Blogs : Beth Lutz

Flying in the Dark

Monday, November 3^rd

Run: 13.5 miles (1:46) 10 minute pickups

This was a really awesome long run. My legs felt better than they have in a long time. And Ellie said we were going faster than last week.

Beth, Ellie, Jamie, Marcie, Jenna, Molly and I combined to make a kick-butt long run group. The conversation on this run was the finest it’s been in quite some time. We were 40 minutes into the run before I looked at my watch, and I couldn’t believe how quickly time had passed. We talked a lot about random running topics, like how other teams had done this weekend, and what the best way to taper is.

Ellie: But your creative thinking ability goes way up.

Beth: I think it’s more that your thinking is routed through paths that you normally don’t use.

This is so true. We’ll talk about the most random and strange things on runs because let’s face it: we’re out there for a long time each week and we have to talk about something. For example, when we were talking about the New York City Marathon, the following exchange took place:

Ellie: …And you know that thousands of people across the world are sitting at their computer hitting refresh every five seconds

Beth: Letsrun always crashes when a big race comes up.

Molly: It’s as if a thousand voices all cried out at once—and then were silenced.

[All three laugh hysterically]

Jenna: What’s so funny? What are you guys talking about?

Beth: We were just connecting Letsrun and Star Wars

Ellie: You can connect Star Wars to anything!

The route we did actually turned out to be pretty hilly. Between Carson, Doty, Cemetery, and Switchback there were several good sized hills mixed into the run. This is a good thing, as another topic we discussed is what the [new] regional course is like. Apparently it’s somewhat similar to Blugold, but with shorter, steeper hills. 

At the end of the run Ellie and I were down on Putnam Trail as the sun was going down. We did a 10 minute pickup, and it felt effortless. I was able to just cruise along, relaxed, and enjoying the feeling of being one with my stride. I felt really, really good; like I could have held that pace forever. Putnam Trail is smooth as asphalt right now, and with a chill coming on from nightfall it was perfect running weather.  Running in the dark messes with my sense of pace. I always feel like I’m flying because of the shadows and the darkness.

We finished in the moonlight. My legs held up really well; I felt like I could have kept going for a while, which is always my golden benchmark for a long run. Afterwards, Ellie and I were doing drills and stuff out on the track and Schwammy came up to talk to me.

He told that it was going to be a really hard decision choosing who to run at Regionals. But he told me, “Even if I go with the other 7 for Regionals, for Nationals it might be different…” He also said, “You’ve been coming on so strong, it’s going to be really hard.” I replied that I would be training like I was going to race.

But this was really encouraging news, because it gave me that most crucial of training elements: hope. I don’t care how small; if there’s a chance that I’m still going to be racing this season I’m going to make damn sure that I’m ready. And I will be. I will be.

A Conversation

Sunday, November 2^nd

Run: 5 miles (Cummings 5-miler)

A conversation heard on the run…

It’s easy to get into arguments that one team deserves to go to Nationals more than another, but at the end of the day, the purpose of Championship races is to determine a national champion, and if you aren’t in the top five at your Regional, you are not going to be the National Champion.

My head agrees with that, but my heart says that I want to make it to Nationals.

Then train hard and win your Regional.

But what if the rest of my team doesn’t train for that same goal?

Then work hard enough to qualify as an individual.

Again, my heart is saying—

I’ll lay my heart on the line and it will either be spiked to oblivion or emerge unvarnished in victory.

(Sometimes we have weird conversations on Sunday morning runs.)

WIAC XC Championships 2008

Saturday, November 1^st

Run: 1 mile/10 miles (2.25 mile wu, 4x100m strides, 6k race, 3.75 mile cd)

Splits: 6:00, 6:12, 6:11, 4:25 (22:49)

Running in championship races is what cross-country is all about. Big Invitationals are fun and are a chance to see where you’re at during the season, but Championship Season…That’s where it all starts. That’s when the real season begins.

This weekend was the 2008 WIAC Cross-Country Championships. As always, it was a very competitive race. On the women’s side there were three teams ranked in the top 10 in the Nation: #8 La Crosse, #7 Oshkosh, and (us!) #4 Eau Claire. We’ve raced La Crosse several times already this season, but Oshkosh was coming in as a relative unknown. One thing was for certain: it was going to be a dogfight.

The race was run on a golf course and was very flat, with fairly good footing. It was a perfect day to race, with blue skies, little wind, and temperatures in the low to mid-50’s. Times were going to be fast.

During our warmup the men’s race was going on, and it was hard to focus on my own race with the excitement of the guy’s battling it out. My legs felt good on the warmup, although my stomach was feeling a little weird. I think I ate my animal crackers a little bit too soon to the warmup. We’ve never raced this late in the day, and it was hard for me to plan out my food intake.

People were all over the golf course as I prepared for my race. It’s an atmosphere not quite like any other; most everyone at the race is a hard-core running fan, and the energy level is high. Everyone is psyched out, cheering on their team, and I couldn’t wait to get a piece of the action.

We did our cheer, and the word of the day was “guts.” Molly said it best: “Rip out the guts of the other team…and eat them!” (Mary: "Well, not really.") We were ready, complete with eye black to protect against sun glare—Molly’s spirit buddy gift to Hannah.

The race got out incredibly fast. I was barely hanging on the back and was close to the last place after the 400m. After my race in La Crosse I distinctly DID NOT want to get out too fast, because right now I’m not quite in the shape to be able to handle the get out quick and hold on. But I knew I couldn’t just let everybody get 20-30 seconds up on me, so I tried to stay as relaxed as I could while still maintaining contact. It was hard to stay calm and trust that I could move up, but I kept on telling myself, “It’s okay, they’ll come back.”

At the mile I could still see Ellie about 5 seconds ahead of me, and that helped me to stay relaxed about my position. I was still pretty tense and on the edge. I had never envisioned the race getting out this fast. About half of the field was still in a big pack that had passed the mile in around 5:45-5:50.

After the mile I started chasing down people. I slowed slightly my second mile (about 10 seconds) but this was far less than most people, so I was able to start moving up in the field.

Coming onto the 2-mile I was rolling. I made a huge push from the 2-mile to the 3-mile; this was by far the best middle section of a race that I’ve had this season. I closed a ton of ground on people and at the 3-mile was only 5 or so strides behind Jenna and Alyssa.  (Although they both pulled away from me the last k of the race.)

The last 800m of the race I was still moving pretty well, but my legs were dying and I didn’t have the kick I needed to duke it out with the people I was around. I kept my pace, but I wasn’t able to muster up an acceleration towards the finish. I was by two La Cross and two Stevens Point runners, but didn’t have anything to fight them with.

I finished 10 seconds behind Jenna. I was 21st overall, which is far better than I would have thought possible a couple of weeks ago. I feel like my racing is starting to come together, but I’m still not racing sharp. I need a couple of good workouts to give me that strong finish and kick. Give me a couple of weeks…

All during the race I couldn’t tell how our team was doing, because I was basically by myself the entire time. I started out behind the biggest pack of people, and by the time I really started moving up there were only mostly individuals to pass. I felt like I was moving from one person to the next, with no time to stop and chat:-). It was weird, because it made the entire race feel like what normally the last third of a race is like.

My gut feeling was that it would be a close battle for the team title. Instead, after I finished everybody was gushing about how awesome we had done. Turns out we won by 20 points, which is pretty sweet. 20 points doesn’t seem like a lot, but in a field of 100 it’s a pretty dominating performance. We had 8 in the top 21 (I was 21st, which was bittersweet. I’m amazed I finished that high; it was sort of out of the blue, but top 20 got honorable mention. Psych.) and 7 in the top 15. A very, very good day. And as Schwammy always says, “What’s exciting is that we can run better.”

The best part of a meet is cooling down and waiting for awards after a race well run. The cooldown was as much fun as you’d expect from a group of people who had just won conference. Awards actually started soon after our race was done, so we were on a time crunch to finish our cooldown. Molly and Ellie and I went 30 minutes, which ended up working out perfectly. We finished a little bit before team awards. When they called our team up I got to hold the plaque! Sweet!

I won the Scholar Athlete award that they give out at Conference. The introduction they gave me was super long, even though a lot of people knew who it was long before it was finished. When they read off my gpa (“She has done all this while still maintaining a near perfect grade point average of…) there was an appreciative gasp from the crowd. I was embarrassed, but it felt good to get some hardware.

After the awards were done the video people from FSN wanted a segment from our team. I was elected as spokesman, so I quickly made something up. They needed a 30-second clip, so I talked about his this win was just the step on a journey, and to finish our whole team did the cry of the blugold. We’ll see how it turns out. (December 12th, FSN)

This Conference Championship meant a lot to me. We were the favorites coming in, but I thought that depending on how things played out in the smaller field, either Oshkosh or La Crosse could potentially win. I’ve worked too hard to take anything for granted, and to win the WIAC title as a team my senior year was special.

I was also pleased with my own race. Even after the fast first mile I pushed the middle part of the race very hard, and then finished at sub 6:00 pace, even if I didn’t have the kick I wanted. This was a very solid race when it mattered.

Immediately after finishing I was hit with several emotions. I was psyched about my own race; it was a very competitive effort by me. I knew that I had been 8th on our team despite my best attempt to move up, and this was hard to take because of the possibility that I might not race again this season. And then I found out how well our team had done and it was hard to dwell on my own disappointment with the excitement of rocking the competition.

Overall it was a really good day and I can't wait to see what the rest of the season brings.

QOTD

Ellie: It’s all starting to come together…

De Profundis

WIAC Conference 2008

Even though this weekend marks the beginning of the Championship season, in some ways, I feel like I’ve barely gotten started in my training cycle. I came into the season off a summer where my mileage fluctuated between 30 and 40 miles per week (very low for me) and I had a hard time stringing consistent weeks together. And I hadn’t raced or done any serious workouts, other than a couple of thresholds during the summer, since last year during cross-country.

The early part of the season I was focused on building up my mileage and basically crash training myself back into shape. And let me tell you, that was a hard stretch. Basically, I didn’t feel “good” until over a month and a half after practice started. I was treading a very fine line between getting back into some semblance of the shape I wanted to be in and burning out completely.

At this point, I’ve been running 60 mile weeks for almost a month; the last couple of weeks I’ve added some speedwork into my training; my body is finally adjusting to higher volume, higher intensity work. And I’m enjoying running again. My question each day is not, “Will I make it?” but “How fast or how far?” I’m starting to feel like a competitor.

I’m not going to lie. This season has been a challenge. It’s not the way I wanted my senior year of cross-country to go. But through hard work (a lot of hard work) I’ve put myself into a position where I can still accomplish some of my goals. WIAC Conference this weekend will be a big proving ground as to how far I’ve come and how far I can go.

DE PROFUNDIS

by: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

H why is heaven built so far,

Oh why is earth set so remote?

I cannot reach the nearest star

That hangs afloat.

I would not care to reach the moon,

One round monotonous of change;

Yet even she repeats her tune

Beyond my range.

I never watch the scatter'd fire

Of stars, or sun's far-trailing train,

But all my heart is one desire,

And all in vain:

For I am bound with fleshly bands,

Joy, beauty, lie beyond my scope;

I strain my heart, I stretch my hands,

And catch at hope.

My sister, Ellie, wrote an encouraging note this morning that had the above poem included in it. I first read this poem last year during our trip to Nationals during cross-country. I love the idea of catching at hope; of having goals that, even if they seem far beyond your reach, are something to chase after hard.

The Last Workout

Tuesday, October 28^th

Run: 10 miles (2 mile wu, 4x100m striders, 3.5 mile threshold (6:50 pace), 5 minute jog, 2x900@RP w/ 2 minutes jogging recovery, 2 mile cd)

This was our team’s final workout before Conference. I actually wasn’t all that worried about it, which was surprising. Maybe I’m getting the hang of this hard workout thing. But today was a good day. After I finished I felt a little odd because I had never really had to press to hit any of these workout times.

We started out with a threshold, for which I did 3.5 miles in 23:21 (6:40 pace). The threshold was hard but controlled. The first two miles felt very good, the last 1.5 I had to push a little bit, but the whole threshold I was rolling and I could have gone longer if I needed to.

After the threshold we had a 5 minute jog and then 2x900m at race pace over at the soccer park. I wasn’t sure how easy or hard these would feel after the threshold, but I decided to just go with it. Ellie had waited for me, so I was able to run with her. By pacing off of her I was able to hit 2:24 for my first 900 and 2:22 (even after a 71 second first 300m) for the second 900m. That was really encouraging. The feeling of being able to dictate how fast I wanted to go is something I’ve been missing this year. My actual pace was supposed to be 2:30, but even with going faster my stride and strength felt really good.

Make no mistake, this was a great workout. It was even better because of the ease with which I was able to click off those times.

Beth: Do you ever get the feeling we’re the only crazy people on this team?

Molly: Hmm…

Ellie: But runners are supposed to be crazy!

Threshold: 6:42, 6:44, 6:28, 3:17 (23:21)

900’s: 3:24, 3:22

A Good Long Run

Monday, October 26th

Run: 12 miles (1:37:00) w/ 6x1 minute pickups

Monday started off with a bang when Jenna asked Schwammy if he would shave his head if we won Nationals.

Schwammy: How about if I shave my sideburns? Besides, you’ll have to ask Marci.

Marci: I don’t know if his hair would grow back…

Jenna: You should shave everything but your sideburns!

Mark Sanders also announced that he and Kevin were still looking for a female volunteer to be the third member of their cheerleading squad for Halloween. You gotta love pre-practice hangout time.

I finally did a long run that was at a relaxed pace with good conversation. It was amazingly enjoyable. Our usual group started out: Kelly, Beth, Jenna, Jamie, Molly, Ellie and I. Bridget was also along for the ride, and the front pack was booking. But they did mall route, and the rest of us did Fairfax, so it worked out fine.

It was a good change of pace to lead a long run, rather than try to keep up a few steps back. Molly and I spent a lot of the early part of this run talking about races coming up this weekend. The NYC Marathon, most major Conference meets, High School State…It’s going to be like running nirvana!

We also talked about, well, talking. Keeping a good conversation going on a run is a learned skill, but it boggles my mind how a lot of people are willing to not talk at all when they’re running with other people. In high school my teammates and couldn’t NOT talk on run, and Molly said about her team, “We never stopped talking.” But, as Molly noted, we are passing on this tradition to the freshman. The next generation has seen the light.

When we looped around Memorial High School, Ellie noticed that the door the wrestling room was open. This was too good an opportunity to pass up, so we turned around and poked our heads in the door. Mojo and McGraw and the guys cross-country team were in there stretching. I told them, “Good luck at State!” and then Mojo and McGraw came over and talked to us for a bit. McGraw told Molly, “I don’t know you.”

Molly: I’m a runner.

McGraw: I know—what’s your name?

Molly: My name is Molly Woodford!

During the run we had 6x1-minute pickups, which we did pretty fast. I tried to stay relaxed and stride them out, and ended up running them at around strider pace. I also worked on “knees up, toes up,” because when I run fast I have a tendency to lean forward and lose my knee drive.

I felt really good today even though I only ran 10 minutes less than I usually do for a long run. Finishing I was a little tired, my achilles was a little sore, but as a whole I was feeling much fresher than I normally do. It seems my legs are finally (finally!) getting used to running long.

Afterwards I did hip drills and stretched on the indoor track. I love stretching after a long run. For one thing, it always feels really good to SIT DOWN! To get a chance to relax my tired muscles and talk it up with teammates is a great time to decompress.

People ask why I run. I say, "If you have to ask, you will never understand". It is something only those select few know. Those who put themselves through pain, but know, deep down, how good it really feels.
-Erin Leonard

Interview: Molly Woodford of UW-Eau Claire

Thank you, Molly. Now we can all head to the letsrun.com message boards http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2626444&page=0 and knowledgeably discuss the sport of race walking.

Trail Running at Lake Wissota

Friday, October 24^th

Run: 4 miles/ 6.25 miles (Lake Wissota)

I ran today at Lake Wissota State Park in Chippewa Falls, where my teammates who aren’t running at Conference were competing. Both the men’s and the women’s teams were racing off for the 12th spot on the Conference team, so there was definitely some intense competition.

Everyone not running was helping to work the meet (UWEC hosted, and there were a couple of other schools also running) so I got in my run beforehand with Ellie and Molly. It was great running on leaf-covered trails and randomly going from one trail to the next.

My legs didn’t feel as bad today as I thought they would after the workout yesterday. They actually felt pretty good, although by the end of the run I was starting to get tired.

While on the trails we hunted for an elusive horse (that we decided to name Buttercup) by following the, ahem, droppings on the trail. Alas, Buttercup was nowhere to be found. About halfway through the run I had to stop to go to the bathroom. Molly spotted a nearby porta-pottie. It made me laugh because inside was a sign from a trail riding horse club asking for donations to keep the porta-pottie open. (With hand addressed envelopes for the donations.) I’m betting they don’t get a lot of responders.

I had packed a lot of warm clothes for after my run, but I still got cold standing around working the races. It was around 50 degrees with no wind, so it was perfect racing conditions, but chilly for being outside for a long time.  I still had a good time because it was exciting to watch the races unfold; on both sides there was some good competition.

In the women’s race (a 5k) Megan and Kasey were neck and neck the entire way. They had the exact same splits the entire race, and ended (although I didn’t get to see it) with a photo finish. Literally; they had to check the video camera to determine who won. (18:17)

The guy’s race wasn’t quite so close, but there was a big group of guys going after it from the get-go. I was directing traffic at a point on the course that runners passed multiple times, so I was able to get a good view of how the race unfolded. With each loop, more guys dropped off, and by the 5k it was down to Adam Wolfe, Jeremy, and Brian Riley.  Adam broke it open after mile four and got the win by about 30 seconds over Jeremy. (26:29)

After the men’s race finished we had to clean up the course and wait for the coaches to tabulate results. I was getting impatient to leave. Eventually we were back in the 15-passenger van and almost ready to go. While waiting for our driver, Molly amused us by doing an interpretive dance to the songs on the radio. It was very lovely.

Finally, we were on the road again. It was a fun trip home, and the highlight was probably spoofing the political ads that we heard on the radio. (John McCain hates puppies…)

I always enjoy going to a meet where I don’t have to run and being able to watch the actual races, especially when there’s a lot at stake. People who’ve never been to a cross-country meet are missing out.

Never Be Satisfied

Thursday, October 23^rd

Run:  (2 mile wu, 4x100m strides, 2x300m@3k pace w/ 300m recovery jog, 5 minute jog, 3x1200m @ race pace w/ 3 minute recovery jog, 5 minute jog, 2x300m w/ 300m jog, 2.75 mile cd.)

Intended Times: 300's: 62-63; 1200's: 4:42

Splits:

300's-60, 63, 60, 62

1200's- 4:37, 4:42, 4:40

Wow. I haven’t been this nervous for a workout in…hmm…in almost a year. Not coincidentally, this was my first interval workout in almost a year. Our team started intervals last week, but I wasn’t able to join in because of my achilles. So I was going into this workout stone cold.

It’s funny, but I get far more nervous for workouts than for races. I think it’s because I view races as merely a measure of how fit I am, but I view workouts as what makes me faster. My mind takes this, processes it, and comes up with: workouts are harder than races. Be afraid, be very afraid.

So that’s where I was today. I knew I would do the workout (there was no way I wasn’t doing this workout.) I knew I would do a good job. (I can count on one hand the number of workouts I’ve bombed, and most of those were because of my anemia.) Rationally I knew this, but my psyche still wasn’t buying it.

It’s like you’re on a ridiculously high rollercoaster. You’ve crested the top and are just about to go down—and someone in the back is screaming, “Get me off this thing!” That would be me. After it’s done I’ll say, “That was wicked sweet!” But during the ride my morale is very fickle.

There was a chance for rain today, but the sun came out and temps were in the 50’s, so it was nice weather. Our team warmup was a little weird because everyone broke off into little groups that took slightly differently paced routes to the soccer park. It was like we were all shunning each other (I love you guys.)

Only the top 11 who were for sure running at Conference did this workout, so it was a smaller crew than normal. We did what was quite possibly the most efficient drills and strides session I’ve ever been a part of. It was bam, bam, bam; we kept on moving from one thing to the next.

Then it was go time. Up first was 2x300 at slightly faster than 3k pace, to stimulate getting out hard in a race. My first one was in 60 seconds (supposed to be 62-62) mainly because I wasn’t sure how these were supposed to feel. I backed off the 2^nd 300 and split a 63. Stage one: done. After a five minute jog, it was time for the bulk of the workout: 3-4x1200 at Date Race Pace.

My first one felt pretty good. I made a conscious effort to start out relaxed because it’s easy to get out fast after the 300’s. I still came through the first 300m four seconds fast, but after that I settled down and held an even pace the rest of the way, finishing in 4:37.

Three minutes later, it was time for #2. After a false start (I couldn’t get my watch to clear), I set out after Kelly. We were running together in the sense that we started at approximately the same time, but after that it was anyone’s game. On this 1200 she had a little bit of a head start because of the watch fiasco and I didn’t catch up to her until after the 600. It was motivational to have someone to chase down, and after passing her I tried to stay relaxed and stride it out to the finish. I hit 4:42, and was definitely starting to feel the pace.

Three (short) minutes later it was time for #3, and I geared myself up to go after it. When you’re tired in workouts sometimes it’s a matter of charging out hard and holding on.

This one was tough. There was a strong head wind between 300m and 750m that had been steadily increasing throughout the workout. Rounding the bend after the 300 I was actually blown sideways by the strong gusts. Fighting against the wind was a gut check, because it took a lot of strength to drive through it and keep my pace. Leaving the wind behind, I hit the 900 one second under pace and I had to dig deep the final 300m to keep on driving to the finish. My 1200m time was 4:40.

I had the option to do three or four 1200’s, but after the 3^rd one I did I knew I was done. Hitting my times for the last 1200m had pushed my limits, and the point of this workout was not to beat me to the ground.

I still had two quick 300’s left, which I did with Kelly and Alyssa. These I just blasted with everything I had left, while trying to hold my form together. The first 300 I hit 60 for, and then came back with a 62. The last 50m of the final 300m my legs gave out (I had to slow slightly to keep from falling on my face because my legs decided to protest against this whole idea of going up and down), so this workout ended at just the right time.

My final word on the day: It wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared it could be, but it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. In the perfect little world of my mind I would have done five, maybe six, 1200’s. Right now, though, I can’t handle the volume. Give me a couple of weeks and that might be a different story, but this was my first attempt at a long interval race pace workout, and with the times I was hitting, three was about my limit.

Schwammy said that people did the workout this week about five seconds faster than last week, so he thought I kept up pretty well. And I did feel like I put in some good work today. I guess what I’m really thinking is that I wish I was faster. And stronger. And better. But it’s the desire to be more that which keeps driving me forward.

Never be satisfied.

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's TEETER-TOTTER TIME

Wednesday, October 22^nd

Run: 5 miles

I was in dire need of an easy run today. I came into this week still feeling the effects of my race at La Crosse and I still haven’t quite managed to recover. With a long run on Monday and a faster workout on Tuesday, both of which were on significant portions of hard surfaces, I was really looking forward to today. Because we all know that Wednesday’s mean….TEETER-TOTTER TIME!

I am boggled by the lack of recruits we have for this run each Wednesday. Putnam Trail, wild animals, and teeter-totter…there is not much more that a runner needs to be happy. Despite these lures, Molly, Ellie and I were the only ones who braved the leaf covered trails of Switchback to descend onto Putnam Trail. If anyone is ever in Eau Claire on a Wednesday, you are welcome to join us. 3:30. McPhee.

While going around Vita (and this is important) we saw another animal to add to our list of hypothetical team pets. Said creature was Checkers the pigeon. He was a lonely pigeon, waddling around the fields by the track. And he was an odd looking pigeon, with splotches of black all over his white body. And I always thought pi[d]geon was spelled with a “d”, but spell checker is telling me that this isn’t so.

A very important part of the Teeter-Totter Run creed is that a good time must be had by all. This means that we go no faster than the pace of whoever is feeling the most tired that day. It’s a good strategy for making easy days easy. When you’re in a smaller group, it’s a lot easier to ask the others to step back the pace a notch than it is when you’re with a bunch of people. Runners are pretty hard headed; we’ll usually try to keep up rather than say something.

The metal seats of the four-way teeter-totter were chilly today. It was a brisk day; a definite reminder that winter is coming. As we were tottering up and down, Ryan from the guy’s team passed by the playground on his run. Here was our conversation:

Ryan: You should be running!

Us: We’re cross-training.

Him: What, you’re stretching?

Us: No, it’s definitely a strength workout.

On the way back from the playground we saw the homicidal jungle kitty, but sadly Butterball (mrow) was nowhere to be found. Despite this disappointment we forged ahead, and completed our ritual run.

In all seriousness, my legs were pretty trashed today, but my achilles didn’t feel as bad as I feared it would after the hard running yesterday. It hurt some, but I was able to run mostly normally and I should be able to get it in good shape for tomorrow. It’s amazing how much icing every two hours can help.

No Wednesday is complete without a team meeting. Schwammy said that he thought our team had positioned ourselves very well at the beginning of Saturday’s race, and that overall we did a really good job. While it was good to hear that, I think we can do a lot better. We'll see in two weeks.

Ah, the runner's life.

*If you are the next person to comment on this blog, you will be the 200th commentor!

Jogathon (Or screaming masses of kids)

Tuesday, October 21^st

Run: 2.5 miles/7.5 miles (59:30, possibly farther)

Dyno Run: 16 minute wu; 1x5 minutes w/ 4 minutes rest; 2x3 w/ 3 rest; 3x1 w/ 2 rest; 4x30 sec w/ 1 rest; 10 minute cd. (5-tempo; 3-race; 1-3k; 30s-mile)

This was a good workout today, by which I mean it was hard. Typically at this point in the season my legs would be starting to feel sharp and I’d be a little more used to fast stuff. Right now, about the only fast stuff I’ve done is some 300’s and striders, so speed work is still a shock to my system.

The workout today was a dyno run, which is basically a structured fartlek. I’m not sure why we call these dyno runs, but I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere. We were supposed to do five minutes at roughly tempo pace, 2x3 minutes at race pace, 3x1 minute at 3k pace, and 4x30 seconds at mile pace. With the “off” minutes in between, this took about 35 minutes.

A dyno run is different from more structured speed work because typically in between the speed intervals we’re still going at a pretty good pace. It’s not jog, recover and gradually work back up to normal pace; it’s more of a recover on the run.

Today was the Eau Claire Elementary School jogathon, which UWEC XC helps out with every year. We met for practice early (at 2:00 instead of 3:30) so we could finish running before the jogathon started at 4:30. However, ultimately only four people ran early: Ellie, Hannah, Beth and me. In previous years we’ve had upwards of 20 people or so out at the jogathon, so some people dropped the ball on this one. For shame, for shame!

With that small group I was the one least endowed with speed at this point in time, so I was a little leery about how this fartlek was going to go.  The pace was fast, which was no surprise, but I ended up holding on pretty well and definitely feel like I got in a really solid workout.

I felt the best during the 3-minute pickups; for those I was able to get up to pace and then relax and just stride it out. The 1-minute pickups were the hardest, as I was going close to top speed and they came near the end of the workout. For the 30sec pickups I basically did an acceleration to sprinting. For all of the intervals, it took me a while to get up to speed (my legs were still tired from yesterday), but once I did I could usually make up some ground on the people ahead of me, or at least stay even to them.

It’s a little weird to run a set time rather than a set distance. With a set time it becomes helpful to try to distract yourself to make the time pass more quickly. For instance, during the 1-minute pickups I sang “Camptown Races” in my head. This would usually take me a little over 40 seconds, so I knew once I finished I would be almost done with the pickup. Motivational strategies can seem very strange sometimes, but whatever works.

By the end of the dyno run my legs were tying up and I had to focus to keep my form together; I’m going to be feeling this run tomorrow. I took it really slow on the cooldown afterwards. We were on asphalt most of the time for this workout, which had me worried about my achilles. It held up pretty well although I really needed to ice it and wasn’t able to until we got home from the jogathon at around 6:00.

After the run, Ellie, Beth, Hannah and I were doing sprint drills, circuit and core on the grass field near the start of the jogathon. Spectators and kids were starting to gather around that area, and we were definitely getting some funny looks. I felt like we were doing our part to show the kids some of the stuff that “real” runners do. It’s easy to feel hardcore when you’re surrounded by a bunch of 4^th and 5^th grade kids.

A couple of members of the guys team also showed up to help out, which was good, because they rabbited the boys races. Our team’s primary function at the jogathon was to provide a rabbit for each of the races to make sure the lead runners had someone to follow and didn’t cut the course, etc. The fastest guys are going around 6:00 mile pace, and the fastest girls aren’t too far behind, although it varies from year to year..

My achilles was hurting enough that I felt I shouldn’t run anymore, so I just cheered for each race. It was fun standing with teammates and seeing how motivational we could be. Hannah, in particular, was good at getting kids to start running again. “You can’t walk, the finish is right up ahead!”

It’s a whole different experience watching these screaming hordes of kids get excited about running. It really is a lot of fun. Each school has their own “uniforms” and the kids get really hard core about cheering for their teammates. (“You’re in last place, what happened!”)

It was a chilly day, and by the time the last race started I was getting cold, so getting back in the van and heading home felt good. It was a tough job, but somebody has to do it. And we got free t-shirts.

Where Shall We Go Today?

Monday, October 20^th

Run: 13.5 miles (1:45:36) (Rod ‘N Gun + Stinky Monday + Putnam) 2x10 minute pickups

This is the point in the season where someone asks, “Where should we go on our long run?” and everyone else goes, “Um…” After some halting discussion we went with the tried and true method of cobbling two routes together. Eau Claire is a city of 70,000 people, but on a long run we usually manage to hit a surprisingly large part of town.

There wasn’t a lot of conversation going on early in this run. I was mostly trying to keep up (we were going slightly faster than I felt completely comfortable with), Molly wasn’t feeling the greatest, and everyone else was sort of quiet. Talking on a run is definitely an art; it takes practice and effort to become good at. But it sure can make runs go by more quickly.

We had two ten-minute pickups during this run. These are supposed to be done at tempo pace, although they usually end up being a little faster. We add stuff like this into our long runs to break up the monotony of the pace. It’s like shock therapy for your legs.

The pickups went pretty well, although I had a hard time relaxing my breathing and settling into a rhythm. On the second one my legs were tired enough that I had to work to hold the pace, but I really like doing pickups because they’re such great strength builders on top of long runs.

During the end of the 2^nd pickup our group split up. Jenna, Ellie and I ended up running together back to Putnam. This was my favorite part of the entire run, because we started talking about previous races and I also got the rant about the lack of information out there about anemia (and about the “perpetual cycle of low iron”.) Talking about something I feel passionately about always makes me subconsciously start to run faster.

Hitting the dirt of Putnam Trail was good for my soul. I officially dislike running in downtown Eau Claire. The boulevards are too bumpy to run on, and so it’s just concrete sidewalks and old houses and steep concrete hills. Blah. The route today took us through the heart of this area, and so I was very happy to be back on terra firma.

By this point in the run my legs were getting very tired/sore. We had rolled the first 70 minutes pretty hard, and I was also still feeling the effects of Saturday’s race. I just tried to keep a good pace going and I finished up the last 30 minutes of my run with a solid effort.

Next week I’ll cut my mileage back for Conference, so it felt good to get a solid long run today. It’s weird; in high school I never did a “long” run, even though my mileage was up around 50mpw my senior year. But now it’s one of the key parts of my training. Distance running is so much about strength, and doing long runs can go a long way in building that strength. It's all money in the bank now.

Jim Drews 2008