Move Along

When all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you do
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through

Monday, October 13: 5:00 PM - 10 Miles, 68 min
Tuesday, October 14: 4:00 PM - Attempted fartlek WO
15 min w/u, 1 min @ ~ 4:40 pace, pulled up and walked back 2.5 miles
Wednesday, October 15: 0 Miles
Thursday, October 16: 0 Miles
Friday, October 17: 0 Miles
Saturday, October 18: 4:00 PM - 5 Miles, 34 min
Sunday, October 19: 0 Miles

Week Total = 18 Miles, 2 1/4 runs

Monday, October 20: 9:00 AM - 5 Miles, 32 min
3:00 PM - 5 Miles, 36 min
Tuesday, October 21: 8:00 AM - 10 Miles, 62 min
Wednesday, October 22: 9:00 AM - 5 Miles, 34 min
5:00 PM - Moderate Tempo WO
6 Miles at 5:30-5:15 effort (5:26, 5:28 (downhill), 5:22, 5:16, 5:47 (uphill), 5:15
16 min w/u, 18 min c/d
Thursday, October 23: 10:00 AM - 10 Miles, 73 min (Santa Barbara)
Friday, October 24: 7:00 AM - 6 Miles, 41 min (Santa Barbara)
3:30 PM - 9 Miles, 70 min (Santa Barbara - Mountain Run)
Saturday, October 25: 6:00 PM - 7 Miles, 44 min
Sunday, October 26: 7:00 AM - 14 Miles, 96 min

Week Total = 82 Miles, 10 Runs

I know it's been a while since I've posted as I've been pretty busy. Actually, I can't believe it's only been two weeks because it seems like so much has happened in that time. Last time I updated this thing, I was having trouble with my left hamstring but seemed to be on the upswing. Well, I was a little too optimistic about it and decided I was ready to attempt a workout on last Tuesday. I had felt ok on easy runs and thought I was fine to try a hard effort, so I started a fartlek with Steve and realized very quickly that it was too soon. Less than 60 seconds into the first interval, I felt a twinge in the lower hamstring and then within a few steps, it completely locked up and I was halted to a stop. I knew I was done for the day and told Steve to go on without me. It was similar to the feeling I felt in the workout the week before, except it was much more painful. I tried to walk it off for a little bit and was hoping to just jog back to the car. However, a very slow walk was all I could muster up for the 2 1/2 Mile trip back. It was so slow that I got back to the car only 5 minutes before Steve made it back, cool down and all.

I was pretty upset because I was making progress and then ended up worse off than I was a week ago. This time, I decided to be more cautious and make sure I let it heal properly. I took 3 days off completely, ran 5 miles on the 4th day but didn't feel good so I took Sunday off as well. Finally on Monday it was feeling better. It was still pretty tight, but there wasn't a lot of pain running at an easy pace. I had another good run on Tuesday and then decided to try a harder effort on Wednesday since I had gone a week with no workouts. Since the hamstring issue seemed to be sensitive to speed, I decided I'd start with a moderate tempo and see how that felt. I put in 6 miles, averaging about 5:25 pace, starting at 5:30 effort and working down to 5:15s. It was slower than tempo effort so cardiovascularly, I didn't have any trouble. My legs felt ok, but they just felt weak and I could feel the hamstring grabbing at certain points in the last few miles.

So I'm definitely feeling better and I'll still be cautious over the next week or so in order to get back into solid training without aggravating it again. I decided not to run Mayor's Cup this past weekend for a few reasons and will wait for another opportunity to race when I feel stronger. I was really looking forward to the trip out there, but I know I'm doing the right thing by avoiding it.

In other happenings, I went to Santa Monica last weekend to watch the 5000 and 10000 races while also visiting with friends and enjoying the nice weather at the beach. Later in the week, I drove up to Santa Barbara to stay with friends Rusty and June. I had some nice runs while I was there, enjoyed some great scenery, and had the great company of the Snow family to make it interesting.

I returned from Santa Barbara on Friday night and spent all of Saturday at the Mt. SAC invite helping out a little with the Flotrack and Reebok crew. It was a lot of fun and we ended it with an interesting evening as well. After a few hours of sleep, I did a long run with Jorge Torres, Fenton, and Sean, then went back to the house to start packing.

What am I packing for? Let me explain. As most of you know, I've been living in Southern California for the last 4 months and training with the Pacers Elite Team. It is a very new program and has not been established as a premier training program. With the hope of having something similar to a Zap, McMillan, Hansons, Team MN, or TIE, I took a chance and moved out here to pursue my running career at a higher level.

Fast forward four months and I am now packing up my stuff again and moving back to New England. Unfortunately, the program just wasn't working out for us and didn't show signs of developing into one of those groups I mentioned above. I've had thoughts of leaving for a while now, but because of the steps I took to get out here and the personal investment I put into it, I wanted to wait to see if it would get better. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say I wasn't happy there and I knew that there were other places around the country that I could be better off at. I am glad that I took a chance on this opportunity and I believe I learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way. Since I know I have a good support group back in Boston, my plan is to settle back into that community and once again train under the New Balance Boston elite group. It's an organization that I strongly believe in and because of my experiences with them, I know I can continue to be successful with their guidance.

I have already started my journey back to the right coast and am actually writing this entry from Flagstaff, AZ. There are a lot of places in the country that I've wanted to visit and this is one of them. I am staying with the McMillan Elite group for a couple days and enjoying the beautiful training here before I move along to the next stop on my list. I have a pretty good plan of where I'll be staying along the way, but I'm taking more of a laid back approach to this trip than when I rushed across country before in only five days. I will try to update this blog frequently and fill you in on all the great places and experiences along the way.