the wood and the clay: week 4

sunday, 8 miles . . .

monday, 15 miles . . .

tuesday, 12 miles . . .

2 mile warm up

40 min. tempo run (5:31)

2.5 mile cool down

wednesday, 15 miles . . .

thursday, 10 miles . . .

friday, 20 miles . . .
2 mile warm up
40 min. @ marathon pace (5:36)
4:45 @ tempo pace (5:20)
20 min. @ marathon pace
4:45 @ tempo pace
10 min. @ marathon pace
3.37 mile cool down

saturday, 10 miles . . .

7 miles easy

6 X strides w/full recovery

. . . the first day at camp, near the base of mt. hood at 1300 feet of elevation. it's beautiful, dark, quiet out here. but it was raining most of the day today. just a light drizzle during my run (some luck carried over from last week). ran around camp for a bit and then hit the gravel road. started out nice, gradual rise and fall. then a sudden steep drop with a dead end at the bottom. spent the rest of the 8 miles on country roads. steep hills, no cars, lots of unleashed dogs. it was nice to sleep in.

. . . this will go down as one of my great runs. i woke up without an alarm near 8:00. took my time eating some oatmeal with blueberries and honey. took more time stretching and loosening up. few clouds, no rain, crisp, a slight breeze. i decided to hit all log roads today at camp since it was going to be my longer run. first two roads were dead ends. then i took the third one. this one went for miles (never found the end of it) with other roads swerving off from it. after a few miles i connected to a nice gravel "main" road and followed it. this was epic. a huge hill to conquer. from the top you could see the world. it gradually sloped down, facing another shorter hill that the road climbed lazily up in a serpentine manner. nice open country with the woods close by. i ended up gaining 1000 feet on this run and yet somehow still managed to average a 6:42 pace (a mere 3 seconds off from my typical training pace). i stopped at mile 5 and a little after mile 10 to eat some blocks. this seemed to sustain. also a bunch of random stops to read signs and just look at GOD'S creation. hips and butt felt a bit tight and by the end i had a small blister on the top of my pinkie toe on my right foot and one on my big toe on my left foot. on some of those steep hills, i felt like crying and even did a few times. but none of this mattered. i wish every run could be like this. but tonight i leave this camp.

. . . with much uncertainty i drove to the track for this long tempo run. yesterday was sheer utter craziness and exhaustion after my camp run. had to pack everything up and i was allotted (rather self allotted) as the master packer. this involved hunching down in the trailer attempting to left and swing heavy musical equipment tetris like so that it would all fit. then a long drive home in portland five o'clock mlk day traffic. this is not good recovery activity. by the time i made it home, my right butt, calves, and hamstrings where rather tight. i tried to work them out as much as i could but during the two mile warm up, i felt exhausted and tight. but beyond the physical misgivings, the all consuming ominous thought 'how am i going to make it through this forty minutes at tempo.'

i decided to push this number forty as far out off my mind as i could and just focus on one lap, hitting my 5:31 and then just holding it. lap by vicious lap. the first mile was fairly inconsistent jumping from as low as 5:18 average to as high as 5:34. but then i hit my sweet spot and somehow i was running quite comfortably at my 5:31. i spent a lot of time just living in that constant pain of a tempo run. letting my mind just rest in that movement, trying to be fully aware of my body the whole time. it was beautifully epic. lap after lap. looking at my garmin. staying consistent. it was only in the final 1.5 miles that i had to really dig in mentally but by then i had the luxury of knowing that i was going to finish this run at my tempo. this seems to always give me an extra push. still not sure where i got the strength to do this.

. . . after two beautiful runs on two beautiful days, i knew something had to give. and since the weather was once again incredible (especially the sunrise, a crimson blood shed over a third of the sky), it was my running that suffered. my right butt has gotten worse. so i found an old bocce ball that i haven't used for years and put it right on the knot in my butt and pushed my whole weight rolling along it. this was excruciating but it didn't work it all the way out. the first 5 miles of this 15 miler was all pain. with every strike of my right foot pain shooting from the fiery knot of death in my butt, down my calf, and around my shin. there was some decent running from 6 to 7 but still a desperate push. by the time i hit the hills from downtown to my house, i was quite exhausted. my form felt deflated, a side ache on my left side added to the misery. it's one of those glad it's over sort of days of constant mental coaching and physical death.

. . . even with all of the stretching, massaging, and bocce ball rolling last night, i still woke up a little bit sore. good news, after four miles i had loosened up considerably and just got in a relaxed stride hovering around the 6:37 average pace. and though i felt clunky, slow, feet pounding down hard, whenever i looked into a store window (which i do often to observe my form), i looked strong. and whenever i looked at my garmin for pace, it was right on. tried to relax and just focus on the ease of this pace. afterwards, my left hip felt a little tight but loosened up after a few yoga poses pre-shower.

. . . long run of freezing wet death. 20 miles, around the track (with the exception of the quarter mile it takes to run to the track). a cold day mixed with rain, fortunately no wind. i felt actually pretty recovered going into this run. the first 40 minutes at marathon pace went really well after the first mile which was spent just trying to hit the right pace. after that it was pretty smooth and relatively pain free, though by the end i was quite tired. mentally asking the question, how am i going to make it through the other half of this workout?

somehow i found the extra kick to hit that (almost) mile at tempo, one second faster actually. the next 20 minutes was very difficult. i took my gel, drank my water, and had to then really focus, especially those last 5 minutes. and now another push, another boost, a hard effort. but only a little less than 5 minutes. this is doable, right? and i made it through on pace. during this tempo effort, two willamette runners came on the track doing some easy pace. then a pickup 1000m. they kicked it fast at the end. it was beautiful to watch them soar around the track. afterwards they went into the locker room where i was changing. one left, me and the other one talked. he asked what i was doing, adding that i looked fast. interesting. because at this point i did not feel fast. i felt like i was just trying with all i was to hold on to a runaway train, feet flopping, legs dragging, fingers clutching but slipping. the last 10 minutes at marathon tempo was death. especially those first 5 minutes. i was 10 seconds off my pace. how was i going to regain that time with only 5 minutes left. but then something happened. i dug in, i pushed, and then i watched in amazement as my average pace crept slowly down, second by gruelling second.

and then it was over and i had hit my tempo right on. i went to the locker room to change out of my soaking shorts (which later i found out had caused some chaffing on my inner thighs, surprisingly this is a first for me). my fingers were frozen, pain shooting through as the warmed up. the cool down was clunky but i was rejoicing in completing another hard workout.

. . . so sore today in that place between heel and calve. stopped after a mile or more, out of breath, struggling to keep my form and pace. stretched out both calves. this helped for awhile until mile 5 came along. felt this intense pain, a ball of death on my left calve. continued to run, thinking that it would loosen up. no luck. visions of hobbling back to my house crowded my worried mind. i stopped at the catholic school and stretched. then sat down on a large rock and massaged the area and stretched again. luckily, this did the trick and i was able to run pain free the rest of the way, even speed up a little. i was limber now, ready physically, but not mentally to hit those strides. these final six bursts of energy to finish of the running week. one by one i knock them down. like i knock down each mile, each week, each day of my training. another week of successful training. after breakfast i spent a lot of time working out my problem calves, massaging them with the stick until i whimpered in pain. still a little sore though.