Category: Uncategorized

I think most of us got caught flat-footed on this one. Some public health officials and epidemiologists saw this coming back in January but that was far away for most us. I remember the SARs and MERs epidemics in the early 2000s, and those were in distant lands. Probably contracted H1N1 in 2009 (doctors just said stay at home and ride it out), and was in bed for 3 days with that one.

The closure of the world indoor championships in China was the the first sign for runners and track fans this winter, but that made sense because the venue in Nanjing was just a few hours from Wuhan, the epicenter. Like the virus itself, the events just seemed to unravel gradually at first with outbreaks in far away lands. I thought this would be like SARs, severe, but regionally limited.

Back home, I think the US Olympic Trials on Leap Day was the highlight of the running world for the USA in 2020, and who knows maybe one of the worldwide highlights for the entire year. While everyone was talking about a possibly canceled or postponed Olympics, it was just speculation. The Olympics are just too big to shut down. Right? That now seems like a year ago, not just six weeks!

Within the first two weeks of March the reality became apparent. However, looking back now, mid-March was probably several weeks too late to implement widespread social distancing measures. All politics aside, most of us did not comprehend the gravity of the situation until the virus was on our doorsteps and into our homes and hospitals.

For those who are ill, I just wish a swift and safe recovery, although I know that will not be the case for many thousands. For those deeply economically affected, let’s just hope that this a blip for a couple of months and by summer we can start putting everything back together, while developing a vaccine or treatment in time before another wave hits.

Training

The last time I talked about training was back in February, and I was just making inroads on the build-up, getting to four or five days of running a week at 4-5 miles a pop. On my birthday in late February, I did a 5K to test baseline fitness. Up to that point I had only run three 20+ mile weeks, and had not done any real workouts. I eked out a sub 20 (believe a personal worst by 45 seconds or so) and felt gassed but otherwise pretty decent. No pain. Huge gain!

Since then I’ve managed to build gradually, adding just a couple miles a week. Now with four consecutive 40+ mile weeks it feels like I’m starting to establish a base, and now feel ready to bump that up to 50 miles.

In March I also started adding in some light workouts, starting out with short sets of hill reps (like 5X 30 seconds was my first effort) and adding a little each week (did 4X 2 minutes during the last week of the month). I also have done a bit of tempo running and fartlek to build some endurance and speed. Like the weekly mileage, long runs have increased only incrementally, with 1:04 on the morning of the Olympic Trials marathon, to 1:33 yesterday. Saturday’s run was pretty solid, averaging under 7:50 over the last 8.5 miles while covering some moderately hilly terrain at 5,600′ elevation.

So to tell the truth, while still lacking a full “base” I do have a solid foundation and can build on that.

Stepping Forward: Running Strong in a Pandemic

Each of us will have our own approach over the next few months. I have seen some friends cut their work by 50% because they want to make sure their immunity is up. Others are setting weekly mileage PRs, while chasing Strava segments, and running weekly time trials or virtual challenges.

Most of us are somewhere in-between. In those early days (less than a month ago) there were a bunch of online articles and podcasts advising that training hard can lead to lowered immunity, not something you want to incur during a pandemic. Some of this is theoretical and the science is not conclusive, but for 25 or 30 years (with XC skiing in particular), coaches and physiologists have been saying that your immune system drops for several hours after a hard effort of longer duration (say 2-3 hours). In addition, stacking several consecutive weeks of high-level training can also undermine your immunity.

So I think some common sense should prevail and for most of us this can be a good time to get back to basics with maintenance training that includes some quality and endurance but not so much that we are pushing our physiological limits. Plus with health care systems potentially stressed (especially in those parts of the country with high infection rates), this is not a good time to court an injury.

So for the meantime, I’m planning to stick to under 80% of my maximum and average levels of training, compared to recent years (these were at about 75 miles a week maximum, 60 miles a week on average). When things open up–and they will–I should be able to jump back into a full training load within a month or month and a half.

Now is a good time to run for health and joy–and maybe work on a few things that are weak spots. For me I just like getting out on the trails and open space (often early before things get crowded with runners, cyclists, and walkers) is the highlight of my day. However, I have really lost my sprint/middle distance gears over the past decade. A 20 second 100 m feels quite fast now, and holding that for 800 m or a full mile seems exceptionally daunting. So this summer I’m going to work on that 400 m to mile speed, maybe for 6-8 weeks depending on when or if things open up for racing. In runner-speak, for health and ‘economy’ just like the rest of the world.

 

 

The other day I recapped my experience in the World Masters 8K cross country event. Here is the follow-up. Five days later I ran the half marathon. The pictures here will tell that story. The day was perfect for a half marathon, about 50 degrees, a slight breeze, and hazy to partly cloudy at the start, mostly sunny when we were finishing.

Garmin splits were:

Mile 1 - 6:08 - very crowded
Mile 2 - 5:51
Mile 3 - 6:00
Mile 4 - 5:53
Mile 5 - 5:53
Mile 6 - 5:54 - with hill
Mile 7 - 5:54
Mile 8 - 5:51
Mile 9 - 6:01
Mile 10 -5:58
Mile 11 -6:05 - pain cave getting real
Mile 12 -6:02 
Mile 13 -6:01
Finish: 1:17:38 chip, 1:17:48 gun
1st place Men 60-64

A year ago this week I was in Torun, Poland for the World Masters Athletics (WMA) championships. And while I’ve done write-ups on some forums and put up pictures on Instagram and Facebook, this the first time here. With everything else shut down for who knows how long (June or July maybe for racing), this might be a good time for some reflection and a few photos.

Background: Getting There
I entered 2019 with a plan and the championships were not part of that. It just seemed too far to travel and too much time. However, in late January final calls for entries piled into my email in-box and I gave it some thought. The best selling point USA Track and Field Masters advertised that if you had a top 6 world ranking at any distance in 2018 they could help subsidize your trip, and if you won medals in Torun they’d throw in some more. So I took the bait, sent out a couple of emails and a day later had a plane ticket and  new plan.

The trip itself was long, some 28 hours from take off in Denver to getting to my hotel (a dorm at a Catholic college), but all went well. Had a few days to adjust to the time and environment, and I took in the opening ceremonies and first day of competition on their world class indoor arena.

Ready, Set!
I would be running “non-stadia” (outside) events and entered the 8K XC, 10K road race, and half marathon, with the plan of doing two of those three. First up, on Monday was the 8K XC. I don’t recall much about getting ready, other than being excited but not overly so. Looking at seed times (roads) I figured a top 5 was a reasonable goal, but had no idea how that would really play out. One thing I do recall is listening to Led Zeppelin’s Battle of Evermore on my iPad moments before heading out the door and catching the bus to the venue.

It was a cool and blustery morning with temperatures in the high 30s F and a good breeze. Some rain kicked in during my warm up, but that let up about a half hour before we were to line up. The course was a winding 2K loop through a wooded park adjacent to the stadium. Each lap featured about a dozen sharp turns and three notable hills. And two of those had 30 meter sand traps that you had to run through or skirt the side on narrow but bumpy moss-covered earth.

Go!

The pictures here tell most of the story. About 35 of us lined up. The course narrowed two two wide after only some 50 meters. I got bumped back to about 10th place for about a half kilometer before we opened up on a flat stretch by a fitness park, with room to pass. By the time I got through in about 5th or 6th place, the two leaders had broken out a good 20 meters ahead. And their lead would grow through the lap. I could only bide my time in 5th place (2nd photo, on the top) and didn’t want to sprint to catch them.

At the end of the lap I caught the Polish runner and passed him, still a good 40 meters back from the leaders. But come back they did! By half way through the second lap I had regained contact and the race for the medals was on.

Both Tommy, from Ireland, and Jukka, from Finland were strong and wily cross country runners, throwing in surges and taking the corners and hills with skill. I hung behind them most of the next lap, but tried to take the lead by the fitness equipment. Only was able to hold on momentarily. A half kilometer later (5.5K into the race) Jukka just took off on a rooted downhill, and Tommy and I could not match that pace on the rough terrain. So it was now a race for Silver and Bronze.

Back and forth we went. Tommy throwing in several surges and getting a gap. Somehow, I’d fight my way back. And we’d do it again. On the last lap I put in my own surge or two but could not drop him. On the last steep hill with the sand trap, he went right. I went left and stepped into to the middle of the sand, a foot or more deep. Lost my momentum and he had 5 seconds on me by the time we crested. That was enough to hold me off. But what a race! I was thrilled to get a Bronze medal, and made some friends in the process.

1 KAUPPILA J. Finland FIN 30:13 

2 PAYNE T. Ireland IRL 30:33

3 SAYRE R. United States of America USA 30:37

 

Hey sorry, was going to keep the content rolling a couple weeks ago, what with so much excitement following the Olympic Trials marathon, close of the indoor season, and thinking about outdoors, training philosophy, and some fillers on my own comeback trail.

But then covid-19, simmering for a couple months here in the States, exploded on us all and turned our lives upside down.

So I’m working from home, semi-shelter in place, not getting out much other than to shop for food and get out for a run. I figured they’d keep Nordic skiing going because it’s an ideal social distancing activity, because you can’t get closer than about 6 feet from other skiers. But all the centers closed and grooming has all but stopped. We made an attempt last weekend but it was mission fail with track skis on fresh snow.

Nevertheless, more content is on the way soon!

The other week I wrote some on returning to form following an injury setback. I’m about half way back in terms of volume, maybe 90% if you go by fitness (which I’ll term ability to cover a given distance from say 5 minutes to an hour at an appropriate race or workout pace). Getting there but not yet back.

Today I’ll just mull over some more numbers, thoughts, and approaches to this build-up. First though, I’m pain free, and not even any residual stiffness after a run or next day. I’ll attribute that big step to physical therapy (PT) and time. I’m spending about an hour a week at core and glute-strengthening PT and it is really working.

On Time Over Distance
We runners get so caught up in tallying numbers, in particular miles per day or week. That can be good or bad, or just insidious. When I’m at lower volume, and building-up, I prefer to go by time. I tried my build-up in December, and was thinking ahead to miles per week for January, even entertaining some racing in the middle or late part of that month. However, I probably jumped up too quickly, and that resulted in a setback in which I had to take another week off completely and start over again. And start PT. So I lost about a month in the short term, long term hope to be better off.

Going back to the first of the year here is a summary of my running build-up. In minutes:

13
1:04
1:51
2:12
2:35
2:49
3:16
3:52
4:10

It doesn’t look as cool as miles, but by increasing my volume by about 5 minutes per day of running each week I’ve managed to temper my build-up and give some time for my body to re-adapt to the training. I feel good and will continue this for a couple more weeks, and then I’ll get back to counting miles and minutes.

My Current Approach
I started out at running three days a week, and transitioned to five days by mid-January. This week is my first step back to six days. Before the injury I had been doing just one day off every two or sometimes three weeks. We’ll see where I go from here, but I’m thinking by summer I’ll be back to 10 days on one day off, with a three week microcycle. But that’s getting ahead.

For the first seven weeks I just ran easy and fairly short (20-40 minutes). Once I got over that, I have added a little bit at tempo effort. Two weeks back I did 15 minutes at what felt like threshold, and last week I did 18 minutes, with these workouts with the 5K test effort on my birthday. And last week I introduced a very short hill session of 5X 30 sec on a 7% grade. This week it was 5X 45 seconds on the same hill. I’ll do a fartlek on the weekend and another hill session on next week. By then I’ll be at about 5 hours of running and ready to think some about miles, and adding more miles.

Next Month and Beyond
I have a big (championship) 10K at the end of April. I don’t have great hopes of cruising through that easily but definitely want to represent and mostly help our team out. Coronavirus and any travel restrictions aside.

By then I hope to be at 7-8 hours a week (50s/week) with two workouts and a longer run (1:30 to 1:50) every week, and I’ll keep it at 6 days a week until summer.

Leading into summer I have Bolder Boulder, and that’s always a big target for anyone here. And I have some good stuff in store for summer, like World Masters in Toronto, but haven’t committed to anything yet. If all goes well, should be rolling pretty well by then.

Well we didn’t see a lot of of that coming, with most of the women’s like top four or five in many people’s predictions not finishing or finishing far back (Hall, Sisson, Huddle, Hasay). However, Tiliamuk and Kipyego were up there in the top six or eight predictions, so their rise to the podium were less surprising consider the favorites had an off day, or were not able to withstand the relentless hills and wind last weekend. Now Molly Seidel WAS a huge surprise. Very talented (with a bunch of NCAA titles) but oft injured and has had some other issues with an eating disorder and fallout from that. Plus it was her first marathon, after qualifying with stellar 1:10 half bare a month ahead of the Trials. I didn’t have her in a top 10 list and figured 12th to 15th in a 2:32 on that course would have been a very good debut. So kudos to the women!

As for the men, likewise three of the top four of most our favorites did not make the team, although Leonard Korir was an agonizingly close fourth. When Rupp returned to form with 1:01 half marathon last month, which was presumed to be a training effort, he was back on as a podium favorite. The only thing surprising there was how easily he did it, or made it look–I’m sure it wasn’t easy. The downfall of Ward (26th) and Fauble (12th) were a surprise. Looks like they (Ward in particular) just had off days. Fauble’s 2:12 was close to what we’d expect on that course last Saturday, it’s just that all those 2:10s and 2:11s ahead of him were not expected from most of those athletes. Abdi got the men’s surprise of the day, at 43 years old. I saw his name mentioned a couple times but not frequently, but like many others thought Lagat would be the masters breakout runner. I did have Jake Riley in the mix of one who could make it, based on his 2:10 performance at Chicago last fall, and knowing that he was on the upswing.

That was a great event weekend, and one we’ll be talking about for years.

Nearly 700 men and women will line up tomorrow for the Olympic Trials Marathon. I can’t think of a year with this much interest–going beyond just a few thousand runner geeks scattered across the continent, this has nearly gone mainstream. I think with the stacked shoes, the large field, Atlanta’s push to make this the biggest and best ever, and some very compelling races up front.

About the shoes
wow, Nike is offering free Alphaflys to anyone who wants them. Wonder if anyone will chuck their sponsorship in favor of a possible better time to wear the shoes. If I were a 2:12-14 guy, or 2:28-32 woman and was on a modest sponsorship or unsponsored, and didn’t have an alternative, yeah I’d think about it. Nevertheless, Hoka, Saucony, Adidas (maybe) and Brooks at least will have their new shoes or prototypes out there on the course. If it’s a Nike sweep and some from down in the depth charts make it, I’ll go bleeghhh! Looking closely because in 2020 I’ll likely get a stacked shoe for my own masters plodding.

On the large field
It’s partly the shoes (see above) but also just a lot of interest and prestige in getting a Trials standard and the opportunity to line up with current and future legends in an all-American event. I do think they’ll have to adjust the standards. Have been hearing arguments saying they should go the other way, lessen the men’s standard to 2:20 or 2:25, and women’s back to 2:48 or 2:50 and make it an even bigger event. But I disagree with that. If they do that it becomes more of a high-end citizens race, and it would be fairly crowded and not really simulate the Olympics.

What are the Olympics? It’s about having the best in the world line up and have a go at it. And the Trials should be relatively close to the expected conditions (including course and weather) and having a limited field on a special day does that. So if I had a choice I’d keep it at approximately 100 men and women qualifying for their respective races. Right now that would be about sub 2:17 and 2:38. Those are good, near-elite (I think better than “sub-elite). However, in non-Olympic years USATF should host a more open US championship (Not tied in with a mass race, but stand alone championship), with qualifying times in the 2:20-25 range for men and 2:45-2:50 for women. That would give incentive for sub elite runners to keep going every year, not just once every four years, and it would be an exciting annual event for three years, culminating with Olympic Trials on the fourth year.

The courses for the US Championships should be fast and races run in good conditions (or as good as possible). That way more athletes would have a chance to attain the now very stringent standards. Meanwhile, the Trials should simulate expected conditions at the Olympics.

Atlanta Running City USA
I think the moniker from Atlanta Track Club is a bit pretentious but they’re doing a wonderful job at building these trials up, and you have to hand it to them. I expect the races on Saturday will be fantastic and that credit goes to ATC and all their hard work.

About the races
I wrote up some a few months here are my picks and darkhorses.

Women: Emily Sisson, Sarah Hall, Kellyn Taylor — but any one of a dozen runners (Linden, Hasay, Huddle, Tilliamuck, Kipyego, Rojas, Flanagan, Theatt among the more notable) will be in there.

Men: Jared Ward, Leonard Korir, Galen Rupp, Scott Fauble. I’ll keep Fauble in there a co-favorite to make the team should Rupp or Korir falter. Likewise there is a dozen or more other men who could contend if they have a great day or if their shoes are working extra well. I think someone off the radar will bust into a top 5.

Shoutout to some friends
I know or have met a bunch of qualifiers so have a good race Megan, Evan, Sarah, Tony, Laura, Lindsay. Hope you all have good races and a great experience in Atlanta.

Over the past few months I have chronicled my injury, with some sad posts, hopeful, and maybe a bit frustrated. Here’s a happy one. I have built up gradually in 2020, starting with just 1.5 miles on the first week of the year to 28 miles ending last week. However, rather than counting miles I have been going by minutes, and that has helped me hold back. So last month it was five days a week for 20-25 minutes a run, and now at the end of this month I have built to 40-50 minutes–with a big jump to 62 minutes on my birthday last week.

In that run I managed to score a personal worst for a 5K race, with a 19:50. Nevertheless, it was a good run. The plan was to go 6:30, 6:20, 6:10 but I did quite the opposite. The first kilometer (downhill) was probably closer to 6:10 pace, but once I got onto the bike path I settled more into 6:20s pace, hanging into the top 10 or 12 (half of them women). It felt good, like a tempo, with a heretofore 23 mile peak week I figured this would not be sustainable for a 5K, and I was right.

6:19 first mile.

The second mile was just a matter of pacing and finding that rhythm. At the turn around on the bike path I felt my stomach coming up. Not great.

12:47 at 2 mile

I surged some after about 2.2 miles but could not hold more than 20 or 30 seconds, and it was much of a surge. With 600 to go we had a 200 m hill, nothing huge but it wasn’t pleasant feeling.

19:15 at 3 mile and ambled into the finish.

That’s probably 40 seconds slower than my slowest (and those were slightly long courses), but I crossed and cooled down pain free. Awesome.

And now I have a baseline from which to work. After this week I’ll also start building by miles (about 5 mile increments every two weeks to start), and go from there.

So as I turn 62 what can I do running-wise. Not an ultra runner, so no 100Ks in mind, although I haven’t ruled out a 50K some day. And I kind of loathe the middle distances, a 1K or mile just doesn’t have a of appeal. However, I’m certain to race a road and maybe even a track mile or two in 2020. Nope. But 6.2 miles, that’s something I can sink my treads into.

So tentatively, pending full return from this injury, here’s the schedule:

April – USATF 10K masters championships
May – Bolder Boulder 10K
July – World Masters 10K road championship
Fall – (to be determined) – flat fast 10K to break 36 minutes

There’s a reason for the latter. With the new decade upon us, much has been be said recently about 6DS3. Six decades sub 3 hour marathon, going back to the 1970s. And there are a couple dozen men and at least one woman vying for that. That’d be a tremendous feat for sure. Another sub 3 is still on my list but with debut in 1983, that would only make five decades.

However, I do stand the chance of doing sub 36 10K over 6 decades and if anything this would be more difficult than sub 3 marathon.

Here’s the list, with best time per decade:

1978 – 31:54
1989 – 32:20 (also did 32:50 at altitude)
1991 – 32:11
2000 – 35:50 (at 5000 feet)
2017 – 35:43 (age 59)

It’s going to be a stretch this year but on a good day on a good course I can do it, and fall (October) might be the best time.

Also have a better chance to do six decades of sub 29 8K/5 mile, or six at sub 18 for 5K. However first, must build up and stay healthy!

Speaking of that. Up to 25 miles a week and feeling good.

Doing 62 minutes of running today, including a 5K progression to see where baseline fitness is at.

The world is not crumbling but these are unsettling times.

I’m happiest the few, or less than that, hours a week that I’m on cross country skis in the mountains. I’ve been to Snow Mountain Ranch, Devils Thumb, Eldora, Steamboat Springs, Minturn, and Frisco. If I could I’d be out there three times a week but it’s been only once or maybe twice. Still with more than a dozen days on the snow this year, and two more months of winter to go I’m just happy to get out on the trails.

I haven’t been liking my job for a couple years now–and yes it relates to the bigger picture, as the work I am involved with can have political implications,and a lot of top-down pressure–but have found some focus and for now I press on.

However, what I really want to do is coach runners and endurance athletes. And leave the politics and rat race behind. Soon.

INJURY UPDATE
I’ve had several visits to a local physical therapy clinic and that has helped me along. After starting up a little too fast in December (building to some 50 minute runs, just a little over three weeks after starting up again), I had to take another week off at the end of the year and started up about the first of January. Got in a whopping 51 miles last month. But they were smart miles, keeping the duration under the radar so as not to irritate my hip and glutes.

Yes, it’s epidemic because you hear about it all the time, but my glutes were not activating properly and that likely led to the misalignment of my SI joint. But I’m now running up to 30-35 minutes, five days a week, and building up ever so incrementally.

I’m still in recovery but by March (early, middle, or late?) I should be over the worst of it and can start building up with mid-spring goal of an hour or so a day. Getting there.