Playmakers' Grand Finale

'Twas the Sat' before Thanksgiving, and all through the trails, runners were racing, being tough as nails...

Hola! And welcome back to yet another edition of Blaze! Finally, after about six weeks or so of not racing, I have returned to action. Today was the Playmakers' Grand Finale race, a cross-country race put on by our club team as a last harrah before club nats in December. We also use this race as a final measuring stick for picking who will be on the team that runs at club nats, so it acts as a sort of selection race as well. Not to give away the ending, but I was not in the mix for the "varsity" club nats team. However, considering how my training this fall has went, I don't think that it was necessarily a bad race either. I ran a 26:40 or so. Not bad, considering that I ran slower at the Autumn Classic, my last outing. But not really an improvement either. At least I'm not regressing.
For the most part, the rest of the team ran great. Our top guys ran PRs (Jake finally breaking the 25 min barrier), or at least ran close to them. So overall, it was a good showing.
This will probably mark the end of my cross-country season for the year, as I don't see myself paying my own was to Seattle to run club Nats. So what's next for me? Well, I'm tempted to run a Turkey Trot back in Nebraska on Thanksgiving, but I haven't made a decision yet. Then, I'll probably start prepping for an indoor season once again, and possibly run a 3k or mile indoors in December before Christmas break. Really, this last race has shown me a few weaknesses that I need to start working on. I really don't feel strong right now, and especially not on hills, so I think that may be a focus area for a while.
One last thing before I sign off: I am growing more and more convinced that my cat is 100 % pure awesomeness in feline form. That is all. Blaze on!

A horrible, awful, no good, bad day

Some days, its just better not to get out of bed. Saturday was one of those days. Unfortunately, this is not what I did. I started off the day feeling pretty stiff, probably from the workout the night before (hills at Mt. Hope Cemetery). Instead of taking it slow and letting my body loosen up, I went for a run almost immediately. So that was probably my first mistake. To be fair, I was going into work, and because of the MSU vs. Minnesota game, I would have to pay for parking if I drove, so I was multitasking: commuting to work while getting my run in. Well about half-way into work, I decided, "You know, the left side of my body hasn't been injured in a while. I think maybe I'll roll my ankle and that should help balance out my injury woes." So yes, I rolled my ankle. And it hurt. A lot. And here's where I made my second bad decision. I sat down for a while, trying to decide what to do: go in and get some work done, or do the smart thing, and go home, put some ice on my ankle, and just go into work later. Of course, I chose the not-so-smart option. Which meant that I had to run another 37 minutes total on my ankle instead of 12. And it was indeed on my trip back from work that I realized what a stupid decision it was.

All-in-all, my ankle decided to swell so that it was a good 25-50 % larger than it normally is. Oh, and the colors! My ankle is not a beautiful shade of what can only be described as "black-purblue."

I wish that I could say that that was my bad day. I rolled my ankle, and it turned blue, swelling to the size of a grapefruit. But, unfortunately for me, I did not just call it a day and go back to bed. No, I decided that I needed to go back into work to finish some things. And the Western blot that I was developing (the reason I even needed to run in to work at all) decided that it didn't actually need to have any protein on the membrane. So that was a waste.

And the day continued. When I got home, I was shocked to see that the Concordia men had taken third at the GPAC meet... behind Dordt! What does this mean? Well, it meant that the men would probably be staying home from the national meet, a first in years (sure enough, they didn't qualify). Since Colin probably will be reading this: my heart goes out to you guys. Go get um on the track! I should also mention that the woman had a good meet, taking second behind Nebraska Wesleyan, and just edging out Morningside. So congrats to the women, who will be headed to Portland in a couple weeks.

Needless to say, at this point, I really didn't even care about the Nebraska game.

Really, Saturday wasn't all bad. There was a new addition to my life. A short-haired black beauty (cat) named Lylah has decided to take up residence in my apartment (okay, I did most of the deciding), so that's actually been pretty good. I also pulled together an EB abstract (which was due today... nothing like waiting for the last minute, right?). And I'm actually able to run on my ankle, although there won't be any runs that require me to use uneven footing or sharp left turns in a while. I guess if this is as horrible as my days get, I'll definitely take them (every now and then). Blaze on!

October workout #1

I thought that I'd share with everyone that I officially have done my first workout since September! I can't say that it was anything earth-shattering, but still newsworthy. It consisted of a 16 minute warm-up, followed by 10 x 3 minutes hard, with one minute of light jogging in between reps... or at least this is how it was intended to be. The last few intervals were, uh... altered by a force of nature more powerful than I. Regardless of this, I managed to put in a total of 30 minutes of hard effort. I even cut some of my earlier rests short (although nature's call lengthened some of the later rests). All-in-all, I'm happy with the effort.
Other things of note: my ankle is actually starting to feel better and more stable. Whether I circumvented a serious injury by taking a couple of weeks off, I can never know for sure, but hopefully this indicates that I'm actually starting to learn from some past mistakes.
I think I may have found a new favorite pair of shoes, although I can't actually tell you what they are yet, because I am wear testing them...  :) Lets just say that they're not your typical name brand running shoes. However, I do think that they could be improved on.
Until next time, blaze on!

Little News

The last few days here up in Michigan have really felt Nebraskaish. Meaning: its been windy. One of the hardest things for me to do is find the motivation to get out there on the bike when its windy. Definitely the thing I miss the least about Nebraska... :)
Welcome back, (and welcome anew, to all you newcomers)! There's really not much for me to update. I had a real good week of training, slowly building up my running miles, while putting in some solid hours in on the bike. Then the weekend hit and, with it, cooler, more blistery weather. I've still been slowly working back into my running, putting in what I consider less than solid, but at least consistently building upward, mileage. Biking, on the other hand, has been put back on the back burner, at least until things get less busy at work. Scientifically speaking, life has really picked up, with what feels like a million things to do in the lab. Its good to be busy, don't get me wrong, but I do wish the workload was a little more consistent versus the sudden increase in duties that I've picked up lately. Its also nice having experiments work for a change... but that's a tail for another day.
Well, I guess that's really all I've got for now. Hopefully soon I'll be able to start telling you about workouts and the such, but until then, blaze on! :)

Phoenix Rising

"The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise." ~ Miguel de Cervantes, The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts & Strange Stories (2008) by Varla Ventura

Hello followers, wayward travelers, and those who have otherwise stumbled upon the online journal of the adventures of me, Kyle Johnson. I have finally returned after a long hiatus from the online world (deciding instead to pursue this thing called "life") to give you all an update on my life.

First off, my life these last few months, which, due to my online AWOLiness, you have not been privy to, has been anything but smooth. This summer, I honestly felt awful. Running in the heat has never been good for me, and when you add in the fact that I have been recovering from anemia, and just overall, not feeling great, was a huge ordeal for me. But, as it always does, summer has come and gone, and fall is finally hear. Actually, surprising to me, I have actually put in some decent performances, running three 8k races in under 27 minutes, which, even not that long ago, was a major accomplishment for me. That being said, I am nowhere near where I want to be (isn't that the theme for pretty much every runner, except maybe olympic champions/world record holders?).

After briefly making a return to the world of okay running, I have decided to take a hiatus. Well, actually, my foot decided for me. While not too serious, my right ankle has felt just kind of off the last month. While I could easily run through it, I decided to back off, taking two weeks completely off from running and just biking. Tomorrow is actually the end of the two weeks, so I'm planning on a three mile run to see how it feels. In the mean time, I have been biking, which is hopefully maintaining my fitness.

So it appears that, once again, I am on the comeback. So I would like to invite you to follow along, as I, like the legendary phoenix, will reemerge from the fire (of anemia, heartburn, and injury), brush off the ashes of what now lay behind me, so that I can once again take wing and blaze again!

Cheers!

 

You know what the hardest part about blogging is? Coming up with the first sentence. Alright, now that that's out of the way, here's an update:
Things have been steadily improving. I still haven't figured out what was/is causing my anemic problems, but thanks to gratuitous red meat consumption, and vitamin B12/folate supplementation (at least, that's what I'm attributing it to), I have steadily been feeling better. It probably doesn't hurt that the last couple days have been fairly mild as far as the temperature is concerned. So, yeah, running is going better. Last week, I put in almost 75 miles, and  did a single, spontaneous workout (I was feeling good on the run, for the first time in a long time). This run consisted of me starting out somewhere in the mid to low six minutes (probably around 6:20, I don't remember off hand) for the first couple of miles, then dropping down to low sixes for the middle. For the last 3.5 miles, I did 5:52 pace for two miles, then finished running at 5:15 pace. So overall, I was pumped to finally have a good run, where I managed to average 6:03 for almost 11 miles.
Though I put in a good run, I can't say that it has all been clear sailing. On multiple occasions, I've had my achilles flare up on me. It hasn't been anything serious, and has gone away without me doing much besides icing and taking a little Aleve. Also, the day before the spontaneous workout, I just kind of struggled through an easy run. In spite of these minor obstacles, I feel that I'm making progress, and I believe I am way ahead of where I was at this time last year.
Other things: I officially am living on my own for the next couple of weeks. Scott Schmick, my roommate for the past 13.5 months, has officially moved on to bigger and better things, as he starts his job with 3M today. So good luck to you Scott. It's been a fun past year.
Well, I feel like that's a good enough update for now. Until next time...

Calling it a season

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since my last post, and since I realize that, to many of my readers, this is the highlight of the week (oh, happy delusions), I apologize for that. A lot has happened since my last post, so lets get started.

Lets start with running. When last we left our hero, he was struggling with why running had been progressively getting worse this spring. I had just finished the one of the worst races of my life in the Hillsdale Gina Relay 5k (the upside, and I mean only upside: I did break 16, which if you rewind to a year ago, would have been a PR, so what I guess this means that I’ve made a lot of progress to consider what I was doing a year ago as poor now). Frustrated, I turned to doctors to see if there was any explanation to the fatigue I was feeling. There was. Turns out, I have macrocytic anemia, meaning my red blood cells are large, but few in number. So what does this mean? Well, for one, it does NOT mean that I am iron deficient: iron deficiency anemia typically presents with microcytic (meaning smaller than normal) RBCs. Rather, it suggested that 1) I’m an alcoholic, 2) that I have a B12 deficiency, 3) that I have a folic acid deficiency, or 4) something else. I’m still trying to figure all of this out, so I’ll be sure to update everyone as to what is going on.

In light of this medical discovery, I’ve decided to call it a season. My logic: while I may be running to my potential from a year ago, further workouts/races will most likely lead to disappointment and frustration. The plan is to get everything figured out while building a base this summer for the fall season. I also am planning on improving my diet (including taking care of heartburn issues that have plagued me for years) and starting a consistent routine for doing core work.

So that’s about it as far as running. As far as my scientific career is concerned, I recently got some exciting news: I received a 2 year predoctoral fellowship to fund my research from the American Heart Association! To receive this award, I had to apply, which included writing a research plan about what I have been doing and what I plan to do with my research. It’s a competitive award, as 132 applications were received, and only 33 applicants received it. Most exciting about this was how high I scored: I received a 1.32, which puts me in the 4.4% rank.

            Well, I think that I’ve bored you enough with my life for now. Until next time, blaze on! 

Gina Relays

After nearly a month off from racing, I traveled to Hillsdale last Friday to race the 5k at the Gina relays. I had high hopes going into this race, as it was to be my first 5k on the track (I’m not going to count the one’s I ran while hurt and out-of-shape). Going into the race, I felt pretty good and ready to go. And the weather was nearly perfect (there was a slight breeze).

But things got ugly fast. There were somewhere near 25 people on the starting line, and it was clear that the start was going to be messy. I was only able to make it in to the third lane on the opening curve, and was pushed out a time or too. Coming around the first 200, I looked at the clock. This was where things started to go bad. Now, coming into the race, I intentionally did not where a watch so that I could just run by feel. But when I saw a 38 point for the first 200, I thought, “Oh, crap, Kyle, you better get moving.” I made a strong move into second place, and came through the 400 with the clock reading 72 or 73. Now, this is where I made my mistake. It turned out that the clock was about 5 seconds or so off, and I was actually running somewhere between 67-70 seconds (depending on the report), and was going out way too hard. My first mile ended up being around 4:43, then I steadily fell way off pace, finishing in 15:57. I was really feeling the latic acid in the middle of the race, and by the time the last mile came around, I knew that I wasn’t going to be even close to my goal (I really thought I was ready to break 15), and I gave up mentally. It was actually an accomplishment that I didn’t step off the track. This race is among the worst races of my life.

And we didn’t end up running the 4x8. During the women’s elite 1500, the lights in the stadium suddenly went out. It was still light enough for the men’s 1500 and women’s steeple to go off, but they then had to delay the meet before the men’s steeple, as it was just getting too dark to run. Just as we were about to call it a night, and leave, the lights in the stadium turn back on! Despite this, the meet was already delayed an hour, and we didn’t want to wait until 11 pm or so to run the relay, so we called it.

All in all, it wasn’t a good day (for Playmakers, it wasn’t really a good weekend. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think that anyone really felt good about their race this weekend). I’m not sure what’s going on right now, and why I am having such a hard time with workouts/races (okay, so this was my first legitimately bad race of the Spring, but I was hoping for much more coming into the season). I hope I can figure this out soon, cause if things don’t start going better, my race plan for June is going out the window (I’m not going to run in high level meets if I’m not going to be running at a high level).

...At least I'm still awesome. :)

In other news, congrats to my old teammates Bryan Felker (now of Team Nebraska) and Zane Grabau, who both finished top 10 in the Lincoln marathon last weekend. Bryan’s time was a 10 minute PR (I’m pretty sure Zane’s 2:39 is a PR, but I don’t know by how much. Solid run for him, regardless).

Well folks, that’s about it for this week. I'm not quite sure what's up for me next. U of M this weekend? 

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone is having a hoppy Easter! :) I miss the days I could be with my family on Easter, instead of stuck inside of a building, feeding cells and making figures for a paper...
It appears that Mother Nature decided to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ by locking forcing Jack Frost to call it a season away and finally letting Spring, in all its glory, flourish. It seriously seemed like winter was just not willing to call it quits this year. After coming back from DC, I actually had to pull my plants back inside, as there was snow on the ground Monday morning. But while this week started out cold, rainy and gloomy, the end of the week was much more appealing. It was actually warm enough to run without a shirt on these last couple of days! The one disadvantage of spring: the red-winged black birds have returned. While they haven't felt that they needed to dive bomb at my head just quite yet, I have a feeling that this docile nature that they are displaying is just a temporary disposition, and that they will return to their aggressive, pain-in-the-a** ways once they start laying eggs...
Training-wise, things are going okay, but not great. Since it was cold and windy last Friday, with a chance of storms, I decided to forgo running the 5k at Eastern. This is because 1) I didn't want to get to the meet and end up having driven all that way to find out that the meet was canceled due to the threat of storms, and 2) if I'm going to run a 5k on the track, I want it to be fast. I didn't feel like the forecasted conditions Friday night looked promising for a fast time. Despite these worries, I think the weather out in Ypsilanti ended up being more or less okay, as Damon and Adam ran close to their PRs... In lieu of running the race, I did a fartlek the next day. I can't really say that it was a very high quality workout; I've been feeling kind of tired lately, and haven't been sleeping the best (this has improved the last couple nights), so I was finding it kind of hard to get geared up to do a quality workout. Its frustrating not having done a workout in weeks that shows me that I'm in good shape. Outside of a couple of good hill workouts, I feel like below average workouts has been the theme of this spring. Its not all doom and gloom, however, as my normal training runs have steadily been getting faster, and, for the most part, I've been killing it on long runs. Part of me wonders if I'm working too hard on my easy days, leaving me taxed for workouts and races (although I've set a couple of PRs this spring, I don't think that those races were necessarily representative of the shape I'm in. I think I'm capable of much more). The thing is, I don't feel like I'm pushing my easy days. Heck, even  some of my long runs in which I average under six-minute-mile pace, I feel like I'm just out for a jog. Today, for instance, I went out for my long run, sans Garmin, with the intention of just logging the miles. I ended up running 5:58 pace for 16.76 miles without knowing what kind of pace I was running the entire time. I did push it the last ten minutes, but for this to really make a difference, I would already have to be pretty close to six minute pace for the rest of the run... I guess if anyone has any thoughts on the matter, your advice would be appreciated. I really would like to have a decent workout this week...
Speaking of this week, its Gina Relays time! The last couple of years I've been a honorary Hillsdale alum, running a leg on their alumni 4x8 team. :) However, it appears that this year I'm going to break away from this tradition. Instead, I'm planning/hoping to crank out a solid 5k before running a leg on a Playmakers 4x8 team (currently consisting of me, Jake, Jason Bigelow, and Damon). So that's the plan...

BAck from DC!!! Part II (of III): A training update (Scott, this one's for you; you can ignore part III) :)

Alright, a quick recap of DC. First run: I got lost, ended up running 14.85 miles (didn't realize it was this far at the time). Second run: Met up with the Georgetown Running Company Racing Team. Great group of guys. Did a long (16 miles) run with them, over hills; the last 5-6 miles was done at a faster clip with a guy named Paul. Had breakfast with them. Again, fun to run with them.
So now that you're caught up, I'll give you a little more of an update about the rest of the trip. First off, after what was essentially two days of long runs in a row, I did one more run of about 9.5 miles. After this, my right ankle began to feel a little funky (a la last fall, when I had my stress reaction... although it was presenting a little differently; specifically, I didn't get the hollow feeling that I did before, and there was soreness in my calf/Achilles, but the pain was mostly localized to the same area). While I don't think that having two long runs in a row was exactly helpful for the condition, I don't think it was the direct cause. More likely, it was the excessive walking in crappy dress shoes. Take note: DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, book a hotel a mile away from where you need to be most of the time, especially if you have to walk back and forth from it several times one your ankle is already sore. While I could blame this situation on my roommate for EB (a guy named John, from the Medical College or Georgia, or whatever it's called now), who was responsible for booking the room (he said that the hotel looked a lot closer on the map), I also can blame EB for even suggesting a hotel that was so far away from the events... and I should take a little blame myself, because I had a chance to speak up and change the reservations well ahead of time if I so chose. But I didn't. Lesson learned, moving on.
With the sore ankle, I was a little spooked/paranoid, because the last serious injury had presented itself in such a way. So I decided to take the next few days off. Which would have been okay had I just decided that this was what I was going to do, but it can drive you crazy going back and forth in your head about whether you should run or not. Between the indecisiveness and sore ankle, I started to get in a bad mood the last day and a half of the meeting (although, as I'll discuss in part III, the scientific/social aspect of the meeting was awesome). This added stress made me do something that I am not proud of and is not awesome: I lapsed on my Lenten sugar goal. :( This was quite a disappointment to myself, especially because the lapse wasn't for something that was a special occasion or anything like that. You see, the hotel gave me a chocolate chip cookie when I checked into the room. Instead of throwing it out, giving it away, or telling the clerk "no thanks," I held onto the cookie (I had hoped that my roommate would eat it; I also had planned to give it away to someone else if he wouldn't eat it). But the cookie sat in my room. For three days. Untouched. Finally, do mainly to the stress of worrying that something serious was wrong with my foot, I lapsed and consumed the cookie. So major fail. This lapse will not go without punishment, however. While I plan to likely indulge on Easter, the fast will continue for another week as a consequence of my actions...
Sorry Scott, that wasn't exactly about training. If you're still reading, here's the rest that is training related: after taking two days off, I have gotten back into the rhythm of things, and training has been going well. My foot, while not a 100%, is moving back in that direction. I missed a few workouts, and feel like I'm slightly behind, but nothing that a few weeks of training won't take care of. My weight was slightly elevated after DC, which was not a surprise given the cookie (just kidding; but I did eat a lot of good food in DC, which I'll probably talk about in part III), but it has steadily declined back to normal levels after a week. Finally, I will be running at the EMU twilight this Friday, hoping to set a PR in the 5k (and drop below 15, if everything goes according to plan), so wish me luck.

Note to others: Scott, my roommate, is mentioned several times in this blog. If you are wondering, he doesn't care about a lot of the "fluff" that I put into this blog, and is more interested into an insight into my training/racing/thoughts about training (maybe I'm giving myself too much credit by suggesting that Scott actually cares about my thoughts). Anyways, that is what several of the comments are about. :) Oh, and blaze on!

P.S. Sorry about any typos/writing errors in this post. I don't really feel like proofreading at this time, although I'll probably come back to fix tehm ltaer, if me gots thi chants...

Back from DC!!! Lots to tell, but lets start with some shout outs...

I'm back from what was a world-wind trip to our nations capital. It was a great time, but before I get into everything that went down in DC-Town, I'd like to give a few shoutouts:
1) Thank you to the Georgetown Running Company Racing Team. While I was out in DC, these guys were nice enough to pick me up from my hotel and take me on a long trail run, with a quick excursion into the zoo, allowing me to get in a decent run and see a part of DC that I would not otherwise have seen. I ended up doing a tempo run with "Alabama/Texas/Couch" Paul, who actually finished two places behind my roommate Scott at the Twin Cities Marathon, which was kind of random. If you are ever in DC, I'd suggest checking these guys out.
2) I feel like I need to give a shout out to Belle's tires of Okemos. I went in yesterday to figure out why I had a slow leak in my front left tire, something that I should have done a long time ago (and, which I might add, had been ignored by a couple of other places who, when I was getting my oil changed, had ignored the problem even though I specifically brought it up to them). Turns out there was a medium size screw in the tire. While it wasn't surprising that they had found and removed it, I did appreciate that when I went to pay, they told me to just remember them the next time that I needed new tires. So thank you Belle's tires!
3) A few of you may recall that my phone went through the wash about a month or so ago. It was saved by the power of flour (hey, that rhymes). Since then, I have taken the opportunity to test the rice drying method (which works better than flour, due to the clean up) on a number of other gadgets. First, while in DC, my Garmin watch started to misbehave. While running, it had begun to randomly start/stop for what appeared to be no apparent reason. I initially assumed that it was a satellite issue, but in direct opposition of this hypothesis was the fact that the Garmin tells you when it loses satellite reception, and my watch was not doing this. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was condensation inside of the watch. This kind of pisses me off, because there is no reason I should be having this problem. A little side note: I have been very dissatisfied with my purchase of my Garmin 405. After purchasing, they came out with a dialed down version of the watch, that removed the cursed bezel function (what I really hate about the watch) and a hundred dollars or so from the total price. I am not against Garmin as a company or product maker, but, given the bezel function and the problem I am now having with the 405, I would strongly suggest that if you are GPS watch, you would consider a different product. Back to the story. Brief recap: Garmin. Start/Stop. Condensation. My solution: I put the watch in a bed of rice and, low and behold, a day later it is no longer having the problem. Condensation is still appearing on the inside of the watch, so I'm fearful that the problem will return, especially during longer runs. But for now it is working. After the success of the watch and phone trials, I decided to give the rice one more try. Some of you may be familiar with how finicky iPods can get with water. I have one that I would occasionally run with. After a while, the sweat permeated the mp3 player, and shorted the circuitry. So this is something that has been laying around for months, perhaps nearing even a year. I decided that, well, I could throw it away (which I probably should have done a long time ago, if I didn't think it had a chance of working again), or I could throw it in with rice and see what happens. Well, 24 hours after incubation, I plugged the iPod into a charger, and turned it on. And it worked! It doesn't appear to be having any issues, so, yeah, here's to you Uncle Ben, maker of the amazing broken-gadget-dewaterer-and-fixinator (a P&F reference).

When I started this post, I thought that I'd give a couple of shout outs, and then get into some updates. But I'm thinking the post is long enough as it is, so look for more DC details later in the week. Until next time: Blaze On!

Living it up in DC

Well, after saying that I was going to start posting twice per week, it looks like it'll be a full week. Getting ready for the Experimental Biology meeting took up a little more time than what I thought. But now I'm hanging out in our nation's capital, living it up and geeking it out listening to scientific lectures, giving poster presentations, and the like...
I'll have a lot more to say in my next post, but a brief update: went for a run in DC today, saw a lot more of the city than I planned on seeing (because I, of course, got lost; no surprise there for those of you who know me). But the run was a blast! :) I was dropping 6 minute miles like they were hot potatoes (idk).
Alright, that's all I got for now.

Martian Meteor Race Recap – Brought to you by Dole Bananas, Cause they’re awesome

            Note: This post is not sponsored by or condoned in any way by Dole* (despite the title). I just really like bananas. Not only do they taste awesome, they’re a great way to refuel after a run. One large banana will provide you with 31.1 g of carbohydrate, 14 % of your DV for potassium, a slew of other electrolytes, and a sense of happiness given by few other foods**. Plus, they’re Omega 6:3 ratio is approximately 1.7:1, close to the recommended 1:1 ratio and significantly better than the estimated 10-20:1 ratio that the typical American consumes***. So yeah, bananas are awesome…

* If someone from Dole does happen to be reading this, and would like to sponsor me, that would be awesome!

** My personal results. Individual results may vary. “…Or We Can Blaze” does not guarantee that all individuals will receive the same degree of happiness. Also, if you wouldn’t mind, please vote on your favorite fruit on the poll to the right. Your favorite not shown? Leave a comment down below.

*** I should have a reference here, but am not willing to put one in right now. The ratio was determined by looking up the values at www.nutritiondata.com.

            Alright, time to get serious. Yesterday I made my 10k debut, and first serious attempt in any race over 5 miles (I did run the Detroit half-marathon in 2008, but was in pretty ugly shape at the time). As far as my actual review of the race, I thought that it was very well run, and would recommend this race to anyone considering it. As far as my personal race performance, the worries going into the race about being race ready we alleviated during the warm-up, as my legs felt pretty good (my calves were a little sore, but nothing I hadn't raced well with before), and so the race went pretty well. I ran a 31:55, thus succeeding in breaking 32 minutes. I got out well the first mile (5:02). My splits began to lag behind from there, but I averaged 5:10/mile for the rest of the run, so it wasn’t too bad. During the second half of the race I ended up in no man’s land, having no one coming up behind me (within hearing distance, anyway) and no chance of catching the people in front of me by mile four. Going into the last 320 meters (0.2 miles), I looked at my watch and saw 31:02, and realized that sub-32 was totally doable, but I would have to get going. I dropped the equivalent of a 70 second 400 meters (4:40 min/mile pace for a quarter mile), so it wasn’t anything blazing fast, but still decent for having no one coming up on me and no one to catch.

            Overall, the results for Playmakers Racing were kind of all over the place. Nick Katsafaras had a solid performance, finishing 7^th overall in a PR (I believe) in what was really a rust buster race for him. Scott was pretty disappointed with his performance. He finished near his “worst case scenario” time, but he’s coming back from a long injury lay off, and is putting in some major miles, so he’ll come around. Jerome had a decent race, finishing in a road PR.  In the female race, Lanni Marchant of the girls’ Playmakers team finished 2^nd, and my former teammate at Concordia, Angela Matthews, finished 5^th, both in the money, so congrats to them!

            Last week I put in 76 miles, so after two down weeks, my mileage is back up to where it should be for this time of year. I don’t have any races planned for a while (until EMU twilight), which makes the next two or so weeks ideal putting in some miles, which is the plan. Plan to hear updates on how training is going (for those of you that are wondering, I’m planning on settling in to a 2 posts per week post frequency, at least for a while).

One last thing: a picture of the grotesque, unawesome look that was goatee Kyle:

Until next time, blaze on!

It... is... alive!!!

Hello to all of you out there in internet land. As you may recall from my last blog entry, things hadn't been going exceptionally well: I had (okay, chose/decided) to take two consecutive days off because I was feeling tired and run down. I also had a few other things to complain about (mostly because I just wanted to complain). Although things aren't completely back to awesome, things are looking up. First off, after a near scare, my phone is once again alive and operational. Thanks to all of you who suggested the rice method for drying the phone. Since I didn't have any rice immediately available, I used wheat flour instead. It was a tad messier than the rice would have been, but it apparently worked. I was a little worried because a giant water droplet was visible under the main screen. The screens on the phone are still slightly marred, but the phone has been operational for a day, so I'm optimistic for the future.

Secondly, I did a workout yesterday with Playmakers Racing team. It was 4 x 1600 meters with an 800 meter jog in between. The workout wasn't a great success in the sense that I did not kill it (my splits were 4:46, 4:52, 4:51 and 4:45). It was a success in the sense that I actually finished a workout for the first time in two weeks.

My legs are not feeling great going into this weekend (my calves are really sore), where I will be racing the Martian Meteor 10k. I'm not sure what to expect coming into this race. It will be the first time that I will be racing a 10k (or anything serious over an 8k for that matter). I can see myself running anything from 31 minutes flat to 33 minutes. I'm hoping to hold five minute mile pace, so wish me luck.

One last thing: those of you who have seen me the past month may have noticed a growth under my chin (and if you looked really closely, something under my nose... that's a joke. I can't grow a mustache... it's funnier because I had to explain it. :)  ). Well, the growth is no longer there. In relation to this, I would like to take a moment to scold those of you who let this go on for over a month! After seeing a picture of myself with the goatee, it was clear that what was a bad decision only became a worse decision when I decided to give myself a haircut, resulting in a look that was clearly not right for me. So to this end: Shame! Shame on you, for letting me mar my awesomeness with a look that was clearly the antithesis of awesome! Shame!

Blaze on, friends!

A Series of Unawesome Events

Running and life both have their ups and downs. After what was a pretty good weekend (with a PR in the 5k and my solid long run), I've had a series (i.e. the rest of the week) of runs, where, not only did the run feel bad, but it was a challenge to get out the door. For me, this is a fairly rare occurrence. Monday was okay, Tuesday I didn't finish the workout, Wednesday I nearly turned around after 3 miles at ~7 min mile pace (I started feeling okay after that), Thursday I was so exhausted that I took it off, and Friday I made it half a mile before I just felt like I couldn't go anymore (I was supposed to do a workout). I am feeling quite a bit better today, and am debating whether I should try and do the workout planned for yesterday, or if it would just be an accomplishment to go for a run (which I could do with people, which may help).

I am definitely experiencing one of the lows of running. I'm not 100% sure why I'm feeling this way (it's probably the weeks of high intensity/high mileage compounded with the not sleeping well). Though I feel like crap now, I really think with the rest I have gotten, and by focusing on getting more sleep this next week, I'll be fine for the Martian Meteor 10k, although its hard not to have your confidence shaken after I've had a week like I've had.

Other (unawesome) things: I believe that its time to get a new phone. It was a little dirty, so I decided to put it through the wash (since sarcasm is sometimes hard to read: this was not intentional). I've wanted to get a new phone for quite a while (ever since I was at Alltel, got a new phone, had that phone not work for me while Alltel was switching to Verizon, and then have the Verizon people contradict what Alltel was telling me and not fixing the problem. So I was stuck with either having the sucky, not working Alltel phone, buying out the contract, or purchasing a used phone and going from there. I decided to go with the used phone option, ended up with a Razr (which is what I had before all of this started in the first place), which pretty much sucked (the battery was aweful if you actually used the phone, texting was a pain, my old ring tones didn't work), but at least it worked. Anyway, phone-->wash-->currently not working...
I'm absolutely sick of it being cold.

Tried to get a Western blot to work for a poster. It finally did (after trying several things), but the positive control didn't show up... and the results weren't what we were hoping for or had seen in the past... so that was unawesome...

One awesome thing: I got to have lunch with a Nobel laureate (2008 in Medicine, Harold zur Hausen)! He was a pretty awesome guy. It was kind of fun; at the lunch with the other graduate students, there were several that were at a loss of words upon meeting him. And he also was interesting to listen too (although his voice could be described as sleep inducing; I know, this sounds paradoxical).

Unawesome thing: While it was really cool to meet the Nobel laureate, and he was a great guy, the lunch was quite disappointing. I was excited to hear we were getting catered lunch from Dusty's (a restaurant in the E.L. area) which I was expecting to be really good. It was not. The bread was stale, the meat was dry, the side was sparse and mostly made up of noodles. Dessert was probably good, but I didn't eat mine...

Well, I'm done complaining, and do feel a little better. Thanks for listening to my rant. I don't think at this point its appropriate to say "Blaze on," so much as "lets get a spark going so we can get the fire going again," so that's what I'm going to leave you with.

Also, I'm still awesome. :)

Sunday Long Run

Sometimes you just have one of those runs where everything goes right...
So, in the brief window of time yesterday, when it wasn't absolutely freezing, and the wind wasn't blowing to all hell, I decided to go for my run. The first mile felt pretty smooth, and I sailed through in 6:32. Now this pace isn't exceptionally fast for me, but anytime I run under 7 for the first mile and it feels smooth, I know its going to be a good run. The next mile was 6:05, and with the exception of one other mile in 6:02, the remainder of the run was going to be logged at 6 min./mile pace or faster. I got to mile nine, and thought that I was really going to be moving the rest of my run. At mile ten, I remembered that just because you feel good at the half-way point, that a lot can go wrong on a long run, and curbed my enthusiasm (this was not because I was feeling bad). At mile 13.1, I was glad that I had curbed my enthusiasm, as things were not feeling awesome at this point (though they were not feeling bad, either). I pushed through mile 15, planning on taking mile 16 easy. And I did, but still somehow managed sub-6 for that last mile. I then jogged the last 0.12 miles in... (Full run details on my strands account).
So this was definitely a good long run for me. There are a few things that made it even more special:
1) I had planned on taking the run easy. And the effort going in was easy. Everything just went really smoothly.
2) I mentioned mile 13.1 earlier for a reason. This is the half-marathon distance (an event that I have not run often). Regardless, I came through in 1:17:42, a new half-marathon PR! This broke my old PR by a solid 3 seconds. Even more impressive when you figured that I ran a 6:32 to start with. If you take that mile out and add in mile 13.1 to 14.1, which was a sub-5:50, then I literally shattered my old PR.
3) After the run, I, not surprisingly, felt completely spent. However, I did not cramp up at all while stretching, a problem I have been having for a while. And...
4) I was rewarded once again after the run with a rare sighting: a 159.6 on the scale! It's been years since I've seen this number. I will give you that this was a post-workout weight, but it was still exciting to finally see a sub 160.

It's great to have stuff finally start to come together, and I just wanted to share this with whoever may be interested. So thanks for reading, and "Blaze on!"

Doin' an Irish Jig

Spring is here (almost)! We are less than 12 hours away from the vernal equinox, and I couldn’t be happier to see the snow melt, the temperatures rise, and a green landscape emerge from the grays of Michigan winter (although, like Scott, I would be happy if the red wing blackbirds would not migrate back north this year). I am also looking forward to racing more in the coming months.
Speaking of racing, today I competed in the Spectrum Health Irish Jig. It felt really good to get out there and race today. The race didn’t really go as well as I had hoped, as I ran a 15:35 (was hoping to break 15 minutes, or at least average under 5 min/mile) and placed 12th. But it was a PR for me, so I can’t be too disappointed. I felt a tad bit flat during the race, but this was not a surprise considering 1) the training cycle that I just did and 2) not having raced since January. The race will hopefully serve as a good “rust buster,” and be a springboard for the rest of my races this spring. Another benefit from this race: I may have finally figured out how to control my stomach during longer races. I’ve always had gastric issues in races over the mile, often feeling bloated while running, and later in the race my stomach would become upset and I would develop heartburn issues. Today, I experimented with not taking food the morning of, instead just drinking some Gu Electrolyte Brew 3 hours before the start of the race. Overall, this was a great success, but I will have to repeat this several times before I believe that this is the answer to my gastric issues. I also worry that in longer races this amount of fuel will not be enough to sustain my prolonged efforts.
In other news, I’m feeling quite a bit better after backing off the mileage and intensity this last week. This next week will see a return to my mileage before I back off again for the Martian Meteor 10k. After that, it will be mostly maintenance until I get ready to peak at the end of May and early June.
This week did see the return of the ECBoE, and my will-power has felt his pull. M&Ms and chocolate covered almonds have never been so enticing. I’ve had to move past the table at the end of the hall very quickly several times to resist them. But my sugar fast still stands! Today was almost harder, as they had free cake after the race, along with a bag full of sugary junk food (which Scott and Jerome accepted quite happily).
Sruthán ar!

Lucky

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! While I may not have Irish blood in me (not enough to call myself Irish, anyway), I do hail from O’Neill, Nebraska (the Irish Capital of Nebraska), and home to the world’s largest shamrock! As such, this holiday will always hold a special place in my heart (maybe not quite as special as Independence Day is to Tim Thurber, see picture below, but still special, none-the-less).

I consider myself a very lucky person (it’s just that not all of my luck is good luck ☺). Seriously though, I’m getting paid to further my education, almost 3 years after graduating from undergrad, I’m still running at a high level and enjoying it, I have great friends and training partners, and a family that cares about me. Also, as I was writing this, I found a quarter. ☺ So I am indeed a very lucky person.
Running update: For the most part, things are going well, although I did drop out of the workout on Tuesday early (after 2 repeat miles instead of doing 5). Going into it, my left ankle had been feeling a bit off on the last two runs. I’m probably just being overly paranoid, but after the near stress fracture in the fall, I would rather be safe than sorry. I wouldn’t really describe what I am feeling as pain, more of a “hollowness” in my ankle joint. What scares me is that is how the stress reaction first felt like (before it became outright pain, anyway). This is in the opposite ankle, so it is less likely to be a repeat injury.
Finally, since it’s St. Patrick’s day, and because MSU plays in the first round tonight: Go Green!

The Turtles and the Hair

In a fit of spontaneity this last week, I ended up succumbing to two impulsive urges. Don’t worry; my Lenten sugar fast still remains untarnished. I did, however, make an impulse buy, and now have the first three volumes of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series on DVD. After watching the first volume (which consists of 5 episodes), I have decided that this was, in fact, a good decision! I was actually expecting to be disappointed, figuring that the series would not live up to the expectations of my childhood memories. This was not the case. I was surprised that the storylines were, for the most part, actually pretty good. I will admit that the Turtles let out some one liners that you can’t help but roll your eyes at, but I think that this was a part of the charm of the TNMTs of the 80s and 90s. My one complaint about the series: the turtle’s voices have a habit of interchanging from one character to the other. This was something I was expecting, as I recall that my 5-year-old-self noticed this. Also, whip cream pizzas? Cowabunga!
My other bout of impulsiveness? Well, I purchased an electric hair trimmer and gave myself a haircut. Good decision or bad? Well, you may notice that I will be wearing a hat more often for the next couple of weeks. While a large percentage of it doesn’t look that bad (I think), my lack of a second mirror to monitor the cutting in the back has resulted in a less than desirable look for me. So, yeah… bad decision! Definitely missing my older sister right now (she cuts hair for a living, for those of you who don’t know). I will probably try again in the future, if for no other reason than to off set the cost of the clippers.
Other things: Running has been going pretty well, although I’m starting to feel the past 5 weeks of 69+ miles/week. I did have a decent long run this week (a 17 miler with Jake, where we cut down the last 7 miles or so to the point that the last five miles were completed in 28:40ish, faster than my 8k PR for my freshman year of college!), but I’m planning on backing off a little the rest of this week for the Irish Jig (I’m excited to race, as I’ve only done two races in the past 5+ weeks: the mile and the 4x4 at the Concordia Alumni Classic). I’m actually amazed how well my running has been going considering how tired I’ve been feeling (and changing to DST this last weekend hasn’t helped much). Shoot, I may even take a day off this week.
As I mentioned, my Lenton sugar fast is still going strong, although, in all honesty, I haven’t had any real challenges as of late. The ECBoE has been fortuitously absent from the lab, and the Pharm and Tox seminar was on Tuesday last week, before the fast started. I did have to resist taking a cookie at the BMB seminar, but that wasn’t a huge loss (the cookies are OK, but don’t taste like baked crack- i.e. highly addictive- like the Pharm and Tox ones do), and I was offered a Boston cream pie sample while grocery shopping this weekend. One of the expected outcomes of this sugar fast is that my taste buds will get “reset,” i.e. eating excessive amounts of sugar dulls your taste buds to the flavor, and by removing sugar for a period of time, your sense of sweet becomes more sensitive. I’m eager to see if this is the case, although I’m thinking that I may have to cut fruit out of my diet for a week, and thereby avoiding all things sweet, to see if this is the case…
Well, I think that about does it for this edition. Blaze on, friends!

Lenten Sugar Abstinence

Happy Ash Wednesday! …Wait, I’m not sure that one works… Anyway, lets get this one rolling!

Lets begin with yesterday's workout, 8 x (400 meter uphill, rest for ~700 m downhill, 150 m stride, and 350 m jog back to start). The distances are approximate; uphill was actually 0.27 mi and overall one repeat added up to a little over a mile. For me, I started at a decent pace and got progressively faster as the workout progressed, something to be proud of in and of itself. But the real reason I am proud of this workout was because when the going got tough, I was among the tough that got going. After each repeat, my stomach began to churn more and more, until, on the last set, I had heartburn so bad that I wanted to vomit and was just miserable. But, despite this, I pushed through and turned in a good workout! Yeah me! :)

Getting heartburn while I run has unfortunately been a recurring theme for me. This has been a regular occurrence since at least sometime in high school. And at this point in my career, it has become pretty clear what triggers it for me: processed, and especially sugary, foods. Alas, to this point, I must admit that the Evil Chocolate Bowl of Evil, with his army of devious Hershey® Special Dark Chocolate Miniature minions, seductively cocoa-covered armada of almonds, and special strike force of assorted M&M® colors and flavors, have been successful in breaking through my defenses and assaulting by inner well-being. Today, it was not actually the ECBE that beat me, as his Special Dark minions only were able to land three successful blows, but rather, it was the equally evil offensive assault team of Cookies, Brownies and Muffins, from the nation of Free Seminar Food, that eluded my best defenses…

Well, today is my day to make a stand. Fat Tuesday 2011 will go down in history as the last day of sugar's dominance over me. As we march forward, I declare that the ECBE, and all of his sugary counterparts, will no longer hold siege over the nation of Awesomeness (i.e. me). Here and now, from the ashes of my most recent defeat, I will rise up again like the Phoenix of legend, and stand strong in the face of temptation and cravings. And henceforth, today shall forever be known as Ash Wednesday!

…I really hope that God doesn’t strike me down for that last bit. In all seriousness, I am giving up sugar for Lent. Why? Well, as I mentioned above, I really believe that it is behind my acid reflux problems, and, besides being uncomfortable, I don’t want to get esophageal cancer in the future. Also, it isn’t good for you, its addictive, and it isn’t conducive to my athletic goals. Why now? Because I always say I’ll start tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes. Because I can use Lent as an excuse for not eating sugar for the next 46 days (the 40 days of Lent does not include Sundays, for those of you who don't know). Because I’m SICK OF GETTING HEARTBURN!

I should specify that this 46 day sugar abstinence will have a couple exceptions: 1) Fruit is allowed. It does not give me problems, and is part of what I believe is a healthy diet. 2) I’m allowed to drink GU Electrolyte Brew as an athletic supplement. This is to assist me with my training, and, in all reality, GU Brew has significantly fewer simple sugars than other sports drinks and definitely tastes less sweet. It is my hope that after these 46 days that sugar will be allowed back into my life, but where it belongs: not as a forbidden fruit, with uncontrollable urges consume, but as an occasional indulgence to be enjoyed, without guilt or remorse.

Blaze on friends!

Cross-Training

So as I indicated in my last blog, I wanted to touch a little on the idea of cross-training. Why do I want to do this? Well, first off, I believe that cross-training has been a huge part of my success in the past, most notably when I've been dealing with and coming off from injury. If it wasn't for the all the biking that I did in the summer of 2006, I would not have been able to come back and have a successful cross-country season that fall, as I was unable to run due to an athletic hernia. More recently, I was side-lined with a near stress fracture in my cuneiform bone in my foot (the picture is not my MRI, but an MRI of a stress fracture in the same bone of someone else's foot). If it was not for cross-training (both pool running and road cycling), I would not have been able to come back nearly as strong as I am now (I believe that I am in the best shape of my life). In addition to my recovery, the benefits of cross-training through an injury are well exemplified in my roommate Scott's recent comeback, where he appears to be nearly as strong (or maybe even stronger) after a 3 month lay-off, mostly thanks to swimming and aqua jogging, with a little stationary biking thrown in for good measure.

 

 However, what I am currently wondering about is using cross-training as supplemental training while you are not injured. I am currently biking once or twice a week, and am weighing the costs and benefits of continuing this practice. I believe that my cycling is beneficial because:

1) Kick starts my metabolism in the morning

2) Helps to burn off a few extra calories so that I can reach my goal racing weight

3) Warms up my muscles in the morning, so that I can properly stretch them out

4) Strengthens muscles that are neglected by running, creating muscle balance and preventing injury

5) Wakes me up in the morning

However, these benefits must be weighed by the costs:

1) I'm more tired for my daily runs (I don't think this has actually affected them much, but I do believe that fatigued muscles are more prone to injury)

2) The extra time it takes to cross-training takes away from sleep or other daily activities (e.g. core work or self massage)

3) The lack of specificity results in me possibly building muscle mass for muscles that aren't used during running.

For me, I think that the benefits are definitely outweighing the costs right now. But the jury is still out; it may be that as I amp up my training, the costs will start to have a greater impact and I will cut this supplementary training out of my overall plan. I am curious to other peoples' opinions, so if you would like, feel free to comment (even if it anonymously). :)

Until next time, blaze on!

Graveyard Speed-Play

As the year progresses to March, we are seeing more and more of Spring winning a battle against Winter for climatic dominance. Yesterday was such a day, and the Playmakers Racing squad took advantage of it with a solid fartlek in Mount Hope Cementary. While some runners are coming back from injury and time off after a marathon/indoor racing season, a few of us who are just really beginning to gear up for racing really got after it. One such notable performance yesterday was that of my roommate Scott (who may be the only one reading this blog :) ) who, despite only starting to run about 6 weeks ago after a 3 month layoff due to a sacral stress fracture, busted out a solid performance that was even faster than when he did the same workout last year. Donnie Richmond, Jake Flynn, and Nick Katsafares are some of the others that were up there with Scott. Great work guys! I'm also going to take a minute to pat myself on my back, as Scott pointed out to me this morning that I ran the workout in about the same time that he did the previous year, when he was well ahead of anyone else that did the workout. So great job self! Keep at it. :)
As the racing season is starting to near, my racing schedule is becoming more definitive. Right now, I am planning on doing a rust-busting race in Port Huron with Scott and Jerome the weekend before Irish Jig, which will be my next race. After that, the Martian 10k at the beginning of April will probably be my last road race before heading to the track, with EMU twilight and Hillsdale Gina Relays on the Schedule. After that, I'll probably run either at Concordia or the University of Michigan, before returning to the roads at the Bancorp mile. My next race will be a mile put on by Playmakers during the Junior High Honor Roll Meet. I hope to find an 800 m to race shortly after that. My Spring season will likely conclude in Indianapolis, where I will be running in either the AMC race series or USA 8k champs, depending on how my season is looking at that point.
With a racing schedule more or less put into place, its time to start getting after it. I have some pretty high goals for this season, and its time to get after it. Lets get ready to blaze!

...I'm such a dork.  :)

Next up: Cross-training

I'm Awesome

Every now and then, I forget how awesome I am. Just thought I'd remind everyone. :)

Running has definitely been going well. Last week was pretty solid. I put in 69 miles in 6 days (and after today, my rolling total will be 77 or 78 mpw, a little higher than I would like), with two quality workouts. The first workout was a 3 mile tempo run, something that I really struggle with, in 5:08, 5:16 and 5:16. Easily the best tempo run I've ever done. The next day was an easy "10 miles at 6:20 to 6:30 pace" with my roommate. It was so easy, we finished it in 59 minutes and 20 seconds! :) Scott, you're a tricky one... The next day I did 8x800 with Scott in the parking lot around our apartment. I don't want to say that it was windy, but it did remind me of Nebraska... so, yeah, it was windy. We ran them in 2:16, then low 2:20s for the next six, and finished with a 2:17. Scott was pretty excited about how the workout turned out. Honestly, I was more excited that I kept up with Scott than with the actual workout. Part of it may be that I really haven't done a whole lot of workouts like it.

Wanna know what is not awesome? Going all the way to Ann Arbor to watch someone run, then missing the race by minutes. I went down there with Jake Crowe on Saturday to watch his run. I had to get in a substantial (but easy) run, which I planned on doing before the race. So after Jake ran his two miles for a warm-up, I proceeded to run 3.75 more before I watched him run. Somehow during this time, the meet got approximately 30 minutes ahead of schedule (it was already 15 when Jake went to warm up). I finished the run as Jake's race was finishing. Of course, I wasn't even aware that he was running when I walked in...

Other things... had to call the insurance and MSU health team today to figure out why they were billing $1000 for an MRI I had in October. Still not sure why. According to the insurance company, they sent a check, while the MSU health team don't have this on their records. Now I have to remember to call them next week to see if anything is being taken care of.

Looks like my next run is probably going to be the Irish Jig in Grand Rapids. Wish I could go home to run in the Shamrock Shuffle, take down the record, etc., but I can't justify paying >$350 dollars for a two day trip home. Especially if I end up having to pay $1000 for an MRI. :(

Well, I'm about to go run in the first snow of second winter (damn you, groundhog, with your incorrect weather predictions). I like winter. I really do. But only for 2 weeks. Then it needs to go away. And stay away.

Fail

The chocolate bowl was outside the lab today... and I failed. Hoping for better luck the rest of the day/tomorrow (by which time the chocolate should be gone)...
My weight is slowly progressing in the right direction. I'm weighing about a pound less in the morning than last week.
Training has been going okay. Felt awful on my Sunday long run. Monday, I was too exhausted to run, and instead took a nap. Not my proudest moment, but was probably necessary. Yesterday's run went okay, dropped a few sub-6 minute miles during a 10+ mile run.
Officially is 4 weeks and 3 days until my next race (a St. Patty's day race). I'm not sure where I'll race, (hoping plane tickets drop into my price range so that I can go home, but likely I'll be doing a Michigan race).
Of note: My right knee, which has been bothering for at least 4 years now (I haven't been able to fully flex it, as there has been a straining sensation inside of my knee when I try, preventing my heel from touching my glute by about 8 inches, while with my left knee I was able to touch my heel to my glute with no problem) has been feeling awesome for about a week now. I'm not entirely sure what to attribute this miraculous healing too, except maybe increased hamstring flexibility. I actually got an MRI about 3 weeks ago, and by the time I went to see the doctor about the results, my knee was feeling better. The MRI did show a large cyst behind my knee and in my gastrocnemius (calf) muscle. My best guess is that the increased flexibility due to my stretching has taken some of the pressure off my knee, and that the cyst was able to drain, effectively enabling the flexion of my knee. :)

So how about the new Boston qualifying procedure? I for, for one, like the idea that the faster you are, the earlier you can register.

Winter is starting to break here in East Lansing (I'm probably getting excited about this prematurely). Its been nice to be able to run without worrying about stepping on a block of ice and twisting your ankle (I did this last Friday) or nearly cracking your head open by stepping on a slick patch of ice (also a recent near occurrence for me). The next couple of days are going to be warmer than usual, and I hope to take advantage of them by getting in some faster running outside.

I guess that's how running has been going for now. Blaze on!

Racing Weight

Imagine for a moment, if you will, that you are carrying 15 pounds of excess weight. It could be fat, maybe muscle, whatever. But this weight isn't contributing positively to your running performance in any way. Now, imagine that you are free of this weight. You have suddenly lost 15 pounds of unwanted baggage. You feel lighter on your feet. Your belly no longer feels as if though a jug of water is sloshing around inside of it while you are doing your speed workouts. Heat is transferred from your body more efficiently, allowing blood to flow to working muscles instead of being directed to your skin to dissipate the metabolic heat waste that you are creating. Paces that used to leave you breathless now feel easy. You are free...
This is how I felt going into my senior year of college. The weight loss was not sudden, but had occurred throughout a summer, and could directly be attributed to my diet (I had a low calorie breakfast and lunch, then ate as much as I felt like for supper) as well as an increased amount of exercise volume (to compensate for not being able to run- I had an athletic hernia- I was biking about 90 minutes a day, a load that was significantly larger than the 55-60 mpw average that I had been putting in running the previous summers). Coming into the season, I was worried that I would not be fit, as I probably put in less than 100 miles total that summer. However, running quickly came back to me (a first, as other times that I had been sidelined by injury and forced to compensate by cross-training, I felt out of shape when coming back), and at one point in the season, I was our number two runner. I finished running nearly a minute PR in the 8k, and had the best indoor track season of my collegiate career. Somehow, the aerobic capacity gained from biking, along with the lightened work load thanks to the lost weight, I was able to set a new standard of athletic fitness for myself.
Fast forward to the present. I currently feel like I am still carrying excess weight. At 6 feet and 168 pounds, I am what you would describe as a large runner (at least for the level that I aspire to be). I mean, Chris Solinsky weighs about the same as me, but is also a couple inches taller, and he is described as being a very large elite runner. I realize that to continue to bring my weight down to what I believe to be my ideal racing weight, I will probably have to lose muscle. But I have muscle that is not supporting my running to lose. In the next couple of months, I plan to significantly bring down my weight to be a lean, fit racing machine. And I am blogging about this so that I will have people to keep me accountable.
To attain this goal, I plan to use vegetables, fruits and lean meat as the base of my diet, supplementing with small amounts of potatoes, seeds and nuts, and to eat sweets and grains sparingly. I will limit myself to a single glass of wine (I will indulge in alcohol socially). :) Perhaps the biggest adversaries that I will face will be the chocolate/candy bowl that frequents the dining table just outside of our lab, as well as the free food that comes with seminars. It is my hope that by posting about my progress and success (or, if my willpower falters, failure), I will be held accountable, and make steady progress toward my goals.

Blaze on!

Post-Collegiate Training

"It is simply that we can all be good boys and wear our letter sweaters around and get our little degrees and find some nice girl to settle, you know, down with...Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the heart of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race dark Satan himself till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straightaway....They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a gut, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by God, let our demons loose and just wail on!"

 Quenton Cassidy, Once a Runner

Hello all. I'm not really sure who will be reading this, or even exactly what my purpose for writing this blog is. Maybe I'm just copying my current roommate (read his blog here http://scottschmick.blogspot.com/). Maybe its just because I like to write. Regardless of what the reason is, I hope that whoever reads this will find my posts thought provoking and enlightening, or at least interesting.

So who am I? And why should anyone care about what I have to write. Well, my name is Kyle Johnson, and I am a runner. Why do I run? Simple answer: it gives me fulfillment. I like setting goals, and seeing how close to them I can come. But its really more than that. When I first became a runner, almost 11 years ago, I couldn't imagine the places that it would take me, and the friends that I would make because of it. My closest friends in high school, college, and now have all came to be because of the common interest we all shared in the sport of running. Running took me from being a nerdy, unathletic, and severely introverted junior higher to a still nerdy, somewhat more athletic (coordination is still lacking; although I did play some basketball in high school), no longer socially awkward (okay, maybe a little) man. It took me to a college that I loved. And, most importantly, it became a way that I defined myself. I am Kyle Bruce Johnson, runner!

Although it was impossible for me to imagine where running would take me, once I began running, I somehow new that it would be something that I would do for the rest of my life, God willing. It wasn't half-way into my freshman year of track (I began a middle distance runner only a month earlier when I saw that I would be able to be varsity by running the 400/800 distance, giving up my Junior High exploits as a 200 meter runner and long jumper) that I knew that I wanted to run in college. Both my high school and college running careers were extremely rewarding and, although I fell short of my goals to be a state and national champion, I did come close and was able to see consistent improvement, sometimes in the face of injuries.

You may be wondering why I am still competing after college. I mean, if I came so close to my goals, and really pushed myself in college, then what more to I hope to accomplish? Well, for one, when I started out, I had certain time goals in my mind that I still have not reached. Secondly, I think it would be awesome to compete for Team USA, and, short of that, at least compete in the track and field national championships. Both of these goals are a long ways away. Third, I really don't think I have reached my full potential yet. In the past, my training has been hampered by a number of injuries (athletic hernia, retrocalcaneal bursitis, chronic knee pain, and recently, a grade 3 stress reaction in my cuneiform bone in my foot). I believe that with a strong balanced core, smart training (including cross-training), and smart recovery I will be able to overcome these injuries and take my running to the next level. Finally, I love to compete!

Since coming to Michigan from Concordia University, Nebraska, I have joined a club team, whose core group includes myself, my roommate, another marathoner, a 4:05 miler, and a few other people. We are sponsored by the running store Playmakers, and many of us are or were members of the Brooks ID program. We all share the common goal of improving our running, and it is great to have training partners with similar goals and abilities. 

This blog will mainly be about me and my friends training and racing. All of my training for the last year has been chronicled on strands.com under the name KyleBJohnson, if you are interested. Blaze on!