Running Shorts

Flying Pig Half Marathon 1st place 1:08:32 -- event record Well, I finally finished a major Flying Pig race -- I just had to drop down to the half. Actually, I did this race more out of a feeling of local obligation than true motivation. My focus really remains on the Vermont City Marathon, which is now less than three weeks away. But a minor race can be a great tune-up for a goal race; in fact, I think it's often the best preparation. (Just wait for my next blog post to explain that.) And that's what this race really was: a tune-up, practice for the real deal in Burlington, VT. So instead of focusing on the mile-by-mile details of the race (I pretty much ran solo the whole way and won by something like three minutes), I want to focus on my plans coming into it and how successful I was at executing them. 1. Run the first 9-10 miles at a controlled effort and then shift gears to race the last 5k. On this one I was very happy with my execution. I didn...

Ok wow, it's been a while. I have been running, I promise. Last fall I got so frustrated with my nagging Achilles injury that I just had to completely shut down. I got stuck in a cycle of: start running again, feel good, slowly feel that goodness deteriorate, end up back at square one needing more time off. Nothing seemed to be helping, so I finally just checked out of running entirely. After a few weeks in a walking boot, I decided to give it a cautious go one more time (this is around the beginning of November). I played it very safe, running without a schedule and entirely by feel, and by the end of December I was able to hit 60+ miles per week. Most importantly, though, I was simply enjoying running again. My goal for January and February, then, was to work in aerobic base training while gradually increasing my mileage and re-establishing some semblance of consistency.  I mostly succeeded -- my mileage didn't make it up to where I wanted it, but my base training went ...

With Cincinnati's very own Queen Bee Half Marathon coming up, I wanted to get this out there: I absolutely abhor all-women's races. I don't think they should exist. I don't even think they should be called races. I'm not going to link to any race websites because I don't want to give them the dignity. They may be worse than color runs and other novelty events in my book. Before you call me a sexist and a male chauvinist pig, hear me out: I don't think all-women's events are necessary any more . This isn't the era of race directors physically pulling Katharine Switzer out of a race specifically because she's a woman; rather, women make up the majority of participants in running events today. Thirty or forty years ago, when road running was an all-male endeavor, women's-only events definitely had a place. But now, nearly every race is a majority female affair. Road races are already women's races -- making some specifically only  for wo...

For those of you deep in the running industry, you may have heard the story that's rocking the US domestic track and field scene. For those of you who haven't read about it, Nike is suing 800m runner Boris Berian for breach of contract. Letsrun has great coverage of the story; here's a link to it. (Sidebar: When is there not  some off-track story rocking the track world? Jeez.) I'm not going to go into my opinions on the story or rehash any of the details here, but I think it brings up an important issue in the sport that everyone wants but no one actually talks about: sponsorship . Every athlete enters to the post-collegiate world wanting some sort of sponsorship, even though just the word "sponsorship" has a nebulous definition. Does it mean a full, professional-scale salary? Gear and a small stipend? Performance bonuses? A pair of free shoes here and there? A logo on a jersey? The real definition is all of the above, which is incredibly confusing. E...

"Connective tissue is what gets all runners in the end ." Bruce Denton, Once a Runner It may not be the end, but connective tissue is what has laid me up for the past month. After the disaster of the LA Trials, I just wanted to race again. I did; four races in five weeks: two 5ks, one 10k, and then a 10 miler. All of it was leading up the Flying Pig Marathon, redemption day. That all unraveled at the end of March with a tight Achilles that just got worse the more I ran on it. For most of April, I was down from running 95 miles a week to running just three days per week: one normal run, one workout, and one long run. I was trying to do just enough  to get to marathon day okay. But if there's one thing I learned for good (which I knew already, but chose to ignore), it's that you can't fake a marathon. You're not just racing against yourself and your competitors; you're also racing against the distance. On that day, the marathon won. Flying P...

...when you completely bomb a race? What do you do when your pour your heart and soul into training and come up empty on race day? What do you do when you're in the shape of your life, but it doesn't show in the results? What do you do when, on the biggest stage of your career, you choke? Do you give up? Do you sulk? Do you wallow in self-pity? Do you hang your head in defeat? No. Hell no. You race again. You rest, recover (physically and psychologically) and then you get after it. You don't let all that training go to waste. You don't let that disappointment consume you; you use it for fuel. You pour gasoline on the fire that's still burning -- faintly, smoldering, but still burning. You don't let that fire go out. You're better than that failed race. You race again, and again, and again; until your feet are bleeding and you physically can't push your legs one...more...stride... These races are validation and vindication. Validation for the ...

Yes, this is a selfish post. I mostly train alone; as it turns out, so do most of the post-collegiate runners in the Greater Cincinnati area. It's time to change that. Cincinnati is way too small of a town for us all to be doing our own thing, only to meet on race day and maybe the occasional long run. When you consider that many of the best runners train in groups, it makes sense that we ought to start training together. I get that everyone has different schedules; I'm not saying that all us runners need to live and run and hang out together all the time. All I'm proposing is a track workout on Tuesday. a tempo/threshold run on Friday (or Saturday), and a nice hard long run on Sunday. That's it, just three days. Three key workouts on three days, each week, every  week. I get that life gets in the way and you won't be able to make it every time, but you wanna get better? You gotta train consistently. Who better than training partners to keep you consistent? ...

Stepping Down in Distance This evening is the Little Kings Mile here in Cincinnati. It's the second leg of the beer series (a series of three races all sponsored by Christian Moerlein brewing) and the first event of Flying Pig weekend . It's also sweet because it's one of the few races in town with an elite element and prize money to boot. I haven't raced a mile in two years, when I competed in the inaugural Little Kings Mile. That, though, was three weeks after my Boston Marathon...so I followed up the longest road race with the shortest. Not an ideal situation, but considering that I still ran decent (4:31 for 4th place). This year I'm not in peak mile shape, but I am in much better than post-marathon shape. I've been getting in some real good base training, with lots of hills and threshold running. While the mile will be a bit of a shock to the system, it'll still be fun to see what I can do. But, if I'm ultimately training for half and full...

So I haven't posted much in the last month or so. Truth be told, I haven't had much to post about. Here's how it's been going: I posted after US Half Champs that I was taking a much-needed break, which I did and it was fantastic. Rest is a very powerful training tool, and something that most people seriously neglect. After a week or so of not running (I typically get antsy taking any more than a week off), I started back up fresh and super-motivated. Finally, after getting my training back on track last year and with the Olympic Marathon Trials a year away (at that point), I was committed to return to the marathon two-year after my last one. I knew I could build off of my half marathon fitness and throw down a real solid marathon. Maybe not an OT qualifier, but at least a positive experience under my belt to prepare for the trials. I was going to do the Flying Pig Marathon , here in Cincinnati. While I have been critical of that race in the past, they are makin...

As per my fall racing schedule from last week, I raced the Hudepohl 14k this past weekend. It's a fun kickoff to America's largest Oktoberfest celebration. The race starts at right outside of the Moerlein Lager House, between the Reds and Bengals' stadiums. Heading west at the start, the course basically makes on giant loop around downtown and Over-the-Rhine, passing many historic breweries and -- of course -- a couple killer hills. Like the past couple years, the competition was a little sparse; however, Michael Eaton from Louisville showed up again. He won last year by about a minute, (and is a 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier) so I knew I'd have a tough race ahead of me. I finished second to Eaton in 43:36 and couldn't be happier. The race went out fairly conservative the first mile, and then I tried to get into a good groove and ratchet the pace down a little bit. From the start it was just the two of us, and it would remain that way for the durat...

Will you be in Cincinnati this Saturday, June 28th? If so, you should experience the Hyde Park Blast , the most fun race event in the city all year. Yeah, I said it. It's better than Flying Pig weekend, better than the Thanksgiving Day Race, better than the Heart Mini 15k. Why? Simple: because it puts all levels of endurance sports (well, cycling and running) on showcase through a block-party-like atmosphere. The day starts in the morning with a 4-mile run/walk. Who doesn't like road races? Trick question: everyone loves them. Especially in Hyde Park. Everyone runs in Hyde Park, and you can bet just about everyone will be participating in the run that morning. The run is followed by a series of kids races, ranging in distance from .1 to .5 miles. Nothing like getting 'em started young. At noon the even switches gears (pun intended) as the cycling races start. From noon until 8 pm, there are a series of crits  of decreasing category (which means increasing speed ...

Whenever I tell someone I'm running a half marathon this spring, the response is almost always, "Oh, are you running the Pig?" When I tell them no, I'm actually going to Pittsburgh and doing their half marathon, the next question, invariably, is, "Well why aren't you doing the Pig?" I've explained what Pittsburgh has to offer in my previous post , but I haven't explained what the Flying Pig doesn't have to offer. So here's why not the Pig: But first, let me say this: I want to like the Pig; I really do. Even though I give the race a hard time in this blog, I only do so because I'm passionate about wanting to see it succeed as a race. After all, it is the biggest and most prestigious running event in Cincinnati, and people in the city (beyond just the running community) really care about the event and those participating. I do want to run events that people in my community care about; however, I also want to run events that ma...

So what race am I doing? The UPMC Pittsburgh Half Marathon . When is that? Sunday, May 4th, 2014. Isn't that the same day as the Flying Pig? Yup. So why are you going to Pittsburgh when you could just run at home? Pittsburgh has this  and this . The Pig has neither. Pittsburgh has a commitment to elite and sub-elite runners, they have a commitment to growing the sport from the front, they have a commitment to hosting a highly competitive race. The Pig, as of now, does not. They're comp'ing my entry fee and putting me up in a hotel (with another runner)...while also hosting a race that should have a ton of competition around me with the potential to win prize money by placing high or running a time bonus. Who can turn that down? But seriously, why aren't you doing the Pig? It's your hometown race...  Well, that's a topic for the next post. But for quick reference, see above. So, let's toast with a glass of Yuengling and hope for a fast rac...

Well, we're one step closer to knowing where the Olympic Marathon Trials will be held in 2016: they may be in Houston, they may be in Los Angeles; they definitely won't be in Cincinnati. At a conference in December, USATF went over some really confusing and political procedures for choosing the host city. ( Read the detailed report here ) While there's some debate between hosting in Houston or LA, at this point Cincinnati is out of the running (please excuse the pun). While I would love the trials to be hosted in my hometown (with the potential to race at home!), I think USATF made in the right call in dropping Cincinnati's bid. In defense of their position, USATF cited Cincinnati's lack of experience hosting elite athletes (from p.3 of the Road Race Management report, linked above). And you know what? They're right. Cincinnati's bid was spearheaded by the Flying Pig Marathon , an event that consistently does not offer prize money, comp'd entries, ...

One thing I've wanted to do differently this time around is get more of a schedule of races leading up to the marathon. I want to use these races as sort of a workout or a tune-up for the Pig. Heck, a competitive atmosphere is a way better than a solo workout. At least that's my logic this time, and I'm sticking to it. I've really only done two races longer than a 10k. The one was the Hudepohl 14K, and the other was...well, Chicago. I feel I need to do more than just one tune-up this time around. I think one of the big problems I had during the Chicago marathon was that my legs, body, etc. just wasn't (read: still isn't) used to these longer, almost completely aerobic races. I mean, the longest race I had done before my first marathon was 18 miles shorter than the marathon itself. And I've still never done a true half marathon. The only one I've done was the first half of a full marathon (1:09:20...that's a respectable time, right?). So I want ...

I'll do another marathon when pigs fly. Wait, what's that? They do on May 6? Oh. Well in that case, count me in. So that's the big update (and also why I'm getting back at the whole blogging thing), I'm running the Flying Pig this spring. I'll put more details in the Flying Pig page, but stay tuned for training/racing updates.