comfortable (well, for 2.5 miles) 15:58. Weather was quite rough today, as I continue to get acclimated to the heat and humidity. I'll take it, as this shows solid progression and strength.

Monday, 5-07-2007
2 Mile Failed Attempt to Run in 14:00

Tuesday, 5-08-2007
18 Mile Long Run through Kennesaw Mtn. + Gilbert St. Direct in 1:52:29

Wednesday, 5-09-2007
8.5 Miles Hard on the Trak Shak Loop in 51:29

Thursday, 5-10-2007
10K Recovery through Gilbert St. in 41:40

Friday, 5-11-2007
AM: 8 Miles Total with 8 x @800M Up/Downhill with 90" Recovery in 51:49
9:00, 2:30 (1:43), 2:07 (1:36), 2:29 (1:30), 2:09 (1:32),
2:28 (1:30), 2:08 (1:31), 2:28 (1:36), 2:08, 13:16
PM: 5 Miles Recovery through Greymont in 34:25

Saturday, 5-12-2007
10K Recovery through Gilbert St. in 39:59

Sunday, 5-13-2007
AM: 10 Miles, including 3M Tempo at 5:25 pace at The River in 1:06:23
19:48, 5:19-5:18-5:21 (15:58), 30:34
PM: 4 Miles Recovery through The Reserve in 31:36

Total
68 Miles

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