Greg, Myself, and Philippe.
The Race
Splits and Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/773313254/overview
Nice weather, chilly. We started conservatively than we picked it up a bit at 10K. I was with Greg, Philippe, and a Richmond dude. We let the whole Kenyan Rift Valley go out and pound each other ahead with no mind to them. We started accelerating after 10K and it felt incredibly easy. By mile 12 I told Greg goodbye, as the pace was too rich for me to be running that early. We were hitting low 5:30s. Ran through half in a controlled 1:14:08 and I was telling myself how great I felt and how easy that was. I figured running another 1:14 would be a piece of cake.
I was gaining on Skeeter Morris and another random dude aftrer the half. After mile 15 we went on this vast open bridge. the wind descended and running all alone, I had no one to draft on. It was BAD. Ran like a 6:09 split. By 17 my hamstring in my right leg was bothering me and my stride began to shorten. I just couldn't get off of the ground very well. We headed back into the wind for two more miles, and I caught two more guys but I was feeling shitty. I gunned it a bit and took another gel but there was nothing more to summon. My legs were shot and that was the end of it. Some dude and Tom came storming past me in the last mile and I was giving everything just to stay together. I wasn't even breathing hard but my legs were just completely gone, shot, nothing to spring with and my hamstring was PISSED. Afterward I went to the medical tent to roll it out but I had a hard time walking correctly as my leg would just give out. I massaged it and took some ibuprofen and it's now calmed down but it hurts, both of my hamstrings.
What I've learned from this cycle:
I came into Richmond feeling good and with high hopes. I decided this time around that I would train very hard by doing a lot of pool running in addition to running 90+ miles a week, along with lifting and core. I really wanted to run a 2:25 marathon very badly as a personal goal for myself. Like most things (everything) in life, things don't work out quite the way you planned. Although in many ways the harder you work and practice at something, the better you will be at that thing. This holds true to some extent. But also in the same way that working extremely hard doesn't gaurantee a great income, working extremely hard doesn't gaurantee that you will improve in running.
I've also been having a lot on my mind these past few months with where to go in life. Basically, should I stay here, move away, apply for jobs somewhere else? I won't go too deep here, but I've been having some confidence problems. Sometimes knowing who you are isn't enough. I've always had a terrible habit of being too hard on myself to the point of never believing in myself, and it's always been a struggle. Everyone has these feelings sometimes but it's been a little tough lately. Whether I like it or not, your mental state has a big effect on your body's physical ability to perform at its best. I experienced a similar struggle senior year of high school when I ran slower than junior year of high school despite training twice as hard.
I've also learned a lot this cycle about how my body reacts to training. Last year in 2015 I actually started to train pretty seriously. I ran 1:09:44 for the half marathon and 2:29:41 for the marathon on basically an average of 80-90 miles a week including workouts and core. This year I only managed 1:10:45 and 2:32:03 while my trainging averaged 91 miles a week for this cycle with 20 miles of pool running a week plus lifting, core, drills. Pool running miles are calculated at 10min = 1 mile. I was doing all of this while working full time and also working a second job a few hours a week by driving for Uber. In retrospect, I see that
1. My morning runs were longer, probably too long for an easy day.
2. My days such as 1.5 hr pool run then 9 miles in the evening were probably too much to recover for the workouts
3. In my insecurity of myself and my fitness, I often ran miles just to run, more and more, twice a day, everyday I was either doing a run or in the pool. This wasn't always healthy.
I'm beginning to understand that Like Ron Hill, the famous marathon runner of the late 60s, my best races came at a moderate amount of training. Any forced extra training to make up for a perceived "lack of speed" or lack of "genetic talent" will only hurt me. You simply cannot work full time and train like a professional and recover enough to do your best. I see that I would most likely run better on a program of slightly more quality at race pace, slightly longer tempos and faster long runs, and less overall volume. I also need HILLS at speed in training. I'm terrible at hills and need more power in my legs. '
Secondly, you can't go into a race and say "I will run this or that time" or I am going for "this or that" time. I have to be more in tune with my body and actual capabilities on that day and not wha I think or want my body to do. There's no forcing it in long distance races, and there's also no miracles in distance running.
Overall I could learn a lot from my cool ginger friend, Jill, who replaced most of her easy day mileage with pool work and vastly improved. She ran 2:50 at the NYC marathon and I am really impressed with her discipline and positivity. She surprised me today by driving down to Richmond to cheer me on and to give me a water bottle. Go Jill!
I also want to give a big shout out to Greg, Tom, and Philippe who had great races today. They've helped me in every workout and trained with me through the heat, the sweat, and the disappointments. These are great guys to have around when it gets tough out there. I really want to thank my coach, George who is very dedicated to helping his runners succeed. Rain, heat, snow, he's always there to hekp us get the best out of ourselves and keep an objective eye. He's saved me from "myself" on many occasions. Of course, you actually have to LISTEN and do what he says to make it work.
Where I'm going from Here
I will be doing Club XC nationals in a month for fun. It's so much fun to run there. After another short break I'll being running and do some track and short road races this spring. I have a new goal: break 15:00 in the 5K! My training volume will go down but my interval days and tempo days will be more intense and I'll probably add some compound lifting and hill work in there to get the speed back into my aging legs. But my main goal is to just enjoy it. Enjoy the act of running, being able to run, being healthy, helping others, and enjoying the sport with my friends. Running may seem like a trivial activity to some, but it makes my life so much better. As long as I don't take myself too seriously, I see myself with many more healthy years of putting one foot in front of the other and feeling free.
Have some questions or want advice on running? shoot me a message. Also good to always note tha I'm HEALTHY. How it easy it is to forget these days:
 
remember this kid? Man he was tough
Results
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