Of course it's about running.

This is reprinted from our weekly Team in Training email update, but I hope my laziness is compensated for by the good news one of our patient honorees got this week:

This week's Mission Message comes from the family of patient honoree Jordan Pickering.

Good Afternoon everyone!

Well we got the results of her bone marrow test and it is clean! Her spinal fluid is Clear! Well 1 test down and 3 more to go.

Her next appointment is in a month for blood counts and her antibiotic. This is just an awesome week!

Jordan is enjoying her start to school. Riding the bus, making new friends and getting a good jump on her reading. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. Please keep them going as there are still many hurdles to jump and too many kids and adults that are battling this disease.

Thanks.

Love

The Pickering's

Sometimes, actually often, I get caught up in race times and training schedules and fail to remember the focus: Working toward a cure for blood cancers. Jordan's great test results help reinforce the reason I'm participating in Team in Training - to produce some good from the running I enjoy. It wasn't enough this year to just run the race, and I'm really thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this, even in my own small way.

Wednesday's 7.5 miles worked even better than Tuesday's shorter workout. I still probably went too fast during the first 2/3, covering the 5 miles at about an 8:15/mile pace, but I was really consistent and felt pretty good. Then I sped up for the last 2.5 and averaged about 7:45/mile.

Again, probably too fast on the first 2/3, so for this weekend's long run (17 miles) I'll probably try to dial back to 8:20 or 8:30 per mile and try to hold that pace the entire way if possible. OK, I may speed up for the last mile or so just for the fun of it, but I'll be very pleased if I can hold 8:30 the whole way.

Sorry I couldn't think of a better title. Anyway, tonight starts a weird section of my marathon training - I'm fully recovered (in all ways) from the Distance Classic, the Run Hit Remix is over, and now my long weekend runs are approaching. Except that in two weeks I'll be heading for vacation and will have to juggle my long runs to get them in. So I'm still in a no-man's-land of training that won't be over for almost a month.

To refresh, the Distance Classic taught me that I needed to vary my speeds during training. Since my Tuesday run is the first of the week (Monday is for cross-training; I do weights and elliptical) I want to ease into the week but also start strong, so I did a warmup lap (1.25 miles), a fast lap and a cooldown lap. The first and third laps averaged 8:20/mile pace while my middle lap was at 7:04/mile. This was just what I was looking for to start the week - a deliberately varied pace where I was able to keep a consistent pace, both fast and slow, for a set distance.

Tomorrow is my longest midweek run to date in my current training plan, 7.5 miles (or 6 laps of my neighborhood). I'm planning to take a similar metered approach: I'll go at the slower pace for the first four laps and then speed up (though not quite as much) for the last third of the distance. This type of schedule should get my body used to working hard even when it's tired, excellent prep for those last several miles of the marathon.

Not so much a race as a "fun run" (no timing chips), the Nike Run Hit Remix was a 5-mile run starting at 9pm in Grant Park. The main reason for doing it, and what brought out a zillion casual runners, was the half-dozen musical acts along the course. The ones you know were Young MC, Digital Underground, and the headline concert afterwards by De La Soul. (We were far enough back in the field that they had probably sung their hits well before we passed by.) Also along the course were a local U2 cover band, another local 90s cover band, plus an Elvis impersonator, bagpipes, a mariachi band and one of those Asian/Japanese drum groups that I think was entirely comprised of women.

The music brought out a ton of much more casual runners on a somewhat narrow course (we had to walk a lot of the first mile before things began to spread out), and since I was still recovering from the Distance Classic, I ran with Mark the whole way with a time of 56:31. Not too bad given the field and course, plus it was nice to go out and not be concerned with my pace the whole way. I would have liked to better the 55:45 I ran (with a cold) at the "Rudolph Ramble" 5 mile last December, but a 14:02 first mile took care of that. Plus I enjoyed running with Mark.

The rest of the weekend was more recovery, with 11.25 miles on Sunday (at an 8:53 pace). Now that the CDC and its recovery week are over I'm back on track for the Chicago Marathon, which is now less than 9 weeks away. I hope it's not too early to get excited.

I was shooting for 1:45, I ran 1:57:52. So what happened? I'd like to blame blisters or cramps or getting run over by bigfoot, but it was just fatigue. If I was a real athlete I'd call it overtraining, but I just went too hard in the week or 10 days before the race. The run I was so pleased with on 8/5, the 8-miler at the track, was certainly a poor idea in retrospect. As I prepared for the CDC, instead of keeping the same pace at a shorter distance I should have dropped both distance AND intensity. When the Distance Classic progressed past 7 miles I was worn out.

The first half went well - I was almost a minute faster through 4 miles and :55 seconds through 6. I had to hit the bushes during mile 7, but as I passed that mile marker I was still about 7 seconds faster than goal pace. Then I started to slow, and dropped about 50 seconds in mile 8. I tried to speed up in mile 9 but dropped another 30. Then during mile 10 the wheels fell off and I dropped way back. I wasn't in pain, I hadn't twisted anything or stepped in a pothole, I just couldn't go as fast as I wanted. I also had a hard time keeping my breathing cadence going, and lapsed into some gasping. Miles 10-13 were a long, slow slog as I just tried to get to the finish and be done.

The 1:57:52 was just under a 9 minute/mile pace, and I would have been really happy with that time 6 months ago. But instead of being mad, I'm just bummed about the missed opportunity. I'm very glad that I had the overtraining experience now instead of during the marathon on October 22. Overall, while I was a little disappointed, I learned a lot about how to train and how to rest, so I still count this "slow" race as a success.

Yes, I'm running the weekend round-up on Wednesday. What of it?

Last Saturday I did my 8 mile workout on a high school track. I've done this before (the last time was also the week before a big race) so I was pretty sure it would go OK. The weather was pretty good, not too warm or humid, and the track was empty which was nice for a Paxil candidate like me. I know I look goofy running so the fewer people around the better.

I ran pretty well with a strong last mile and lap to finish my 8 in 1:03:35, just under the 8:00/mile pace I'm working on. To even out the stress on my knees I ran miles 4, 6 and 7 clockwise and the rest the traditional counter-clockwise. I had no soreness or other ill effects so I think it worked out well.

Now for other blog stuff. Check out my first YouTube video from the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race. Poor quality so I'll have to work on it.

Also I have two new photo galleries up, one of auto racing and one of food racing.

Just a few days away from Sunday's Chicago Distance Classic. For some reason I always enjoy the packet pick-up and expo at these events, so I'm looking forward to going to that as well. I hope the shirt is good.

It's been really hot & humid here in Chicago lately, so I've been trying to take it easier and not push too hard. However the popular "105° heat index" excuse isn't enough to paper over my poor performance last weekend.

On Sunday the 23rd I ran my aforementioned CDC test. Then came Monday night and a work party at a downtown bowling lounge. Tuesday was spent recovering, so there's one training day missed. Wednesday brought some hamstring/glute soreness on the left side, losing me another day. It was gleefully pointed out to me that this was probably the result of bowling and that even after all the running I was still getting injured baseball player-style.

So there's two days gone. Thursday I managed to crank out about 4 miles as the weather started to heat up. Friday's an off day, so how better to spend my time than eating deep-dish pizza. 7 am on Saturday morning brings our weekly Team in Training group run. I hang in ok for the first 5-6 miles, but then slowly start to drop back. After 9.5 I told the guy I was running with to go on ahead of me and I slowly plodded to the end of the 12 miles in 1:59:59. Not good.

Sure, I reasoned, it was hot. Later that day as I pounded pizza leftovers I realized I was only 1/3 right. The heat I couldn't control, but my carb-poor Friday diet was probably also a major factor. Some rice in my Chipotle and a slightly thicker pizza crust for dinner don't get it done. The low training volume is the third part; I'll take half the blame because while Tuesday was a blur, I probably should've gone on Wednesday, even for a few slow miles.

The moral of the story is, eat right the day before an important or significant run. A Clif bar and some Gatorade is probably not enough to get you through a long run, especially when it's hot out. Learn from my mistakes!

PS. At the end of Saturday's group run my hands were so sweaty my fingers started to wrinkle. Now go eat breakfast.