Malakoff 7K, Hansons Distance Project and "you got a point there!"

Malakoff 7k, the second race on my "comeback tour". It was not too bad, but I do find myself regretting not going for the longer 17k, I think that is my competitive side though rearing its ugly head. This was a pretty good race, despite the problems i had heard with last year’s contest, this one seemed well run, and well attended, I mean we even had Kenyans (I say we like I am now a Penangite). I started well despite some foot soreness, and some lateral hip pain. I decided to do this race wearing compression shorts instead of my normal Brooks running shorts, mostly to see if it would help with the hamstring cramping I seem to get right around 3 miles. I got a ride to the venue with my friend Sunny Ng. This lady is one heck of a runner. Let me for a moment pontificate on Mrs. Sunny. Ok so she is a sub 7:00 miler easy, with the heart of a lion. She demonstrated both her running ability and her courage in this race particularly. I watched her cross the finish and as usual, 2nd woman finisher in the 17k overall and 1st in her age group, a much younger Kenyan woman came in ahead of her. She collapsed on the pavement, quickly removing her shoes, it was then that I saw her heel/ankle on both feet was ripped up and bloody...I have seen male and female runners bow out for less. Even experienced runners can make poor equipment choices and I think Sunny would be the first to say that she wore the wrong shoes. Anyway to be in as much pain as i am sure she was and run the kind of race she did...BRAVO Mrs. Sunny you are a credit to the sport (thanks for the ride too!)! So back to my race which I am sorry pales in comparison but is something for me to build on certainly. I was able to pace with my friends Chun How and  Kho Ko King which is a total bonus for me because they are both fast, Kho has those long legs and is just a really good natural runner and Chun How is just a freak (in a good way). The guy is a 1/2 ironman finisher, 100K runner, ultra runner in perhaps the best physical condition of any human being I know and these guys hooked me up with a great pace through more than half the race. I was doing well, feeling great and then with about .20 miles to go my right hamstring just seized up. so I stopped (dumb) and lost about 30 - 40 seconds...That is what lost me my goal time of 35:00....I ended up at 36:00 flat. Not bad for only two months of running. Ended up seeing most of the I-run folks at the race, and had a great time as usual. The fellowship of running is so much like the locker room for a hockey team that it’s a very comfortable place to be!

So my Hanson's Distance Project training began today with a quick 2 miles. The start you off slow, but only two days a week off, and then incrementally increase mileage, throw in some speed and strength work and hopefully I can hit 1:35:00 in the Half Marathon in July, maybe even 1:30:00 which would be a real step up for me.

I saw a comment by a running acquaintance on a social networking site. He was responding to some complaining that local runners had been doing following the Malakoff race this weekend. Now the first 4 male placing in the open 17k division were taken by Kenyan runners, (who in turn won most of the prize money) by a significant time difference. The 4th place Kenyan runner did the 17k in 56:56, the 5th place Malaysian runner did it in 1:02:55...that’s a 6 min cushion...that’s a significant margin. Now I gotta say I could not come close to touching those times in my lifetime, with that being said, my acquaintances problem was that people were complaining rather than using it as a motivation to train harder. I agree in principal, however, localism, for anyone who ever surfed in California and Hawaii sucks. I just think in our technology driven world, is there really any such thing as local anything, anymore. Do I agree that races held in Malaysia especially the smaller ones should have a local division, sure, but why?? If your only reason is to give local runners a better chance to walk away with a check, that defeats the whole purpose of equal competition, doesn’t it?

 I have run in many events in Florida, both big and small, and they are often won by "non-locals". Has any one of those race directors ever decided to have a local only division?? No. I might be comparing apples to oranges, but dig this. I have a friend his name is Marc, he and his wife came to Florida as ex-pats from Belgium, a few years back. Now Marc was a runner his whole life, and for a good majority of races he would win the whole thing. Did I complain that some cat from Belgium was winning everything? No, I wanted to train with him. I even had him pace me to my fastest 10k finish ever (43:00 flat). I could appreciate what it took to make him that good and I wanted to emulate that, not complain about it. I think this area is just not used to this influx of foreigners at their once local races. Others of us have experienced this for years and see it as a fact of life; you either except it or go back to "soul running" and don’t compete. I think the Kenyans have made it clear that they are here to stay and are not going anywhere...can you out-train them?? I don’t think so, I think they were born with loads of natural ability and with training it just gets better. Should you just give up then?? No way!! I mean we once thought a 4 min mile was impossible. i truly think a sub 2 hour marathon time will happen in our lifetime and I feel a Kenyan runner will be the one to break it. This year’s Olympic Games will provide the proof. If the Kenyans walk away with gold, silver and bronze in the marathon, then there you have it. The very best athletes from every other nation, with top notch training and coaching, could not do it. Does that mean the Kenyans are not beatable? NO Way!!....Just remember every sport has had its stereotypes, and every sport has also had people break those stereotypes, and usually it was with a combination of training, heart and desire. So do not give up and do not despair, your local races might be overrun with foreign talent, but homegrown talent is still talent and lets all hope it rises to the challenge.

Dilemma or Devotion??

When your wife says you have too many shoes, you know its a fact. I really do have way too many pairs of running shoes, and the problem is...I feel like I need to order at least two more pair...so it begs the question...dilemma or devotion??



My shoe clock

Now my wife will tell you that I am a "gear head" and I have always been that way, as an Ice Hockey goaltender I was always tinkering with my equipment and rushing to buy the newest thing on the market. I think that translated to running. I started with board shorts a T-shirt, cotton socks, my Timex watch and a pair of New Balance shoes that I  picked up at Marshall's (for those of you that don't know, its an off-price clothing store). When running got more serious I went to a local running store "Feet First" (awesome shop by the way) and got fitted with a pair of Brooks Glycerine 7's. That was the first shoe I ever raced in. I was wearing Mizuno running tops and shorts, I still had my trusty Timex though. Since then I have gone to wearing only Brooks gear, and have become an "Ambassador" for Brooks Running as a "Brooks Fanatic". I wear a Garmin Forerunner 305 (which I love by the way...despite the fact that it looks like I have a small laptop on my wrist) and have a plethora of assorted running gadgets for different things, all of which I am sure I could NOT live without. The shoes however have been a bit of...well lets say...an issue. Like I said, I started with the Glycerine, and then committed the sin of sins and moved away from Brooks to Mizuno. I think it might have been the Mizuno "Wave Rider 12", anyway that lasted all of 6 months and a severe IT band problem, till I was back to Brooks. The Launch was my next shoe..Let me tell you, birds sang, clouds parted, dogs and cats got along, a politician told the truth...you get my drift,  it was magical! I have been with the Launch ever since and Thanks to Brooks Running for never changing anything but the color (the orange was great). In the shoe clock above, the Launch is at 11:00 and 12:00. 11:00 is the common black color and the 12:00 is the updated blue...there is a really cool orange color now that I just have to have (but don't really need).The launch is a true neutral shoe with a small amount of cushioning, a 10mm heel to toe drop and they are fairly light at 9.1 oz for the men's size 9.  Once I began to get faster and participate in more races a friend suggested looking into a "racing flat" ...ok time out for a minute. I need to talk about the minimalist/barefoot craze that has seized running and impacted the shoe market, big time. I am no expert let me say that right up front, but when I hear about someone moving from a motion control shoe, because they were told they "over-pronate" (don't EVEN get me started on the over-pronation/under-pronation marketing scheme) to a minimalist shoe makes me cringe. I went from "neutral cushioned" (Glycerine 7) to "neutral" (Launch) to now running "second days" and races in minimalist shoes. (mostly because I am still in a recovery phase from the hip fracture)There must be a progression, in my opinion, or you are going to damage a muscle system that has been taught over months and possibly years to respond to  running a particular way. Moving to a minimalist shoe without that transition, you may run the risk of a number of issues, stress fractures, calf, anterior-tib and hamstring issues, as well as a number of possible foot problems. ok time in....so "racing flat" that turned me onto the Brooks T-6, now I have a ton of racing pictures in that shoe, mostly 10K's. I love my T-7, and,when it went from the T-6 to the T-7, very little changed. The new red color is cool and the new neon yellow is even better (another must have but don't need). To explain the T-7 is easy, true racing flat, 11mm heel to toe drop and a super light 6.0 oz for the men's size 9. The T-7 is located at 10:00 on the shoe clock. At 1:00 and 2:00 are the Brooks green silence. my new favorites. The orange and red are the older color scheme while the all blue version was a web only model and is no longer available, they have a new Java/Stone model which I also want but don't need. I think I have already talked about these in an earlier post... the cool thing about them, recycled materials and water based adhesives. At 3:00 and 9:00 are the two newest additions to my shoe quiver and also to Brooks running. The "Pure" line. I have the Pure connect at 3:00 and the Pure flow at 9:00. The Pure Connect would be a go to shoe if not for the overly tight heel cup, for me, it rubs at my Achilles and no matter what kind of sock I use it still happens. I will continue to try and mess with them though and maybe after some wear they will soften up. The Pure flow was a try, based on advice I got from my fellow Brooks fanatics, who also had problems with the Pure connect heel cup and moved to the flow and loved them. I am now one of those people. I love the flow, I would use it as an everyday shoe, and will once I have gotten my muscle structure in my right leg healthy.The original green color is great, but I am wanting the blue color that has been released since...I also don't need them (Damn!). The last pair of Brooks shoes on the shoe clock are my Cascadias, I think they are the Cascadia 6, they are a neutral trail shoe and I have used them in Maine on some of the Acadia National Park trails and love them, they are lightweight at 12.2 oz and have a heel toe drop of 11mm. The last two shoes on the shoe clock are not Brooks shoes, and to be honest, I do not wear them often. They are the Saucony Kinvara 2. I bought them, because I loved the Kinvara. The problem is, that Saucony updated the Kinvara 2 and although everything I read said the changes were minimal...I disagree. The toe box is much narrower on the Kinvara 2 and they seem stiffer in the forefoot than the Kinvaras were. This shoe was great to mix into my Brooks rotation to extend the wear of my Brooks shoes, I am hard pressed now to even put them on for a run...I will use them at the gym though...The ladies love em!! or maybe they are just pointing and staring at the old, balding white guy...never thought about that....anyway.
Now loyal reader it falls on you to decide, with only two feet and 7 days a week to run, I feel that a shoe for every day is more than appropriate. This demonstrates my devotion to Brooks running and their dedication to making great shoes for runners. It also speaks of my devotion to the sport I love. There is a valid health reason as well, insuring that my feet are always lovingly caressed in a well conditioned shoe, I ask you, is this a valid health concern or the ravings of a nut? You also must consider, "Is this a serious dilemma", are you reading the blog of a man gone totally Imelda Marcos for running shoes? A man who is so totally obsessed with matching his shoes to his running attire that he must have every color shoe Brooks produces, for every shoe he uses. Is this man's belief that the more awesome the color the more awesome you run, really just the delusion of a guy who knows that people really are saying..."He is really slow, but he looks fast."
Its up to you...
For me..I'm going to go sit with my shoes....

Racetime

So its another Monday, which means that its time to review the week. Monday was an off day following my first long run since my accident (8 miles on Sunday). I did do some light work in the pool, which means I was able to swim a few laps before Brenna became a Remora. So Tuesday was a normal 5K at 8:28/mile, still a good pace. I decided that with Wednesday being my cross train day, 1 hour on the stationary bike and some core work, I would start to up my regular mileage to 4 miles. Thursday was a 4 miler, at an 8:29/mile pace, so I am able to maintain consistency despite the addition of another mile, which is good. That leads to Friday, I decided with my first race on Sunday, and despite my desire to treat it as a "fun" run, i know me well enough to know that I wont, I took Friday off and decided to run with friends on Saturday, and then do the race Sunday, so I joined my friend Thuan and a colleague of his on their longer run, my plan was for a 4-5 mile run. I ended up doing 4.39 miles at a 8:31/mile, that was on the watch, I shut it down, got a breath and then did some speed work for another mile. So onto the Race. Merentas Desa Pulau Pinang, held in the Teluk Kumbar region of Penang.

It was touted as a cross country race, and looked to be just that with approximately a mile of the course on the beach, another 3/4 of a mile on trails, and the rest on the road. Well the beach run was tough and despite that, it was a blast. It was great to be in a race, it was awesome to feel that adrenaline rush before the finish line, and overall just a great time, especially since I got to share my first race with all of my I-Run and running friends who have stood by me since my accident. Thank you Mei ling for giving me a lift! Thank you Chun How, Karen Geh and Andrew for taking pictures, and all the other photographers. Thanks to Lin Jin Xiang for pushing me at the end! It was not my best race, based on timing and pace, but it did not have to be because it will always be a great memory for me. I also had a chance to wear my kilt towel I got a few years back in Edinburgh. Got some great pictures, and i have another Penang memory that I will carry with me.



w/ Thuan Lin Goh



Kilt Towel!



Brooks Fanatics in Penang

w/ Mei Ling and Choo Hooi Lim

Another week in the books

Well this week was not good, I missed both Monday and Tuesday and went with my usual 3 miler on Wednesday the only difference was that instead if a loop, I took a cab to the botanical garden, figured I would run back from there and a more direct route would be better than an out and back. Saw a few of the I-run ladies there and tried to pace a bit with Karen Geh, not happening, she is way to quick. So that run went well, then Thursday was a cross train day on the bike (in the gym) then another three on Friday, then Saturday off, then my attempt at 10 miles today. Well I made it 8 miles, and although the first 6 was fine the last 2 were very slow. I got to pace for a bit with one of the I-run guys...I hate to say, but I have forgotten his name, that is terrible of me I know. I big thanks to all my I-run friends for a great running day. Another week in the books, and next weekend is my first race! Getting excited for that! Run Happy loyal reader!

If you run it, speed will come.

Well another Monday is here which means its time to  review the last week. This is actually difficult to do at times as the two training websites that I use track things differently. Garmin Training Center tracks things in a week that runs Sunday to Saturday, which I don't like. Training Peaks does a Monday to Sunday week, which is really how I plan, as my long run (when I am able to go back to "long" runs) is Sunday. Last week went as follows:
Tuesday: 3.2 Miles  27:13  8:29 pace
Wednesday: 3.2 Miles 27:43  8:39 pace
Friday: 3.2 Miles 27:00  8:26 pace
Sunday: 4 miles 34:37  8:37 pace

Allow me to Explain, Monday was an off day due to my poor planning last week and doing 4 runs in a row up until Sunday, it was dumb to do that and those two days, Sunday and Monday, I was very sore. Tuesday was good and the speed is beginning to come back, then I had a massage on Tuesday, which was awesome, and really set up the rest of the week. Thursday was an off day/gym day, followed by Friday. Saturday I would have run, but when I got the chance to be "massage therapist" all day Saturday for a big over 35 men's soccer tournament. I decided it might be best to come into the event at my best. So it was not the week I wanted, I need to get another day in there so that I can get ready for the Hanson's training to start at months end and my two races.

Which will be held on 18/3/2012

and..

both of these I am going to treat as tempo runs and see if I can hold a pace over the course of a race. There is no chance of standing at the podium for either of these, I just want to see how fast I can do them and they are not long distances, either one. Merentas is 8K, and Malakoff is 7K. so the speed is coming back, but I have to get more consistent with how I train and stop with the haphazard days, I have been consistent with my time, but the days is a mess right now. Anyway, today was an off day with a 1/2 hour on the bike at the gym, and some sit ups. I will do my core workout tonight. so the week is off to a good start! Run Happy loyal reader.