Long Run

Mark and I headed out to the canal this morning for our long run. We didn't know till our arrival that everyone in Montgomery County was planning on doing the same thing. The parking lot at Riley's Lock was packed!!!!! We saw well over 100 people on the canal. It was pretty sweet and made for a lot of support on the long run. I felt great and relaxed for the entire 18 miles. Best long run of the summer. Mark desperately needs new shoes and his knee was hurting - so we stopped early. Looking forward to another great week of training. I'm looking to average 80 miles for the next 6 - 8 weeks. Marine Corps is coming soon.

75 this week

Another solid week of training in the books with a lot of medium long runs of 10-12 miles. Looking forward to a nice 21+ on Sunday.

Transition

It's been a busy last couple of weeks and I've been mia on the blog scene. Don't worry, my running is fine, but I just had to ease down the running for almost two weeks due to a mild case of strep and a minor injury. I'm almost 100% and ready to kick the training back up into the 70s again. (I'll post mileage totals from the summer on the side in the next few weeks. )

I'm excited that I'll be cutting my hours at the second job down to almost zero by the end of August. Practice for xc starts on Saturday and I can't wait. It's finally here. Then Virginia Beach is right around the corner and I want to smash my pr for the half. Till then I'll be training with Mark (he returns from Mexico soon) and running with my high school team. I'll run Kentlands for kicks as long as I can handle some speed.

Transitions are always memorable. I love the summer, but fall is the best time of the year. :)

Good News and Epic Run in Ohio

I've been behind on updating this blog after a weekend out of town. I'll fill in more of the details later. After a humbling race on Saturday where I basically crawled after about 8 minutes into the race following some severe pain below my abs, I took Sunday off completely and spoke with an expert on my recurring problem.His advice surprised me. No abs for a few weeks and run easy. Okay, very easy.

So, I took an easy 5 on Monday with my friend Mark and 4 former Eastern Illinois runners, and a Valpo alum in Ohio. No pain. One of them recently went sub 4 in the mile and another went 2:19 in the marathon. Then, on Tuesday morning, Mark, JJ, Adam, and I ventured out to a road alongside Lake Erie. Talk about sweet. I had flashbacks to Florida and felt relaxed on the entire run. Then in the final 3 miles the pace quickened and I held back and let them go. After the results from the garmin poured in for our ten mile run - I was glad I let them go the last 2 miles. They ran 5:20 on the final mile. No pain again on the run, but it's going to be tough to not do abs for at least a week.

Twilighter Weekend Wrap Up

On a picture perfect evening on Saturday night at the Twilighter - I had a big agenda. You see, the Twilighter, has been home to two of my worst racing experiences ever a few years ago. I honestly had tried to stay positive and focus on how much fun this race would be. As I arrived in Rockville, everyone was out in full force. Kids, families, and I saw plenty of familiar faces and the buzz of the racing scene returned and adrenaline was definitely pumping.

It was a busy day at work and my legs felt it on the warm-up. I hadn't been this tight all summer. I'm not sure what it was, but as I warmed up with the GRC crew I tried to relax. In the invited runner's room - I took plenty of time to stretch, hydrate, and tried to loosen up. I was still tight and felt it throughout the whole race. I felt strong physically and was focused mentally. I just couldn't move up throughout the race and finished in 29:02. (it didn't take me 30 seconds to get to the starting line, so I'm not sure what's up with my time on the net)

While I didn't have a the performance I was looking for - my GRC teammates killed it on the course. Everyone was flying and I was really pleased with the efforts of my high school kids who ran in the 8k. Despite my disappointing run, I now love this race. A great high school coach in Southern Illinois once told me something that I'll never forget after a tough race I had - "Nathan, there will always be another race." So, on Sunday - I slept 10 hours and took my first day off in a while. I heard a great message at church that evening that I resonated well with and kept my focus on what really matters. This morning, I slept in once again and ran 14 + with Mark on the canal. My legs and back felt strong again. Amazing what a day off can do.

Looking forward to the my first experience at the Crystal City Twilighter 5K on Saturday night. I'll need some speed for this one for sure:)

The Day Before

Thursday - Ran just under 10 miles from my house with Mark on a newly created and quite random route through Montgomery Village and Germantown. It was quite the hilly run once again and we ran at a solid clip. It was nice to get in a strong run before a full day of work.

Friday - Ran 6 miles with Eric at Needwood. We caught up on the high school coaching world and ran at a relaxed and controlled clip down the path. Bumped into a parent of one of my former top runners who now competes for Elon following the run. It's always nice to bump into familiar faces. I'm looking forward to the Twilighter. Just looking to be patient for the first two miles and get tough racing during the second half of the course. And, of course, I want gun down some runners on the final mile on 355. Should be fun. This event is one of the summer racing highlights of any serious runner in the Metro area. The usual suspects and maybe some ringers from the Va area will come of out of the woodwork for the evening festivities in Dowtown Rockville.

Tired Legs and the walking legend.....

Early week report:
Monday - Ran quite the hilly loop through the streets of Germantown with Mark. 10 miles. Solid run.
Tuesday - Split up two runs of 7.5 and 4.5 with Mark at Needwood and the Kentlands. 12 miles total.
Wednesday - Ran 7 miles with Chris at Needwood. Chris caught me up on his weekend in New Jersey as we ran down the path. My legs felt dead today, but a nice ice bath should do the trick! On another note, I always see interesting characters on the Needwood path, but apparently this guy we saw on the path this morning could be a walking legend. Chris claims he's seen the same dude in Needwood in the morning and Silver Spring later in the evening passing by his work!! That's one heck of a hike or Chris is just full of it. I'm not sure which side I'm leaning towards just yet.