Decembering

I've found that winter running usually involves two basic types of running for me; Treadmill running/Running on Roads. Both are better than the alternative (No Running). Both of these types are not my particular ideal methods for running.

I usually run on the roads only when I have to, I love trails, paths, woods, anything that's not just pavement. Off-road surface has been helpful in terms of easing the pounding that running does to my legs. I'll take any chance to ease that pounding since I've had to deal with shin-splints and near stress-fractures in my shins in the past. Plain Road-running is a seasonal thing since I only have to do it in the wintertime.

Treadmill running is just boring, plus I don't even own one so I usually have to borrow a friends or try to find a gym if I need to use one. Treadmill running is sometimes decent if I have a T.V. in front of me. Last week I got to see the Celtics kick the 76ers butts during a casual 8 miler on Sonya's treadmill. But I'm not happy with the Celtics now, losing to Garden State (one of the worst teams in the NBA) is pathetic, and the Lakers game... well I'm gonna put it this way: Celtics 1, LA's Referee's 1,000,000. So LA, do you have a football team doing well? Hockey team? NO. I can't wait till the Lakers come to Boston in February.

Something cool though:
Usain Bolt (Olympic Champion, World record holder in 100,200, 4x1) went to a Celtics game at the TDBank North Garden last week. Apparently he's a big fan.
pic of KG and Bolt:
Man, if I were KG I'd be asking for Bolt's autograph! That's a lot of Awesomeness in one picture.

Anyways, I had a chance to get away from the roads/treadmill yesterday. I went to run a workout at the Brandeis track. This time we didn't have a large crowd; just me and Marc Boutin (from Westford, MA). Marc and I warmed up 20 minutes, then John had us run 7x400,2x200 with 2 minutes rest in between. We ran a pretty solid workout and cooled down 20 minutes.
Overall it felt good, I hadn't worked out in a week since I had been weak from being sick but I felt comfortable running the workout.

Today, I ran about 8.5 miles on the roads. Did this big loop from my house to Brookline and West Roxbury to home. As I was crawling further away from home I kept thinking that I should turn around and head back. I make this mistake a lot when I run at home. If I do turn around and head back, I usually come back and find that I haven't run far enough according to my watch. I don't know why this is. Maybe I'm not used to running a lot of miles from my house? Over the summer, I usually drive 2 miles to Cold Springs Park and do a lot of convenient runs from there, rarely did I run from my house. Well, Today, I kept going, ignoring my watch and made up a loop that ended up being about 8.5 miles. It worked out well, I was pretty content with the distance.

No choice for now, but to continue Decembering. Staying at home, seeing friends, running a ton. I was pretty content with my grades for the fall, could have done better in one class.. but for now I'm gonna relax and enjoy the break and winter running. I might start doubling next week.
Go Pats!

Update after a week of being at home.

Yesterday, I went to Brandeis per instruction of John to do a workout at the Indoor track. I warmed up 20 minutes with the team, but after talking with John about the sickness I had last week, we decided that I wouldn't do the workout and would just do a run. I ran 7 miles with the team, and helped John with timing the workout.

A few others showed up. During breaks, John sends us our workouts and asks that if we're near the school that we make our way over to workout on tuesdays. Chris and Beth came from Chelmsford, Dan from Peabody, Meaghan from Franklin, and Devon from Cumberland, RI. There's a decent amount of people from school who live in the Eastern Mass/near-Boston area.

I helped Dan, by timing his workout. He ran 5x 1000 with rest being 2:30 in between. Dan ran each one in about 3 minutes. He looked smooth, and the last one was his fastest (2:58).

It was nice, having a place to run that wasn't ice-infested roads. I've been running most of my runs on my friend Sonya's Treadmill, however, since I've been sick I haven't run more than 5 miles for a few days. I ran 7 miles at Brandeis on Tuesday, and today I ran 8 on the treadmill. It's probably the best I've felt since getting sick.

The nice thing about getting sick last week is that I can treat last week almost as a down week. I was pretty tired all week from studying for finals, so I'm glad I got to give my body a little rest after that period of stress. I've been sleeping about 10 hours each night at home, which is really refreshing.


There are a few things I'm looking forward to getting done now,
I want to start lifting, and getting back to doing my core workout every other day. I want to keep watching the Celtics dominate the NBA. Hopefully see the Patriots turn-on their game against the good teams during the drive for the Playoffs. Christmas day is tomorrow which is exciting. I am contemplating going to the BU mini meet this weekend and/or going to Reggie Lewis next Monday to see Newton South face off against the DCL in League Meet #2.
Since my car is broken, I'm going to have to beg for a ride.
Any takers?

Happy Holidays!

I need some more sleep

“We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable.”
-Sir Roger Bannister

While this quote may be more appropriate for a post about being stressed out about work and how running has helped me gain the sense of "freedom" that Bannister adresses, I'm gonna use it just to describe my feelings about not running the past few days.

I've been sick for two days, I didn't run on Friday, and I went out to run for 20 minutes today and felt exhausted. Reason being, I ate only a bagel all of friday because I wasnt feeling that well. I basically was exhausted and apparently lost about 4 pounds. I think this sickness is attributed to the lack of sleep I've been getting most of the days this week.

Needless to say, I'm dying to run. Even though I'm still exhausted.. I think running would still be healthy for me. Just doing a run offers that certain something; a certain kind of pleasure that nothing else really gives me. Bannister's quote captures it pretty well, it's a pretty limitless activity. In essence you could actually run as fast as you want to, or as far as you want to, or try to combine both. Just thinking about it can get me excited.

Even though I now have 2 days off for this week, I still plan to run some high-quality mileage the next few weeks if I feel better come Monday. Today was a productive day; I went out, went to the BU mini meet with James Vance, and hung out there, watched a few races, and did my "run" at about 8 minute pace through the sidewalk snow. James ran a PR of 4:34 for the mile. He hasn't run the mile since high school, his PR was 4:39, so he was pretty content. Also, Nate Jenkins, who runs under Saucony, ran the mile at the meet: He won in 4:15. I'm 3/3 for seeing this guy (a pro marathoner) run a midstance event at a track meet this winter. Good stuff, I wonder what's prompting him to come down to the event.

Well, I'm not at school right now so I can get some quality sleep in. I could sleep all day if I wanted to tonight. Also, Phil Vance told me that fasting once a month is a Yoga Technique and can actually help you rid the toxins of your body. People have told me that if you don't eat, muscle gets burned off before fat. Phil told me that actually the body gets rid of the toxins and other sources before going to the muscles.
Whenever I get mixed opinions like in this case, I guess I just force myself to get back to the real issue "Is not eating good?"
I'm gonna say, "No, probably not" unless of course when your body doesnt need to eat.
Good Health.

How important are supplements?

I'm definitely what some would call a "running enthusiast". I take advantage of the tools provided by the internet to see what other athletes, especially those at the elite-level, have done with their running programs to achieve success. I strongly support these athletes and their capabilities.
Recently, I watched the 13th episode of "Workout Wednesday" on Flotrack.org
It's a pretty neat idea, the website has a crew that heads over to university teams, sponsored running programs, even just elite athletes and tapes the workouts that they do in order to broadcast it to the public.

This week they went over to "Team Indiana Elite" at St. Vincents sports center in Indianapolis, Indiana and filmed their supplement and core routine.
Link: http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234127/100476-episode-13-team-indiana-elite-core
Robert Chapman, the coach of Team Indiana Elite, stressed that Core, flexibility, strength, and cardio work are all necessary for a runner to get the most of out of his or her running. I was impressed by the video, the routine that these elites did was pretty intimidating.

Coaches and athletes have always stressed to me that both flexibility and core strength are important for a runner. I've always found it interesting to see the progress of runners who incorporate supplements to running into their routine. From what I've seen using search engines on the internet, most elite-level runners include supplement programs in their running routine, ex: Shalane Flanagan (Bronze at the Olympics in the 10k), Matt Tegenkamp (4th at World championships in 5k), Kenenisa Bekele (World record holder in 5k,10k, back-to-back Olympic champion in 10k) as well as plenty of others.
pics: Shalane at the Olympics. She grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts before running as an All-American for UNC, winning the olympic trials, and winning Bronze at the Olympics.



It's pretty interesting to see what successful people have done to get to their level. I guess the mantra is "Whatever works for you". This is pretty true. I think it's important to know what your body can use or handle. I've learned that there are a lot of ways to do the right things and get results with running. Core is an important part of the body's structure. I believe that a strong core aids posture and stimulates efficiency with running form.
I find it interesting to see which runners, out of those who do supplement exercises, do them consistently. I also find it interesting to see what athletes do in terms of quality and quantity. I was introduced to "Abbs", "back exercises", and lifting in 9th grade at NSHS. Since the beginning of high school I have consistently included "Abbs" and "Back exercises" as a supplement to my running routine. I go through periods of "endurance-strength lifting" but I haven't been too consistent with it since I left high school.

I got back home today, having had my last final yesterday. I ran ~8 miles in 57 minutes and stretched at home in my living room while watching the Video-Music Awards on TV.
I've been doing a hybrid of this core workout that Paul Norton, a sophomore, showed most of the guys on the team last year. Basically I do about 20 minutes of core work with no rest in between. It includes 2 minute planks, a bunch of "regular" abb work, back work, and oblique work.
I do this workout usually 2-3 times a week.
When I was home for thanksgiving I convinced one of my best buddy's from home, James Vance, to do the supplements with me after one of our runs. I didn't know if it was the best thing for him to jump into a workout like this after not having done much core work in a while. Nevertheless, he completed it like a champ. The next day he said he couldn't even laugh because his body hurt from the smallest contraction of his core. I guess it's a good workout!

Still, after having watched the long routine from the Team Indian Elite video, it leaves me with the questions: "What really is enough? Can I do more to enhance my performance? Is what I do enough at my level?"

I've learned that Elite runners do work with plyos (plyometrics); which is any exercise that involves sprinting, jumping, quick changes of direction. Usually they perform Squat routines and lunges. This is a different form of supplements seeing as they're supporting themselves with their legs.
It's pretty interesting stuff. One of my roommates, Devon Holgate, told me that Sebastian Coe (1:41.7 800, 3:47 mile) took a year off just to do sprinting training. In the process he brought his 400m PR from just under 50 seconds to 46 seconds. This was 2 years before he ran his personal records.
Obviously, I don't have the time to do anything like that but it's a pretty interesting concept.

I consider myself pretty open-minded about working out in general. There's a lot I want to do being both a mid-distance and distance runner. For now, I'm not actually that concerned about adding more to my routine. I'm trying to focus on being consistent with higher mileage this year.
I thoroughly enjoy working out. It's one of the things I love doing. There's usually a little voice inside of me asking for more after I finish doing any kind of sets.

Well, it's nice being home. It's about time to get some relaxing in after the past few weeks of finals. As well as some really solid training in. I'll be running the miles in the cold while building the base for the rest of my track season.

6-4-2-6-4-2-6-4-2

Today, I got to run one of my favorite track workouts;
3 x (600,400,200)
I've been pretty tired of studying for finals, and I've finally got almost all of them out of the way, but I've been needing to get on the track and do a workout ever since the race on Saturday. I've just been a little anxious to get to work, the race definitely left me very hungry for track work. My past few workouts have been Tempos and a 5x600 workout last Tuesday at 1:41 each. I've been looking forward to some more track work.

I really like this workout, since (coach) John tries to get us to run the intervals faster each set.
I ran the workout with three freshmen; Chris Brown, Marc Boutin, and Alex Hulse.
3 sets of the 600,400,200 ladder. What I like about this workout is that the next interval forces you to adjust pace. Generally, I never feel settled when I'm doing this workout. I believe this is a good thing because each interval adds a different pace. Since the intervals are between 600 meters and 200 meters, each is run pretty quickly. So the workout, not leaving me settled, keeps me sharp to the point where at the end of the workout I feel like I can adjust to any pace and feel comfortable.
The 600s are run at somewhere in between 2 mile and mile pace, the 400s at mile pace, and the 200s at 800m pace.
Note: The intervals are not necessarily at GOAL target pace. We get faster as we go along the workout.
The rest is 2:30 between the 600 and 400, 2 minutes between the 400 and the 200, and 4 minutes in between sets. To give a basic impression of the times, we did the last set in, 600m: 1:40, 400m: 65, 200: 28.

John is constantly checking in to see if we're running controlled. He is cautious with his athletes, which I think is an excellent quality that a coach should have. With the injuries that some guys on the team have had, he likes to make sure we're ready to go and that we take time to recover when we need it. Also,he makes sure that his runners have one more interval in them after having completed the workout that he gives. Sometimes, if he sees that one if his athletes is struggling in a workout, he'll have them stop the workout without doing the final interval. I think this is pretty valuable.
Some runners run their workouts to the max and are completely physically and mentally drained afterward which I don't personally think is always effective.

Funny tangent story,
One time during cross country John had some of the guys on the team run 8x1000m
We completed 7 intervals, took our rest, and got to the line thinking we had one more interval to run. As we looked at John for the signal to start he says "Okay, you're done". We all look at each other as some ask "wait what?" while the veterans nod and say "Alright". As we head towards our bags someone says "I couldve run one more"
But that was his point, we left the workout feeling tired, but that we had one more in us. We definitely took positives from that workout and the season. The guys finished 4th at D3 Regionals, qualified for nationals, and finished 20th there.
The girls team makes fun of John when he does this to us; they made these baby blue shirts that say (in pink letters) on the front: "Jevan's girls",
on the back:
"Yahh done"
All in appreciation of his British accent and his intent.

The workout left me feeling pretty confident. I felt like I was holding a lot back during the last 200, and that was after 8 intervals of running, felt like no sweat. I love turnover, it's my favorite part of track running. The turnover that leaves you going anaerobic at the end of a race. It's a very intense and important part of track and field. I've only been training for a few weeks, so I intend to get some good base in over this winter break, meaning I'll start doubling and getting the mileage in with maybe 2 workouts per week. I have one more final tomorrow before heading home.

Pic: The group who ran the 3x 600,400,200 today: (from far left): Chris, Me, Marc, and Alex (In the sunglasses) all starting right next to each other.
The pic is from the start of the UAA Cross country championship meet. We ran in different uniforms, but later in the season decided to switch back to the classic blue/white stripes.


Gotta get to studying. Today was a satisfying day. nevertheless, I look forward to relaxing, getting back to some of my favorite runs at home, and seeing the ol south boys.

Good Health.

Long run sunday

I look forward to Sundays because it's usually the long run day for me, as well as many runners I know, including my teammates.
Last Sunday, I ran from Brandeis up Comm. Ave and hit centre st. in newton which was approximately 6 miles and turned around, and headed back making the run 12 miles total.
That run was exciting, it was snowing lightly, but I didn't feel a bit cold since there was not much wind and I was bundled up pretty well. I ran the 12 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes with a freshman teammate, Alex Hulse who originates from Colorado. It was somewhat pleasing to hear that Alex was enjoying the new england weather and finding the notorious "Heartbreak" Hills of comm ave to be somewhat challenging at the pace we were running. This is from a guy who comes from the Rocky Mountains near Boulder.
Nevertheless, running for an hour and 20 minutes at about 6:40 pace per mile up comm. ave is not an easy effort. I was pretty tired the rest of the day (Not to mention my legs felt it the next day).

This Sunday,
We met up again at 10Am at the gosman gym. It hasn't been snowing, but there is a ton of ice lining the sides of the roads. I ran the mile at the Harvard Open yesterday and finished 10th in a field of about 50 runners with a time of 4:31.
While I was not particularly pleased about the time, (Coach) John and I agree that it is a step in the right direction, and that it's a decent indicator of my fitness. John also noted that I outkicked 2 guys down the final straightaway, as opposed to struggling home like I had done in my few races last year as a freshman.
My freshman year was riddled with injuries. I had the beginnings of a stress fracture on the inside of my shin during December- January of my freshman year. So I haven't run very many track races in college yet. My outdoor season was short, I ran 2 1500s, each was a struggle. I came into my sophomore year with a much better base and I look forward to this year of track and field.
Anyways, now that I got most of that out...
The team headed out of the gym slightly after 10:15 -with a total of about 9 guys- and headed towards Norumbega and then the Meadowbrook hills of Weston. A few of us split off, I ended up running most of the run with Ben Bray (one of my roommates/ a soph) and Chris Brown (freshman). Ben and I having raced yesterday, decided to run a comfortable pace and gain some recovery. Ben had a PR in the mile yesterday of 4:19.1, a pretty quick run. We were both feeling the need for some comfortable running today. The three of us ran our usual meadowbrook hill run, until instead of taking our usual right at the meadowbrook train tracks to head towards waltham, we turned left and discovered a new run that apparently leads to Wayland. We ran on a path parallel to these train tracks and electric wires that took us for miles in this uncertain north/west direction. It was prety neat, Ben indicated that we could see the horizon ahead of us and that it looked like the trail just kept going for miles and miles. We could literally see more than a mile of trails ahead of us.
It was a pretty neat run, eventually we turned around and ran home and intersected the usual run that takes us back to waltham and Brandeis. We ran the meadowbrook 8 run which is meant, like the title indicates, to be 8 miles but added on another 4 miles along this new trail.
We ran for about 1 hour and 24 minutes at a pretty reasonable pace. When I say reasonable, I mean a comfortable 7 minutes per mile. As we ran the final miles back to Brandeis, I took off my long-sleeve and held it in my right hand as I trotted along. Again, it was a really nice day for running. The sun was out, the temperature was around 35 degrees F. I ran in tight pants, long sleeve-shirt, while wearing gloves. The final miles I felt pretty comfortable and took off the long-sleeve.
I've been feeling pretty comfortable on my runs for about a few weeks. I think I went into my race on saturday not expecting what it would feel like to run a mile, again. Now that I have the race as an indicator, I'm ready to head home for break and get some solid training in before I start racing in 2009.
That is,
after I finish my finals by wednesday... gotta get back to studying...

Primero

Well, I'm writing this at 2:06 PM on Sunday, December 14th. It's been a pretty calm day. Woke up at 9:30am this morning to get together for a long run at 10, with some of my teammates. I just got back from lunch.. got a ton of studying to do with finals coming up this week, but while I sit here procrastinating I thought this would be a neat idea. I had been thinking about putting a blog together throughout the last two years.
I guess, since I've just created this blog, I should establish some intentions I have with it, as well as introduce myself.
I'm Sam, I'm 19 and I'm student-athlete at Brandeis University. Originally from Newton High lands, Massachusetts, I went to Newton South High school and graduated class of 2007. I'm a long distance and mid-distance runner, and have met many people who have influenced the way I am today through my progression and life as runner.
1. The main reason I've created this is to share my personal thoughts about my running, lifestyle, objectives, and anything that pops in mind.
2. I think this is a great tool that anyone can use to share thoughts. There are times when I'm really moved by something, or something resonates for me. There are times when this happens, and I want to share my thoughts about particular things but I haven't had the tools to do so (I mean other than verbal communication).
3. Anything that I write has to do with my personal thoughts, of course they may be subjective -- meaning not everything I say/write has to be agreed with. Still, I do enjoy listening to anyone's opinion. Especially those about running.
4. By using this blog, I think it may help me become a better runner and a better person.

So that's that. For any runner, I also recommend using a running log. I use the "Flotrackr.org" option that my team uses. It's pretty useful, since the log allows you to record the miles you've run, the amount of time you've run for, and pick a color that describes how you felt on your run that day. I think that is, particularly, what makes their log unique. Picking "blue" means that you felt good; "green" means you felt amazing, "yellow" indicates indifference, or that you felt okay; "orange" and "red" are the hard and terrible feel days. I use a plethora of "blue" and "yellow" and I tend to stay away from the "red" and "green" unless I mean it.
Anyways,
The running log has been pretty useful. I think that looking back on how I felt on my runs and what the running quality was like using my running log, plus looking back at what I write using this log will help me in the future.