Mountain Escape

The Stats 7/1/12 - 7/7/12
7/7/12: 3.00 mi; 24'08"; 7'52" avg. pace

Thanks and welcome to Krystle for getting in on the run blogging excitement last week! I checked the blog stats afterwards and saw a huge spike in page views from her friends, so that's encouraging. The family is planning on Pittsburgh's Great Race being our next joint 10k race, which should be fun as the Pirates could be making a push for the MLB playoffs in September. Hey, anything is possible.
I had another relatively tame week. The pain in my knee has almost completely vanished, but between having no power at my house until July 4th, car problems, staggering heat outdoors, and the Tour de France on tv, there has been precious little incentive to run. However, I did manage to clock one run for the week after making the trip up to lovely Snowshoe Mountain for their Homegrown Arts and Music Festival. I broke out the Newton's once again to try to continue strengthening my feet and calf muscles. Oddly, I put more stress on the middle of my left foot than my right when running in zero incline shoes. My stride differs between feet apparently; I can even see it on the treads of my Nike's where the right foot turns inward and thus wears out the tread on the outside of the shoe. The left shoe displays a more evenly spread wear pattern. Anyway, I hit up a 3 miler on the mountain from Top of the World parking lot past the Village and back. It was an undulating run, but I left the drastic inclines that stretch down to Silver Creek and back for another trip. Below is a graph showing my pace dropping with the inclines after a steady first mile and a half. The pace bottoms out near the end of the run due to a lack of recent training and a slight pain in the left knee (I hate you knee joint!).

It was good to breathe in the mountain air and escape 100 degree heat during the run. In the morning it was below or around 80 degrees with a slight breeze. I don't think we'll sniff temperatures like that in Charleston for another month or two. It wasn't the best run, but it got the endorphins flowing, which is nice. So that's the story for now: no glory, no returning to form, a lot of waiting and hoping to get back to 3 or 4 runs a week. Oh, and some fireworks:

Pop, pop!

From Smoker to Avid Runner (Krystle)

Good morning to the blogging world – I guess it’s about time that I add my story to the family running blog. I’m cousin to Matt – the founder of the blog – and I owe my introduction to running to his charming sister, Emily. In short, this will be a brief story on how I went from smoker to avid runner in the course of a few short years.

A couple of years ago, around 2008, if you asked me to join you for a run or to participate in a foot race, I simply would have told you that “running is against my religion.” I hated running and saw no purpose to it. But that was all soon to change. I was, at that time, a light smoker, though I am ashamed to admit it. I moved to Charleston, WV the summer of 2008 and happened to get extremely ill – in part to my disgusting habit. Saving the gruesome details, that included but are not limited to a spinal tap and a bronchoscopy, I opted to quit smoking and attempt a healthier lifestyle. Emily was completing a rotation in Charleston at this time and she suggested that I join the cousins and aunts in their newest endeavor: to run a 10K in every state. Frantic to give anything a try that would prevent such a harrowing experience from occurring again, I told her that I would join. To keep me to my word, she kindly informed me that there was the Richmond, VA Monument Ave 10K the following March and I could either “train and do well, or not and be miserable,” but I was running the race regardless. I took her advice to train, which proved rather difficult with my recovering lungs.

On March 31, 2009 I completed my very first 10K with a bib time of 1:16:34. Since this race, I have ran four more 10Ks (still needing to catch up on some states that were run before I joined the group), and until recently this was my best time. I did not take training seriously, and honestly I still hated running. Instead of being something that I saw as pointless, it came to signify the improvement my lungs had made since that fateful day on July 22, 2008. And yet, I was still not a fan. I slowly made my way through three more 10Ks, trying to convince myself that maybe it wasn’t all that bad. I trumped up my lack of training to being “too busy in graduate school” to take the time out to run - the excuse “I have a thesis to write” came out of my mouth more than I care to admit.

But then my outlook changed in March 2012. The history department at the University of Kentucky hired a new staff member, Bridget Ash, who happened to be a dedicated runner. I had a slight habit of marketing myself as a runner, despite my clear dislike of it and lack of actual runs. I, of course, did not hesitate to inform her of my imaginary status. At this time, I had already signed up for the Cleveland Experience 10K (as described in Matt’s post), and decided that maybe I should actually *try* to run the whole race. I told her my goal for the 10K and she offered to train with me. I put it off and put it off, constantly claiming that my time was much too slow for her. She finally roped me into running with her one evening after work. She assured me that I was faster than I thought because surely all the swing dancing I did put me in good shape. Well, as much as I hate to admit it, she was right. We went out and did four miles at a pace that was two minutes faster than my best recorded time. I continued to train with her, keeping my new 9:30 pace, and became more and more determined to run the Cleveland race in its entirety. Eventually, Bridget convinced me that if I could run the 10K in its entirety, then what’s to keep me from training for a half marathon. At this point, I thought, “What the heck?! If I can do this, LET’S train for a half!”

Unfortunately, the week of the race, I did something stupid. Very stupid. In a fit of idiocracy, I decided that it was a very good idea to attend a swing dancing aerial practice, and instead of keeping to a move that I was sure I could tackle (it’s similar to one I already know), I attempted one that was beyond my abilities. When I was supposed to do a round-off over the lead's head, I did a cartwheel causing me to land on my ankle in a not-so-pleasant manner. I heard the “pop” and just sat there angry with myself. My ankle was wrapped for the days to follow and I could not move it very well. To say that I sprained it may, in fact, be an understatement. I iced it every chance I got, kept it wrapped, and took it as easy as possible, which for someone as active as me is hard to do. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to run the race that was a mere four days away.

Well, May 20, 2012 came as surely as the dawn. I had spent the previous day judging how well I could walk and move my ankle. By this point, it only hurt if I flexed it in one particular manner, which I did not think would happen in the race. I admit with pride that I am a very stubborn person, and I refused to give up on this race. At the start line, I remember thinking “Oh no, my ankle is still a little stiff.” But as soon as I heard the starting gun, I was off. I finished the race with my fastest 10K time (59:42:00) and my fastest recorded mile (9:07). I even beat Mike (just don’t let him know I’m still bragging)!

This was only the beginning. I returned to Lexington and started on my half marathon training. I decided that I would set my first half a year out, aiming to participate in the Derby City Marathon and Half that is held in Louisville, KY every year as part of the Kentucky Derby celebrations. This plan lasted a few weeks. As I started training more and more (with Bridget’s kind assistance), I talked myself into moving the date of my first half up six months. I am now signed up to run the Iron Horse Half Marathon in Midway, KY on October 14, 2012.

Thus far, my training has been right on schedule. Lucky for me I have beautiful landscape to help me through the long miles. Yesterday, Sunday, July 1, I ran my first consecutive 9 miles. Bridget and I started our route in the parking lot of Keeneland Horse Park and continued out the back gate to the terrain of secluded country roads and beautiful horse farms. Today and tomorrow will be spent as “rest days,” which are built into my schedule, and I will use them to help me prepare to race the Bluegrass 10K on Wednesday, July 4. Hopefully I will be able to post with new record times.

Until then, I hope you all enjoyed my long-winded story. Chao.

Storms Behind, Storms Ahead

The Stats 6/24/12 - 6/30/12
6/25/12: 2.51 mi; 18'34"; 7'23" avg. pace
6/27/12: 2.04 mi; 15'04"; 7'22" avg. pace
What started as a promising week with two runs in the first three weekdays turned into another rather restful week. It may be what is required to get this $#@# knee back to health, but it's frustrating and stressful not to be able to release some energy via running. Monday's run was the first in my new Newton's. The shoes held up well, and while I could tell the extra cushioning upfront is trying to make me run more on the front of my foot I still reverted to a flat strike for most of the run. It's difficult to undo years of heel striking with heavily padded shoes. As for the knee, it still twinged throughout the run and prompted a shutdown before reaching my standard 5k mark for training runs.
The recovery period on Tuesday was much better than last week. No residual pain in the left knee and minimal soreness in a healthy right leg signaled it was okay to plan on another run later in the week. I took the rest of Tuesday easy and came back after work on Wednesday to try again. Another 5k attempt was crushed by growing weakness in the knee. Just when I thought it was nearing total health it let me down in the middle of yet ANOTHER training run. I was being asked to run the YMCA Corporate Cup 5k on Saturday so I knew to pack it in for the rest of the week. Thursday and Friday proved nice and easy on the legs and I was set to give the 5k a try Saturday morning.
And then the storm came. Friday night featured one of those rare end of the world moments in the Ohio Valley when hurricane force winds ravaged the hillsides, displacing trees and anything else that was planted tens of feet underground. Cars hurried around, wind whipped and trying to find order with the stoplights deciding to turn off. I ended up sleeping in an office building, as my house, along with several hundred thousand others on the east coast, was bereft of power. I say all that to say, of course Corporate Cup was cancelled and no more runs were logged for the week. Barring a zombie apocalypse, I'll be back out on the streets again next week, trying to make sense of this wacky world, or at least forget about its wackiness for a moment.

Hobbling on the Road to Recovery

The Stats 6/17/12 - 6/23/12
6/21/12: 2.8 mi; 21'26"; 7'24" avg. pace
I hit my goal of resting until the 18th...and then some. A weekend of vacation in SC left me exhausted leading into the week and made it easy to rest through Wednesday. The sole run of the week came on Thursday as I finally felt comfortable giving the knee a go. There was some discomfort, though thankfully not on the same level as two weeks ago. I jogged out my regular route with probably a faster pace than I should have. Miles 2 and 3 saw considerable favoring of the left leg. This led me put more pressure on the right thigh than I usually would. I stopped before hitting my goal of 5k, as I had looped in front of my house at 2.8 miles.
Friday morning showed how awful a disjointed running form can make you feel. My right thigh was very sore. I hobbled around the office and did my best to stretch when no one else was leering into my cube. With soreness persisting into Saturday (my long run day when I'm in normal mode) I decided to let this week remain extremely soft and hope for full recovery next week. However, I did decide to pay a visit to Robert's Running Store for the first time. I've been wanting to head over there ever since their Charleston location opened. This whole knee injury deal has convinced me I need to try a minimalist running shoe that will encourage ground striking on the ball of the foot. I sampled three pairs Saturday morning, jogging on the treadmill and making the rounds outside the store. Ultimately, I felt the least amount of elevation and most freedom in Newton's Momentum shoes (pictured below).

Ready to log some serious mileage. Thumbs up, let's do this!

Much thanks to Alana for humoring me and letting me try out a number of kicks. We'll see how a different shoe alters my gait in the coming weeks and if it has the potential to relieve stress on the knee. I'm worried it's a problem with the meniscus, but I'm not overly book-learned when it comes to anatomy.
The coming week features no run events. Still, it could be just the shot at getting back to form that is so desperately needed. Fingers (and toes) crossed.

The Resting Is the Hardest Part

The Stats 6/3/12 - 6/9/12
6/6/12: 0.7 mi; 5'46"; 7'20" avg. pace
6/9/12: 1.0 mi; 7'10"; 7'10" avg. pace
It was a rough week of running. More accurately, it was a rough week of not running. I stepped up my summer training too soon when I ran the Corridor G hill last Saturday. That led to an aching knee, which had me walking with a limp. In addition to the slight injury I had nights of quite little sleep. Those two factors worked together to sideline me until Wednesday. I foolishly headed out Wednesday, hoping the pain in my knee might be worse walking than running. This hope was flattened as I trotted along behind UC heavily babying the left leg. Darn. More rest seemed like the only reasonable treatment. I did that and iced down the knee at intervals through Thursday and Friday.
It was a bright, sunny day on Saturday so I thought I'd test out the knee again. Mike had taken out his boat for its maiden voyage the previous evening allowing a nice evening of rest heading into the day. The first half mile was semi-normal. I tried to keep pressure off the knee while not significantly altering my form. At around 0.75 miles, I could feel a little twinge and some slight popping. I knew it would be a mistake to try to push any further. A serious commitment to rest has to be made. On the surface that sounds easy, but running gets to be a habit when you form a slight addiction to it. Severing an addiction, even a positive/slight one, is tough. I have to be smart and strong enough to not ruin the next few months of running activity. It helps that I haven't signed up for any road races in the near term. My plan is to hang up the Nike's until at least June 18.
It ended up being an even tougher week due to other family issues outside of those listed. Here's hoping for better days.

Fat Kid Introduction (Mike)

Hi all - I spent most of the decade making up my 20's as a powerlifter; twice a week listening to Heavy Metal and moving as much Heavy weight as possible.  I had a couple long breaks; first when I attempted to join the Peace Corps and then again during grad school.  My powerlifting career culminated in 2010 when I attended my first ever powerlifting meet.  Unfortunately, I received bad information about the type of bench shirt I would be allowed to use and essentially had to lift raw after I had already set my weights for the meet.  Three attempts at 407lbs and none were successfull.  Regardless, I've moved on and decided to join my brother in cardio sport.

My favorite cardio sport is cycling.  I always enjoyed watching the Tour de France and I took a leap in '06 after graduate school and bought a Cannondale Synapse.  Cycling is time consuming and I haven't had the opportunity to ride as much as I'd like some years.  Some of my highlighted events include:  2-day 116 mile ride from Louisville to Lexington for MS Kentucky in 2009, 2-day 137 mile ride from Lewisburg to Snowshoe and back for MS West Virginia in 2009, and 66 mile Mountain Mamma Road Bike Challenge with 6,464 ft of vertical climb in 2009.

I've managed to get my weight down from 230lbs during my powerlifting days in 2010 to around 210lbs.  However, running continues to be a challenge for me.  I first started running races with Matt in 2008.  Back in those days I was a run/walk/run runner.  Oddly enough, my times were faster employing that method.  I'm slow, but I find it much more rewarding to run a full race from start to finish.



I've recently taken up swimming with the hope that I'll someday be able to complete triathlon events that feature swimming.  Matt and I have participated in several mini-triathlons that replace swimming with kayaking.  We actually help sponsor the Capital City Challenge (Run-Row-Ride) mini-triathlon in Charleston, WV.

Here are some of my personal highlights as of today:

Max Bench Press (Raw) - 390lbs

Max Bench Press (Shirted) - 435lbs

Longest Bike Ride - 75.43 miles from Lewisburg, WV to Cass, WV (5:16)

Best Climb - Climb#2 on Sceinic Highway 150; 4.9 miles with 1,448ft elevation gain

Most Ridden in a Year - 1,002 miles in 2009.

Longest Run - 8.45 miles (1:39.22)

Best 5k Time - 29.47  (2010 Outrunning Hunger - Huntington, WV)

Best 4 Mile Time - 41.04  (2011 Joker 4-Mile Run - Charleston, WV) 

Best 5 Mile Time - 58.46  (2011 Run For Your Life 5-Miler - Charleston, WV)

Best 10k Time - 1:03.56  (2009 Ready River Run - Greenville, SC)

Most Ran in a Year - 154.62 miles in 2011

Longest Swim - 1,200 yards (48 laps) (37.24)

In closing, these stories have not been embellished, because - they need no embellishment.  They are simply, horrifyingly, the story of my life as a recovering powerlifter turned cardio sport participant.  Thank you.

Running Up That Hill

Hoping to recover from my post Cleveland funk, I went for a run up Corridor G hill yesterday morning. It is also affectionately known as Capitol Punishment Hill during the Charleston Distance Run. The hill is a solid mile from start to finish, if not longer. Nike+ Maps estimates it as a gain of 301 ft. over that mile. That's an average gradient of 5.7%, but there are definitely steeper sections along the way. I started to feel a slight twinge in my knee approaching the hill, so I took it cautiously this time out. My third mile took 7'47" with the hill starting at the end of that mile. The next mile took me 9'06" to complete, as I crested the height where 119 meets Oakwood Road. My knee held up, but the thighs were barking pretty hard. It was brash to try to come at the Corridor with no hill training so far this year, but I was really anxious to prove myself coming off a week long rest. Here is the view coming back down with the slope continuing for another half mile below the horizon:

Glad to be heading downhill

The final run stats were: 7.15 miles, 56:21, 7'53"/mile pace, 885 calories.
And now a comment on post frequency. Mike and I have decided to post weekly or monthly on our progress. Occasionally we'll put up a product review or special training note. Outside of that, I'll try to keep the posts event centered. As this was a special post on Corridor G, it took the place of my Sunday week-in-review post.