It's been a while

I know I haven't posted yet this year, or even that much last year, but I'll try to remedy that to some degree. I'm sitting in a hotel in Charlottesville Virginia right now getting ready to do a visit this afternoon, but with the morning off, I decided to get in a 10 miler. Ambitious, I know. I ran two miles out with Kevin, and by out I mean up, as in up into the hills. At two miles we discovered a loop that was almost exactly a mile around. Sweet. I ran one and a half loops with Kevin before I urged him to go on with out me. Lets put it this way, he raced a half marathon Sunday and I haven't raced anything in 2 years. Add a bunch of hills, and the fact that, as Ari knows, all of my runs these days go out of the way to avoid hills. Moral of the story, Kev was whamping me. Anyways, once he bounced, I ran another 2 and a half loops to put me at 6 miles, I then ran back down to the hotel, and added on two mile on the "flats" to make it 10 in just under 72 minutes.

Speaking of half marathons, Kevin has talked me into racing the Gainesville half on Valentines day, while we are working in Florida. I'll summarize my training in the last few weeks for you. Last week, 42 miles. 2 weeks ago, 3 miles. Ouch.

Time to go into Frank the Tank training mode, I have 3 weeks to get my ass in shape. Thankfully, I have a few things working in my advantage, for once. First off, I ran 40 miles last week, and I have 3 weeks to go, so thats like a month of training. 2nd I randomly decided to get in shape this week anyways and my last 4 runs have been 8 miles, 10 miles, 12 miles and 10 miles, so I'm on pace for a really good week of training, and anyone can string together two more weeks before a race, right? And most importantly, no one really enters the race. Results for the last two years have people running 6 minute pace competing for prize money. The winner is usually around 70-72, but 2nd and 3rd are always around 78-79. And I would have to run slower then my 87 minute "PR" I ran pacing Mad after taking a year off to not be in the top 25 or so, so either way, I will have a respectable finish.

Wish me luck.

Ok, ok, I'll post something.

So several people have inquired as to how my recent training has been going. After reading Jilane's guest post from Carrie I am motivated to share my new training secret. I have not run for the past week. Actually, it has more to do with a bad cold and a good friends wedding, and less to do with my new motivational influences.

I have a couple of additional tid bits of information to share with you. Since this blog update has been a long time coming, I don't care if I jump around and it doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't make a lot of sense.

1stly (is that a word? Is anything with numbers and letters a word?) a couple of weeks ago I called my old high school coach to ask him some advice about marathon running. He was a rather old schools coach/runner who had done some marathons. He asked if I wanted to finish one, or race one. I said race one. He asked how much I was running. I said about 60-70 miles a week (which was true at the time). He laughed and responded "Well, you're going to want to almost double that." Great. I responded by taking a week off.

Also in the last few weeks Ben Stern and I have developed a race plan. It has been a long time coming, so I am glad we finally hammered one out. Our goal, as of the moment, is to start training and enter a low key marathon sometime this winter where we can run it as a long run and run as slow and close to (without going over!) the Boston qualifier as possible. Then we are going to continue to train and race Boston, so we can say we've done it. Sounds like a plan. I, of course, immediately responded by hammering Ben on a 7 mile run, going to Pat and Ben Clark's birthday party, getting sick, and not running for a week.

This is the part where I say I'm going to run 70 miles this week and do a tough workout and get my shit together. But that would mean my next post is where I say I didn't do any of that. As such, I think I'm going to be more realistic and just take this week to get back to running everyday and try to end it on a high note with a nice run at VCP and feel good about myself. Maybe do some abbs, some push ups. Just have a good time.

Speaking of having a good time, I hope everyone is coming to NYC for Heps/Halloween/NYC Marathon. Should be a good time. I need a costume, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

More posts to follow (sooner rather then later, I think).

Buck Fen Stern

So I claimed (or lied, depending on how you look at it) that I wasn't writing in my blog because I didn't want Ben to know what good shape I was in, so that I could surprise him at the Philly Marathon. However, since I'm not running it, and I'm not in good shape, I was actually just not updating this because I wasn't doing shit. Anyways, I'll give you guys a quick rundown of my last, well, month.

So for about 2 weeks I was doing some decent miles, occasionally running with Clark or Alex Brown and often with Becky. Even running up to 14 miles a day (once). Sick! Literally, then I got sick. I remember when I would get sick in college, it was usually because I was running 100 miles a week and not eating. I figured 60 miles a week while eating too much I would be fine, but I forgot that doing shots with Craig and Stevie B weakens the immune system about as much as running 100 miles a week and not eating. Whoops.

Was it worth it? Of course. I'm not really training for anything and you only get to black out with your good friends once (every few days). Anyways, I took a few days off, and felt a little better. That was until I went to Providence to watch Jokin beat Murat in an epic duel. That was extremely anti-climatic. Oh well, we celebrated early for Jokin. Like 24 hours early. Moral of the story, no matter what state I binge drink with Craiger in, I still get sick. 3 more days off next week and one solid 11+ mile run with Schmaloner - Brian and you're about caught up.

Saturday morning I was working the Manchester High School Invitational and I realized that Steve didn't live to far away. Sure enough, he was 25 minutes and one phone call away. Good run Friday morning, and a solid night out in Manch Vegas which saw me trade my only pull over for a ride home from a (hopefully) not too drunk girl. It was 40 degrees when I had to work the next morning. My B.

So that brings me back to today. Kev and I are rolling from Chelsea (our parking lot) in NYC to Hotlanta. No big deal, just 14 hours in the car. You know what would break it up? A 10 miler in DC with Ben, George and Dave Burnham. We ran a nice conservative pace for about 8 miles, then for the next mile and a half or so I decided to try and hammer Ben, you know, to make up for the 846389507037 times he's done the same to me. He told me he hadn't run much in the last month, I was ready to go. Only problem, I had no idea how far back to the finish.

Johnny G used to say you only had one move, so make it count. I apparently thought that only applied to being fit. I made my first move with about 2 miles to go. It just ended up making us pick up the pace. No worries, I thought, I'll get him in the last 400. Sure enough, with 400 meters (or so I thought left) I made a HUGE move (for my current state). I gapped the field as I turned the corner, I expected to see the grassy field near our cars. Unfortunately, what I saw was more bike path, a bridge in the distance and eventually Ben, and just about everyone else, passing me.

Now we are due to get into the Dirty Dirty at 3:15am, rather then 11:45pm. Moral of this story, is that I'm not fit, though I am at least ambitious, I will be up very late, and Dave (who I just met) must think I am a dumb ass, or just an ass. Either way, I got in a decent effort.

Note: Since starting this post, I have learned that our appointment in the morning was canceled, so we will be sleeping somewhere in one of the Carolina's tonight, and then finish the drive in the morning. Go me.

I'm Kenny Powers, and You're Fucking Out

So, what's really funny, is that I haven't posted in like a month.  I'll be honest Lena's blog has intimidated me, plain and simple.  But honestly, sorry about all of that.  I think I've got my pitch back, though, so I'll get back on the figurative blogging horse.

So, where was I?  Oh yeah, I was talking about a workout I did 3 weeks ago.  Guess what, I haven't done one since.  Whoops, I have however had weekly mileage totals of 55 (in 6 days) and then 10 (in two days, I was pretty sick, and working, and I drank too much with Stevie B, Craig, Jeff T and Becky) and this week I am on pace to get in just under 70 in 8ish runs.  Yup, almost 70.  In fact I started reading this Lydiard training schedule that Mr. Crossin sent me, and guess what?  It looks pretty good.  I mapped out my runs for the next 2 months (much like I did at Ben's house, except this time I might actually follow it) and I should be running pretty decent mileage with a track workout every two weeks and a couple tempos and some hills, and three longer runs a week.  Damn.  What happened to me?  

Random side note, while writing this blog Kevin and I stopped at a Giant just outside of Arlington on our way back to Pa.  I bought a gallon of High C.  I immediately drank half of it.  My head now hurts.  Something about blood sugar.  I feel vaguely like Hamel looked during  the Vermonster challenge.  

So anyways, anyone going to be around the city this weekend and want to get in an easy 14 miler?  I know Clark is down for an hour or so, but if anyone else wants in, then let me know.  Don't call me right now, as I locked my phone in a cubby in the back of my trailer, but call me tomorrow, or leave me a message.  Anyways, for now I'm off to help Kevin drive, and by that I mean drink some more High C.  I'll update more about the specifics of my week of running this weekend, as kind of a weekly recap.  

Workout? Why not?!

So, after reaching the 60 mile mark last week, I decided to hit the track and try out my new pair of Lunar Racers (They were new, because I haven't raced or run hard in over a year). Anyways, 8.0 was doing 14 x $.25 on the track and didn't want to be the only loser out their alone at 7:00am Tuesday morning, so I said sure.  I wasn't going to do quarters, of course, but I made up a workout I had been wanting to do a variation of for a few weeks, if I thought I could do it.  I did a 2 mile warm up, then hit the track for 3 x 2k with $.25 jog.  My goal was to run 5:30 pace and see what happened.  It actually went very well, I split 5:29 for my first one, and went on to run 6:50.  My next one was a bit slower, 5:30 split and 6:53.  I closed well with a 5:23 split to finish up in 6:45 for my last one.  Then I jogged a mile with 8.0 and called it a morning.

Now, I know that might not sound like a brilliant workout to some (any) of you, but to me, it was as good as anything I used to be able to do on the track.  It was good to get that burning in the lungs back.  Not to mention my stomach was upset with me all day, which sucked, but was also rewarding in its own sense of accomplishment.  

That evening, after work, and before judging a talent show (more on that in a bit) I got in another 22 minutes, to give me 10 miles on the day, and 17 for the (2 day old) week.  Sick, slowly (literally) but surely (hopefully) I'm getting back in shape.

So, for those of you who don't know where I am or what I'm doing at the moment, I am currently working with the XC Truck in Asheville NC at a Nike XC camp.  Last night I got to be a judge for a battle of the sex's contest, which included a game of props, a synchronized dance routine, and a pick up line contest, which included a couple I might have to save for a rainy day (You must be from Best Buy, because you turned my software into hardware!).  Also, I was not judging this contest as myself, but rather as track and field coaching legend, Roy Benson, who was kind enough to let me borrow his hat, and his Pretty Good Joke Book, with classics like 

"Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon?"

"The food is pretty good, but it has no atmosphere."

That just happened.

Moral of the story, my senior year theater experience back in High School paid off, and I've still got it.  Anyways, I took this AM off from running to grab a few extra Zzz's, so I'm off to get in a solid 10 or so in a few.  I think I'm going to keep making Tuesday my track workout day, so long as it works out with my schedule, so if anyone has any recommendations for some workouts I might like, let me know!

The big 6 0

So, I know I said I wasn't going to pull this whole 20 day off in between posts thing anymore, but, well, I lied.  I'm currently residing at UNC Asheville, in lovely Asheville North Carolina.  I would say I'm back on the road for work, but that would imply I was ever off of it.  Anyways, I've been running a bit this week, and with my 89 minute long run this morning, I officially broke 60 miles for the first time in a while.  Like, a long while.  I've been lucky enough to do most of my running this week with Jason "8.0" Knight, Brian "Gov" McGovern and Kevin "No nickname yet" Starkes. Needless to say, we have been running a decent amount, by my standards, and I've been starting to feel it.  This week has been crazy, lots of work, lots of running, and lots of failing to sleep on dorm beds.  Freshman year?  Oh wait, I said lots of work, never mind.

Anyways, my new old job is pretty sweet.  I'm doing Gait analysis and Nike iD for High School runners.  Right now I'm going all over the east coast to different camps. In about 2 months i'll be visiting high schools and going to meets promoting NXN and just generally doing my thing. Sick.

Running has been going great.  The camps have been sweet, so far, and are really helping me get my run on.  I've lost 30ish pounds since February, so clearly I'm doing something right.  Most runs I keep the tempo around 6:45 pace, and I do about an hour a day, though some days, with the kids schedules, it differs.  Next week I even think I'm going to get on the track and do some 1k repeats at tempo pace.  Mostly because I'm not sure if I can do a tempo at tempo pace.  My best/worst run from this last week came when Gov took us on these trails at the North Carolina Arboretum.  We ran for about 67 minutes, and we were looping around when Gov goes "I think if we take this left it will take us back to the top of that last hill and we can coast down the last few miles.  It should be uphill right at the beginning, but then it will level off."  10 minutes of 10% incline later, I was totally redlining while watching the other guys pull away.  You know the scene in Titanic where Leo's body just sinks into the ocean?  It was like that, except more painful and tragic.  Moral of the story, I'm getting back in shape, but I have a long ways to go.  

On a related note, having a watch with an altimeter is sweet, unless you look at it in the middle of a run and realize you have climbed over 1000ft and that you are now high enough to where you should start noticing the effects of that height.  We were climbing one hill in particular and once I looked at my watch and saw how high we were, I actually started to feel worse, but not until I looked at it.  So now my brain is working against me too.  Great, first my body, now my mind.  Anyways, I'll try to keep updating my blog a little bit more often, maybe once or twice a week, but I make no promises.  

A Dangerous Addiction

Friends, I have something to confess with you.  Something I need help with.  I am addicted to facebook quiz's.  There, I said it.  The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, and trust me, I have a lot of problems, and this is most definitely one of them.  Another one is that I'm too good looking, but thats another story (Hey Oh!).  No, but really, instead of blogging for the last like 2 hours I discovered what song of 2009 I was (Solja Boi, Kiss me through the phone), what periodic table element I am (Gold, of course), what Hogwarts Teacher I am (Madame Pomfrey, or however the hell you spell it).  I agree with the last two but apparently Facebook doesn't have a 100% accuracy rate.  

I have also discovered that I should live in NJ (false), visit mid century New York (sure), and drink Guinness (though it didn't mention in excess, I guess that is left up to my interpretation). Moral of the story, I need to get back in shape.  Why, might you ask?  Because, if I don't get back into shape, I am just sad fat dude who sits around taking facebook quiz's.  If I'm in shape, then whatever, at least I'm in shape, right?

I was going to talk a bit about some of my thoughts on the death of Michael Jackson, but I realized I didn't have anything nice to say.  So, onto my running for the last few weeks.  I haven't been doing much, I'll be honest.  I have run for the last half a week pretty consistently, but I was right in my last post when I said I would be supper busy and most likely miss a step in my training.  Anyways, I had a ton of work, got a new job, got to hang out with Becky for the first time in too long and drove to St. Louis from Antioch, Il (which is as boring as you would guess).  Anyways, I'm back in the game again, and feeling alright most days.  Also, I was in a hotel with a scale the other day, and it seems Big Mo's days might be numbered, I've lost almost 30 pounds in the last 6 months, so thats good.  The bad thing is, that I was so big to begin with, I still have a ways to go.  So don't worry Ben, you can still make fun of me for a while.  

Side note about Ben Stern, I heard you were going to jump in the Philly marathon and kick my ass?  Several things wrong with this chain of events:

1st)  Didn't I tell you to do that?  I thought I was the one encouraging you to do that exact thing.

2nd)  Don't think you're being sneaky, I saw you wearing you Nadal headband last time I was in town, I knew it was game time for something or another.

3rd)  I would hope you could beat me, my nickname is Big Mo.

4th)  If you don't beat me, that would actually be more embarrassing for you, then  it will be for me if you do beat me.  So I have nothing to lose.

Even with those points, here are my reasons, also in list form, for why you wont beat me.

1st)  I might not run the race.

2nd)  If I do run the race, I might enter under a false name, then you can never prove you beat me, and with no proof, it didn't happen.

3rd)  Before the race, I will either poison you, change your alarm so you miss the start, lock you in and or to a closet/room/car trunk/subway car/homeless person's box/telephone booth/Rocky/your brother/one of the girls you train with/Tushar's blog/Jacob/undersea cave/Hogwarts/my back/a copy of Sohachi Yamaoka's Tokugawa Ieyasu/an anvil/Ron Jeremy or something along those lines.  

4th) You will forget and not enter the race.

I feel I've proved my point.