Sitting here, 1 week away from the biggest race and run of my life, I can’t help but feel nervous. I trained hard for my first marathon last year, The Rochester Marathon, but weeks later it had  left me unfulfilled. I needed to do something bigger. I set my sights on The Sehgahunda Trail Marathon. and roughly 18 weeks from that decision, here I am. 1 week out. From the biggest race of my life. To say this journey over the last couple months has been eventful would be an understatement. I started in on a plan to PR my half marathon, then scrapped that as I battled with a round of self doubt and depression. Settled on this Sehgahunda, and added a 100K to my calendar for later in the year. I went from running sub 30 mile weeks to hitting 55-60 for a couple weeks in a row.

Then came the injury.

About a month out from my road marathon I dealt with tendon issues and now I had foot problems stemming from a spill on a preview leg of Sehgahunda. With Sehgahunda about a week a way, the foot is nearly back to complete health.

I’ve run each of the preview legs of the course, out and back. I’ve made notes and practiced my fueling and pacing on the course. I even made a cheat sheet for when I’m out there.

Yes, I’m that serious. I’m not just going out there to run this, I’m going out there to race it. I have a plan, I have a goal. I know I won’t be first, but I sure as hell won’t be last. NOT that there’s anything wrong with that, its just I haven’t put my heart into my training to walk away simply satisfied by finishing the race before the cutoff.

I have big dreams, and big goals, and this is just another in a long line of what I have to tear down. I’m starting my run journey later than most who have become successful at trail and ultra running, one day I want to be able to stand toe to toe with them and earn my place to be able to do so.

For me, this begins with Sehgahunda. My nerves are running thru the roof, and this week is going to drive me crazy.

Next Saturday, May 26th the gun goes off at 8am and another page is turned on my running life.

Sehgahunda…I’m coming for you, and this time, I’m going to return the favor from a month ago.

I’m going to kick your ass.

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday May 7

OFF DAY More ART work, more massaging, icing and stretching.

Tuesday May 8

PM: Headed out to GVH just to meet up with the team and say my hi’s and catchup then headed out on my own for 8 loops around Cobbs Hill, 6 miles of round and round! Don’t know why my HR hit 186 as my overall pace was only 9:08, and the hills were not THAT big. OH well, we shall see how I bounce back to my first Tempo run in many weeks, actually kind of nervous about holding the pace. No pain during the run and when I “stopped” I kept walking around for a bit then immediately went to massaging and stretching the foot and into a barefoot walk to the car. FELT GREAT, going to go COLD/Warm water it for a bit just to help it out. RTR 8/10

The run: Easy reco run
54:54/6.01
RTR: 8/10

Wednesday May 9

PM: Tonight was the first night back to “real” paced running in quite sometime. I was admittedly nervous going into the tempo portion as I didn’t know how my body was going to react. The good news is I didn’t fall apart, but I wasn’t stellar either. Was only supposed to go 1mi WU but the route I chose had me detour up a hill and I decided to hold off on pace until the top. Most of the run was a battle against the wind and my body. The foot felt great, but that was about it. The rest of my body seemed to be in revolt of the faster pace. I actually adjusted my HMP from 7:35 to 7:45 to account for my lack of speed the last 3+ weeks. I found it hard to even hold a 7:52 for 3 miles and started drifting off pace on the 4th mile when the ret of my body began to ache. I figured it was a good time to stop as I was close to my 7 mile limit. So I shorted my 6 mi tempo, but I got 4 in without any pain in the foot, and no pain except normal soreness afterwards. RTR 5/10 …lots of room for improvement.
2.5mi WU @E (9:15) 23:40 /9:27
4.07mi @HMP (7:40) 32:27 /7:58
.31mi @E 2:55 /9:30

The run: Tempo Run
59:03/6.89
RTR: 5/10

Thursday May 10

PM Despite this being on my arch nemesis…the treadmill, I made it thru surprisingly well. I need to re-calibrate my foot pod however as I ran an extra .75 according to the treadmill so all my paces would’ve been faster. The power hike’s were at 10% incline. The “easy actually felt like I was running sub 9. RTR 8/10 – no foot pain, just a sweaty stinky smelly gym.
1mi PH 17:04
1mi@E 9:18
1mi PH 16:11
1mi@E 9:58
1mi PH 16:11
1mi@E 9:34

The run: Power HIke/ Run
1:18:15/6.00
RTR: 8/10

Friday May 11

OFF DAY (planned) ART work and a day off. Foot was fine all day until I stepped into the office, weird. Worked on it and the pain went away..

Saturday May 12

AM: Headed over to run with the ODR group as they were doing a nice 10 miler on the canal. The nice pat about this was there are several different paces in the group which worked nicely with my planned run. Got into this run after barely 5 hours of sleep and being rushed out the door to barely make to the start and say a brief hi to Joanna before she zoomed off. The plan was start at my easy pace then lop of 15 seconds each mile until I hit my 10K pace on the last mile. At about mile 4 the group I was following made a turn and literally disappeared. I had no clue where I was going. So with a little improvisation I found a way to get out to 5.25 and turn back before the “leaders” made the back portion of the loop. I figured by the time they caught me I might be in thier “easy zone” and could draft them for a couple miles. The first couple passed me waaay too fast during mile 6, hooked on for another at 7, but when I hit 8 my body was starting to feel it. I latched onto a fast girl and figured this was going to be my last mile at pace and stuck as close as I could and tried to drop to 7:15, however my body would have none of it and I hit a governor in the engine. Pulled back at 9 for a cooldown mile and then walked most of the final 10th with the exception of a fast .25 mile sprint to actually see what the fast guys were running and then one more short jog to keep the legs moving. Slight pain after taking shoes off, but dissipated quickly. Not as positive a run as I thought this would be, I am definitely off my game. RTR 5/10

The run: Prog Run
1:31:53/10.04
RTR: 5/10

Sunday May 13

PM: This run was all over the place. Foot was feeling wonky this AM (no pain, just feeling weird) so I decided to hold off, then the migraine hit. And lasted all day. Still had it when I went to put the girls to bed so I decided to get in as much of my 10 miles as possible. Was supposed to be 9 @MP effort with the 10th faster. Didn’t happen, struggled to get to 3.5 when my stomach started to give me issues. When I got to 5 I decided to give up the workout and just run home, before I knew it I was back down to MP then pushing my last mile down. About keeled over then dry heaved for a bout 5 minutes once I got home. I can say this…I think my MP has changed drastically.
1-3mi 7:57/7:59/8:02
.5mi 9:22 not feeling so hot
.25 …now I know why,…throw up then walk
1.25mi resume 8:37
.17 throw up then walk
1mi resume 7:57
1.17 fast 7:14/6:50

The run: MP Run
1:02:49/7.33
RTR: 6/10

Recap / RTW: 6/10

The miles just felt hard this week, I thought I would bounce back faster than I did, and I haven’t so just dealing with the mental aspect of all this is wearing me down.

The Good:

Although I didn’t complete every workout as scheduled I got out there for every workout and got in more than 75% of what was planned, I call that progress. And I got two back to back weeks of plus 30 miles…

The Bad:

I’m still falling short by 25%

The Ugly:

Mentally drained from what this injury has done to me. I have lost a lot of confidence in myself and that scares me going into Sehgahunda. I feel like the 18 weeks of training I have put in specifically for this race has gone out the window.

Upcoming

Going to go cheer on the Dirt Cheap crowd as I will not be racing it this week simply due to the foot and closeness to Sehg.

Sehgahunda Training

Did some treadmill elevation work, but not much else. Sort of in a quasi taper.

Total miles 36.27/5:46hr

Trail: 7 really light gravel trail
Road: 23
Treadmill:6! (Boooooo!)
Race: 0 mi

TSS Score: 420.5

Weight: 156

Elevation Gain :
Training Peaks “elevation correction” & the Garmin “elevation Correction” from now on….

TPEC: —
GCEG: —

Treadmill Elevation work 1584

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday April 30

OFF DAY More ART work, more massaging, icing and stretching.

Tuesday May 1

PM: [Gentle flat run] Well…the terrain was flat! Went over to GVH and found someone, Benjamin D. who wanted to do a recovery run and run my easy miles. It was a stretch to keep myself in check and actually slow down the pace. Settled in comfortably and found a couple hills to go up to keep us preoccupied. Ran the HR up a bit on the hills but pace wise I was not pushing it and I felt pretty “easy” efficient. Felt some twinge in the foot after the run when I stopped but let the feet dangle off the edge while I sat on the wall and they felt better…go figure.RTR 7/10

The run: Easy Run
55:05/6.09
RTR: 7/10

Wednesday May 2

PM: Power Hiked/Walked my Linear Park trail loop. Threw on the hydro pack, grabbed the dog, and put on the trail shoes. Was tough just to maintain a 15 minute pace, amazing how slow I am. Tried to figure out why there was horse poo on the trail, how and why it got there. Imagined how fun it would be to be a duck as I watched him float down the rapids. Walked thru a cloud of Marijuana by what appeared to be Occupy Linear Park Trail Protestors. All in all Chloe and I had an enjoyable evening before the rain hit and the sun went down

The run: Power Walk/Hike
1:20:49/5.33
RTR: 7/10

Thursday May 3

OFF DAY (unplanned) Worked on fixing our 2nd car installing an alternator which wiped out the chance I had to go running. Got up and went out to see Avengers, even though I had the energy I felt it unwise to attempt a midnight run.

Friday May 4

OFF DAY (unplanned) More work on the car so I would have it for the weekend, body was extremely tired from the day and put the run on the shelf so I could have a good weekend of running. More ART work.

Saturday May 5

AM: Felt great this AM after hitting bed at 8:30. Took Chloe along and did the final preview leg of Sehgahunda, out and back. Very little walking (only on the technical spots) and this section was very flat and very fast. 1/4 was on trails, the rest was dirt road or rail trail. This makes me happy as I know if I hit my mark at the start checkpoint I can finish this section off in under 45 min. Foot felt great, just took it REALLY easy. Medved Madness tomorrow another easy 15.

The run Part 1: Sehgahunda Preview Le
43:41/4.25
RTR: 7/10

The run PART 2: Sehgahunda Preview L
43:34/4.25
RTR: 7/10

Sunday May 6

AM: Ran very easy and conservative and finished the course in 2:30:50 (forgot to stop the garmin!) . The course was marked as appx 15 miles. Practiced as much as I could like would running Sehg, body responded well and had no foot problems during the race. Walked ALL the hills and slowed myslef down when it came to technical stuff to focus on foot placement. After the race I had the foot pain as usual but walked around barefoot and felt pretty good after about 1/2 hour. Garmin says its elevation gain corrected is 2717…which I highly doubt. Tried to maintain even effort (HR under 185), the course got a bit harder as it wore on.
1st loop 48:12.4 /4.75mi (10:09)
2nd loop 43:02.5 /3.98mi (10:48)
3rd loop 59:32.8 /5.42mi (10:59)
So…
14.18mi (10:47 pace)
15mi (10:03 pace)
….either way I’ll take it, it was just a training run and I ran it just like that. I passed the half marathon point at 2:19 which is around 5min faster than y plan for Sehg. All in all it was a great day, a great event. Congrats to Dan O. who ran a blistering 2:00!

The run: Medved Madness 15
2:30:50/14.1
RTR: 7/10

Recap / RTW: 6/10

Got back in the saddle and started getting some more distance back on the foot to see how it would hold up. 6/10 simply for missing Thursday AND Friday. I should’ve been able to get one of those in.

The Good:

Running Sehg and Medved Madness on back to back days with limited amount of pain.

The Bad:

The pain is still there but noticeable after the run.

The Ugly:

I feel really slow after what has gone on over the last couple weeks. I worry about my Sehg training.

Upcoming

There is a Dirt Cheap don’t know if we are going to run it or not, but no other races till Sehg, everything is about getting back to where I was.

Sehgahunda Training

Ran the final section on Saturday and glad I did. It will be good mentally to know that I only really have to battle the hills for another mile after the last checkpoint and then its me and flat ground. If my legs and body hold up, 4:45 is a possibility.

Total miles 34.06mi/6:13hr

Trail: 28
Road: 6
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race: 14.1 mi

TSS Score: 558.4

Weight: 158

Elevation Gain :
Training Peaks “elevation correction” & the Garmin “elevation Correction” from now on….

TPEC: 2086 (4)
GCEG: 4028 (4)

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday April 23

OFF DAY Went to see ART Dr today:

I have over stressed and stretched my tendon (I think Peronial Tendon?) No “running” yet, ICE/Traumeel/Stretch/strengthen. Try a light 400m/ run walk on Wed, Thurs see him again on Friday to see how it is progressing. Hey said it was “grade 1″ which I can still run on but it ends up being bothersome, as opposed to “grade 3″ which would mean absolutely nothing. I can bike (when the weather allows it) to help my cardio. As little standing as possible. He seems positive to how it reacted today that we can get it taken care of so I get Run Sehg. Got to have electronic muscle stimulation on the tendon from the calf down that felt really good and supposedly helps the inflammation. So, my ego is bruised about as much as the foot. I can’t race, BUT I don’t have to stop running yet unless it gets worse. One week at a time now.

Talked with Ian afterward and we are taking it day by day, coming to grips with the fact that I will not be racing next week and that I have to keep my eye on the main goals so I can race them. Mentally I am struggling but this is something I need to do.

Tuesday April 24

OFF DAY

Wednesday April 25

OFF DAY

Thursday April 26

PM: went out for the first jog test since last Thursday. 2 x Walk .25/run .25. Felt ok all the way up until I was sitting in the car afterwards and I felt the sharp pain as I moved my foot. ART in the lunch time tomorrow. Felt like I haven’t run in 6 months, very creaky.

The run: test run
12:02/1.04
RTR: 6/10

Friday April 27

OFF DAY Went to ART, foot was bothering very badly and was told to get it x-rayed. Came back to ART in the afternoon, no break or fracture, but he said the tendon was so inflamed that it showed on the XRAY. Revised diagnosis: Peronial Tendonitis. He did some ART on it and I left feeling like I had a new foot.

In the evening we met up with some running friends and had an awesome dinner and talking. They were all running Sunday’s Half Marathon, the race that was to be my training race, but also one that would let me have a new 1/2 marathon PR that was below my official 2:33:30. I admit I was envious and frustrated at times, knowing that I wouldn’t be running. I was supposed to be running with them, that PR was mine I just had to run and hang on. As the night wore I forgot about it as I embraced what they were all about to do, and tried to be happy for them.

Saturday April 28

OFF DAY (unplanned) After yesterday had gotten me somewhat back on track the plan was 5 easy miles. Well, like most of the last 2 weeks things didn’t go as planned. The foot felt GREAT this morning, however I did not. Went out with friends last night and my wife ended up getting sick. It was the 5th 12am evening for me and I slept like a rock till 8am when my migraine hit. Waited for the wife to wake up so I could do my run, but it just went downhill from there, the headache got worse and the kids were being a nuisance, then the wife went shopping. My window was gone. We went out on a date to see Titanic in IMAX then dinner, by the time we were home it was 8pm and I was spent. There would be no run today. Excuses suck, but when you can’t “run away” from those excuses it sucks even more.

Sunday April 29

AM Went down to the Flower City Challenge today to cheer on friends who were racing. Watched everyone set PR’s. It was mixed emotions for me as I really wanted to run the race, but that went out the window. I wanted to have a shiny new PR I could be proud of, but there was no chance of that happening. I was very happy for my friends so mentally that helped.

First real run in over a week. Body felt all sorts of out of whack and took well in to mile 2 before my HR finally dropped. Ran some strides in the last mile to see how I was truly feeling and felt really good. Took Chloe and Jack White along for the run. Was a little anxious after not being able to run the race this AM but mentally it was good for me to go out and cheer my friends onto their PR’s. Foot was ok the entire run, again as so as I took off my shoe it began again. Stretch massage and ice took the pain back to comfort. Slow and steady…right? RTR 7/10

The run: Easy Run
53:21/6
RTR:7/10

Recap / RTW: 5/10 RTM: 5/10

Back to running so that’s a good thing, mentally this week was a battle so just trying to take it one day at a time.

The Good:

W: Seeing my friends PR and rock out the Half Marathon and 5K

M: A couple really good trails runs at the Sehgahunda course

The Bad:

W:Missing Saturday’s run because of a room full of excuses.

M: One really bad run at the Sehgahunda course

The Ugly:

W: Friday’s roller coaster day on top of tech week hell that had me drained of sleep and energy and frustrated beyond belief.

M: Watching my mileage completely fall off the table. From the first week of the month to now: 50-43-10-7. I should’ve been closing out this month with over 220  miles, instead I’m hobbling thru the gate at 117.

Upcoming

One day at a time is my motto for this week. trying to focus adequate recovery on my foot and start to get the mileage back in and back up. The Medved Madness 15 mile is this weekend and I want to run in it, I’ve already paid for registration so we shall see. Most likely going to be a day of run (not a race).

Sehgahunda Training

After 3 weeks of hell I’m hoping we can get past this foot issue. I feel like I fell over the cliff so far its goign to take a miracle to get back up. I want a good time, I want a good race at Sehg, I need it personally.

Total miles Run 7.04mi/1:06 Month: 117mi/20.55hr

Trail: 0
Road: 7
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race:0 mi

TSS Score: 82.6 YIKES

Weight: 162… didn’t eat so well this week but at least Same weight Sunday to Sunday!

Elevation Gain (NOT APPLICABLE THIS WEEK):
Training Peaks “elevation correction” & the Garmin “elevation Correction” from now on….

TPEC: ——-
GCEG: —–

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday April 16

OFF DAY took Emma and the dogs out for a 2 mile recovery walk after the rain stopped. Roscoe is REALLY out of shape and slowed us down. Chloe seemed agitated by his mere presence. My foot hurt after so…now it’s on ice for a bit :/

2 mi/40 min

Tuesday April 17

OFF DAY (unplanned) Decided to give the foot an extra day off. After talking with Ian we decided this was best.

Wednesday April 18

PM I’m back! Did you miss me? Went to the race today with instruction to race only if the ankle felt ok. So I ran a 1 mileish warmup and it felt great. So I decided to race. Left phone and watch at home so I went into this race blind. Decided to stick behind Mike W for as long as I could and let my body take over. For the 1st mile I felt pretty good until I didn’t. Around 1.5 I was starting to slip and the….you guessed it turned my ankle as I slid off the path. I watched runner after runner pass by me and I came to grips that my “race” was over. I watched Sean and Dan and Don and Wilt all eventually pass me. I turned the remainder of the run into a slow easy run. Then I hit the mud and rolled it again. I’m really getting tired of this. Shortly after that Eric passed me then we hit the logs and I started to turn up the speed and pushed hard the last half mile or so passing about 8 runners. At the end of mile 1 I was around 5th to this point I watched about 50 people pass me. Finishing 56, about 30 or so spots where I should have been. AND I WAS OK WITH THAT. It was hard to turn a race into a run and still keep my spirits up

The run:
42min/4.85
RTR:5/10

Thursday April 19

PM: Met up with the Medved group for the next leg preview of the Madness run. It was a good run, took it very easy pace and brought Chloe along. The foot held up and I kept my pace in recovery mode. All in all it was a good night. Some slight pain in the foot after I took the shoes off. I must say it was BEAUTIFUL out there tonight, can this weather please stay?

The run: Medved Madness Leg 2
50:07/5.33
RTR:8/10

Friday April 20

AM: Took Emma to school and walked with Roscoe there and back. Trying to help him lose some chub. Not very happy about my foot issues and it looks like they are effecting my training to the point of cut back. I don’t have an ART apt. til Monday, but I think I might ask to get an X-ray to elevate my fears. Coach has me no trails or no running for the next couple of days to see what can help it. 5 weeks away for Sehg and this crap happens. I am beyond upset and beyond frustrated.

2mi/40min

PM: I would rather be running. Walking an hour really sucks. Took a loop to go pick up Emma from school, brought Chloe along this afternoon. Perfect weather out. My left foot is all sorts of funkiness, one minute it hurts, one minute its fine. The consistent is when I take off my shoe the pain in the side of the foot is there. Ice/massage/repeat.

3mi/1hr

Saturday April 21

OFF DAY (unplanned) Scrapped all plans to run this weekend as after walking yesterday it is obvious my foot is not doing well. Plan was to bike to the theatre, but the weather had other plans. Sub 40 and rain.

Sunday April 22

OFF DAY (unplanned) Another wasted day. The rain continued and wiped out any chance of the bike before I had to spend 12 hours teching our show at the theatre. Got home at 12, latest I’ve been out in a while, and super tired.

Monday April 23

OFF DAY Adding this day to this week, as I felt it was important. Went to see ART Dr today:

I have over stressed and stretched my tendon (I think Peronial Tendon?) No “running” yet, ICE/Traumeel/Stretch/strengthen. Try a light 400m/ run walk on Wed, Thurs see him again on Friday to see how it is progressing. Hey said it was “grade 1″ which I can still run on but it ends up being bothersome, as opposed to “grade 3″ which would mean absolutely nothing. I can bike (when the weather allows it) to help my cardio. As little standing as possible. He seems positive to how it reacted today that we can get it taken care of so I get Run Sehg. Got to have electronic muscle stimulation on the tendon from the calf down that felt really good and supposedly helps the inflammation. So, my ego is bruised about as much as the foot. I can’t race, BUT I don’t have to stop running yet unless it gets worse. One week at a time now.

Talked with Ian afterward and we are taking it day by day, coming to grips with the fact that I will not be racing next week and that I have to keep my eye on the main goals so I can race them. Mentally I am struggling but this is something I need to do.

Recap / RTW: 2/10

The roller coaster continues. Going into last weekend it was becoming painfully obvious that I had pushed myself over the edge into “over train” just a bit and was getting tired. Talked it over with Ian and we both decided it as best to cut back a little more especially considering the roll I took last Sunday. I firmly believe my legs were just tired and I started to shut down causing myself to do that. After Wednesday it was also obvious something was just not right on the foot. Scrapped all plans to run and planned some biking for the weekend to let the foot heal. Nothing ever works as planned in my life. Putting in a new section (adapted from Talk Ultra) below to help me mentally cope better.

The Good:

I felt nice and relaxed on Thursday’s run and had a very enjoyable time running with the Medved crowd.

The Bad:

Stopping racing. To actually give up in the middle of a race was in no means an easy feat, but I did it.

The Ugly:

The worst news to come out of all this is the loss of running Flower City this upcoming weekend. It was something I had initially put on the calendar as a training race, but then it became a training run. Lots of my friends were going to be running it and it was a chance for me to go out and run a nice PR. Now I will be reduced to being a cheerleader. I have also looked at my Training Peaks fitness data, and wow. I just lost almost 2 months worth of Fitness (CTL) I am currently at 62 which is where I was beginning of March. At lest my body is getting rested :/

Upcoming

Plan is to get recovered 100% so that I can still run Sehgahunda. Medved Madness is next weekend and hopefully I’m running with enough miles I can run it as a training run. Another Dirt Cheap in May, we shall see where I stand and how hard I plan on running that.

Sehgahunda Training

Not much this week, but at least both of my runs were on some good hills and trails.

Total miles

Run 10.3mi/1:32 Walk 7mi/2:20 (17.33/3:52T)

Trail: 10.3
Road: 7
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race:0 mi

TSS Score: 62.9 YIKES

Weight: 162

Elevation Gain:
Training Peaks “elevation correction” & the Garmin “elevation Correction” from now on….

TPEC: ——-
GCEG: —–

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday April 9

OFF DAY Nice relaxing off day, had a lunch ART appointment and we think we have isolated the foot issue

Tuesday April 10

PM Went to GVH and did a 1mi WU@E 2x2mi @HMP (7:38/7:25) and 1mi @HMP (7:35) with 2 min RECO in between sets. 1mi CD@E. The wind was blowing cold and strong at the end or else I would have pushed it to a 3×2. Felt weird for the first couple miles tonight but felt great on the final 3 miles. Left foot (the one ART dr is working on) was bugging me a bit when I slowed down. RTR 7/10

The run: GVH Tempo
1:01/7
RTR:7/10

Wednesday April 11

OFF DAY (unplanned) Totally screwed up here. A series of goofs by me made me miss my only window of opportunity to run shorting me mileage this week.

Thursday April 12

PM: 2 Part workout. Part 1 involved a trail run Preview of Medved Madness Leg 1. (4.04mi/37:14/401 EG) Part 2 was roughly 15 minutes later on the Panorama Trail hill, the closest I could get to a 1/2 mile at 7% grade. After a warmup to the bottom I ran 4 out of my planned 6 repeats. The plan was “comfortable pace” which I did until I hit number 4 and pushed everything I could as I knew it was the last one due to time/distance in for the night. Got some good hills in at Medved so I felt the night was just right, but I didn’t stress myself either. Ran 1/2 mile back home. RTR 7/10
1.08WU 9:45.3
.47Up 4:13.1/ .47Dn 4:35.1
.48Up 4:32.9/ .48Dn 4:37.6
.48Up 4:26.3/ .48Dn 4:48.7
.50Up 3:57.5
.53CD 5:09.7

The run: Medved Madness Leg 1
37:14/4.04
RTR:8/10

The run: Hill Repeats 7%
46:15/5
RTR:7/10

Friday April 13

PM: I don’t know what was up with this “run” embarrassed to even post it. Set out for a simple 8 mile run and barely got 2.5 in before I had to stop and walk due to feeling like I had to vomit. 2nd time in the last couple weeks I’ve felt like this. Stomach hurt since last nights run. Turned into a run when I could. Did what I could to keep it under 11/mi. RTR 1/10

The run: Easy Run
1:06/6.00
RTR: 1/10

Saturday April 14

AM: Took a nice easy pace and ran some of the big hills and walked some others just to get the legs some movement and bloodflow after yesterdays debacle. Went out with a group which helped me keep the pace down, ran with Chloe my trail dog who did great for being out there that long. Somehow Garmin got turned off and I ended up losing a mile on the turn around. Actual time was ~8mi/1:47 with 1200-1300 EG (don’t know how much was lost in the 1 mi shutdown) Great sunrise this AM RTR 7/10

The run : 8mi Trail
1:35/7
RTR: 7/10

Sunday April 15

PM: Adjusted Distance (Garmin is wrong) 13mi/2:50/2017EG The first half of this run went exactly as planned, I was running with efficiency and taking advantage of the longer downhills to bank time for the uphills. There were 2 major (1/2 mile plus steep grade) climbs that brought me to a slow walk that hurt my hamstrings to the point of burn and elevated my heart rate into R level. Did the first half in 1:16 and felt great, stopped at the turn around to down a PBJ wrap and get my bearings for 5 minutes then continued on with part 2. Somewhere around mile 3 my legs refused to be friends and this easy run was not being so kind. Took some fuel and nutrition to see if that would help, it didn’t. Then it started to rain and the trail got interesting. A couple more major climbs on the back and my legs were cooked. with 1 mile left till the 13 mile point I caught a root in the “Rootmine Graveyard” ( literally this section was filled for a mile of millions of roots) turned my foot and then nose planted onto my new sunglassees. Needless to say, I used every profanity I could think of to get my self back off the ground. 22 miles was no longer in the question, it was now a fight to finish this section. Made it back to the car, getting really cold and my ankle and foot throbbing. 2nd half with break: 1:34. I called it a day. Really disappointed in myself. I had everything set so when I made it back to the car I would restock and keep going to finish out the run, but I couldn’t. Not only did I fail at this run, I failed at this week. 20 miles under where I was supposed to be. I don’t know what has happened but it feels like I hit a wall. Maybe I pushed myself or over trained myself for my fitness in the previous month that it is catching up to me in waves, but I am not happy. Hopefully talking to Ian tomorrow will shed some knowledge or insight into what might be going on. RTR 5/10 (1st half 8/10 second half 3/10)

The run : Sehgahunda Leg 3 Out
1:16/6.1
RTR: 8/10

The run : Sehgahunda Leg 3 Back
1:34/6.25
RTR: 3/10

Recap / RTW: 5/10

Just a roller coaster of a week run wise. I had some really good runs but Friday and most of Sunday was a complete disaster. Missing Wednesday didn’t help me out much either.

Upcoming

Dirt Cheap trail race this week, Flowercity in a couple.

Sehgahunda Training

Now that I have run 3 out of the 4 legs of the course I can start evaluating where I stand and what I will need to do. Trying to develop some strategy now that I have learned some of the course and I know where I can speed up/slow down to keep on “pace”

I have a plan for Sehgahunda and that is to better my 1st (and only) Road marathon time for last year of 4:47. So I have my sights set on 4:45 (Yes ambitious I know….). To accomplish this I would need to keep a sub 10:50 pace which I believe for me on this course is very possible. I have been tracking the Outs & Backs separately and I’ve been conserving my energy so that I can accomplish my daily miles plan. With this in mind here are my breakdowns of each leg (again TP & GC have different elevation corrections to TP is first and GC second number in ()):

Leg 1: 6.1miles – 1:00 (EG 331/583) Mostly straight run

Leg 2: 9.3miles -1:45 (EG 684/1115) 4:1 Run walk

Leg 3: 6.5miles -1:16 (EG 636/990) 4:1 Run walk

Total time so far 4:01:43 (11:02/4:50) /21.9mi /EG 1651/2688

None of these have “aid station” stops worked in, but I have been practicing being as minimal and self sufficient as possible to save time. I forsee 1-2 min max for checkin and at the end of the 9.3 leg a water fill max 5min break. Don’t know if I can have a drop bag or not at half as that would save me time as I can prep my stuff for a quick transition to breeze through the other CP. The trick will be to just keep moving.

Total miles Run 43.19/ 8hr10min

Trail: 31
Road: 12
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race:0 mi

TSS Score: 427.8

Weight: 156

Elevation Gain: I’m going to start posting the Training Peaks “elevation correction” & the Garmin “elevation Correction” from now on….

TPEC: 3205
GCEG: 4451

Either way it is my highest EG in a week ever and most came over 2 days.

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday April 2

OFF DAY Had a pretty good day off, been thinking about moving things up & shaking my training up a bit. Saturdays run clarified that for me.

Tuesday April 3

OFF DAY Still not feeling 100% was going to run easy in the afternoon, but opted for one more rest day that give me time to shake off the 60 I just did. Been thinking alot about how I’ve been running and that I might be running out of my class, but also counter to what will be productive in becoming an ultra runner.

Wednesday April 4

PM: Well I’m back. First run in about 80 hours….kinda took a mini vacation. In reality was looking at a cut back week and most of my miles got slammed into the upcoming weekend giving me an extra day off (friday) and an unexpected day off (yesterday). Mentally I needed it. Physically I needed it. Double 6 tomorrow to and from work. Legs were a bit tight at the start but warmed up. Foot and knees are a bit buggy however. Today also marks an important day as I began working with Ian Sharman (yes THAT one) to help me through my ultra training. Pretty excited about that.
8:16/8:22/8:03/7:30

The run: Easy Run
32:13/4
RTR:6/10

Thursday April 5

AM: Easy little jaunt to work. Hate the cold, and my legs do too. Felt a bit tight after 4 miles, but go it done.

The run: Double Home to Work #1
58:55/6.35
RTR:6/10

PM: A much better run than this morning, legs were feeling alot better and I ended up running the first 3 miles under 8:15 rather effortlessly and then forced myself to cut back the pace to around 9 so I could push myslef up the hill at pace at mile 6 even though I could have run this pace the entire time. Actually quite hard to pull yourself back when you are feeling good. All in all a good run and feeling good. Still about as cold as this AM, but at least the sun was shining.
1-3 8:09/8:15/8:13
4-6 8:52/8:59/8:50
0.34 9:03

The run: Double Work to Home #2
54:22/6.35
RTR:8/10

PM: (continued…) Two pretty exciting things happened in the evening, the first was the kickoff for the Medved Endurance Project there was a good handful of people there and it looks to be a pretty exciting project. A couple of GVH’ers, feloow Dailymilers and a few other racers I’ve gotten to know were there. I talked with teammate Jess Snyder who was pretty pumped to hear I was doing ultra training, and we talked about packs and hydration options, then Coach Rief came over and we chatted some more. He mentioned some trails we could run by is house that I will have to check out with him shortly. I also let him know that I had begun working with Ian to help me make the transition and become an ultra runner. He seemed pretty pumped that I was taking what I was doing so seriously.

I had to bolt out of there as I had a 9pm Skype call with Ian. It was our first video call and we reviewed information and goals over the next hour that would help formulate the direction I was headed. It was a pretty surreal experience being able to even work with him. Great guy, very down to earth.

Friday April 6

PM: First run on my new training plan with Ian, just an easy 8. First 3 felt effortless and really slow, the next three were noticeable and slow, the last two were just…slow. But it was an easy run. Took the Salomon pack out for its maiden voyage, nice and super light. Sun was shining and warm, wind was cold. Legs a bit tired but I felt good afterwards. RTR 7/10

The run: Rail Trail Easy Run
1:15/8.00
RTR:7/10

Saturday April 7

AM: Part 1 was good, felt great, finished in 1:45, took a 7 min “aid station” break to eat a PBJ wrap. Ran the same route back except tried to add some distance by back tracking but soon realized that at mile 18 my water was out and it was getting a bit warm and toasty. So I headed back up to the entry point and checked out after GPS reading of 18.88 miles. I was told that they measured this leg out at 9.3, so adjusted mileage would be 19.48 not quite 20, and total time with aid station break 4:01. The 2nd half was a bit hectic for me, I tripped 3 times and rolled my ankle. So I stopped and retightend my shoes. My “lazy feet”then proceed to catch another root which sent me face first into the ground. The good was I loaded up the pack and kept myself in check every 15 minutes with hydration and nutrition. Experimented with tablets, PB M&M’s, snickers bar, gatorade, chomps and GU. No GI issues, but I was very thirsty towards the end, leaving me without water. The pack was good for me and I rarely felt it on. The pattern for this run was a 4:1 Run walk ratio that seemed to do me well. I honestly feel like I just ran a marathon but my legs are feeling surprisingly good. Elevation gain: 1412 after adjusted…Garmin had 2200+ RTR 8/10 Longest trail run ever.

The run : Sehgahunda Leg 2 Preview – Out
1:45/9.00
RTR:9/10

The run : Sehgahunda Leg 2 Preview – Back +
2:10/9.88
RTR:7/10

photo by James Roache

Sunday April 8

PM: Felt really good all day and felt I was bouncing back well, even felt good going into this run. After a very short time I felt the concrete blocks on my feet and legs and realzied how incredibly tired I actually was. Kept the pace at a recovery level effort ignoring any semblance of pace. Walked up the hill at mile 4.5 so I didn’t over extend myself. The trails were busy and I opted to cut the trail time short as I had the dog. 2 miles combined on road. At mile 4 I let Chloe go for a swim, she thoroughly enjoyed that RTR 4/10

The run : RECO run
1:03/6
RTR:4/10

Recap / RTW: 8/10

A decent week when all was said and done. Got decent recovery in at the beginning, began working with Ian Sharman and ran my longest time and distance on a trail.

Upcoming:

Back up above 60 miles this week, some adjustments to the schedule that might make the weekends a little more bearable and easy without the mass mileage on the weekdays. The Medved trail runs startup this Thursday but it doesn’t look like my schedule will allow room to partake in them “yet”.

Total miles Run 49.59mi/ 8hr40min

Trail: ~28
Road: 20
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race:0 mi

TSS Score: 544.6

Weight: 158 despite alot of hydration and fueling I had dropped to 155 after Saturday’s run, ate like crazy to fill my hunger on Saturday afternoon and eve

Elevation Gain: This depends. Training Peaks “elevation correction” had me at 1412 gain, but Garmin’s “elevation correction” had me at just over 2200 (1115/1125).

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday March 26

OFF DAY Knees were hurting a bit when I woke up in the AM.

Tuesday March 27

PM: Great night with GVH tonight. Ran with Joanna and ran hard. After my “cooldown” I was at 9.9 miles and for some unknown reason jumped in to join Benjamin D. & Lynn G. run thier final Yasso. Don’t know how or why, but I was able to keep up. It was also great to see Mike W. jump into the deep end he was FLYING! RTR 8/10 I think I might have a bone bruise on my left big toe that is directly related to what is going on in my hip and calf. The workout:
2mi WU@E (9:15) 9:01
2 x 2mi@T (7:19) 7:06/7:05
2x 400m@R (6:19) 6:33/6:35 —>UPHILL BABY!
3mi CD@E 9:21
800m @ 3:15?

The run: GVH Speeedwork
1:30:18/10.37
RTR:8/10

Wednesday March 28

PM: Easy runs aren’t supposed to be failures, but this was. Started at Valentown to Baker down Thayer to 31. Was feeling ok, but my knees were hurting and it only increased on the downhill. By the time I made the turn the pain was bad, the wind was annoying and I was getting cold. I called it in at 5.5 and had my wife pick me up. 1/10

The run: easy run
52:29/5.5
RTR:1/10

Thursday March 29

PM: Met up with Becca J. Joanna & Lynn G. for a night of Marathon Paced fun. Mr. Mike joined us at the mile mark, and we settled in for our run. I felt good up till mile 9 when my knee (not knees this time) started to bug me. Its amazing bc everything else felt fine except for my legs. I decided to walk a .25 and ended up turning the final 3.85 into a run/walk combo to get the miles in. Goal was 14. RTR 5/10
Embarrassed to even post my splits, but you must take the good with the bad. Debating using next week as a cut down week instead of going up to 65, I’ve felt like this every 3rd week of increase.
2mi@E (9:15) 8:54
4mi@MP (7:45) 7:55
2mi@E 9:07
4mi@MP 10:27 — first mile at MP 3 miles at run .85/walk.15
.83mi@E 11:23 — more run walk…I was cooked

The run: GVH MP run
1:58:57/12.83
RTR:5/10

Friday March 30

PM: Got myself out of bed and on the road just after 5. Turned on the podcast, covered the garmin and went by recovery feel. Took 2 miles to feel ok, but after 4 I was glad to be done. When I looked at the Garmin at the end, my heart sank, but knew that is where my body needed to be this morning. RTR 5/10

The run: Recovery Run
38:59/4.01
RTR:5/10

Saturday March 1

AM: 20.61…After this week I needed a change of pace. Literally. I came to the realization that I may be running out of my league, and I need to start doing things a bit differently if I want to do things uninjured and successfully. This started today. Today I would implement a 4:1 run/walk strategy to try to accomplish two things: save my knees from the pain I’ve had lately, get used to doing something I’ll b doing a lot of in Ultras. I got a good night sleep and a later start than usual for a Saturday. At mile 4 I was supposed to do a 6 mile MP but after 1 mile I felt a twinge in the knees, and went back to my 4:1. I also at this time decided I would push this from a 16 mile to 20 mile. I did it, and I didn’t stop the clock either. My time actually includes my “aid station” break at the turnaround of about 5-10 minutes. Despite the tiredness in my legs, I found that I was starting to take the run portions a tad faster as I got further into the miles. Also discovered a way to vacuum seal the air out of my hydro pack so I didn’t have the sloshing and it lasted till the last sip when I got home. Did the whole thing on Gatorade and a bar of Nature Valley PB. RTR 7/10 despite going away from my intended plan. It might be time for me to start trimming back on a little of the speed work I’ve been doing to help my legs recover a little bit as well. Also, a new PR for miles in a month…222 with 34hrs of running

The run : PArt 1 long run
47:49/5.01
RTR:7/10

The run : Part 2 long run
2:25/15.55
RTR:7/10

Sunday April 1

AM: Todays run in memory of Caballo. I wasn’t able to get out on the trails, but listened to part of his story while I ran. Played a bit with the 4:1 ratio from ysterday to see how fast I had to do the run to get down to my VDOT easy pace. Feeling pretty good after the run and 60 miles is in the bag! RTR 7/10 RTW 6/10

The run : Easy run
1:04/7
RTR:7/10

Recap / RTW: 6/10

This was a weird week for me. On one hand I failed at several of the workouts, but on the other, I achieved my distance goal, was out on my feet longer than I had ever been. For running 60 for the first time ever I feel really good the day after. I have a little knee pain going on that could be stemming from several issues. I haven’t been on top of my AIS as mush and this is due partly to time and me being so tired. It is also the third week of mileage ramping. I’ve been coming up with a little different plan that I think might help me better since I am hitting distances I never hit before.  Revlving around a 4 week cycle of build and recover.:

Week 1: Last distance before cutback (50)
Week 2: Add 5 or 10% (55)
Week 3: Add 5 or 10% (60) –> this past week
Week 4: Cutback and recover 20% – 12 – (48) –>upcoming week

Repeat cycle. However my next cycle will have me hit my peak and then cutback:

Week 1: Last distance before cutback (60)
Week 2: Add 5 or 10% (65)
Week 3: Back 5 or 10% (55)
Week 4: Add 5 or 10% (60)

So I still have to figure out the 2nd cycle but I seem to perform better when I only hit peaks 2 weeks in a row then cut back and resume. I only have 8 weeks until Sehgahunda and I’m balancing getting the miles & time on my feet in vs every workout. I’ve toyed with the 4:1 walk ratio that really seemed to take the pressure of my knees, and Sunday I was able to kick up the speed ever so slightly. So I will be doing limited “speed work” this week and focus on getting the time.

This month was quite amazing for me, I ran 222 miles for the month putting me at 555 for the year, ahead of my 2012 goal. I also have seen significant gains in my overall fitness score via Training Peaks. Still learning how to read all this, but ATL: Fatigue, TSB; Freshness and CTL: Fitness. As you can see from the graph, I went from a CTL score of 46.6 on 1/03 of this year to a high of 77.1 on Sunday. This would actually be reading higher had I not had some wonky readings a couple weeks back on my HR monitor. click for larger image.

Upcoming:

8 weeks till the big day. 4 weeks till Flower City 1/2 and I’m not even registered yet. 2 weeks till Dirt Cheap, also not registered yet. This week the Medved Endurance Project kicks off, so looking forward to that.

Total miles Run 9hr 28min / 60.28mi

Trail: 10 (parts of the LR on Sat were on Gravel or dirt path but easy)
Road: 50
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race:0 mi

TSS Score: 700.3

Weight: 160 ate like a pig on Sunday.

Elevation Gain: not enough to shake a stick at.

A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.

I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.

Monday March 19

OFF DAY 

Tuesday March 20

PM: Missed my run today as my father was rushed to the ER (he’s ok now) and I stayed there til 10:30

Wednesday March 21

AM: Wasn’t in a happy place with this run, frustrated and upset about my dad being in the ER.

The run: Home to Work
56:13/6.4
RTR:2/10

PM: Balance restored. Father is back home. Ran the first 5 miles sub 8:25 and then hit the hill at mile 6. Avg’d 6 miles @8:30 then stopped and walked the remainder home just to have a decent cool down. It was a hot 79 and I was parched! 7/10

The run: Work to Home
58.43/6.4
RTR:7/10

Thursday March 22

PM: eh. some runs make you happy, this one didn’t, but I’ve had some good runs as of late, was due for a bad one. Ran tonight solo, was hoping to have someone to push me, just couldn’t will myself to push faster or further. Cut out the intervals repeats due to a sore calf and just plain tired. 5/10
2.54mi WU 8:35 …once again way to fast
4 x 1600@T (7:19) 7:19/7:20/7:33/7:37 (1 min rests) 3&4 were uphill
.62 CD 10:17

The run: GVH Threshold Run
1:03/7.5
RTR:5/10

Friday March 23

PM: Just a shake out before a fast LR tomorrow. Like a metronome tonight.
9:07/9:07/9:08/9:06 with a slower 83 cadence avg for every mile.

The run: Easy run
36:30/4.00
RTR:7/10

Saturday March 24

AM: This morning was a doozy for me. I was heading out on the longest run at paces faster than I’ve run for that long of before (did that make sense?) Anyway got out on the canal and had Joanna there to keep me company and kick my butt along the way. It was supposed to be 3miWU@E (9:20)+ 2x(4mi@MP(7:45) +1mi@T(7:19)) +2miCD@E however I was struggling with some hip and claf issues on the 2nd set and turned that into 2x2mi@MP+.50mi@MP+.25walk+.25@MP. Set a PR on my Half Marathon again. This time was 1:49! RTR 9/10 despite the problems I had good company and a really good run. LOTS of runners on the canal this morning, that made me smile.
3mi WU@E 9:18
4mi@MP 7:51
1mi@T 7:11
4mi@MP 8:01
1mi@T 9:48
2mi CD@E 9:44

The run : Long Paced Run
2:08:03/15.03
RTR:9/10

Sunday March 25

AM: It was rainy therefore it was muddy. Got to join with Sean from @trailsroc and many other runners this morning a a faster paced trail run on the first leg of Sehgahunda. The out was pretty good and pretty easy the back was a bit mucked up and wore on my calves slowing me down. The back was harder than the out.

The run : Sehgahunda Preview – leg 1 out
1:00/5.94
RTR:7/10

The run : Sehgahunda Preview  leg 1 back
1:04/5.94
RTR:6/10

PM: Well…I got it done, does that count? Unbelievable that I experienced a mini bonk about 2.5 miles into this. Freaked me out, thought I had put enough in me at the party this after noon, but looks like I wasn’t fully there. New PR 55 miles on the week, 31 of those in 36 hours, and 35 in 48. Now I can rest for the next 48, as I try for 60 this week. RTR 1/10 RTW 6/10

The run : Easy run
37:00/4
RTR:1/10

Recap / RTW: 6/10

Achieved my first week of running 55 miles so that was a big milestone, legs are pretty beat up and sore but not as bad as I thought they would be. Kind of rushed getting the double in so I think that wore on me on Wednesday despite having the extra day off. Mentally I wasn’t right. The Saturday and Sunday runs were good the rest of the week was pretty blah in terms of how I felt.

Upcoming:

First week in a couple weeks it is solely training runs for me. Medved Endurance Project starts up next week so I jsut need to focus on getting my 60 miles in.

Total miles Run 8:25min / 55.05mi

Trail: 12
Road: 43
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race:0 mi

TSS Score: 666.5

Weight: 158

Elevation Gain: 1880 (Sunday AM, Wednesday and Thursday)

Not much of a race recap, but more of a summary. If you viewed my training log you would see I ran a 8.25 mi warmup and then proceeded to set a 5 mi PR in 36:29. Finished 292/2296 people on a most beautiful day.

Last year I ran this race as my first race since High school in 54:36 (18 minute improvement over a year) and my last 5 mile road race was the Firecracker Five mile, and I improved on that by 5:30. I knew going in no matter how I raced outside of walking I could set a PR.

Up until mile 4 I was running pretty strong with Lynn from GVH and started feeling a little fatigue. Not wanting to mess her up or injure myself I let her go ahead and ratcheted it back to a 7:30 pace for the final mile. I had the energy and drive to push harder but I didn’t want to do something that would hurt me training wise.

So I walked away happy with a good PR even after the added mileage.