Training?

Since I started this blog, it has served two purposes: 1.) A training log to keep my workouts and races documented for others to see and comment on; and 2.) A journal for sharing my thoughts and views on my experiences in running, as well as in life. In the last 10 weeks or so, I've had some pretty lengthy posts on here (sorry!) But most of those posts have been more of a journal and less of a training log. One reason for this is that I've had a lot of travels and experiences to talk about over that time period that I've wanted to share. The other reason is that I haven't done much training in that time.

After getting hurt in early May, I ended my season very early and took a lot of time off from running. I had about 3 weeks of absolutely no activity. I gained some weight and let the desire for performance fade away. I then started traveling around quite a bit and started running again while I was away. I wasn't "training" at this time, I was just running. After about a week and a half of this, I realized that I hadn't fully healed and I wasn't quite ready to come back to this, so I took more time off. After another week and a half, I started running again. At this time, I began even more travels. I drove across the country and spent about two weeks in Eugene (see the post below). Again, in these few weeks, I wasn't "training" yet, I was just running. After the trials concluded, I traveled down to Chino Hills, CA and settled into my new home. It was at this time that I started making a gradual change from just running to actually "training".

Now that I have gotten more into this state of mind, I feel I should get back to the backbone of this blog and start posting more of a training log on here. First let me catch up on those first 8 weeks of "non training" activity.

May 12-18: 0 Miles
May 19-25: 0 Miles
May 26-June 1: 0 Miles
June 2-8: 30 Miles
June 9-15: 23 Miles
June 16-22: 4 Miles
June 23-29: 31 Miles
June 31-July 6: 47 Miles

In those 8 weeks, I ran a total of 135 Miles. There were a lot of great experiences in that period, but there were also a lot of very low points as well. As you can imagine, I lost a lot of fitness in this time. Not only had I lost the season that I was preparing so hard for, but I had also lost that feeling of being an athlete. I gained more weight than I would have liked and gave into the temptations of eating bad food and drinking more with friends. I did these things to try to feel better, but in the end it just made me feel worse. When I finally started running again, I didn't feel like a runner at all. Even when I was in Eugene, nick-named Track Town USA, where the fittest people in the country had gathered to take part in one of the biggest events of our sport, I could not regain that feeling that I had before. I had gathered so much motivation from the people around me, yet I could not physically feel the way I felt in my mind. I knew it would take some time to get it back, but I couldn't help but feel discouraged by this conflict between my mental state and my physical state.

Now, I am part of an elite training program and everything I do revolves around my training. I started running more miles and started doing drills and strength work in the hours that I wasn't running. But even though I was doing more, I still didn't have that feeling of "training", I didn't feel like a runner yet. Finally, after about two weeks of this routine, I had my first day in close to 3 months that I felt like a runner again. I wasn't constantly thinking about how out of shape I was or whether or not my injury had fully healed yet. Instead, I was able to go out on a run and enjoy that motion, I was once again able to feel comfortable on a run. This does not mean that I am back in shape or that I am ready to start intense workouts or races, but it means I can start to think like a runner again, and that my body can start reacting to those thoughts, which will hopefully turn me into a runner again. It was at this time that could say I was "training" again. Therefore, this is where I will start my training log back up.

Before I detail the training for the last couple of weeks, let me first describe the atmosphere and environment that I train in. As I said before, I now live in Chino Hills, CA. It is located about 30 Miles east of Los Angeles and is close to Mt. SAC. I now run for Pacers Elite, which is a training group funded by the Pacers Running Company, the Lydiard Foundation, and Reebok. I live in an elite team house along with three other guys, which consist of my teammates and training partners, Steve Magness and Carlos Handler, as well as Assistant Coach, Ben Mejia. I share a room with Steve, who is a very talented athlete and has a lot to offer this program. He also shares many of the same views and personality traits that I do, so we've gotten along very well. Along with the three athletes that are in the house, there are about 6 or 7 other elite athletes that live in the area and will also be part of the program, just on a different level since they have jobs or attend school still.

Our coach is Marco Ochoa, who has had a great career as an athlete and has also shown great ability as a coach. As an athlete, his claim to fame was placing 5th at the 1996 Olympic Marathon Trials, qualifying for the 1997 World Championships in that event, and boasting a personal best of 2:13 at the distance. He trained with legends Pat Porter, Ed Eyestone, and Mark Coogan, among others, and has shown that he knows what it takes to train at that level. Under Coach Joe Vigil's guidance, he developed the same style of coaching and helped advise many great athletes at the college level while at Adams State, as well as the post collegiate level with Deena Drossin (now Kastor), Meb Keflezighi, and many others. I have faith in his coaching ability and look forward to working with him while I'm in this program. Marco also coaches at Orange Coast College (OCC), a junior college in the area with some talented athletes, so many of our runs and workouts are done with members of that group.

There are many people involved in working towards making this program a success, but the person that initially got this on its feet is Program Director, Steve Sumner. He is the owner of the Pacers Running Company, he coaches the club athletes in the program, and he coordinates an adult recreation group in preparation for the LA Marathon. It is his vision that has started all of this and his investment that he is taking a chance with. I am thankful that he has shown faith in me by taking me on as an athlete, and I hope that I can help add to the future success of Pacers Elite.

I will try to get some pictures up and talk more about the facilities and surrounding areas in the following weeks, but now that you have a little bit of a background on the program, here is what I've been up to... Nothing crazy yet, but hopefully that will come later.

Monday, July 14: 6:00 AM - 8 Miles, 57 min
w/ a 20 min circuit in the middle. Circuit consisted of a continuous loop with stages of bounding, high knees, butt kicks, quick feet, lunges, and strides.
Tuesday, July 15: 6:00 AM - 7 Miles, 50 min
Followed by core work and a strength routine.
5:00 PM - 45 min Pool Workout
Wednesday, July 16: 9:30 AM - 9 Miles, 55 min w/ OCC team (fast pace)
Thursday, July 17: 6:00 AM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Followed by core, drills, and strength work
Friday, July 18: 6:00 AM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Saturday, July 19: 9 Miles, 61 min w/ OCC team (very hilly and challenging)
Sunday, July 20: 7:30 AM - 10 Miles, 66 min

Week Total = 62 Miles

Monday, July 21: 6:00 AM - 8 Miles, 58 min
w/ 25 min circuit consisting of more drills and a faster pace.
Tuesday, July 22: 6:00 AM - 7 Miles, 47 min
Followed by core and strength work. Skipped the drills because my right hip was bothering me.
Wednesday, July 23: 6:00 PM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Thursday, July 24: 7:00 AM - 7 Miles, 48 min
Friday, July 25: 7:00 AM - 7 Miles, 46 min
Saturday, July 26: 0 Miles
Hip is still pretty tight and bothersome.
Sunday, July 27: 10 Miles, 63 min
Followed by pedestal and back routine

Week Total = 48 Miles
I think I've been a little too aggressive with all the drills and strength work that we've been doing, so I backed off a bit this week and am trying to see if the pain in my hip improves as a result.

This brings me up to date with my training log and I hope that my future posts will include some great training followed by some great results. I am now getting ready to travel once again as I will be flying back to New England tomorrow. I'll be in Boston for a couple of days before going up to Maine on Thursday. In addition to spending time with friends and family, I will be "participating" (not racing) in the Beach to Beacon 10K held in Cape Elizabeth, ME. This will be my 8th running of this race (I missed the first 2 years plus 2004 when I was in Boulder). Though I am sad that I will not be able to run it at the level I would like and show my home crowd what I am capable of, it will be great to be a part of this annual event and I am sure it will be a great experience. This weekend will also mark the date of the 3rd Annual Summerpalooza, which all of you should have received invitations to. If not, let me know. This annual event is another thing that I've looked forward to and I hope it will have as much success as previous years.

As usual, I've managed to make this post longer than expected (sorry)... But now that I seem to be caught up on my experiences and training leading up to this point, I should be able to keep future posts under better control.

Thanks for your patience and loyalty with this blog, and please stay tuned for more...