New Speedway Boogie

Hi Schuey, how was the big race?

JFK 50 miler is now behind me and so is the 2013 racing season! JFK 50 miler was supposed to be my comeback, breakout, big goal race this year and well I have to admit I'm pretty darn disappointed in myself! Let's see for the 2013 race seasoning I didn't even come close to run a a PR in the marathon and did come even close to achieving my goal at JFK this year of going sub 7 hours. With that I didn't even run a PR at JFK this year. I wanted to finish at least in the 30 and that didn't happen (73 overall), I wanted to place in the top 10 in my age group that didn't happen (14 age group).

There were some really good moments at JFK this year and I really thought for a good amount of the time I would run at 30min PR. As stated above it didn't happen. I have failed myself and in the process let down my crew team who gave-up their time with family friends to help me achieve my goal. Sorry team for letting you down. I will add the best part of my day was running with Kevin (sorry for breaking down again during our jaunt together). And it was great to run the last 12 miles with Chris (enjoy those moments of you being able to run faster then me that won't happen again!   )

At this point even though my body is recovered and I want to run and get ready for Boston, I'm not running. I'm hoping to get back into training maybe next week but no later then Dec 21st (which would give me 4 months of training for my 8th Boston).

I'm still digesting everything and will come back with some more thoughts on this past running season and JFK. At the moment I'm just not happy about how I performed and still going over the day at JFK! I will add that hopefully I will get things figured out and bring back the Bull in 2014! Time just keeps slipping into the future.........

Alright back in the saddle again!! After taking 2 weeks off due whatever I did to my right foot at JKF, I decided I felt good enough to hop on the Boston TM and give it a go.

I would say that the foot is 98.5% healed and really no after effects almost an hour later. So, this is all a good sign and today has now become the official kick-off day for Boston!!!! YEAH!!!

Today's run was 50mins long and ended up logging 6.69 miles at 7:29 avg. pace.

Day 1 is now in the books! It's sure did feel dam good to be running again today!!!!

Let me know when you want to freeze!

Don't sweat JFK, or any of your racing in 2013. Sometimes, things go great. Other times, not so much. Nothing you can do about it now.

But... it's great to see you starting up for what's sure to be a great Boston 2014! Go get 'em!

And if you need anyone to pace you...don't look at me.  

That treadmill is going to be getting a lot of work in the next few months...  

Welcome back!

Glad your foot healed so quickly! It looked  incredibly painful.

fostever wrote:Let me know when you want to freeze!

Um, yeah I think with the weather we are having right now that might just have to wait! I do look forward to get out and doing some running with you though!  


Mark B


Don't sweat JFK, or any of your racing in 2013. Sometimes, things go great. Other times, not so much. Nothing you can do about it now.

But... it's great to see you starting up for what's sure to be a great Boston 2014! Go get 'em



Thanks Mark, I agree not sweating it anymore. Focus is on what I can control and fix and that is the future state of my running!

ounce wrote:And if you need anyone to pace you...don't look at me.  

Why not? I think it would be a blast to run with you Doug! 

Dave-O wrote:That treadmill is going to be getting a lot of work in the next few months...  

Welcome back!

Yeah how about it! All we just need to do now is get those PRs this spring. Oh and lets not forget the wine! 

Julie wrote:Glad your foot healed so quickly! It looked  incredibly painful.

Yep me too, it was pretty painful. I would say that it is close to being completely healed but healed enough to do some running.

By the way, I think I got my treadmill "calibrated" right (it had something to do with the calibration of the incline).  I, too, can run the Boston course, but can you share some other good treadmill workouts with me?   We just have cold here in Cleveland (no ice and no real snow), but sometimes it is too cold to do speed work outside as the cold can make the muscles to taunt and that is counter-productive.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:By the way, I think I got my treadmill "calibrated" right (it had something to do with the calibration of the incline).  I, too, can run the Boston course, but can you share some other good treadmill workouts with me?   We just have cold here in Cleveland (no ice and no real snow), but sometimes it is too cold to do speed work outside as the cold can make the muscles to taunt and that is counter-productive.

Sorry for the delay Michele outside of doing the my standard Fartleks (which I do vary the how I do them) and tempo runs. Also I will put together the other Boston Simulation workout that I do which is slightly different from running the actually course. Here are some of the workouts that I do on the treadmill:

Fancy TM. I have only cheap gym ones for easy runs.

Thanks, Schuey!  I appreciate it.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Thanks, Schuey!  I appreciate it.

No problem, as I do more and different variations of workouts I will let you know. I think the cool thing about the TM is you can play around with things and come up with all kinds of cool workouts! All to make the time go by pretty darn fast on the TM.

So, I have made the commitment to myself to not have another racing season like last year! Time to get back on the PR train or least performing at much higher level.

There is no better way to get the ball rolling back in the right direction then week 1 of 16 to Boston. With one stop on the way in March running the March Madness 1/2 marathon.

Monday 12/30

AM 10.53 miles, time 1:18:18 pace 7:26 and Avg. HR 77%

For this run I decided to kick off the official Boston training by doing the first 10 plus miles of the course. I felt really good during the whole run and look forward to many more simulations leading up to race day!

 
 

PM 14.82 miles,  time 1:45:07 pace 7:06 and Avg. HR 76%

For this run I mapped out a new course going through the mountains in Utah along US 89 outside of Garden City along with running the first 5 miles of this running being the first five miles of the Boston course. The whole purpose of this run was to pound my quads and put in a lot of downhill running. A lot of people of different theories and philosophies on how to prepare for Boston. For me I have found my success in Beantown in April when I have put in a lot of downhill running during training. I have found by doing this not only do I get through the first of the course feeling good but my legs are strong going through the hills and more importantly when I hit the graveyard section of the course on the backside of Heartbreak by BC I still feel strong! 

I was surprised on how well I felt during this run but have to be honest about 10 miles into the run I know the last 4 miles plus was going to be tough. I knew this because it was the most downhill running I have done in a long time and I could feel my lower back, shoulders and core getting tired. I made it through the run and due to taking a nice epsom salt bath and using my compex for recovery. I recovered from this run very well but I know there is some work to be put in! 

 
 


Tuesday 12/31

10.38 miles, time 1:21, pace 7:48 and Avg. HR 69% 

Nothing special about this run just your standard recovery run. It felt easy and was good to get the blood circulating through the body after yesterday's runs. 

There you go the start to a kick-ass 2014 running season! 

Happy New Year All! Hope you all meet and succeed your running goals this coming year!!!!

Wednesday 1/1/14

11.10 miles, time 1:37:30, pace 8:47, Avg. HR 69%

After a great NYE, got up this morning at 8:15. Got all dressed and ready to for the first run of the new year, ran up to Northwestern Hospital to meet up with Frank. Him and I proceeded to hit the lakefront path in a nice snow storm, lot's of running running with Frank today and in the snow! Run felt good and again it's always fun to run in the snow, the only thing with is that footing wasn't all that great. That's ok because it was a nice cardio workout plus I got the chance to run in my new Salomon Sense Pro trail shoes.

Quick review on the shoes loved them in the snow. I like the draw string style shoe laces, feet didn't get wet at all, I found my feet being very comfortable in the shoe and I like the toe box. I will still need to run on the trails to give a better review of the shoe but so far how they fit, feel and comfort I love them.

I feel much better now seeing that you ran 8:47 miles in the snow - makes my 10:30-11 min miles seem realistic for me.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:I feel much better now seeing that you ran 8:47 miles in the snow - makes my 10:30-11 min miles seem realistic for me.

Yep nice an easy yesterday with Frank. The plan was a recovery run no matter what after the 3 runs over the first 2 days. As many us do we start to learn a thing or two abut running after doing it for awhile. Yes, I have learned that running slow and even slower then I did yesterday pays HUGE benefits down the road. Let's face it cardio is cardio and ever slow paces have a benefit on aerobic condition. 

The other big benefit from this that a lot of people forgot or don't even think about is that it helps in using fat! For me I think this is what sold me on running slower. As man will find when you run at these much slower paces your body will burn more fat as energy vs. glycogen. Again the benefit of this is that the body in return is now teaching itself how to use a fuel tank that holds a lot more fuel then the glycogen tank! The result is once you teach your body to use this source the body can then balance using energy from the 2 sources. Were this pays off is during racing in longer distances races 1.) it will help in have more glycogen to use as fuel longer into the race.  2.) when the glycogen tank does get empty the body won't go into a panic mode, result you don't hit the wall. The body knows it now it can use fat as the fuel source.

If you don't ever run slow and teach the your body how to use fat as an energy source it will not know how to do it. Again, the end result is the finding and hitting the dreaded WALL. Let me add that once one gets to the point to were glycogen stores are near empty and the body would meet to use fat there training run is either almost over or over. The body never gets the chance to learn, therefore that is why it is to me important to add slow and even long slow running into the training plan. Reason for my feeling much fresher during and after a marathon is a direct result of training and running 50 mile races. All those long runs at slow pace has taught my body to be more efficient at burning fat as energy!  So, just like training and racing long distance races you must also teach your body how to use this valuable fuel source FAT!!!

Once you make the complete transition to fat as the fuel (which takes about 8 weeks), meaning you consume less than 50 grams per day in carbs (200 calories), you don't have to train your body to work on its use of fat as energy, because it's the only energy source you have.

The transition takes time, though.  For decades, your body is used to burning the easiest source available, which for the standard American is carbs.  The initial switchover in the first week can cause some interesting reactions (cravings, mostly) and when running, your body is looking for carbs, but can't find as many, so your running will suffer through the transition.

But when converted to burning fat as the sole source, it's a really satisfying feeling.  And your ability to go long distances by only burning fat really makes you wonder why we're eating carbs anyway.  Ironmen do it, WS100 runners do it, and I've been doing it since May.  And it took me 8 weeks to be able to run a 20 miler, without feeling like I was going to have to stop.

ounce wrote:Once you make the complete transition to fat as the fuel (which takes about 8 weeks), meaning you consume less than 50 grams per day in carbs (200 calories), you don't have to train your body to work on its use of fat as energy, because it's the only energy source you have.

The transition takes time, though.  For decades, your body is used to burning the easiest source available, which for the standard American is carbs.  The initial switchover in the first week can cause some interesting reactions (cravings, mostly) and when running, your body is looking for carbs, but can't find as many, so your running will suffer through the transition.

But when converted to burning fat as the sole source, it's a really satisfying feeling.  And your ability to go long distances by only burning fat really makes you wonder why we're eating carbs anyway.  Ironmen do it, WS100 runners do it, and I've been doing it since May.  And it took me 8 weeks to be able to run a 20 miler, without feeling like I was going to have to stop.

Yep correct. I have decreased my carb intake in my diet and eat a much higher % of protein. Not only will you see the benefits in your race time but more importantly in recovery! That to me is were the true magic is. The faster the body can recover from training and racing stress the better off you are. 

I won't go as far as to saying to cut out carbs completely. Well yes some carbs should and I have cut them out completely but there is a need for them and also very useful to training and racing. I would have to go back and look at the numbers but WS100 and other ultra runners are taking in carbs during races. I think were the difference is and what I started doing is consuming more protein during my races. Hopefully this makes some sense?

I'm not able to consume much more than about 20% of my calories from protein and carbs, without it negatively affecting my blood ketone level.  And my carb level is about 5% of my calories, sometimes less.  On days where I get off target and consume extra carbs, I'll be slamming fats to offset it so the morning blood test works.

I particularly like not having that rigor mortis feeling after a long run and even during the later stages of a long run, when I stop for water, where the legs just don't want to go.

You realize that whatever protein your body doesn't use is converted to sugar, right?  I found that only after a run longer than 20 miles would my body require additional protein from the paltry amount of protein grams I consume each day.

And the WS100 folks will consume carbs, like the night before and during the race.  I tried Superstarch during my 30K race and it didn't seem to negatively affect me.  I ended up, though, not consuming much because I made it the night before and didn't REALLY shake it up before drinking it the next morning.  A bunch was on the bottom of the cup.

Jeez, Schuey, I didn't think you'd come over to the 'dark side' of nutrition.  My doc hates my LDL level.

Thursday 1/2/14

10.07 miles, Time 1:10, pace 6:57, avg HR 77% and max HR 90%

Yeah today was a good day and on tap was a fartlek run! Goal was 10 miles with 8x2min @ 5:46 pace. I ran 4 miles at easy pace avg was 7:28. then it was time to get cracking at the fartlek section. I wasn't really sure how this was going to go since it had been awhile since I have done one and at a faster pace. Again the fartleks were 2mins long and I decided to run the recovery at an easy pace of 7:24 for 2mins. I made it through the run better then expected. I thought the selection of the 5:46 pace was perfect. Not easy but not over reaching. Now I have a benchmark to start at for higher intensity runs. Cool down was 1.39 miles @ 7:24 pace.

As time goes on I will start to add the fartlek into the Boston course simulation.For toady it was a perfect run to help gain the confidence that my legs can move that fast and mentally I can handle it!

Diego wrote:Happy New Year Schuey and Lisa!

Lisa, when you two(+1 in the car seat) drive to Hopkinton, where do you park near the course to watch the 365 runners?

Happy New Year to you Diego! After Lisa drops me off at the State Park, she heads downtown to get a good spot near the finish line. One year she was at the top of Heartbreak Hill and I ended up beat her back to Boston. And 2012 she went to the half and saw me and again I was finished before she made it back to the city. Actually I was I already drinking beer by time I saw her again.

So, again we have always decided on her going to the best place on the course the finish!!!