I'm never going to make the Olympic track team

Runner and coach Greg McMillan wrote a 5 Habits of Highly Effective Runners. for Running Times. I read it but didn't understand it really so I re-wrote it for myself. I feel like I probably got it wrong. What I mean is, I took what he said and applied it to myself and so this isn't exactly what he said but works for me. This summer I'm running with a goal or two: don't get injured, get faster.

These are my 5 guidelines to help me be a better runner:

1. When you have a bad workout, look at what might have gone wrong and adjust for it i.e. running long or hard too soon after a race, then make a note and move on. Let it go. Your next workout is a new day.
2. Find the training rhythm where your stress/rest cycle is in balance. Frequent injuries and bad days mean you aren’t recovering enough.
3. Training plans are a moment by moment series of decisions with a long term goal as the result. Your decisions should all be made with that goal in mind. That goal should not be date specific i.e. a particular race on a particular date but rather “I want to be strong enough to run a marathon.” You build toward that goal and when you get there, you run a marathon.
4. Success is about keeping on keeping on. Foster tenaciousness in small ways every day. This means that success is earned over time. It means consistently working out, committing to the plan and following through on a day by day basis until you get where you want to be. It does not mean working out come hell or high water with injuries or when you’re under rested. Being tenacious means knowing when rest is the right move and resting when your mind tells you to just go out there and do it.
5. Listen to yourself and what you need. Sometimes you need to run long and slow with good tunes because that feels good. It’s fun. Sometimes you need to run a fast 5k. It’s fun. In the end, feeling strong is almost as important as being strong. Do things that will make you fast but also things that make you feel fast.

Running Log: April 19 - 25

Miles for the Week: 9 (118)

04/20/10 Ran 9 miles with Steph and Steve. It was pretty hard at first but I warmed up around mile 3 and I think, if I pulled back enough, I could have just kept running. Its the first time I felt like an ultrmarathon was do-able while I was running. Its easy to say you want to do it while you're sitting in front of a computer daydreaming. Everything is a little cranky this morning: knee, back, hips but no major ouchy. I feel stronger. Thinking aboutrunning as a series of choices (heel strike vs mid-foot, hanging arms, floppy hands etc) rather than one continuious homogenious thing makes it work better.

Running Log: April 12 -18

Miles for the Week: 28 (109)

04/12/10 Ran 8 miles at the Grenway. I found the trails out past the Interstate. They lead up to Crump Road. It turns out that its 1 mile to the cross over which means its either 3 miles to Crump Road or 4. It was a slog of a run. I felt better going in then half way through. I ran hard the last mile or so but it was the longest warm up of all time. Today my knees hurt like motherfuckers. I think its the shoes I wore at the race, Nike Skylon, but we'll see. I plan to lay off road running for a few weeks and not wear the Nikes for running. I still need to go to Shaw's Athletic and see about something between the Nike's and the Asics. I like the way the Nike hug the pavement but I need more control and cushion.

04/13/10 My knees is sore under patella, feels a little like the knee is bending backwards. Changed from Converse to Creepers.

04/14/10 Ran 5 Miles at Forest Meadow. There was a long warm but but a pretty decent run.

04/15/10 5 miles on the Fern Trail with Steve and Steph. Hard but good. I need more sleep. I need to be putting my lap top away at 9, maybe earlier if I want to get up at 4 or 5.

04/16/10 The knee is feeling good but every now and then I feel it and get nervious.

04/17/10 Ran 10 miles with the whole crew at the Greenway. It was hard but good. My breath was labored. It could be a lack of sleep or exhaustion, both maybe.

Running Log: April 5 - 11

Miles for the Week: 20 (81)

04/06/10 Ran 6 miles at the Greenway. I had a good strong start, maybe a little too fast, and ran negative splits coming back. 29 going out. 27.5 coming in. Not great. Not shit.

04/7/10 Ran 3 miles in the neighborhood. Ran the hills hard. Couldn't help it.

04/08/10 Ran 4 miles with Steph in the rain, discussed strategy. Good run. Fun run. I need to have more fun runs with her but not until my time is better.

04/10/10 Ran 7 miles at Palace. 3.1 on the race and about 4 on the warm up and cool down. Ran a 24:01. Steph says it was fster and the timers were wrong. I don't care. I could have shaved some seconds off at the end. I wasn't used to how hard I was runner and had a hard time judging what I had left. I should have pushed harder. I have all summer to work it out. I am excited.

Running Log: March 29 - April 4

Miles for the Week: 29.5 (55)

03/30/10 Ran 5+ miles at San Luis Mission Park. I ran the loop three times, the second two laps hard on the hills and then one last hard run up the big hill plus I crisscrossed one the road portion to build in more distance. I was on my feet for an hour and a half. It was a great run. I felt like I could catch my breath easier.

03/31/10 Worked out at the Park. Bit of a cluster fuck but also heavy learning. I did slow push-ups followed by supermen (arms out and then in), arm leg extensions (imgine a pointer) followed by modified kick outs and then plank for 30 seconds wioth side planks and 15 roll unders (top arm comes around and under the body.

Slow push ups are fucking hard. Got a weak ten and did the rest as straight PU's. I figured out the supermen worked best of I considered each in and out as a rep and just never relaxed my torso. The points were the same, hold the extension and then do the modified kickouts in sets of 15, same with the planks,

Next we jogged over to the dip/PU station and did that. And then off to the Inverted row bar for some fun (45 reps) chased by 1.5 miles of jogging. All in all, a keeper with some work. I think I got in 90 PU and 40 dips.

03/01/10 Ran 5 miles along the Fern trail. I felt slow and sluggish on the out and strong on the back. I pushed for speed on the last bit to the railroad tracks and fought the hill. It was good.

03/02/10 Ran 3 miles in the neighborhood late into the evening (9:30). I was going to take it easy but when I hit the hill set at mile two, I decided to work the hills and try the hilltop surge instead i.e. instead of backing off slightly - pushing harder at the crest. Maybe not the best ideas since I was running fifteen tomorrow.

03/03/10 Ran 15 miles with Saiju and Brad and Steph. The first 5 was normal crew training hard. The second two sets were easier but still high nine minute miles. It was a good run. I think Brad kept asking questions to slow me down for Saiju. He's smart about that kind of thing. It was interesting watching him. He knows Saiju pretty weel and hads built a training plan that Saiju feels good about. That's impressive.

Running Log: March 22 - 28

Miles for the Week: 26 (27)

03/22/10 Ran three miles in the neighborhood. I tried real hard to hold back and use it as a recovery run. A) I still needed to actaully recover from last week's workouts B) There is no good reason to waste 3 miles the day before you plan to run 18 miles. This is a hindsight thing.

03/23/10 Ran 13 miles at the Greenway. My legs weren't right. I was running lactic by mile 6 and developed a twingy pain in my right (the injured one) calf and hamstring plus I staretd worrying about time. I needed to get to work. I should have planned better. I shouldn't have worked my legs like that last week. I shouldn't have run with the crew on Saturday. This run, today's run, should never have happened. I felt like I needed to catch up and I got prideful. Its either going to cost me a long run down the road or I'm going to need to find a differant marathon. Let's extrapolate: A) Only one leg day a month and only on Sundays B) If you have a long run scheduled, don't except another offer to run and then reschedule the long run. Trying to catch up will get you injured. C) Injury sucks.

03/25/10 4 miles with the crew on the Fern Trail. We ran and it was drizzling and then raining and by the time we got to the basin, there was lightening so it became a tempo run back. Steve picked up pace midway and I missed it at first and had to play catch up on the way back. It was a good tough run.

03/27/10 Ran 6+ miles at Forest Meadow on the Lake Overstreet loop. I wore my old GT-2150's which caused some ankle discomfort. And there were some weak spots hbut I did pick ups throughout and finished on a sprint. It was good.

03/28/10 Worked out at Julia's: Javorek barbell complex #1 (Upright Row, High Pull Snatch, Behind the Head Squat Push Press, Behind the Head Good Morning, Bent Over Row x 6) followed by35lb snatches (9 x 3) and the 50lb dumbbell deadlifts trapbar style (3x5+)

Running Log: March 15 - 21

Miles for the Week: 15.1 (7)

03/15/10 Ran neighborhood 5k at around 27 minutes. I think I went out too fast by a minute and could have finished faster. I also wore heavy camo shorts because it was ass fucking cold and I was too lazy to suit up so I believe I have a faster time in me for the Palace Saloon 5k.

03/16/10 I went to the park and did: 15 hindu push-ups, 30 hindu squats, 15 reverse crunches, 30 glute bridges x 4 to dips 20/20/10 with planks inbetween jogged over to the inverted row bar 20/10/10 with sets of 30 lateral squats to 6 50m hill sprints. I was supposed to do squats to overhead press and then weighted hip thrusters but I forgot the sandbag. I should have done the glute bridges one legged. Otherwise it was a decent workout. Oh yeah, my back was cracking like a motherfucker on the hindu push-ups.

03/18/10 Ran 5 miles with the crew. We did two 1/4 miles. My best time was 1 minute 38 seconds. Not too shabby.

03/19/10 Workout at Julia's: 6x 3 25lbs each arm (goblet squat, swings, squat to snatch, squat to press, squat to high pull), 3 x 6 50lb per hand db deadlift, trap bare style, 50lb farmer's carry.

03/21/10 7 miles with the crew at new trails on Tom Brown Park. It was pretty roough. This week beat the shit out of my legs. If I want to do legs it needs to be on Sunday only. It was disrespectful to my training partners and the value of my workout to not show up Saturday with my best legs.

*The number in red is the number of miles I have on my current pair of running shoes, Asic's GT-2150.