Blogs : Nate Jenkins

Training June 23 to 29

Monday Noon Methuen rd. 10 w/ gary 1:14:06, fig. 8 backwards running after in the rain,

                         tot. 10

               XT 4x1:30 backward fig. 8 running w/ 1 min rest between, low leg stuff

               7PM rd. 6 solo shakeout, 45:54, tot. 6

Tuesday AM 24:40 w/up 30:04 progression run on uml winter loop(9140m) first loop of

                      8 at 5:36 pace, last loop at 4:57 pace, 24:40 c/down tot. 12

               XT hammy stuff and core

               PM rd. 6 shakeout w/ the X-Factor uml sprint coach and all around legend.  He

                      had no problems I may have to start making fun of him less… nah. 49:29

                       tot. 6

Wednesday 1PM Methuen rd. 10, 1:05:46, felt really really easy tot. 10

                     XT low leg stuff

                     7PM rd. 6 solo shakeout, 43:30 tot. 6

Thursday AM 24:40 w/up with gary, lyra, Ivory, and the X-Factor. Strides, 4x mile at

                        mines falls with 2 mins rest, slightly up hill(very slightly) on 1 and 3,

                        slightly down on 2 and 4, (4:55.8, 4:49.9, 4:54.8, 4:49.3), ****ing ugly.

                       13:54 c/down tot. 10

                XT Hammy stuff

                5PM rd. 6 solo shakeout, 46:09. tot. 6

Friday Noon Methuen rd. 10 solo, 1:04:44, again felt real easy tot. 10

            XT low leg stuff

            6PM rd. 6 solo shakeout, 43:43 tot.6

Saturday AM rd. 6 solo shakeout, 44:38 tot. 6

               XT hiked up and down mnt. Watchusett, about 2 hours of hiking

               PM rd. 6 solo shakeout, 45:48 tot. 6

Sunday Noon 3 w/up with Casey Moulton, ton of strides and jogging around because the

                        race started a half hour late, race 10k in Newton, 3^rd place (Dylan Wykes

                       1^st, Ethiopian from Westchester 2^nd) 28:38, it was a cluster F. we did the

                       first 5k loop in 12:40 or so, as you may have guessed the cops led us the

                       wrong way but the kicker was they kept leading us off course to boot.  I

                       mean if you going to take us the wrong way, that’s bad enough but

                       couldn’t you do it with some confidence.  I should also note that I got in a

                       bit of shouting match with one of the cops on a motorcycle during the race,

                       I’m a classy fellow what can I say. 3c/down with Casey tot. 13

Summary 107 miles for the week.  Ok both workouts were **** and I ran like 16:00 for the real 5k in the race, it was humid but it wasn’t that humid.  Basically I’ve been **** since my four low weeks, I’m guessing its from ramping right into the race I just got myself in a whole lot of tired.  What ever it is it doesn’t bode well for Peachtree or my beloved Boilermaker.  But I had no hammy problems in the progression run so that’s a little something.

Quote of the week “Son we are here to keep you from getting hit, that’s it!”  Newton Cop shortly after a guy standing next to him at the start said he would be our police escorts to show us the course and shortly before he  stopped to talk to a cop in a cruiser and left us to run out into traffic on our own. In the interest of fair reporting it should be noted this was in response to me yelling “what the ****” at him. 

Finally Apology of the week Sorry for using the f word twice this week. If it really pisses you off you should complain. 

Tom

12:07 AM, June 30, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

yeah, cops can be idiots sometimes right. I would have said the same thing if they had led me the wrong way.

I was reading your training outline and you said somewhere that Kenyans can average somewhere like more than 8min pace for easy runs. I find that surprising, I
always thought the elites do much faster stuff. I never run slower than 7:30 pace for any of my runs. so is there any benefit to doing the runs at this easy a pace?

Also I was trying to read more about "Italian marathoning" and a guy named Rosa his methods. What exactly is the difference between this and other methods, is one particularly better?, I was reading these two articles and I couldn't completely digest the info in these articles .

http://runningtimes.com/Print.aspx?articleID=9254
http://runningtimes.com/Print.aspx?articleID=4856

Newton 10K

3:37 AM, June 30, 2008 .. Posted by Frank Georges

I wouldn't worry too much about this race. The more I think about this race, it was one of the least fun races I've ever done and it might even rank number one. The problems this race had were: handing out water at the water stops with the caps still on the bottle; starting 45 minutes late; leading people the wrong way on the course; having people run across comm. ave while cars were still moving; having small kids run in front of you at the water stops and having to weave around them repeatedly; and mile markers that were more than half a mile off. Throw in oppressive heat and humidity and the fact that the race was 90% hills...this one was a classic. I just started to walk with about half a mile to go...there wasn't any joy in even finishing this thing. The one good thing about this race was that there was some free stuff after...vitamin water, a nice bag, a t-shirt and sports massage. Overall though...there wasn't much thought put into organizing it. The caps on the water bottles still blow my mind.

XT

2:01 PM, June 30, 2008 .. Posted by rubensanca

Nate, I noticed you do a lot of cross training. Can you expand a little on what and why exactly are yiu doing during these XT sessions?

rosa, slow running, xt

6:12 PM, June 30, 2008 .. Posted by nateruns

Rosa is very different from the rest of the itilian coaches he didn't like to share info with others and very much developed his own system, the rest particularly Canova and Gigilliti (i think I mispelled that) worked together.
Most, in fact almost all, of the top male runners do there easy runs extremely easy, 8 min pace being on the high end. I read a great story about a reporter who met Paul Tergat and his crew for a 4 mile easy run in the afternoon one day, he was all worried that he was going to die trying to hang with. 40 mins of running later he was convinced that came no where near 4 miles he guessed closer to 3.
XT low leg is rubber band exercises for peronus 3 sets both ways, then the normal 5 barefoot walking shin drills a ton of people do, then 3 sets of calf raises up on two down slow and steady on 1 really stretching the calf at bottom, heels in, heels straight, heels out.
Hammy stuff is basically slow walking stretching/good morning thing, swedish ball hammy extension/curls (keep the core and ass absolutely flexed) then norwegian? hammy curls/collapses
Core, swedish ball curls, standing overhead medicine ball tosses, plank, ball back extensions

X-Factor

8:36 PM, June 30, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

So did X wear sweatpants on this venture?

-Carl

sweat pants

1:36 PM, July 1, 2008 .. Posted by nateruns

If only he had, or perhaps if he had wore his flaming skull sunglasses and it had been dark out. But alas he was dressed reasonably.

Untitled Comment

4:54 PM, July 1, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

yeah i saw him in a suit at indoor nats my sr year. i think thats the only time i ever saw him dressed like someone who didn't just crawl out of bed

Untitled Comment

11:57 PM, July 5, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

I'm not sure if youre friends with gabe who also runs for saucony. Will you be pulling for him tommorow?

gabe

11:58 AM, July 6, 2008 .. Posted by nateruns

I wouldn't say I'm friends with gabe, I've met him a couple of times thats it. That said I like him and I think him and his personal brand of crazy are good for the sport. Am I pulling for him, well in some ways yes. Thing is I'm pulling for way more then 3 people to make that team. Make all of the teams. There are just so so many deserving athletes out there and so few spots.
I always pull for the saucony athletes we are small group and all are sort of underdogs in one way or another. Also gabe's is a great comeback story. Still I feel like he made a team and basically gave it all away because he lacked the will to stay on task. So does he deserve a spot more then say a less talanted guy like sherer who has trained himself to the edge of being good enough after years of failure and struggle, or what about a guy like Manzano who has shown a rare level of dominance in the college game and could be the future of american mid d. I'd love to see him on the team for a second straight year, showing his future by competing well in what will be one of the best 1500 fields assembled anywhere this year, and by this i'm refering to the trials, then getting more international experience in beijing, perhaps making the final. That would be a great set up for a medal contender in 4 years. I'm also pulling for webb. Many hate him, I guess its the talant. Not me this kid is great, great for the sport and simply great. He broke Jim Ryan's impossible HS mile record at a time when people seemed to think breaking 4 minutes in hs was like batting 400 in the major leagues, sure it had been done before but in a different era and it would not happen again. Man did he turn that on its head. Also I feel he gets the short end of the stick, he had a great year last year, perhaps the best by an american miler since Ryan. He set an american record, became the 8th fastest man to ever live, won a golden league meet, had the fastest time in the world in two events and second fastest in another, and still because he performed poorly, only by the standard he set over that breakout summer, at the wc he is treated like ****. Total crap. Next lagat, bronze in 00, silver in 04 would gold in 08 make him the greatest olympic 1500m runner of alltime, I know it would get my vote, no one has had that kind of durability at the medal level, could he be the first. I'd like to see him try. Although I'd also like to see him run well at the trials and get 4th or 5th just so people would get a sense of just how crazy strong american running is right now. What about Lomong, who doesn't want to see a lost boy on the team, the hell he went through to get here and his irrepressible spirit are awesome. But there are some many others I like, chris l. comes to mind.