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By BrianFlash, on May 18th, 2012
After being basically self coached for the first three years of my running career comeback I decided I needed a new coach. So, here he is:
No not that Jack Daniels! While it is true I’m on a cocktail kick recently, this is the Jack Daniels I’m talking about:
I’ve been reading Jack Daniel’s book and that’s the plan I’m following between now and Chicago. Why this one? Well, I like his philosophy of training various body systems for improvement. He has focused workouts to train weak areas. Also, instead of prescribing a ‘one size fits all plan’ his book outlines the quality workouts by period and lets you design what works for you. So, every workout has a purpose. And I had my best performances when following McMillian’s principles which are similar to Mr. Daniels’.
What am I changing from prior training efforts? Most importantly, I’m targeting more miles. My plan is to peak at 70 miles per week. Even during Comrades training, my max was in the high fifties so this will be significantly higher. In conjunction with more miles I have no planned off days. I want to get out there seven days a week. During my typical training week I miss a workout or two so instead of planning five and running four, I want to plan seven and run the large majority of them. Granted, two runs a week will be limited to thirty minutes easy but still. Another goal is to truly get in some functional strength workouts. I’m going to work calves, hammies, quads, and abs using running like exercises. I really have a hard time making myself do this, but I’m going to give it a shot.
Finally, my plan is designed to focus on Chicago. That’s the A race. But I’ll still be racing shorter runs this summer of course. But no tapering for them – they’ll all be used either as time trials or substitutes for a quality workout.
My goals? PR Chicago (or if conditions suck, the St. Louis Rock and Roll Marathon two weeks later), PR the four mile distance (Scorcher 4), and a new 5K PR (Billikin or Race for a Child). The four miler should be pretty easy – my existing PR is around thirty minutes. The 5K will be difficult (20:39 is the target) and the marathon has proven to be my nemesis. I’d like to bust out a 3:40 or so but my PR is 3:56 and one second faster than that will work.
After my Sunday barefoot 5K, I’m starting. So Jack will be my coach starting Monday!
By BrianFlash, on May 6th, 2012
Congrats go out to Roger Bannister on the 58th anniversary of his 3:59.4 mile run on this date, the first time ever a mile was completed in less then four minutes.
One of the great milestones in track and field!
By BrianFlash, on May 2nd, 2012
Sunday I drove down to Forest Park to run a few miles with Jason. Jason is ramping up for the Fargo Marathon while my training is totally hit and miss, but I thought I’d help him out a bit, accompanying him for 10-12 of his 20 miles. I saw him running along the path when I drove by, parked the luxury yacht, and ran back to meet him. We ran to the visitor’s center and he made a detour to take a pit stop. No problem. But when he came out of the center and we started down the path, my left calf refused to cooperate. It went from absolutely fine to not able to maintain a jog in no time at all! I tried to stretch it out a little and walk it off but to no avail. So I sent Jason on his way and limped back to the car. .47 miles and I was done.
I took Monday and Tuesday off and went out there this evening to test it out. It was sore, but I took it very easy – running barefoot, a little less then three miles in thirty minutes. As I sit here typing, it is stiffening up and definitely sore. I’ll apply the stick liberally this evening and maybe medicate it with a little alcohol. I need to heal up fast – my first barefoot race is only 17 days away.
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This weekend’s cocktail used gin as a base. Gin is scary to me. I’ve never been too excited to drink those alcoholic pine needles. So I couldn’t even commit to a full bottle of gin – just one of those airplane bottles:
Shady Grove
1 1/2 oz gin
juice from 1/2 lemon
sugar cubes
ginger ale
fresh ginger slices
Shake the gin, lemon juice, and sugar with ice. Strain into a ice filled highball glass. Add ginger ale to fill. Garnish with three slices of fresh ginger.
Turns out that Tangueray is a pretty good gin. I guess my earlier gin tastes were cheap crap that approached being undrinkable. The resulting drink from this was an easy to drink cocktail. My only complaint is that the drink was a little boring. Very heavy taste of ginger ale, but the spiciness of the ginger and bite of the gin were missing. Probably could use a little more gin and maybe bruising the ginger slices to release some of their flavors. But they look pretty cool stuck to the inside of the glass!
By BrianFlash, on April 27th, 2012
Our new home has a beautiful hickory hardwood floor throughout the main level living area (with the exception of tile in the bathrooms). We chose hardwood instead of carpet partially because of the beauty and durability, but also because of maintainability. Carpet tends to catch and trap dirt and pet hair. And when you have little hair producers running around the house (two cats now – Great Dane in the future?!) it can be a pain in the butt when you catch and trap dirt.
This floor has had a fairly dark (warmer then walnut, but that scale of darkness) finish applied. We knew that this dark floor would show dirt – it is the one feature of the house that didn’t get some variation of a neutral dirt colored shade applied. But it has proven to be very easy to clean. A quick dust mopping takes care of most issues. But I still get reminded of past visits to the western deserts. I’ll be sitting in a chair enjoying my surroundings and out of the corner of my eye I’ll catch some movement. When I direct my glance, I spy a ball of cat hair drifting with the air currents along the floor. Just a tumbling tumbleweed of cat hair – time to grab up the dust mop again.
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Two solid midweek runs this week – 4.25 barefoot miles on Wednesday and 6 minimalist miles yesterday. I’ll do six ‘Flash .52s’ Saturday and about 12 miles on Sunday with Jason. Until Memorial Day, this is my training plan. Then the more serious drive for 5K and Marathon PRs in the fall begins!
By BrianFlash, on April 21st, 2012
Finally, I slipped in a speed work training session this year. Well, first if you don’t count the 5K I ran a couple weeks ago…
My new home is right in the middle of a .52 mile loop path. Out the back door and I’m on the path. So I thought today I’d run alternating easy and hard loops. Basically Yasso 800s but with 832 meters instead of 800 and 832 meters of jogging between. I think I’ll call them ’52 Flashes.’ Or maybe not. Maybe my extensive and clever readership could propose a name. Hint, hint.
The path runs around and also summits ‘Flash Hill.’ Long time followers may remember I did repeats up this hill during Comrades training in 2010. Well my path jams three ascents into that fractional mile. One steep but short climb, one long relatively shallow climb, and another middle climb of middle grade. And corresponding downhills of course. So overall, it should provide hours of enjoyment over the coming years.
The first five fast loops today averaged 6:55/mile pace. Pretty hard effort which eventually left me gassed. I did a sixth hard loop barefoot and was only able to manage 7:37 pace for that circle. My recovery loops were all around 9:45 or so except for the last two which crept over the 10 minute mile barrier. Good effort for the first speed attempt of the year – nice way to judge my starting point.
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As you might have surmised by the above, we did move in to our new abode. On April 12, we signed our life away on the loan and I immediately began unloading our POD of unnecessary belongings in the house. The POD had all the stuff we decluttered out of our original house prior to showing. On Friday and Saturday we moved all the key items (kitchen stuff, necessary clothing, etc.) and slept in the new place Saturday night. Our total furniture inventory includes a bed (purchased for use by guests), four bar stools, two recliners, some lawn furniture, and Kathy’s piano). All our other furniture is still in the old house trying to help get it sold. Since then I’ve been moving more stuff everyday but it is still a bit of a camp-out. My TV and internet are still at the old house (where I’m typing this up now). I’m pretty sure we’ll break down in the next month and move the rest of our furniture to the new house no matter the status of the old one, but that remains to be seen. Anyway we’re in and it is pretty much great!
More pictures and stories will be on the way. Oh yeah – and I’m having an open house and you are all invited!
By BrianFlash, on April 13th, 2012
This drink was invented around the time Kathy and I were in college. It’s a total fru fru drink, girly to the extreme. Here are the ingredients:
As with all my cocktail pictures, I posted this on Facebook and asked my friends to name the drink. One of my friends (a real one [...]
By BrianFlash, on April 3rd, 2012
All my race reports are the same. So I thought I’d shake this one up a bit and show this post race photo:
Local legend ‘Mankiniman’ showed up for the Undy 5K. He wore briefs under his clothing because this was a family event, but confided in me that he went without the [...]
By BrianFlash, on April 2nd, 2012
This cocktail thing requires some equipment. So we went shopping. I came home with a cocktail shaker (including top with built in jigger!), a muddler, a bar spoon, and a zester. Kathy’s contribution to the enterprise was a cute lemon shaped cutting board for dissecting fruits and garnishes. Also, some glasses were in order. [...]
By BrianFlash, on March 27th, 2012
I’ve always had a preference for drinking beer. Maybe it’s because I’m in manufacturing or due to growing up almost in the South. Or some ill-advised dalliances with cheap liquor during those college years scared me off the hard stuff. And wine always seemed a little stuffy. For whatever reason, it is my go-to [...]
By BrianFlash, on March 22nd, 2012
There is some car door slamming happening in Abel Township this evening. During my 6.7 miles of running thru the English countryside, I happened upon a box of 9mm ammo. I shifted my load of two overcoats, three baseball bats, a box of light bulbs, three bottled waters, a can of tinned food, two [...]
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