The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing; revisited

Outside of my birthday run and the month of training that led up to it, I haven't had any good or consistent training in a long long time.

During my run this morning with Jesse (I got a nice 10.5 miles in!) He was asking me questions about training via HR, and the benefits to doing such. I answered him as best as I could, but I have honestly forgotten a whole hell of a lot on the topic.

There was a time where I could talk for hours and hours on the topic if given the time and opportunity (just ask my poor wife...), but now I struggle to explain it properly!

Same goes with my reasoning to run barefoot. I have gotten to the point where I just say "it works for me" and move on. I know the benefits behind it. I understand my reasoning. It makes total sense in my twisted little mind.

But how do I transfer that over to someone else that has a brain larger than the size of a peanut?

To help out with the first part (low HR training) I'm going to re-read Philip Maffetone's book "The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing" so that I can sort it all back out in my head again.

Luckily Old Phil is a proponent to minimalist and barefoot running, so I can re-educate myself on that subject via this book as well!

How did this happen?

http://dranandvora.com/barefoot-running-blogs/

If you follow that link it will bring you to an orthopedic doctors website where he has compiled a list of 21 barefoot and minimalist running blogs and websites.

Along those listed are...

Ted McDonald, the infamous Barefoot Ted from the book "Born To Run". Basically, Ted could be held partially accountable for the explosion of barefoot and minimalist runners to emerge since BTR was released. His blog can be found HERE.

Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton, the O.G. of barefoot running. Yes, Abebe Bikila might have been the "first" barefoot runner to make headlines, but that was a one time thing. BF Ken Bob is the real deal when it comes to running unshod. The Guru of barefoot running's website can be found HERE.

Jason Robilliard. Jason has been mentioned in my blog on several occasions. Of all the "big guys" that made the list, Jason is the only one I have ever seen in forums. A super helpful guy, a great runner, an esteemed author of multiple books, Co-founder of the Barefoot Running Society,  and the owner of the Barefoot Running University, Jason's website can be found HERE.

Then there's Anton Krupicka... Anton is one of the top ultra runners of all time. Although he is not a barefoot runner, he is most certainly a minimalist runner! With multiple wins in not only races, but championships, series and a nice list of FKT (fastest known times) he's got a pretty good idea of what it takes to run really far REALLY fast. He is one of my favorite Ultra Runners and from what i hear he's actually a very humble and all around cool guy! You can find Anton's website HERE.

So there we have 4 of the biggest names in the minimalist /barefoot running world along with some of the top Ultra Marathoners all in one listing!

There were others that made the list. Minimalist show reviewers, other runners, etc... But those 4 stood out the most to me.

Then there's one that really shocked me.

Mine...

Huh!!?!???!??

Me?

I'm a nobody! Hell, I'm not even on the facebook! How did they find my blog, and why did they decide to use it? My mind is blown!

I'm certainly honored and appreciative, dont get me wrong here. I just never thought that my name would be listed with some of the greatest runners of our time.

Geez... there's going to be some disappointed people visiting my blog!  I guess I need to start posting up some more good stuff!

Running partner...?

I ran with a partner today for the first time in... well in a long time.

I'm not used to holding a running conversation with somebody that doesn't only exist in my head anymore. So it's going to take some getting used to.

His name is Jesse. He lives just about a mile down the road, and our wives are now friends too. His longest run is 13 miles, but he did say that he would like to go farther.... I will bring him to the dark side. Muahahaha!!!!!

I was a bit unsure at first, but I figured what the hell and decided to invite him for a run anyways. I'm very glad I did, because if I hadn't then my fat ass would probably still be asleep in the bed saying "Man... it's 31° outside! Piss on that!"

BUT, since I had invited someone else to go run, I couldn't exactly just back out. There was a sense of accountability involved that forced me to get out of bed and go running. Luckily I did. I grabbed a nice 5 miles that felt wonderfull!

Dusting off the cobwebs

No, I'm not referring to the same type of cobwebs as Drop Dead Fred was referring to.

Or even the oh so popular Gwen Stefani 90's hit song from the band No Doubt.

I'm taking about the cobwebs that have gathered about on my legs and in my lungs from not running over the past 3 months. Being fat and lazy and dormant for that long really allowed them to build up mighty thick!

But that changed tonight!

I just finished running an amazing 3.6 miles. And it felt... Well... Amazing!

I stated off at an easy relaxed pace and sort of gradually increased little by little. At one point I stared out on a long slightly declining well lit section of the road and saw a cat about 5 streetlights down. So i decided to do some primal style animal chasing type shit and just took off sprinting with the goal of not stopping until i was past the street lights glow. I checked my pace as i was slowing down at the end.... 5:56! Fork yeah!

Then the last quarter mile I set in mind to run under a 7 minute per mile pace. It gave me a nice little burn in the legs.

When I got home my wife made a few comments about how I must have enjoyed myself because I was grinning ear to ear. Then she commented about how bad I stunk.

Apparently shes never smelled the scent of burning cobwebs before!

February 2015 update

I haven't ran since my birthday run...

The theme that seems to haunt my running "career" reared is ugly head again.

Every time my training starts going really good and i start to eyeball an upcoming race, something comes up and puts all my training on the back burner.

After my 50 mile race i worked 14 to 16 hour days for a few weeks. After that i resumed training, but then went back to working 12 to 14 hour days for a little over 4 months.

After that stint is when i started the Makers Diet and my training was going AMAZING.... for about 4 months. Then we had to remodel our old house in order to sell it and relocate to the Conroe area (about 45 minutes north of Houston Tx)

Once we did that i had to find employment, then find a new house, then move in and settle down.

That's when i started running again. Of course once i started getting where I wanted to be, i start working crazy hours again.

Once i got put back on a normal schedule i started training for my birthday run, which i succeeded in. I went from not running to running 30 miles on about 5 weeks.

The very next day at work the tell me were going back to 12's....

Damnitt!

Last week they put us back on 8 hour days, thank you economy.

I'm not running again just yet because I'm hell bent on finishing our kitchen table that I've been building from scratch very slowly over the last several months.

Hopefully i can finish it in the next week or 2 and then resume running again!

...at least until i start working 12's again.

Birthday run success!

Well, I did it.

I'm now 30.

The only thing that could stop me from turning 30 was death...

OR A SWEET ASS TIME MACHINE!

But then I would continue aging, just in a time that had already occurred. Just because I could go back to the time before I was even born doesn't stop the clock from steadily ticking away time.

Yes. Aging is inebriated...

Wait, no. Well, yes! But I meant aging is inevitable. There we go.

But while I was out celebrating the start of a new decade in my life, I kept repeating a little mantra I created to myself whenever I would feel like throwing in the towel.

Age is a number, old is a mindset.

Just because I'm a year older shouldn't change anything about who I am or what I can do.

At least not yet that is.

But I did do it. Where I fell short last year, I exceeded this year!

30.36 miles! Running time was 5:51:42. I'm quite happy with that! I feel that if I had gotten in one more long run, and this were a 50K race, I could have finished close to 6 hours.

But since it wasn't a 50K race, and my training wasn't any where near where I would have liked it to have been, and it's my damn birthday, I just made sure to enjoy myself (no, not like that...) and took my time. I made 3 pit stops at the house, sat on the curb returning text messages to those who were wishing me a happy birthday and kick on my running venture. I even chilled outside the local gas station drinking Mountain Dew and eating Almond M&M's (yes, I drank some soda water) listening to the employees bitch about each other.

The total time that elapsed from my first step to my last was just under 7 hours.

Which I don't consider to be that bad of a time really. All things considered (with NPR news)

Speaking of steps, I guesstimate that I took somewhere in the neighborhood of 59,697 steps today just while running. I also burned 4779 calories, my average pace was something like 11:47 I think? And my heart averaged 162 beats per minute.

It was a very good run! Miles 19 thru 26 were tough. Duh! But I never gave up, obviously.

I took some pictures while I was on the move. I took birthday run selfies ever 5 miles to send to my wife. She in turn merged them all together to make a nice collage. I also found the elusive Walden Rooster, but he was deft and avoided being captured on camera. I did get his little chicken friend though! Ha, victory!

To top everything off, my wonderful mother in law cooked me a birthday dinner of Prejeans famous Crawfish Enchiladas!!!! Yummy!!!!

I ate 4...

So now I have room for some Oreo ice cream cake!

Yay! Back to being a fat kid again!

Belated birthday run?

Life happens.

It does. There's no getting around it.

I've been training for tomorrow's run for a little over a month now, and now at the last minute I might have to postpone it.

My poor daughter started getting sick a few days ago, so my wife brought her to the doctor yesterday to get her checked out. Turns out she might have pneumonia....

Yay....

My wife stayed home with her today, and as of this morning she is not running a fever, but still has a bad cough.

So since I was already taking tomorrow off to go run, it looks as if I will be spending my day taking care of my sick little girl. In other words I will spend the day napping and watching "My Little Pony" on Netflix.

SO, if I don't get to go running tomorrow (Thursday), then I could go early Saturday morning. I would have to start very early because we also have my daughter's 5th birthday party that day at 2.

So I could go Sunday?

NOPE! Sunday my son has a big karate demonstration where he will be awarded his next belt (Orange belt in Korean Tung Soo Doo), so Sunday is out of the picture...

If she can't go to school tomorrow then I will have to start early Saturday morning and do as much as I can. If I don't finish all 30 miles before I have to get ready to go to the party, I will have to finish the remainder whenever we get back home.

I really hope she starts feeling better soon...