Run With Garrison

Aloha! Week 2 of 2012 training is in the books and overall it went pretty well. No big workouts to report but the theme for this week was to continue to work on my mental focus. Over the past year this aspect of my running has shown great improvement. I’m certain that my improved fitness has been a factor but I also think that age and maturity have started to set in—Finally!. I am growing comfortable running easy on easy days and letting the ego take a rest along with my body. Ultra running has taught me the need to run my own race–not that I always apply this lesson–but I am trying hard to apply this to my training runs as well. During every run this week I thought about how fortunate I am to be able to run/train in the manner that I do. I find it very important to say and believe that I never “have to” go for a run and instead that I “want to” get out the door. This is a little bit of a newer mindset for me and I must say it is working out well. I make the choice to run because of a long list of things that it gives me in return–too long a list for now but I will touch on that in future posts. I have also been focusing on only embracing the positive thoughts during workouts and longer runs. This is a weapon that I need to have ready and at my disposal in 3 weeks because over the course of 100 miles, lots can/will go wrong. Whenever stressful or negative thoughts popped into my head this week, I worked thru it and then mentally compartmentalized it and just put it away in a box. I can’t say it is easy to do but with practice I am starting to get a better hold on it. I can’t just expect to have this skill available if I don’t recognize it as an issue and set forth a strategy to develop the skill. More on this later because I am certain you will see this as a theme. I have spoken with a few friends about this project and they all want to know something along the lines of “what am I thinking about when I put in those nasty miles”. So thru this project, I will attempt to provide a little insight into that topic. Thanks in advance for the feedback and I hope it helps.

Here is the training from week 2

Monday—Nice easy run, been feeling a little heavy after a weekend of bad eating. It was great to have the weekend off work and just relax with Sweet P. I did 3 pullups in the park at the end of the run :). Mental focus today was to start to think about and visualize what the last 20 miles of the 100 will be like. Average pace for the run was 7:41.

Tuesday–same loop as Monday, sightly faster. Felt a little tired at the start but then fell into a groove. Today thought about miles 60-80 of 100 miler. Need to work on staying relaxed and patient. Broke out a new pair of New Balance 890’s and they felt great. This will likely be my Rocky Raccoon shoe unless the trail turns out to be more technical than I thought.

Wednesday–Big day of the week. Tantalus Counter Clockwise from home–15.63 miles average 7:29 pace with a nasty 5 mile climb in the middle. Warmed up too fast! Filled Nathan pack with 2 liters of Secret Drink Mix and the thinking point for today was “purposeful” arms on the 43:37 minute climb. I felt solid and thinking about driving my arms instead of just letting them think for themselves seemed to work well. I love this run–hands down my favorite here in Hawaii. If I could only have this run on dirt (without tons of roots) It would be perfect. ran sub 30 minutes on the way down and ran 73:30 for 1 lap–that is  a pretty fast time for me so as I hit the lap timer at the bottom of the hill—Big smile on my face–fitness might just be right around the corner! Average HR was 153. On the way home, I felt a bit gassed but somehow averaged 7:17 pace on the way home. Still not sure how that happened. Planned on doing crossfit today after the run but my body said waiting a day would be ok—so I actually listened this time.

Thursday–super easy 7 miler before crossfit. Workout was 3 sets of 400m run/21 Kettleball swings/12 pullups (I used bands) in 10:58. I am so new to crossfit but I am starting to get in a rhythm. My key is to just stay within myself and just remember that I want to use this to improve my running, not replace it. So far, it is working. The workout today played to my running strength but I really need to keep working on my pullups. I used to not be able to do 1, so it is easy to see my improvement from week to week.

Friday–Houston, we may have a problem. nice easy 10 mile run in new balance 890 and had a sharp pain at the base of my shin, top of ankle. hurt the entire run and afterward. Started taking Aleve (I don’t like doing this) and the pain subsided. Hopefully, I just tied my shoes too tight and the pain goes away. bad time to get hurt. To top it all off, mentally was tougher than normal today. My head was all over the place and I could not find a focus point. My head was so spastic that thinking about nothing was too much to ask.

Saturday–Tried something a little different today–Instead of loading up my Nathan pack with fluids, I loaded it up with a towel and workout clothes then I ran to crossfit. A little over 4 miles and it was relaxed. 1 problem, I bought a new iphone 4s so I can shoot quality video/photos from the races, and let me just say that text messaging and running are not for me. Crossfit workout went well. I am still following the beginner path so my workout was only 15 minutes compared to the 20 minute prescription. I finished 8 sets of 10 push press/10 KB swings/ 10 box jumps in my 15 minutes. Felt good, happy to stay within myself and I am very happy with the whole crossfit experiment so far. I am getting stronger and meeting some cool people as well. Easy run home

Sunday–Nice long run, ran a couple improvised Diamond Head/Kahala loops and incorporated that monster hill on Pahoa. That climb is long and tough–I need to start to add that into the daily loop. Much tougher than the climb up Diamond Head Rd. Drank 1.5 liters of Secret Drink Mix—NOT ENOUGH–I ran out with about 3 miles to go–oops. Ate 2 Metasalt tabs every 45 minutes and that worked out well–no cramping issues at all. Tons of people out running today training for the Great Aloha Run in a few weeks. So nice to see that many people running along Diamond Head road. I am feeling like my fitness is coming around and the leg pain is much less severe. As usual, getting thru the 2nd lap of the run was the toughest part–mentally running away from the house after putting in 9 miles and committing to another 10-11 miles–very happy I made the right decision and had positive focus and thoughts today. Might be my last long run prior to the 100, we will see.

Weekly Roundup: 80.86 miles. Overall a very positive week on all counts. I’m a little tired and thats ok–Massage on Monday with Barbara @ Massage Specialists—She does an Amazing job putting me back together–I highly recommend her if you are in Hawaii and need a great massage therapist!  Shoes fopr the week–Black New Balance 890 (55.16 miles), Grey NB 890 (344.79 miles), Adidas Glide (141.08 miles)–same gear as last week Secret Drink MIx, Nathan pack, Garmin 410.

Next week: I might jump in a local 8k to see how much more fit I am compared to this exact time last year. Other than that, 1 fartlek workout and some time on Tantalus. Stay tuned and thanks for reading! Please feel free to provide feedback or thoughts

Aloha!