Two Races in Hawaii in Two Weekends

Many of you might have seen images or video of me finishing up the Disneyland Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon a couple weeks ago, but in case you missed it, here is a shot of me coming through the finish line. I ran 1:09:28 that morning to break the record for fastest half marathon in a super hero costume. Some elites might look at that and think its is a bit soft, but for a little perspective I ran that at the end of a 130 mile week while in training for two other races, where I hope to break some more records.

Trying to Leap as High as I can. In a World Record Time!!

This weekend I'll be traveling to Hawaii to compete in my first trail race on a big stage. The race is the Paul Mitchell Xterra Trail World Championship in Kaneohe, HI. I have dabbled in a few trail races in Flagstaff over the past couple years, finishing 1st or 2nd in each race I ran, losing only to my Team Run Flagstaff teammates. But, again, this is the first big trail race of my career. A debut, if you want to call it that. I am very excited to see how I stack up against some of the other Top US Trail runners that have run this race in years past. The course record is 1:16:36, set by Max King. That is not an easy time considering the terrain, elevation profile, and the humidity, but I will strive to break that.

Course Map and Elevation Profile for Xterra

Looking at results and knowing how tough trail racing can be, I know I should finish anywhere in the top 3. Humidity, technical trails, and steep climbs are all elements of this race that I have trained for over the past 16 years of XC, track and road race training. I have done a couple intense climbs both in Flagstaff and in California, where I came to get a couple more days of warmer weather before flying to Hawaii, and I feeling that I am as ready as I can be for this race. And I have been wearing lots of extra clothing to get my body to adapt to running at an uncomfortable temperature. My preparations going to this race have gone well, so we should all expect a great result this weekend.

For those of you who are worried that I am making a full transition to the trails (Jim Walmsley), don't be too concerned. There will be many trail races in my foreseeable future, but immediately after I tackle the Xterra Half Marathon, I will bounce back to race the Honolulu Marathon a week later. I have a couple friends who have done this double before, and they have told me about how hard it has been for the to race well at both. However, I have no worries that my legs will be able to handle the quick turnaround, as I have done with many other races.

At The End of a Run With Stephan Shay and Epoch Restorations

This will also be my 4th marathon for this year, which is the most I have ever done in a single year. So far I am averaging 2:17:18 for my previous 3 marathons, and despite the humid conditions and coming off of the Xterra race, I am aiming to improve that average dramatically. Because this race rarely ever has good conditions for a marathon, the race is usually won between 2:14 and 2:18. Generally 1st and 5th places are pretty close together, so tactically I know that I will have to be with the leaders the whole race if I want to give myself a chance to win.

Early Morning, And Still Heat Training in CA

And that is what I have coming up for the next couple weeks. I'll update you when I can either here or on my social media pages if you are interested in tracking how things are going. Thanks for reading!

Recovered from Berlin

It is now a week after I got back from Germany and the Berlin Marathon. Today, after taking 7 days off to recover, I ran with my wife for an easy 5 miles on the trails here in Flagstaff. The run was good, we averaged 8:09/mile and my legs are feeling fatigued, but responsive. There wasn't anything that feels like it needs special attention, so I am looking forward to easing back into training over the next couple of weeks and getting my next season started.

I spent quite a bit of time after the race, on my return flights, and over this past week to reflect on my run in Berlin. I finished the marathon in 23rd place in 2:18:18. This was my 4th marathon in the past 11 months, and despite being 8 minutes slower than my main goal, this was another successful marathon attempt. The race started out very aggressive; I had a pair of pacers that were supposed to lead my group through 25k and 30k on pace for a 2:10 marathon, which is about 3:05 per kilometer. My first K was a 3:02, and I was running 7 seconds behind the pacers, with a Swedish competitor, Mikael Ekvall. 

View of my Haircut                                          Bekele Getting Ready to Crush It!

and the Start Line Stretch                                                                                              

         

Over the next 5k Mikael and I traded leads attempting to conservatively catch up to our pacers. During that time we were consistently hitting 3:08-3:10 per kilometer, and not making up ground on the pacers. This was fine with me as I preferred to be as relaxed as possible and let my legs warm up to a little bit quicker of a pace. Finally during the 7th kilometer I decided to pick up the pace slightly to finally reel in the pacers so Mikael and I could get pulled along as we were supposed to. We ran 3:04 to catch up and then I settled in behind them to try to let my mind shut off and just get dragged to a quick time.

If you were able to watch my 5k splits you would have seen that our pace was gradually increasing through 20k (15:44, 15:32, 15:32, 15:26). On paper that would have been perfect, however, the pace per kilometer is not accurately reflected by those splits. Unfortunately, our pacers were having trouble finding 3:05, and our pace was bouncing back and forth from 3:00 to 3:15 every other kilometer. Note: that is bouncing between 4:48 and 5:20 pace per mile. 

Mid-Race When I'm still in Contact With the Pacers

Because of this I ended up letting myself get dropped by the pacers around 20k in hopes that I would be able to set a more consistent pace on my own. Again, unfortunately, my legs were already worn down from the constant change of pace from 7k to 20k, and I started fading more and more ever few kilometers. I faded this way, got passed by quite a few runners and ended up positive splitting by about 7 minutes, going 1:05:43 for the first half and 1:12:35 for the second half. It was a bit depressing in the moment having come so far around the world to not be able to run the time that I wanted.

After the race my body was a wreck. I could hardly walk, hardly drink anything, and hardly eat. I realized that despite missing my goal, that I had pushed my body to the limit once again, and despite being in so my pain, my spirits were high knowing that I gave it my all. I was happy for Mikael to have finished in 2:13, and for Malcolm Richards who ran a PB in 2:15:10 to earn the first American spot. But, I needed to get back to my hotel so I could hide away in my room and wait for my body to heal itself enough so I could get some food. And that is what I did.

On the Floor Ready to Die

It took about 2 hours on my floor of my hotel room for me to finally get up and shower. Then a little bit later I was back to life and ready for a small tour of Berlin. I met up with my buddy, Adam, and we got some food and drinks and checked out a few sights that were walkable from our hotels. I decided to call it a night around 7:30pm, but then went out again to meet up with Malcolm, and our other friends from CA, Michelle and Kevin. We got a coupe drinks, relived our races; the good, the bad, and the painful. Then after a couple hours I went to bed and got up at 5am to catch my flights back to the US. 

Adam Needed Coffee and Beer                                Revisiting Tiergarten After the Race

This Church had Bombs Crush 

Through the Steeple During WWII

The past week has been pretty laid back for me as I only did one gym session and went for one hike during my week off. I took my dog out for a walk everyday as well, but I didn't do anything too strenuous and really had an enjoyable, easy week off. Now, its time to get back to training and I look forward to my next marathon attempt. I’ll let you know which one it will be soon. Wish me luck!

On My Way to Berlin

This is it! I’m on my way to Berlin to race the marathon. Finally! I have been wanting to do this race for a long time now, and I am excited to get out on the roads to see if I have another pr in me in my 21st marathon. I have been racing marathons now for 10 years, and each race brought its own challenges. Even though Berlin is known to be the fastest course in the world, I do expect the race this weekend to be extremely hard. 

I plan to once again be pretty ambitious with my pace, and get towed along to a sub 2:10. I have made this same attempt many times now, and each time I have failed. Sometimes my failures resulted in pr’s; I’ve run 2:11 4 times after going out on 2:08-2:10 pace. Other times I have suffered over the 2nd half and fade to 2:17s, 2:18s, and once a DNF. I am proud of all the races I have finished regardless of whether I met my goals or not. But knowing that I have come so close is what keeps driving me to try again, and hope that one of these race will result in a spectacular result.

My pace group with have 2 other athletes attempting to crack the sub 2:10 barrier, with 2 rabbits taking us through 20k and 30k as best as they can. Over the past 7 weeks I have changed my GPS watch to track my kilometer splits rather than miles to get myself to learn better pacing over those intervals. I have also been doing many of my workouts on a flat route down in Camp Verde 50 miles south of Flagstaff and almost 4000ft lower. This has resulted in many great workouts, much better than I’ve had in a while, which have indicated to me that I am prepared to run a sub 2:10 marathon.

Mentally I am ready to go and I am confident that my legs will cooperate. I have trained them well for this. Now, all the work leading into the race is done and all I have left to do is wait for my flight to board. I am sitting and writing this in Phoenix awaiting my delayed flight to London where I’ll connect to Berlin. Just a 9 1/2 hour flight, followed by 2 hours of waiting, then another 2 hour flight, and I’ll arrive at 8pm local time in Berlin. By then I’ll be eager to get my race bib, get a quick run on the treadmill, and then get to bed. I am very excited to get this started.

Below is a list of the top competitors in Berlin. A lot of guys at 2:06 and under. Its going to be fast! See you in Berlin!

The Highs and Lows of Marathon Training

As I am entering my final 3 weeks of marathon prep for the BMW Berlin Marathon, I am excited that the day is almost here. Soon I will be racing my first International World Marathon Major. I will be departing from Flagstaff on Sept. 21st and arrive in Berlin 20 hours later on the 22nd. The race will be on the 25th, and I will return on the 26th. So, this will be quite a short business trip with my intent only being on running fast. I will be shooting for a personal best (under 2:11:30), and given the history of this course, that should be attainable.

The biggest difficulty I find in any marathon build-up is the inconsistency in my workouts. I generally always have great long runs, which is what helps to build my confidence being a marathon specialist. However, my interval and tempo workouts and even my races leading up to marathon are very inconsistent and often lackluster. I did have some good workouts here and there over the past 8 weeks; 2 x 6 miles in 5:12/mile, 8 x 2k in 5:00/mile. However, with the combination of running up to 140 miles while trying to hit quality workouts each week, my performances at the races I have done over the last 2 weeks really suffered.

Two weeks ago I ran the AFC Half Marathon in San Diego, where my goal was to run about a 1:04:00 half, which would have contended for the win. Unfortunately, my legs and my body said 'No F*#@ing Way, Man!' and instead I struggled through a tough tempo run, finishing up in 1:08:27. Then, after two weeks of trying to get my legs to feel good again, I raced the US 20k Champs this weekend and again performed a lot worse than my expectations. There were definitely a few more positive aspects that I am able to take away from the 20k compared to AFC, but overall the race was not one to write home about.

Finishing up at the US 20k

Anyway that is marathon training for me in a nutshell. High mileage and low quality performances. All of which is part of a well calculated equation to run well for the marathon. Berlin is going to be my 21st marathon, so even with these poor results over the past couple of weeks my confidence is unwavering. All of my previous marathon experience has shown me that as long as I put in the work, the big race at the end of the training cycle will be great. And for me that is all that matters. Trusting that the process will yield great results is the key to my marathon training.

Traveling to NYC

I am sitting here pretty much all alone in Terminal 8 at JFK Airport in New York. I have about 45 minutes until my wife lands here, so I am writing to you all to pass the time a bit. Today's travel day was not the best I have every had. Both difficulties with airports, airline attendant, and a few amateur mistake on my part as well. The good news is that I have finally arrived in New York (3 hours delayed) and only have to wait a little bit for my wife to show up along with my bag.

Before you ask why my wife would have my bag, let me start from the beginning of the day, a day which started much like any other, with my alarm waking me up dark and early at 5:30am. I immediately got up and put on the clothes I had laid out next to my bed the night before. I stumbled in the darkness lit only by my phone out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to heat up a heat pack for my leg and some tea for my belly. This is a pretty typical routine, where I have my tea and breakfast on my couch while surfing
the web on my phone and heating up my hamstring to be ready to run.

Once I finish my tea I go through a few exercises to further warm up and stretch out my legs, and with my early morning grogginess this takes me about 30 minutes to do what should only be 15. But I like to plan ahead, I know I will be a little lazy, even on a day like today when I am scheduled to fly to NYC for the TCS NYC Marathon. So, planning for that extra time is why I normally get up at 5:30am, so I can lazily go through all my necessary warm up before I meet my teammates to run at 7:00am.

At 6:50 I kiss my wife goodbye and drive to the Run Flagstaff store in downtown Flagstaff and arrive just as Adam Vess is pulling up. We say out casual good mornings, but I am less interested in socializing with Adam today. Not because I despise Adam with a passion (I don't really), but because Brett Gotcher just arrived in town, and I was super excited to catch up with him.

The next few hours went by too quickly, after running 7.5 miles with Brett and my teammates I stretched out and chatted a bit more. Then I met my wife at Dunkin Donuts, our planned post-run breakfast destination this morning, I ordered a half dozen, some coffee and then we decided to head home and eat there. My wife was coming from class, so it wasn't that much of a wasted trip to meet at Dunkin. At home we ate, drank, showered and got ready to catch our flight.

We left our house at 9:30am to drop out puppy off at Nick Hilton's house so they could watch her while we were away. After a quick drop off we headed to the airport and it wasn't until this point that I started to think that we were cutting things rather close. Usually the Flagstaff airport is pretty relaxed when it comes to check in times and boarding since it is such a small airport. We however made the mistake of thinking that we could just show up at 10:00am for a 10:25 flight and not have any issues whatsoever. We were wrong.

First we couldn't check my bag and would either have to leave it in Flagstaff (not an option), or change our flights to a later time and arrive in NYC at midnight. Terrible planning. Instead my wife volunteered to just change her flight, make sure I get to NYC and she would check my bag along with her. That also means I get to travel with her bag, which is pretty much my only company right now. I also have my phone playing music, so I am not completely alone.

My Travel Companion!

I make the trip to phoenix easily enough, only to discover when I get there that because of all the bad weather in NYC our plan is grounded for an undetermined amount of time (officially 2 1/2 hours). Turns out the after all our poor planning and issues with trying to convince the airline people in Flagstaff to do us a favor and just check my bag anyways, that my wife would leave Flagstaff 3 hours after me and arrive in NYC only 45 minutes behind. Such is the life of travel.

The time is not ticking by and her flight should arrive in about 20 minutes now. This was a great way to pass the time. Thanks for reading and hopefully you will follow me as I race the INS NYC Marathon this Sunday morning! Tune in at 9am EST on ABC or ESPN2!

Conquering Mt. Humphreys

This week I decided that I would finally climb to the top of Mt. Humphreys in Flagstaff. Mt. Humphreys’ peak is at 12,633 feet, sitting approximately 6,700 feet above Flagstaff, and is the highest point in Arizona. I have attempted this as a hike previously 3 times, each time failing to make the final stretch from the ‘Saddle’, at 11,800ft, to the peak. These failures were all due to wind, snow, and cold, since the Australian Rules Football team I volunteered to lead to the top is only in town in November, and the weather gets pretty nasty that high up.

Humphreys Peak - 12,633 Feet

On the third of these attempts, the group and I tried to ‘brave the storm’ and push our bodies past the cold and wind to finally complete the challenge. Alas, we fell a ¼ mile short that day, as the weather only got worse. One man from the group decided to continue despite everybody else discouraging him, and he eventually returned with frostbite on his hands. The moral of that story is to be extremely prepared for this climb, because it is excruciatingly tough. Thus, for my first 5 ½ years of living in Flagstaff the only times I attempted to make it to the summit was in November. Those conditions took their toll on me and definitely made me fear Humphreys.

Two weeks ago I ran the SnowbowlHill Climb for the first time, which is the 7-mile road that leads up to Snowbowl Ski Resort in Flagstaff. The ski resort also serves as the starting point for the ascent to the top of Mt. Humphreys. After finishing the Snowbowl Hill Climb, I got the itch to attempt the climb up Humphreys again. Then, Wednesday night, Brian Tinder sent me a message asking if I wanted to run up to the top with him Thursday morning. As ill prepared as 12 hours might be for a run that would climb 3,400 ft in 4.8-miles, I figured that the coincidence was a good sign to say, ‘yes’.

Tinder's Little Celebration

I got up at 5:00 AM to brew some coffee, drove to Tinder’s house to meet him at 6:00 AM, and we carpooled up the hill to the Humphreys Trailhead, which begins at 9,200 ft. With 2 cups of coffee in me, and a handheld water bottle with cell phone pocket, I was ready to begin. We started up at a rather casual pace, neither of us had any record setting in mind, we just wanted to ‘run’ up it. The first 3.5-mile to the Saddle were uneventful, despite the roots and jagged rocks, there was a lot of stumbling but neither of us fell. We arrived at the Saddle in 55 minutes; our average pace taking a big hit as the trail gets steeper the closer you get to the top.

After pausing for a minute to check out the scenery we begin the final 1.3-mile ascent. I am amazed at how rough the terrain is, hiking is difficult and running is nearly impossible. The last time I was up here, there was 3 feet of fresh snow, which covered all the jagged rocks and made the trail impossible to find. Seeing it now without any snow allowed me to realize how steep the fall is on either side of the trail, and how damn lucky I was to have come out of my previous attempts unbroken.

View Looking Towards Flagstaff from Summit

23 minutes later we reached the peak, we quickly celebrated with some sips of our drinks, a couple pictures and a video, and checked out the view from the top of Arizona. We could see the fire burning 30 miles South just above Sedona and the Grand Canyon 90 miles North. We stayed only a few minutes because despite the beautiful summer weather, the wind and temperature at the top was getting cold with us just in sweaty shirts and short shorts.

Cold - And Ready to Head Back Down!

Then, we descended, which was nearly as tough as the climb at some parts. I stumbled nearly 50 times on the way down after catching my toes on rocks and roots, my legs getting tired and my stride getting lazy. I nearly fell one time when we were 100 ft from the top, catching myself by slamming my palm into a rock just before my knees and face hit the ground. Every other stumble was under control, and served as a wake up call to keep paying attention to the ground!

We arrived at the trailhead and ran a loop around the parking lot to make the run an even 10-miles. The run roundtrip was 2 hours 20 minutes; our ascent was 1 hour 18 minutes, and decent 1 hour 2 minutes. Each is approximately 13 minutes and 21 minutes behind the course records, respectively. Some day, maybe not some day soon, I will attempt to break those records. For now I will start to focus on the roads again. The Olympic Marathon Trials is 6 ½ months away!

NYC Marathon Recap

I arrived in NYC Wednesday evening, and for the most part the days leading up to the race were a blur. A couple highlights from the days leading up to the race include the press conference and Under Armour’s new shoe launch at the brand house.

You can view my interview with LetsRun from Thursday morning’s press conference with a few of the top Americans including Ryan Vail, Luke Puskedra, Desi Linden, Annie Bersagel, Kara Goucher, and Deanna Kastor.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0DADNr34ug

Thursday evening, I went down to SOHO to the Under Armour Brand House for the launch party of UA’s newest running shoe, the SpeedForm Gemini....

You can read the rest of my blog here at RunningTimes.com

Rejuvenation

It has been over 3 weeks now since Boston and things have been going extremely well for me. I have been running almost every day since the race, most of the time just casual runs with my training partners in Flagstaff. My legs recovered pretty quickly after the race; I have noticed lately that my body is not getting as beat up by the marathon as is was a few years ago. I have always been pretty aggressive when it came to getting back into the swing of training after a marathon and it appears that my body has been adapting to that trend...

To read more visit Nick's blog on RunningTimes.com - http://www.runnersworld.com/rt-columns/rejuvenation

Running Down the Rain

I am now blogging for RunningTimes.com. Check out my recap of the CIM Marathon.

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-times-web/marathon-my-mind

Nick

Not Too Shabby

            It has been a week since the Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston, and I am still pretty excited about how things turned out. I am not an Olympian and I did not run a personal best, but I am very happy with my result. My two main goals going into the race were to run the fastest race I possibly could, and to get myself into the top 3, booking my ticket to London. I did not accomplish either of those goals, but there is little I could have done last weekend to change the result.

            I was not in 2:09 marathon shape, I ran the first 20 miles of the race perfectly for a 2:09 marathon, but I didn’t have it the last 10k. I didn’t necessarily hit a wall, my legs just started losing energy and I faded to a 5:12 average for the last bit of the race. I was lucky enough to have such a large and fast group of guys in the chase pack to help each other out, take turns leading and keeping the race honest. We all gave ourselves the best shots we could to make the team. The Olympians up front were just on a different level than we were. I truly believe that if any of us in the chase pack had tried going out in 1:03:25 for the first half, none of us would have run as fast as we did.

            Looking through the results excites me, seeing so many Americans running as fast as we did, taking the US marathon to a new level of competitiveness is amazing. I am a huge fan of the sport and I am thrilled to be a part of this resurgence of American distance running. So many former teammates, competitors, and many guys who I had never met ran personal bests, or within a minute of their best. It is great to see so many of these guys running well.

The next four years it is going to be very exciting to see how many of these guys can continue to improve and make it to the next level. Who is going to be an Olympian in 2016? There are hundreds of guys who still have not tried out the marathon, since they are still competitive on the track or still in college. There is no telling what the next 4 years will bring. Maybe next time we will have 15-20 guys under 2:12. Maybe it will take a 2:08 marathon to be an Olympian. Whatever it may be I am looking forward to continuing to improve myself as much as I can. I am still going to pursue the dream of one day being an Olympian.

Rounding the Final Turn

            Less than two weeks remain until the Trials and I am finally getting excited for the race. This past week my fitness finally caught up to where I wanted to be going into the Trials. It has been a long, doubtful road since my last marathon in Daegu. A few weeks ago I was worried that I would not be able to even finish the race but each day I have gotten my training in, hoping that one day soon that I would start to feel fast again. That day has finally come and I am pumped about it.

            The past two weeks I have run 120-130 miles and each run I have done has felt better than the last. I started feeling good when I went home last Thursday before Christmas and got some sea level training. I was only home for 5 days, but during that time I ran 92 miles. This sea level training included a 24 mile long run with Danny, where we both completely depleted ourselves.  It was motivating that I felt good, but at the same time I was worried because I felt so beat up afterwards.

            The next few days were dedicated to recovering and getting my legs sharp and woken up again. I did an easy track workout on Monday and then a long tedious track workout on Wednesday. We drove down to Sedona for Wednesday’s workout, which was 10-15 x 1k with 1 minute rest. The goal was to run and feel comfortable at marathon pace. This workout is what brought me back to life. I sat myself right behind Brett on every single rep, making sure that I didn’t lose an inch on him.  This worked for the first 14 reps but on the very last interval he blew me out of the water, running a 2:42 to my 2:55. Despite that it was the best workout I had done in over 5 months. I felt like I was back to my old self again; ready to take on whatever came next.

            Well, what came next was yesterday’s 15 mile tempo run out on Lake Mary Road. I was nervous and excited going into it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could run as well as or better than I ever had before, but I was nervous that Wednesday’s workout may have been a fluke. I went out at a pace that I thought was conservative, but it ended up being a 5:16, followed by 5:13, 5:13 for the next two miles. To put this in perspective two weeks before on this same workout my fastest mile was only a 5:13.

            I was still feeling good, so I did what I could to keep my pace as even as possible, getting mentally prepared to push the last 4 miles. Through 11 miles I hit everything between 5:13 and 5:18 multiple times, the most consistent I had ever been on a tempo as long as this. My last 4 miles I dialed the pace down and ran 5:06, 5:11, 5:04, and 5:05, finishing with a total time of 1:18:20 (5:13 pace). So my average mile was as fast as my single fastest mile two weeks before. I was pumped!

            Now as I write this we have 12 ½ days until race morning. My fitness and my confidence are exactly where I hoped they would be at this point. And if everything keeps increasing like it has the past two weeks, then there is no telling what I will be capable of doing on race day. I know I have a shot of making the team, and of running a personal best. Anything can happen over the course of a marathon, I just need to be ready to put my best performance out there. 

Christmas Time

I finished off a solid week of training and have another huge week coming up. Christmas has historically been an extremely difficult time for me to train. Most years, I have just been lazy while back at home visiting my parents, only managing to get out on one run a day, but still making sure to hit 110-120 miles for the week. I’m sure this year will be no different, although I will only be home for 4 ½ days, I know it will be a challenge to get myself out and running twice a day.

This past week I hit 116 miles with 5 doubles, which is the most I have done since my injury. We got a lot of snow this past week, so a lot of my running was done out on Lake Mary Road, including Saturday’s 15 mile tempo run. It was a windy day, but we all made the best of it. Brett dominated the rest of us, Steph and Emily looked good, and Danny and I held on strong and fought to the end. Jordan wasn’t so lucky, one of the two casualties of the day but in my experience when training for a marathon you can’t always have great workouts. Just last year I did this same workout with Brett and Martin pre-Houston and I only made it 4 miles. Sometimes that is just the way it goes.

                      Saturday’s Other Casualty: The Lid to Danny’s Fluid Bottle.

Next week, with Christmas being on Sunday, I shouldn’t have too difficult of a time getting all the training in that I want to. I’ll run most of my week in Flagstaff, going 12 and 6 most days, with a 4 x 2 mile workout on Wednesday. Then Thursday afternoon I’ll fly home and get a couple day of sea level training in, which will include a 24-mile long run on Christmas Eve. This will be an exciting run as I’m hoping to get as many of my Southern California friends together for it. So if you are in the Orange County area, give me a call or shoot me an email. Even if you only want to run 4 miles with us, it will be better than nothing.

I hope to hit 120 miles next week. Sunday will be the real test because trying to find time to run on Christmas morning has always been difficult for me. This year I will find a way, and who knows, if I feel good, maybe I’ll even find time to run twice on Christmas! One can only hope.

My Response to Scott

My Response to Scott Smith’s Blog;

Dearest Scott,

You have beaten me fair and square in 4 out of 6 races, thus winning the best of 7 series of races that we have competed against each other. It all began when I took a solid lead last year after catching you by surprise at club cross. Yes, I race a hell of a lot better than I work out, let that be a lesson to you. Then we raced again at the US 15k, this time I made the mistake of being unprepared, and you destroyed me and had a phenomenal race. Kudos.

Game 3 was Cardinal: Once again you were annihilating me in workouts, only to get smashed on the track in Palo Alto. That was only my first track race of the season and you had run at least 3 races prior to that. I expected more of a challenge that day. Then came the latest string of race; US 8k, USA 10,000m, Club Cross and you got me each time. Whereas I have no excuse for losing to you, I would say that USAs was a pretty close battle, probably our closest as you only beat me by 3 seconds. So now you lead the lifetime series of races 4-2, in distances ranging from 8k-15k.

I want to now issue a true challenge to you: Scott Smith, do you have the balls to race me over half marathon, 25k or marathon? As we all know, these are my distances, the farther the better I say. I have been giving you the advantage, racing all 6 of our previous races on your home turf. Will you man up and race me on the roads over distances that are not familiar to you? Or are you going to cower away from the challenge?

Think it over.

Nick

Doubt

Getting back into shape has been a lot tougher than I imagined. November seemed to come and go rather quickly, probably from the excitement of being able to train almost at my full capacity again, as well as, Thanksgiving. In the past 5 weeks I have jumped from running 50 miles to 3 weeks at 99-105 miles. I have only just started doing workouts, and the race in Houston is approaching fast.  With each day that goes by the more nervous I become that I won’t be ready to compete for a top 3 spot.

It has been a frustrating few weeks, even with being able to run more and feeling good on most runs. Then I compare myself to my competitors who are weeks ahead of me in training and much more fit. I also compare myself to my teammates who are beating me significantly on every repeat of every workout that we do together. All this eventually leads to doubt.

Doubt is always creeping into my mind. Was I even good enough when I was healthy to make the team? Will I hurt myself again if I don’t play it safe with my training? If I do play it safe, will I cost myself the race? What am I going to do with my life if I have another bad race on this big of a stage?

Doubt takes over a lot in athletes at any level, there is no denying that. I feel that the toughest part of training for me is to stay positive and focused on the Trials. I know I am gaining tons of fitness each week, and I believe that the training I am doing will get me to the race in Houston ready to run the best that I can on that day. That is until I run my workouts and I realize how much further I have to go to get myself to my best.

My passion is there, I love getting out and running, but my fitness and my fear of reinjuring myself limits my ability to train as recklessly as I used to. I dislike being cautious and limiting how much I run. I’ve always been a guy who has never been satisfied with how much I am running; I never think I am doing enough. This mentality is what got me into trouble with my injury in the first place. So now I am trying to delicately balance my training with my maintenance and rehab of my body.

Hopefully in a week or two I will be able to tell you some more positive details about how I am overcoming my doubt and have had some stellar workout and a great race at Club Cross. But until then, here is my positive self-talk for today: I ran a 12 mile steady state workout this morning, averaging 5:20s per mile, and I kept it steady the entire way. A year and a half ago I did this exact same workout, averaged the exact same pace, and two weeks later I went on to run 2:11:48 in San Diego. So, by using some geometric property (Associative? perhaps) this should mean that I am 2 weeks away from a 2:11 marathon. I just have to let myself gain some momentum over the next 5 weeks and 5 days.

Coming Back

Hi Everyone! I’m back from my little hiatus from blogging. The past few months have not been the most positive for me in terms of running, which led to a lack of enthusiasm when it comes to writing all about it. Well, let’s catch up, huh?

Last I left off I was leaving for Daegu for the World Champs. While I was there my running was on a downhill slide due to a small hip issue I got just before I left.  I assume that the long travel from Flagstaff to Daegu aggravated my hip a lot because once I got there, I wasn’t able to run a step without at least a little bit of discomfort in my hip. I tried to think nothing of it because it didn’t seem to bother me the faster I was running, so I was still looking forward to the race. Unfortunately, I was a lot worse off than I knew, and I struggled and limped through the entire marathon. A bad day thanks to a bum hip.

I found out once I got back to Phoenix and saw our team Chiropractor, John Ball, that my hip joint was displaced due to the muscles and tissues in the hip complex tightening and locking up on me. That’s the best, uneducated explanation I can give on the subject. I had to take 3 whole weeks off of running, which if you know me is pretty much unheard of, since in the past nine years I have probably only taken off 5 weeks total (John says that this was part of the problem).

After taking 3 weeks off I tried running again. I ran 4 miles a couple times and things had not gotten any better, my hip still felt uncomfortable and I had a significant limp. So, in addition to seeing John Ball in Phoenix I started seeing another chiropractor, Kim Wilkens, in Flagstaff and focusing all my massage time on my hip, glutes, adductors, and hamstrings. It was also time for me to start getting into some sort of fitness, so I went to the gym and used the elliptical for the first time in my life, which sucked. I also rode the stationary bike, which was fine.

During week 5 post-marathon I started running 5 days a week on the Alter G treadmill, running 4-7 miles at 70-80% body weight. This was enough that I was able to run without pain and without a limp, so as boring as it was, it was nice to be running again. I continued this process, with a long bike ride over the weekend during the team’s long runs, for 2 weeks.

Finally, after 7 weeks of being a gimp, John, Kim, and Stephanie got me to the point where I could run on land without pain and without a limp. I still took things slow and every other day I alternated running on land and running on the Alter G. Now, I’m 4 days into week 8 and have run 6-10 miles on land pain-free and without a limp each day. I am excited to be running again with the team and cannot wait to start into my marathon training for the trials. Only 10 weeks to go...yay!

About to Leave For Daegu!

Another Couple of weeks are done, and we are now 3 days until the start of the World Championships, and 11 days until my race. I am starting to get pretty excited, nervous, and mostly anxious to be over in Korea for the big day. I have started to taper my mileage a little bit, hitting ‘only’ 122 and 115 miles over the past two weeks. Training is going very well and I have been feeling pretty sharp on my workouts and fresh on my regular runs. It is a pretty exciting feeling to have a marathon coming up with pretty much everything leading up to it going in the right direction.

            Two weeks ago I continued to taper down my mileage from 131 to 122 miles, which included an easier fartlek on Wednesday at Buffalo Park, and a Fast Finish Steady State run on Saturday. Wednesday was long, but simple, 25 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off, just running loops around Buffalo Park. Even with the unsteady pace I was averaging 5:50-5:55 per mile and feeling pretty comfortable. It was nice to touch on a little bit of speed and turnover. Saturday was meant to be more of a race simulation, which assumes the race will go out in a slower pace due to the heat and humidity. I started the 14 mile workout at a moderate pace, with the intention of running faster each mile, and running the last 4 miles close to an all out effort. The workout went exactly as expected until the last 4 miles, where I actually surprised myself with how good I felt, and ran faster than I thought I would. My splits were: 5:46, 5:40, 5:40, 5:40, 5:33, 5:28, 5:27, 5:22, 5:19, 5:15, 5:03, 5:01, 5:01, 4:47 (1:15:08).

            This past week, I dropped my overall training again down to 115 per week, just a slight taper, still hitting some good distance runs throughout the week. I didn’t have any big workouts; generally at this point in my training I always feel that I am as fit as I can be, so I worry about overdoing it with a big workout that might have a drastic effect. So I kept things simple, had a solid long run on Tuesday, out at A1 Mountain again. Martin and I ran the loop out there in 2:12:06, easier than the last couple of times, but felt much more comfortable the whole way.

Thanks for taking the time to catch up with me!

Nick

Week Ending 8/14/11 – 122 miles

Monday             AM: Easy Run from Sinagua Middle school with guys, recovery run from yesterdays workout. 8 miles in 1:00:03.

                        PM: Easy Run with Scott and Brauny after core. 4 miles in 29:14.

Tuesday            AM: Distance Run with guys from Trina House. 13 miles in 1:30:13.

                        PM: Easy run with Tim. 6 miles in 41:07.

Wednesday        AM: Workout at Buffalo Park, ran 3 mile w/u, then 25 x 1 min on, 1 min off Fartlek (8.5 miles), then 3 mile c/d. 14.5 miles in 1:29:48.

                        PM: Easy run from home. 4.5 miles in 30:00.

Thursday           AM: Distance Run with guys at Bagel Run. 11 miles in 1:14:30.

                        PM: Easy Run with Brauny after Core. 5 miles in 34:50.

Friday               AM: Distance Run with guys at Campbell Mesa. 13 miles in 1:28:54.

                        PM: Easy Run from home. 8 miles in 56:52.

Saturday            AM: Workout at Lake Mary Road. 10 min w/u, then 14 mile fast finish run in 1:15:08. Splits = 5:46, 5:40, 5:40, 5:40, 5:33, 5:28, 5:27, 5:22, 5:19, 5:15, 5:03, 5:01, 5:01, 4:47. 10 min c/d. 17 miles in 1:45:08.

Sunday              AM: Distance Run from home by myself. 10 miles in 1:09:57.

                        PM: Easy run with NAU guys in Bellmont. 8 miles in 55:32.

Week Ending 8/21/11 – 115 miles.

Monday             AM: Distance Run with guys at Buffalo Park. 11 miles in 1:10:51.

                        PM: Easy run with Jordan after core. 6 miles in 39:28.

Tuesday            AM: Long Run with Martin at A1 Mountain. 21 miles in 2:12:06.

Wednesday        AM: Distance Run with guys from Gregs. 10 miles in 1:09:24.

                        PM: Easy run with Tim from home. 4.5 miles in 29:50.

Thursday           AM: Distance Run with Tim at Buffalo Park. 10 miles in 1:08:42.

                        PM: Easy Run with Brauny after core. 4 miles in 29:36.

Friday               AM: Distance Run with Martin from Gregs house. 12 Miles in 1:18:46.

                        PM: Easy run with Tim from Lake Mary Road. 4.5 Miles in 30:31.

Saturday            AM: Distance Run from home by myself out to Kachina Wetlands. 13 miles in 1:25:59.

                        PM: Easy run with Jordan and Danny from Cooper. 5.5 miles in 39:37.

Sunday              AM: Distance Run with Martin, Danny and Brauny at A1 Mountain. 14 miles in 1:31:53.

Training Update 8/9/11

            I have fallen behind on my training updates, as the past two weeks have been very busy for the team and myself in Flagstaff. Last week we hosted our inaugural Adidas/McMillan Elite High School Training Camp. The numbers were a little small this year, but I personally feel like it was very successful. Each of us on the team were counselors for the High School kids, leading and following them on runs, giving talks about training, racing, colleges, etc. I had a lot of fun, even though it took up quite a bit of my normal resting and relaxing schedule. I feel like we made a good connection with all of the High Schoolers.

            Other than helping out with the camp for most of the week, I was still able to do my normal training and get a couple really good workouts in. Since I am two weeks behind I’ll just talk about the highlights of my training. Two weeks ago I ran 140 miles with a 4 mile tempo on Wednesday and fast long run on Saturday. I ran 19:48 on the 4 mile tempo, got out a little hard and felt the lactic acid build up pretty quickly, and eventually settled into marathon pace. Saturdays long run was much better; I ran 24 miles in 2:28:20, and was much faster throughout the run than I was the last time we ran 21 on the same loop. We ran each 7 miles in 46:21, 43:55, 39:50 and 17:46 for our last 3 miles.

            This past week I only ran 131 miles, which was still good considering I was juggling counselor responsibilities as well as my training. It was also a good start to my taper since I have only 24 days left until my race. My workouts last week included 8 x 200m strides during my run on Monday, 4 x 2 mile repeats on Thursday, and a Pace Change Long Run on Sunday. Thursday was a tough one since I moved the workout to the afternoon to accommodate the camp run in the morning. I managed a decent workout while staying relaxed, Running 10:12(5:03,5:08), 10:11(5:03,5:08), 10:10(5:06,5:04), 10:08(5:05,5:03) for each of my 2 miles with 3 minutes rest between.

            Sunday’s long run was probably my best workout yet. Which is pretty exciting since I am just starting to taper and feel pretty good on my every day runs as well. The workouts starts by running 5 miles easy, and then starting to throw in 1 mile – 2 mile long surges during the run, while still running a medium pace on the easy sections. I ran 20 miles in 1:52:35, with my first 5 miles in 31:37 and last 15 in 1:20:58. My splits looked a little something like this: 31:37, 5:22, 5:32, 5:07, 5:45, 5:10, 5:55, 5:13, 5:04, 5:59, 5:48, 5:01, 5:01, 5:53, 4:58, 5:03. I started off a little conservative and ended with my last couple surges being faster then my 2 mile repeats were on Thursday. A great workout with a lot of positive feedback going into my last few weeks of training.

Week Ending 7/31/11 – 140 miles (100 on singles)

Monday             AM: Distance run with team from my house. 14 miles in 1:32:38

                        PM: Easy run after core from YMCA. 8 miles in 55:59.

Tuesday            AM: Distance run with team from Gregs. 12 miles in 1:20:36

                        PM: Easy run on own from home. 6 miles in 40:31.

Wednesday        AM: Workout at Lake Mary Rd. 4 Mile tempo in 19:48 (4:44, 4:56, 5:05, 5:02). 3 mile w/u, 4 mile c/d. 11 miles in 1:05:58.

                        PM: Ran on own from downtown before team meeting. 6 miles in 41:01.

Thursday           AM: Distance run with team at Buffalo Park. 12 miles in 1:24:50.

                        PM: Easy run after core with Scott. 6 miles in 41:30.

Friday               AM: Distance run with team at Campbell Mesa. 13 miles in 1:30:04.

                        PM: Easy run with Tim from home. 6 miles in 41:47.

Saturday            AM: Long run at A1 mountain with Lemon, ran much faster then last time on progressive Long Run. 24 miles in 2:28:20.

Sunday              AM: Distance run with Tim at Observatory Mesa. 14 miles in 1:33:06.

                        PM: Easy run from NAU dorms. 8 miles in 53:38.

Week Ending 8/7/11 – 131 miles (96 on singles)

Monday             AM: Easy run with Campers from NAU on FUTS. 8.5 miles in 1:01:06.

PM: Distance run with Campers at Buffalo Park, added 6 miles on my own with 200m strides. 10.5 miles in 1:06:19.

Tuesday            AM: Distance run with Campers at Aspen Corners. 13 miles in 1:26:56.

                        PM: Easy run on own from NAU. 6 miles in 40:52.

Wednesday        AM: Distance run with Campers at Grand Canyon, added 4 on my own. 14 miles in 1:33:09.

                        PM: Easy run with Jordan and Tim from NAU. 4 miles in 29:30.

Thursday           AM: Easy run with campers at A1 Mountain. 6 miles in 42:04.

                        PM: Workout from Gregs House on my own. 4 x 2 miles in 10:12, 10:11, 10:10, and 10:08 w/ 3 mins rest. 3 mile w/u, 3 c/d. 15 miles total in 1:31:30.

Friday               AM: Easy run with Campers from NAU. 6 miles in 41:25.

                        PM: Distance run with Tim from Shultz Creek. 10 miles in 1:13:46.

Saturday            AM: Distance run with team at A1. 14 miles in 1:36:10.

                        PM: Easy run with Tim from home. 4.5 miles in 31:43.

Sunday              AM: Pace Change Long Run at Lake Mary on my own. First 5 miles easy in 31:37, then 15 pace change in 1:20:58. 20 miles in 1:52:35.

Training Update 7/24/11 - 140 Mile Week

            I finished off my first 140 mile week in a while on Sunday with a 14 mile morning, and a 5 mile afternoon. Each day this week I ran between 19 and 22 miles, wearing my usual sweat pants and long sleeve shirts on most of my morning runs. This week had 3 workouts; Monday was a short 10 x 100m fast, 100m easy during a 12 mile run, Wednesday was 5 x 1 mile at 10k effort on the track, and Saturday was a 16 mile steady state with a fast finish.

            Mondays’ workout was meant to be fairly simple; the 100 on/100 off was just like doing strides at the end of a run, however Lemoncello made me work a lot harder than that and I was hurting pretty bad after 10 strides. Lemon went on to do 20, show off. Then Wednesday was another tough day for me, I averaged 4:52 on my mile repeats, but once again was shown up by Lemon as he averaged 4:40 with his last one at 4:32. We had 3 minutes rest between each repeat, and I gladly took every second of it. Running fast up at altitude while attempting 140 miles in a week is just hard.

            Fortunately the workout Saturday went a lot better for me. Our workout was a 16 mile fast finish long run, which ended being more like a steady state workout. Lemon and I warmed up 3 miles with Scott and Aaron, then we did our drills and strides before beginning our long workout. The plan was to run our first 12 miles in 5:20-5:30 pace per mile, then drop it down the last 4 miles to as fast as we can. We started off fine with a 5:27, then the next 2 miles were a little quick 5:14 and 5:11. After that and already losing about 10 seconds on Lemon, I backed off to 5:20’s again.

            I managed to stay between 5:18 and 5:25 until 12, and then it was time to pick it up. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pick it up very much, but fortunately I had just taken my gels and had a caffeine rush going. The last 4 miles I ran 5:04, 5:13, 5:03, and 4:59 and averaged 5:15 for the 16 mile fast long run. Lemon was nice enough to only beat me by 50 seconds this time. Either way, it was a solid workout. Thanks to Greg and Tim for driving along the whole way and handing us fluids every three miles.

Monday             AM: Distance run with 100/100 fartlek from Gregs. 12 Miles in 1:21:02.

                        PM: Easy run from home. 8 miles in 51:58.

Tuesday            AM: Distance run from Buffalo Park. 14 miles in 1:31:20.

                        PM: Easy run from home. 6 miles in 40:39.

Wednesday        AM: Workout at Coconino Track with Lemon. 3 mile w/u, then 5 x mile in 4:49, 4:54, 4:53, 4:52, 4:51 w/ 3 minutes rest, then 3 mile c/d. 12 miles in 1:16:40.

                        PM: Easy run from home. 7 miles in 47:03.

Thursday           AM: Distance run at Bagel Run. 14 miles in 1:31:36.

                        PM: Easy run from Cooper with Jordan. 6 miles in 39:59.

Friday               AM: Distance run at Campbell Mesa. 14 miles in 1:33:01.

                        PM: Easy run from home with Tim. 6 miles in 41:39.

Saturday            AM: Workout at Lake Mary with Lemon. 3 mile w/u then 16 miles fast in 1:24:50 (5:27, 5:14, 5:11, 5:22, 5:17, 5:22, 5:25, 5:22, 5:20, 5:25, 5:21, 5:24, 5:04, 5:13, 5:03, 4:59), then 3 mile c/d. 22 miles in 2:06:30.

Sunday             AM: Distance run from home. 14 miles in 1:31:12

                        PM: Easy run from home. 5 miles in 33:15.

Week Total: 140 miles (102 on singles, 38 on doubles).

Training Update 7/17/11

Another great week of training in the books, spent 3 days in California with Carolyn, then came back up to Flagstaff to find it warmer and more humid than normal. The humidity and heat is still nothing compared to what it will be like in Daegu, so I’m still wearing my long sleeve shirts and pants to warm myself up more. The week started easy for me, getting just mileage in Monday through Wednesday, then on Thursday I had a solid hill circuit workout at Buffalo Park with Danny Mercado. Friday was easy distance and on Saturday Lemoncello and I had a progressive long run, which went really well. Sunday was another easy distance day.

The hill circuits that we do in marathon training are pretty simple, but end up being pretty tough on the legs after 4 loops. You can see the loop and elevation chart in the link above, as well as a brief description of the workout. The map is fairly accurate, and you can zoom in on the elevation chart to see how steep the route is. This workout is a fartlek run over hills, and it can get pretty tough after a couple loops. I ran pretty close to the best I have done on this circuit; running the 800m long hills between 2:28-2:30 and my 2-mile loops in 13:25, 12:50, 12:30, 12:20.

Our progressive long run had no real specifications other than to continually run faster throughout the loop. You can click the link above as well to view the loop and the elevation chart. Feel free to zoom in on the elevation chart to get a good feel for the hills. On this loop we like to break it down into 3 sections; running up to Wing Mountain, running around Wing Mountain, and running back to the parking lot. Each section is approximately 7 miles (we have to add on .2 miles at the end to get 21).

So for a progressive long run we figured we would just run each section faster than the last. This wasn’t too difficult as the loop normally runs that way anyway. Our times for each of the 7 miles were approximately 47:50, 43:40, and 39:50. Our total time for the 21 miles was 2:11:23, which works out to about 6:15 pace. And as an added bonus I was rocking full tights and 2 long sleeves for the long run as well.

It was a good week, and I put in 130 miles, with 6 doubles. I have not run this much mileage in a while, so I’m pretty excited to be doing it again and feeling pretty good. Not to mention that I get to eat so much more delicious food afterwards.

Monday:            AM: Distance run from Carolyn’s house, 10.5 miles in 1:09:00.

                        PM: Easy run from Carolyn’s house, 8 miles in 51:45.

Tuesday:           AM: Distance run from Parents’ house, 12 miles in 1:16:25.

                        PM: Easy run from Carolyn’s house, 6 miles in 41:15.

Wednesday:       AM: Distance run from Carolyn’s house, 12 miles in 1:20:54.

                        PM: Easy run from Home (back to Flagstaff), 6 miles in 40:34.

Thursday:          AM: Workout at Buffalo Park, Hill Circuits with Danny Mercado, 3 mile w/u, 3 mile c/d. 14 miles in 1:30:30.

                        PM: Easy run from Home with Jeremy Acosta, 6 miles in 42:08.

Friday:              AM: Distance run from Gregs’ with Lemoncello and Brett, 12 miles in 1:22:00

                        PM: Easy run from Home with Tim Jeffreys, 4.5 miles in 32:36.

Saturday:           AM: Progressive Long run with Lemoncello and Fasil, 21 miles in 2:11:23

Sunday:             AM: Distance run from Home with Tim, 14 miles in 1:31:56.

                        PM: Easy run from Home, 4.5 miles in 30:47.

Week Total: 130 miles; 95 in singles, 35 in 6 doubles.

Thanks for reading,

Nick