Running Shorts

I was trolling away on twitter tonight (sidebar: slowly getting addicted, follow me @kauffmannt), and by way of National Geographic of all places came across this gem of advice from Deena Castor: Define yourself. Maybe I'm just getting pensive a week before the marathon, but this one really struck a chord with me (and I'm not even musical). Those two words just seem to perfectly and succinctly sum up what I get out of running. (And the Don Draper in me is picturing an awesome tv/print ad campaign centered around "Define Yourself"). The beauty of it is that there really isn't much more that needs to be said. And it goes beyond just running. If you're looking for motivation, consider: How do you want to be remembered? What do you want people to say about you? What kind of person are you? Define yourself. 'Nuff said. (Oh and ps, to stick with the twitter theme and because it's marathon week, I think I might start using #DefineYourself. You s...

Welp. The Flying Pig is 10 days from today. You know what that means? Time to start obsessively checking weather.com  for the forecast. Now we all know weather reports are notoriously unreliable (not to mention looking 10 days into the future), but still... So here's what it looks like for next Sunday, as of this Friday afternoon: low of 48 and a high of 73 with a 60% scattered showers and 9 mph winds out of the Northwest. Actually, that looks pretty nice. It looks like race day will be the coolest day of all next week, so that's nice. I've been pretty worried seeing highs in the 80s for next week's forecast, but (knock on wood) Sunday doesn't look too bad. Famous last words, right?

No, I'm not talking about Christmas. And I'm not talking about spring being the best season (even though it is). I'm talking about...taper season! Tapering before a big race is the greatest thing ever. The general physiological benefit is that it sets aside some time for the body to rest and recover before the race, after spending months beating it down with mileage and workouts and stuff. But it's also a great mental rest. The goal is for an all-around, holistic sense of feeling better -- physically and mentally. I don't want to be tired, worn out, exhausted, or anything like that leading up to race day. I want to be fresh. I generally tried to average about 95-ish miles per week during the training peak. Last week, I hit 80. This week, I plan on hitting 65. And next week (marathon week) I plan on doing 50 (over 6 days, not counting the marathon). I'm basically cutting my work in half, and let me tell you it feels great. Not to mention I've been t...

This morning I hopped on the track for the first workout this go-round. It's been too long. Anyway, since it's less than 2.5 weeks until the marathon, I thought it'd be a perfect time for some Yasso 800s. Don't know what those are? Check out this short article on Yasso 800s  from Runner's World. As a general rule, Runner's World sucks. Okay, I shouldn't say that it sucks exactly -- just that it's very much geared toward rec runners instead of the serious runner. If you've read the magazine, you know what I'm talking about: "Shave minutes off your 5k without increasing mileage!", "Finding the right show for your foot!", "Five reasons why speed work will help you run faster!", etc. But here's the thing about marathon training: no one really knows what they're doing. For pretty much every shorter race, training is basically a science; there are commonly accepted principles that everyone in the field agree...

Redbird Hollow is a 2 (ish) mile crushed limestone trail that pretty much links Indian Hill and Terrace Park. Depending on which way you run, it's either a gradual downhill (Best. Thing. Ever.) or a gradual uphill (mistaaaaake) for the 2 miles. I typically use this (downhill, of course) on my favorite 12/13 mile loop. The only downside to this trail is that it's really popular with dog walkers, none of whom use a leash...most of the dogs are well-behaved, but not all.  PS: I recently discovered some offshoot trails from the main one, so I might be exploring those in the future.

Hey blogosphere, It's been a while. My bad. So last weekend I went down to Louisville for the Papa John's 10 Miler. There was also some basketball game going on later that day? Something about the Final Four and teams from Kentucky or something? Yeah the atmosphere was definitely crazy with a Louisville vs. UK showdown. Anyway, about the race: I ran 52:05 (about 5:12 pace) and got fifth (and 100 bucks!). 5th, behind 3 Africans and an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier. And $100? Yeah I'll take it. So even though my pace was basically the same as 2 weeks ago (on a much flatter course), I was a lot happier with the race this time around. 5:12s felt a lot more comfortable this time around. Especially over the last 4 miles, I felt like I was able to finish much stronger than two weeks ago. I wasn't struggling just to finish; I was ratcheting the pace down trying to reel in 4th place. In fact, I felt like I could have kept going at that pace for at least 3 more ...