Looking Back....2006 Chicago Marathon

I plan over the next year to do quite a few looking back blogs to detail some of the past important times of my life. Today I want to look back not to long ago to the 2006 Chicago Marathon from last October 22nd. It was my 1st attempt at the Marathon distance my buildup for the race went close to perfect up til the last 4-6 weeks when some nagging injuries cut into some of my prime weeks for training. I lost out on some of the volume I would have perferred to have got in but my quality of workouts was able to stay strong. Some keys points were 2x5miles with 10min job recovery where I ran close to 26min flat on both tempo's, I had good leadup Longer Tempos like 8miles/10miles @ 5:20pace, I had one super long run of 2:35 minutes where I ran steady throughout the run so probably covered close to 24miles. The big thing I would have changed(other than the nagging injuries) would be a lot more Longer runs of 20plus miles and add in Marathon Pace Tempos in the 12-15mile range.

As for the race, it was a very cold windy/rainy day. Weather was one thing I knew i couldn't control and it was rough conditions for my debut. I went out slow and at about the 3mile mark started to pick it up and run. Started clicking off miles in the 5:20-5:25 range after the slow start. I hit the half at 1:12 feeling as though I was going to negative spilt and atleast get close to the 2:22 standard. Around 15miles I made my first major mistake and that was I broke from the gorup I had ran with the previous 12miles and picked up the pace hard, the huge problem with this was I made this move at a strech that was into the wind. I worked solo for the next 3miles and the wind/effort had a huge effect on me. At this point I was feeling the effects of another mistake, not taking in enough fluids/gels. At around mile 19 after a horrible last mile what was left of the group I left earlier came up on me and passed me. I tryed hard to hang with them for the next 1.5-2miles but at mile 21 I was cramping bad. The cramps(probably from not enough fluids) came on hard and fast. At that point even with falling off my fast pace the past 3miles, I was still on a 2:25 finishing time pace. But it was not to be I struggled in bigtime. I probably saw 100plus runners past me in that last 5.2miles of slogging(my term for slow jogging). I limped home while above my goal with a time of 2:31. The bright side is on a day like that with the conditions the way they were and the way I ran the furst 21miles it was defintely still an success. I finished 150th overall out of over 40,000 runners, like I said earlier though at one point was probably in the top 50 which in the largest/best mararthon in the world would have been HUGE! I'm now training hard waiting awhile for that next try at the Marathon and trust me I plan to nail it big when I do attempt it again!

Here is an email sent and forwarded to me from Mark Cruz who was coached by Coach Small at the University of South Carolina. Carlos as we call him was a huge help to me with great tips(start super slow) and a huge help to my dad as Cruz who is from Chicago lead him around the race to see me at 4-5 different spots:

Click on the link below and watch the interview ...about 2min into the interview they will start showing race finishers...look for Jason as he crosses the line in 2:31:30 or so.

Coach,
Pyles ran tough..in those conditions (18pmh winds and 35-40 degrees) a 2:31 is more like a 2:28 effort. He went out in 1:12 and s/d have came back in 1:14-1:16 but ... I think it is reasonable to say one would lose about 2-4min on the second half. When I ran 2:32 , I ran splits of 1:14 / 1:18.

Point is Jay u got a 2:26 in you and if I were u i would set that as my goal for 2007. I know it seems far off but u could probably get down to a 2:22 by the 2012 Trials. Just something to think about ... rest easy.

Cruz

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=27055@wbbm.dayport.com

Training Recap/ El Paso

The past week was a eventfull week for life and training. I hit 82miles on 10 runs with Sunday off for all day travel. Had I ran sunday i would have easily hit my goal total of 92-95miles. The week started bad when tuesday night(workout night) I had a car wreck where I totaled my SUV but luckily walk out unhurt. I had a nice midweek medium length long run(15miles) since i knew i was going to miss sunday due to travel. I was in El Paso Texas with the Marshall XC team, it was a fun 4 days, I got 5 runs in El Paso and loved the running there very much. My run saturday afternoon on a dirt path was just awesome running. Almost all the team could feel the altitude while running but i couldnt feel it at all. I read some people adapt to Altitude very quickly maybe i'm one of them.

*Look to get 3 workouts in this coming week and hit in that mid 90 range for miles. Workouts will be short tempo, Cruise Intervals, and then a longer tempo/long run.

*Really enjoyed my 2nd trip to El Paso. Travis ran like a stude to make all-conf team and Eric Fro was named conference freshman of the year. The guys lead by the senior trio of travis, nelson and ramell had their highest conference usa finish of 4th, only 6pts back of Rice.

Training Recap (Oct15-21st)

Drop week of miles, but not too much. Hit 84miles on 10runs for my 10th week back to training. Easy Runs, Strides, Hill Burst(5), Cruise Intervals(800s), 5 mile Hard/Tempo, and Long Run once again made up the weeks agenda. Long Run turned into an adventure, went to Beach Fork with Marian, Travis, and Ramell for what i had planned to be 2 hours on the Trail. Had only ran their once before and it was a short run so this was a exploring run, the running there is great will defintely be going back a lot now. The bottom 4miles takes you on rolling trails and into a small climb to the top of the forrest then at the top it's awesome running. Smooth dirt trails almost more like a dirt road. I explored so much after Travis and Ramell truned around that i got alittle twisted on the direction I was going. I thought the loop I was on went back into the original top of the hill spot but it didn't so i ended up having to back track my run some what and turned out to run 2 hr and 25minutes a nice 20plus miler. Running on the soft surface felt so much smoother that it didn't seem to feel much difference then my usual 2 hr runs on the roads.

*1st Sentry Bank 5 Mile Challenge was the Saturday Hard/Tempo. The race was in honor of Teddy Johnson's Son that just recently passed away. So the race had alot more meanig to it then just the running part. But as for the tempo had planned to run 5:15-20 pace but after hitting the 1st mile in 5:05 and feeling like tempo I just kept that effort. The 2nd/3rd mile were HILLY!! so hit 5:35 and 5:28, the last part of mile 3 was downhill but the type of downhill running that slows you more then helps you. So then on the 4th mile back down on the flat just kept the effort the same and hit 5:08 and the 5th mile same effort and hit 5:01 for a total time of 26:15. If the course was all flat the race effort would have resulted in 25:25. Had this been a race day I feel sub 25 would have been a definite result. Fitness is good right now off mainly base, really excited about the 5 mile race in3 weeks at Richmond now.

*Marian took the Womens Race so combined we took home $250 and a $20 gift card to a Bakery...Not a bad day just to get your workout in!

*Link to Race Photos and results(scroll down on results to Oct 20th Huntington, WV)
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/multimedia/x2054223440
http://www.runohio.com/results/searchable.html

Training Recap Oct 8th-14th

Another solid 9th week back to Training. I hit 95miles on 11runs. Training consisted of alot of the usual stuff. Easy Runs, Long Run(2hr's), strides, Hill Burst increased to (4), Cruise Interval 800's with 60second recovery replaced hill work, and the key workout of the week was very solid 7mile Tempo run @ Ritter with Casey. The last 4 miles of the tempo got going pretty steady. Happy with the way the week went!

*Also as part of my easy 11mile day on saturday I jumped into the Chesapeake, Oh Octoberfest 5k. I timed everything up really good, ran 40minutes then went straight into the 5k(16:50) then straight into 15minutes more minutes. Picked up the pace on the 5k to only 5:25 pace which i will call a light fartlek in the middle of a 11miler. Only jumped in since it was easy money, not much but money. So in all i got my run in with a light pickup got a long sleeve race shirt, water bottle, Won $50 and a Gift Certificate, and ate/drank lots of fruit/gatorade. Not a bad deal!

*This coming week is finally time for a little drop in mileage. Coming back from injury it's been 9 weeks of building. Now i'm starting my 3 week cycle with 2 weeks UP, 1 week down. So will look to hit roughly low 80's this week with an interval session, shorter LR, and a tempo run saturday at the 1st Sentry Bank Huntington 5 mile Challenge. I hear the course is suppose to be pretty challenging so won't set a tempo pace instead will just go off a tempo effort of around 80-85% hopefully.

Pocahontas County, WV (Marlinton)

Our future home......Marlinton in Pocahontas County. Well not quite yet but the plan is in the works. Marian and I have feel in Love with the place without even visiting it in quite some time. The last time I was in the county was on a fishing trip with my dad when I was in middle school, before that i routinely made trips to Pocahontas with my dad who at the time had a lot with a run down trailer on it that fit his needs of a place to crash every few weekends of the prime trout fishing season. At the time I wasn't a "runner" but WOW what a perfect place to train this area would be. I can't hardly explain how wonderful the setting is in this county to accomplish running dreams. To start the county is a outdoors persons dream. Marlinton which is the county seat and bascially the center of the county has countless GREAT running options right out the door like the Greenbrier River Trail a 77mile long converted train track that is now a crushed gravel beatiful running surface. So many dirt roads in the county I won't even try to list any of them, the Scenic Highway and in town pavement loops to get the hard surface running in with the plus of little traffic to deal with. Within 5-30minutes drive you have the Allegheny Trail(70plus miles long), West Fork Trail(26miles), Cranberry Glands, Monongahela National Forrest, 5 State Parks(Watoga and Seneca best running wise), Cass Scenic RR, and you even have the Snowshoe Resort with many hill options for the summer months. All these running options within 30minute drives at the longest. It really is a runners dream county.

With my parents help we are looking to find a place in Marlinton hopefully very soon. My dad wants to help since it will be a place he could go to to hit up the great fishing in the county once again. The plan for Marian and I is to have something by no later than this summer so that for the future we could spend all summer their as a great vacation home to start with and during the school/teaching year we would make weekend trips while the weather is still nice(bad winters in the county) but the long-term plan is to someday settle their for all year long. I want to continue to train at a high level for a long time and so does Marian. Plus what a great place to just enjoy wonderful living and great place to someday raise kids. My ultimate dream would to bring a post-collegiate training group to that area and pay for them to train/live for free and I would coach(after my competetive running days are over) them to hopefully great performances like the Hanson's for example, i think this would be the perfect place for soemthing like that and something i hope to accomplish. I can't wait!!!

Training Recap/ Mikey Cox

This past week was my 8th week in my buildup to Naples Half Marathon. I hit 92miles on 11runs. Long Run, Strides, Hill burst(3), 5mile Tempo, and 45min continuous hill circuit on hautned trail were the quality parts of the the week. The hill wkout went well, kept the workout smooth throughout the 45min segment part, stayed solid on the uphill and downhill running during the 45mins. The 5 mile tempo went really smooth, solid pace for my 2nd week of wkouts but felt like i coul dhave dropped the pace quite a bit if i needed too(thats how tempos are suppose to feel). The thing with tempos is you want every week to get faster with the effort hopefully staying the same from from the body adapting to the higher training load each week. I'm sold on the fact that Tempos are the most important part of any distance running plan, everypart of a training plan has it's place but Tempo's are what you achieve the most benefit from. This upcoming week looks to be about the same other than now I will switch out the tuesday hill work for some shorter Intervals (800s) and my tempo I will look to go 7miles.

Mikey Cox did it again. The guy just seems to race evry 4 years and when he does he proves to be one of the best WV runners of all time. This weekend he ran 2:21:42 at the Chicago Marathon to Qualify for his 2nd USA Olympic Trials(to be ran Nov 4th in New York). What makes his performance even more impressive is he finished 8th overall, top american and did it all in high 80 degree weather. Weather that had the champion running around 4 minutes slower than the usual winning time. The guy is just so tough, to fight through the conditions makes no excuses and run like a beast! He only has 27 days to recover before the Trials which will be hard, but if anyone can do it and still put on a top performance its Mikey!

!

Training Last Week

Last week was only my 7th week back into building things up. I hit 90miles on 12 runs. The week consisted of Easy runs, Long Run, Long Hill Repeats, short tempo(4miles), strides, and for the 1st time hill burst after wednesday's 2nd run. This week coming up things will stay about the same, tempo will go 6miles though and possibly will go to Beckley to jump in the 5k(not sure i want to pay to enter to just do this though) to just run a slow 3rd wkout since Marian and I will probably already be in town visiting her family. Below is a breakdown right now of roughly what i'm doing each week.

Monday- 35min@ 5AM/ 55-65min@ 4PM(after school)
Tuesday- 35min@ 5AM/ Intervals/hills @4PM
Wednes- 35min@ 5AM/ 55-65min@ 4PM *Hill Burst*
Thursday- 35@ 5AM/ 55-65min @ 4PM *Strides*
Friday- 35min@ 5AM/ Tempo @4PM
Saturday- 70minAM/ (PM shorter run optional)
Sunday- Long Run in the AM

In my plan it follows a 3 week cycle of which are all roughly different so some other little things get thrown in there like fartleks during the Long Run and 8x200s after easy thursdays. Tempo will be done in a rotation of shorter, longer, hillier then back to shorter. Intervals will start with 800s then grow to 2mile repeats but plan to drop back to 800s/1000s every 3rd week when i get to the Miler/2Miler length. I've got the plan all mapped out day by day and it is alot of the same principles that Ryan Hall follows. If he can run a American Record 59:40s for the Half off these principles then I think it might just be a decent plan to follow.