Sean's Running Blog

A very warm run this morning. I woke up and it was already in the mid 70s. Good practice for TCM if it's warm. I carried and drank 32 ounces of water and still came home 4 pounds (~64 ounces) lighter than when I left. I do think it's impossible to stay 100% hydrated but I'll have to do better than I did this morning especially when running at marathon pace.  

Very windy morning which made me postpone my planned track workout. No sense in attempting a workout that will be blown up by strong winds.

Easy nine this morning with the intent of running another 6 later today. I was pretty tired this morning from a long day with the kids at the Mall of America. It's amazing how many rides and stores they have fit into that thing.

Happy 4th of July to everyone. We live in a great country.

Ran an easy 11.5 miles today on the rural roads of Minnesota. I was fortunate enough to have my daughter biking along side the whole way. What a treat.

My final run in Minnesota until TCM. It was great for the first 14 miles but the last 3.5 were terrible. I started getting a pain in my shin similar to shin splints and it dropped my pace from 6:45 to 8:00+. I planned to run 20 but ran only enough to get back to my parent's house. Hoping this is s fluke, short-lived thing.

Waited until as late in the day as possible to run hoping my shin would be the beneficiary. Fortunately it was a very pleasant 77 degrees out which helped me get loose very quickly. The shin was noticeably tight but no pain at all and had i had more time, I could have put in more miles. So I'll try for more tomorrow.

Another good day for running. It was pretty warm...low 80s so I was drinking heavily. All systems go. Still a bit of tightness in the right shin but no big deal. The run felt great. I didn't wear a watch because mine new 205 crapped out on me after fewer than 200 miles of running. After turning on the unit, any button I pushed turned off the unit. Nice feature. I went to return it but REI was out of stock. I'm going to stop by a different store tomorrow and pick one up.

Great day for going to the beach. Bad day for running a tempo run. 87 degrees at 4pm when I started my warmup. The workout called for 6 miles @ 5:23 plus 2 miles @ 5:05. After hitting the first six right on, I blew off the last two miles. It was pointless. I could have probably done one of them, but to what end. I was drinking a good amount of water but my body was having trouble cooling itself down. With a 5k race on Saturday, I didn't see the point of completely burying myself.

Perfect weather for a run today. 6:33 pace for the run. It felt nice and easy. 68 degrees partly cloudy and a gentle breeze made my run along the Lake Sammimish trail quite delightful. Shin is still a bit tight but it doesn't hurt.

11 easy miles almost all of which was on the wonderful soft trails that surround our neighborhood.

Also went to the gym and did some weights. Groin muscles were a bit sore but other than that, all seems well.

Looks like I won't be able to race tomorrow so a 20-miler should do the trick.

So I got a call on Wednesday from my coach and he said, "Sean, I just finished certifying a course up in Mill Creek and I think it's a PR course. It's flat and fast." So I decided to run it. Then my wife reminded me she had an early morning committment on Saturday so it wasn't going to work. So I ran 11 miles on Friday and lifted weights...something I wouldn't have done had I been racing the next day. When I got back from my run and weightlifting on Friday, my wife said her meeting got cancelled so we could go run the race.

When I got there an hour before the race, I learned that they had run out of bibs. This is a race that was 700 in size last year and this year they had run out of all 1500 bibs. Fortunately, I had been in contact with the race director in the days prior so I found him and he hooked me up with one.

The whole bib mess meant my normal two-mile warmup became a 1/2 mile warm up with a few strides. Oh well.

I toed the line with three of the female Olympic Trials qualifiers from the area and one of the other two males from the state of Washington, Mike Sayenko. Mike is a good friend and we train together from time to time. He had a great race at the Trials and I believe he was the youngest finisher in that race. He has a great future.

Anyway, I led out for the first mile with Mike right on my tail. The first mile was anything but flat. There weren't any steep hills per say, but it just kept going up. The first 1/4 mile was in a very slow 77 seconds. Yikes. I was hoping for 73-74. After the quarter the inclines kept coming. We finally crested at about the 1 mile mark and my split was well off of what I had hoped for 5:08. Ugh. To make things worse, I felt like I had run the 4:55 I was shooting for but had only a 5:08 to show for it. The first half of the second mile was pretty flat. The second half had quite of few quick downhill bursts along the bike path. It was at this point Mike passed me. Knowing how fast he is and not knowing how far behind the pack was, I didn't go with him. More on that later. Mile 2 came in at 4:56. More like it but it was a net downhill mile. I was pretty tired. At this point, it was pretty clear I woudn't catch Mike so I was focused on maintaining pace so I could preserve 2nd place which was worth $300 and a free pair of shoes.

Mile 3 was in 5:00. Mile 3 was mostly flat except for a hill at the end. The bigger challenge with Mile 3 was it was along a bike path that had some pretty sharp turns. Finishing time was 15:44, 9 seconds slower than my PR from two weeks ago. It's funny with these shorter races. Nine seconds in a marathon is nothing, but nine seconds in a 5k is a lot.

So I have this problem. I feel like I'm a four gear car in a five gear world. In two consecutive races, I've let the eventual winner pass me and I haven't been able to go with them. I think part of it is a mental barrier. I'm in the marathon mindset which has me thinking..."be patient, the race is long. Don't do anything stupid." Part of it is also physical. I think I need to do some more training that is focused on quickness...whether those be 200 or 400 repeats or simply adding some strides to several of my regular runs. I need that fifth gear badly.

Overall, I loved the course even though it wasn't really a PR course per se. It was beautiful and well supported and the prizes were great.

First early morning run in a while. Birds were chirping and the sun was shining. A very pleasant temperatue in the low 60s. I'm convinced there is no finer place to run in the summer.

Feel great after a lot of running on Saturday and a rest on Sunday.

Retired my Trance 7s on Saturday. They clocked 503 miles. I've already put 27 on my new ones...the Adidas Supernova Classics. I blogged about these dreamy shoes last year. I LOVE them. I used my gift certificate from Saturday's race to get them. They are a great shoe. I also picked up a couple pairs of Trance 8s and a new pair of ST3 racers for when I hit the 250 mark on my current pair.

503 Trance 7

130 ST3 Racers

387 Adrenalines

14 Supernova 

10-mile stroll through the neighborhood this morning. Another gorgeous morning for a run. On the trail I was running on there was a sign posted notifying trail users that a bear had recently been seen. It's nice to run and live in an area where there is such great wildlife. More often than not I see a few deer while on my runs.

Easy 6 miles on a very toasty afternoon. Temps almost hit 90. But, I had my daughter biking alongside me so it didn't seem all that bad. 

I finally nailed a workout. It was a modified tempo run which I call "cutdowns." 9 mile tempo with the first 6 miles @5:23, the next two at 5:13 and then the final mile @ 5:05.

The only mile I missed was the last one and that is only because I felt some cramping coming on from not having any water during the run. I didn't want to push it so I held back a bit. Drank lots of water afterward.

I had to run in the afternoon because the morning was spent certifiying the courses for the 5k/10k that I'm putting on in Snoqualmie on August 2.

I did this workout at Seattle's Green Lake which has a ~3 mile path around it. Since it was a nice warm day, there were a gazillion people on it which made things interesting. I got some good steeplechase practice. I'm really glad I did it around Green Lake because doing 36 laps around the track is way too many. three+ laps around greenlake was perfect.

10 miles at lunch through Redmond and Marymoor Park. Ran a few miles along the Samammish River trail as well.

6 more this evening down in Auburn while at my children's track meet.  

I'm trying to get to the low 90s for the week which will be a first in several months. The most challenging part is that last time I did it, I did it in seven days not six. Since I'm no longer training on Sundays, all the mileage has to be in six days which means doubles. I'm going to pay close attention to how my body reacts to hopefully avoid injury.

Easy 13 along the Lake Samammish Trail.

Today marked the completion of easily the best training week this year. I went from high 70s mileage to low 90s and nailed both speed workouts....and....I'm healthy.

Today I did 3x1.5M with 3.5 mins rest between each. My coach had me do them in 7:37 (5:05 pace) but I felt really good and wound up doing them in 7:28, 7:31, 7:29.

From there I ran about 12 miles along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to Remlinger Farms in Carnation where I met up with the family to pick 38 pounds of raspberries. The weather was gorgeous and the raspberries are tasty. We now have a ridiculous amount of raspberry freezer jam. We also got some blueberries. Very tasty.

Anyway. I'm very happy with how the week went. It's the first time I've been in the 90s for weekly mileage since late February. Next week I will back off to the high 70s to give myself some time to recover and because i have a pretty important 8k race on Saturday.

Hard to believe I've almost pur 100 miles on my Supernovas since getting them last Saturday. I so love them. The Trance 7s are now retired.

503 Trance 7

150 ST3 Racers

387 Adrenalines

86 Supernova

14 miles this morning at hom before heading to work and then the airport. Looking forward to a morning jog in San Francisco tomorrow.

Lifted weights this morning. The usual 15-10-5 @ 40-50-65 for both adductors and abductors. Then 10-7-5 @ 20-30-40 hamstring curls.

10 wonderful miles along the San Francisco waterfront. It's not very often that I leave Seattle and go to a place that is cooler. SF was buried in fog this morning which made things quite cool this morning. But it was refreshing.

6 more this evening after getting home

5x1000m @3:03. Hit all five but was pretty spent in doing it. Cool morning meant wearing a long sleeve shirt. Kind of weird for late July even up here.

Easy 10 on another cool and even foggy summer morning. Supposed to get warm though today. Planning 6 more this evening

Ran my 10k course this evening.

11 easy miles ahead of my 8k race tomorrow. Gorgeous weather today. Supposed to be cloudy and cool for the evening race tomorrow. Hallelujah.

**Made a correction to my time. Officially, I was three seconds faster than what I had on my watch.**

I was nervous going into tonight's race. It's only the second time I recall being nervous before a race. Torchlight is probably the biggest race in Seattle in terms of the number of top guys in the area who run it. Last year when I ran this race, I was still a bit of an unknown in the area. But after several good races over the last year, including a trip to the Trials, there's an expectation that I have of myself that I have to do really well, especially in a race with all of my peers. As I toed the starting line this evening, sure enough, virtually all of Seattle's finest were right there too. Last year I was edged out by a good running friend of mine, Ben Mangrum, in the final half mile and there he was right next to me this year. So I was indeed nervous.

This race is notoriously a hot one in terms of temperatures. We're going into the hottest four-week period of the year and it's not uncommon to have 90 degree temps for this race. Luckily, the temp was about 70 with some cloud cover. It was a bit humid for our area which I noticed pretty quickly after the start of the race.

The race starts at Qwest Field (home of the Seahawks) and quickly turns west then south heading over the Alaskan Way Viaduct. There's a pretty good hill going up the Viaduct and you don't crest it until right at Mile 1. Going into the race I wanted to average 5:01 miles in an attempt to break 25:00. Mile 1 came in at 5:03. Not bad considering the uphill and gusty winds. I figured the winds would dissipate once we got off the Viaduct which is an elevated structure exposed to the elements.

Mile 2 is almost all on the viaduct and mostly flat until the end when it drops down into a bus tunnel. I felt like I had picked up the pace a bit and expected a 5:00 or better for the mile split. Oops. 5:09. Ugh. So I was almost half way through the race and already 11 seconds off the pace. I'm not sure how I got a 5:09. I was running pretty much alone at this point in third place and the main pack falling behind me. But I was really diheartened by the slow split especially knowing that a tough third mile lie ahead.

Mile 3 is a net uphill and had a couple challenging stretches. I didn't look back but could tell that my lead over the chase pack was widening. I was not losing any distance to Mike Sayenko in 2nd place but I also wasn't gaining. He was probably 20-25 seconds ahead of me. Mile 3 came in at 4:59. I was surprised because I felt like I had slowed down. Regardless of the good split time, this was the point in the race where I was really hurting. Right after the Mile 3 marker there's a short hill and then you turn on to 4th Ave. The good news about the 4th mile is that it's along the Torchlight Parade route which attracts nearly 100,000 people who line 4th street to watch the ensuing parade. The bad news is that it's a gentle uphill that seems to last forever. And it's a straight stretch so you are constantly looking at the hill. There was no Mile 4 marker so I didn't know what my split was and my GPS watch got screwed up on the distance while going through the tunnel so I had no idea. When you crest 4th ave, I think there is about a mile to go. And it's downhill hill the rest of the way.

The reason I love this race is not because it's fast, because it's not. I love it because its the only race of any kind in Seattle that reminds me of the Trials and Boston in that thousands of people are screaming and blowing horns and cheering you on and it comes at a very critical part of the race. Kids venture away from the curb and stick out their hands to give you a high five. It's an exhilerating experience that really helps take my mind off of the pain and fatigue that was setting in.

I crossed the finish line in third place in a time of 25:06. I really wanted to break 25 minutes but in the end I was happy. It was a PR by 26 seconds and considering the strong winds, which weren't at all part of last year's race and the fact I again ran almost the entire race alone (unlike last year) I am very happy with the results.

Next stop: 2008 USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Spokane in two weeks.  

A wonderful day off yesterday after a hard race Saturday. My 14 miles this morning felt surprisingly good. If I had the time, I would have run another six and called it my long run for the week. Crazy week ahead as I get ready to host a 10k/5k in Snoqualmie. I somehow have to get ~100 miles in as well.

12 easy miles this morning under cool, cloudy skies with a wonderful breeze. Breezes are generally bad for races bud great for training runs.

Tried to go six miles yesterday evening but a few minutes in had some significant pain in my right glute again. Ugh. So I did the hard, but right thing and stopped. I worried all night about another two-week set back simliar to what happened in February. When I woke up this morning I decided not to run as it was cool outside, rainy and the glute didn't feel right. But I did pack my stuff and took it with me to work. Sure enough, it got warmer in the mid afternoon and so I tried to run. I did an out and back so I could stay close to work if things got ugly. I felt increasingly better as the mileage went on but stopped at 10 just to play it safe. I was supposed to do mile repeats for a workout but I was just grateful to be running at all. The first mile was in 8:22. Can't remember running a mile that slow. But the goal was to get mileage in without aggravating the injury. I ended up being between 7:00and 7:15 for the rest of the miles and everything felt fine. It will be interesting to see how things feel tonight and in the morning.

Well, I woke up this morning hoping to find my glute happy. It was! Another very slow 1st mile: 8:08. The next few were in the 7:15 range and then everything seemed to get back to normal despite cool temps this morning. I was able to get 14 in before calling it a day. I also saw the PT this morning just as a precaution. I *may* try and get my mile repeats in tomorrow but I may just wait until Monday and use those as my last workout before the USATF championships in Spokane on Thursday.